The Knights' Hall
A twelfth-century wooden roof — among Switzerland's oldest halls.
Yannik Waeber — CC BY 3.0 · chensiyuan — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Markus Giger — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Markus Giger — CC BY-SA 4.0
Thun is a real town with everyday Swiss life, a beautiful old town, lower prices and excellent trains — but it is **far from the high mountains** (an extra 40–60 minutes each day to reach Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald). Interlaken is pricier and more touristy but sits at the centre of everything. For a short mountain trip: Interlaken. For a longer stay on a budget with local character: Thun is a smart choice.
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Thun Castle is a twelfth-century castle dominating the town of Thun at the outflow of Lake Thun: a square white keep with four conical corner towers — one of the clearest images of "a castle" in the European imagination — built by the dukes of Zähringen, later the seat of Bernese rule, and a museum since 1888. Inside is a historical museum over five floors of the keep: the **great Knights' Hall** with its twelfth-century wooden roof (among the oldest surviving Romanesque halls in Switzerland), collections of weapons, textiles, ceramics, toys and regional life, and a narrow climb to the tower balconies with a view over town, lake and the Oberland mountains behind. The town of Thun itself rewards a visit: an old town with a unique raised street (shops below, pavements above their roofs), the islands of the river Aare, and the lake promenade. An easy half-day trip by train from Interlaken.
A twelfth-century wooden roof — among Switzerland's oldest halls.
Town, lake and the Oberland mountains from above.
A unique raised street above the shop roofs.
Schlossberg 1, 3600 Thun