Visit 3 Castles and a Hidden Museum on this Marvelous Lake Thun Walk

CHANDERBRÜGG TO THUN

Over the past year, we have been making our way around Lake Thun one trail segment at a time. While some of the trails take quite a bit of effort to get to, this wonderfully accessible section starts at Chanderbrügg on the northwestern shores of Lake Thun, wanders past 3 castles, and comes to an exceptional end at a hidden museum in the heart of Thun, the city for which the Lake is named.

Because the walk is so accessible, if you don’t have time for the full 9 kms (5.5 miles), you also have several shorter options. For example, if you are not keen on much elevation and don’t mind skipping one of the castles, you can jump to the section To the Shores of Lake Thun.

The easiest way to get to this walk is by Bus from the town of Spiez. If you are staying in Interlaken, Spiez is quite easy to get to by train; about 15 minutes from either Interlaken Ost or West stations. Once in Spiez, you will want to switch to Bus 1 just outside the station. During the day, the bus leaves approximately every half-hour. If you have a few minutes to spare on the connection, that is ok. The views of Spiez Bay, Lake Thun, and the surrounding Alps are exceptional just across the street from the train station and you can expect a Spiez walking tour coming soon to our Discovering Bern series.

If you are coming from Bern or Thun in the other direction from Interlaken, you can catch Bus 1 from Thun to the start of this walk but it takes quite a long time and you are probably better off heading to Spiez to start your journey.

From Bus 1, our walk starts at the Chanderbrügg bus stop.

You can follow along with our trip using this interactive map

Crossing the Kander River

If you are coming from Spiez, from the Bus Stop, you will want to back track just a bit and cross the street on the pedestrian bridge. From there, you can follow the little yellow diamonds up the hill and under the train tracks.

Just past the tracks, there is a sharp right-hand turn which puts you onto the forest trail and the start of our walk at the Kanderschlucht or Kander River Canyon.

While an idyllic-looking canyon today, in the early 1700’s, this was the site of one of Switzerland’s first large-scale re-engineering projects. Today, the Kander River flows from a number of tributaries high in the Alps through the Kander Canyon and into Lake Thun, but this route was not its original path.

After leaving the Alps, the Kander originally flowed along Strättlighügel, a steep ridge separating Lake Thun from the Kander River valley (our eventual destination) and into the Aare River downstream of Lake Thun. Constant flooding of the Allmend region between the cities of Thun and Bern precipitated an ambitious plan to tunnel through the ridge separating the Kander from Lake Thun and redirect the river into the lake.

By 1713, work had begun in earnest, but the river quickly enlarged its channel and collapsed the woefully under-engineered tunnel. In the process, the entire Kander River Canyon was excavated by the rushing water. This formed a huge, relatively unstable, delta in Lake Thun. Unfortunately, the project’s good intentions were largely offset by unintended consequences. With a 60% greater inflow into Lake Thun, the lake level rose and began to regularly flood the city of Thun.

Subsequently, dozens of river corrections have been required and flooding on the Aare remains a risk to this day. As a natural hazard geologist, I could continue ad infinitum but perhaps it is best that we move on before getting too off track.

On to the First Castle: Strättligburg

After crossing a lovely foot bridge over the Kander you climb back out of the Canyon and up onto Strättlighügel, the ridge separating Lake Thun from the Kander River valley that we discussed earlier. As you make your way up the hill, Strättligburg comes into view. Once the ancestral home of the Barons von Strättligen, the original castle at Strättligburg was burned by invading Bernese forces in 1332. The more modern tower, visible today, was built within the ruins in 1699 to hold gun powder.

Looking up at the imposing walls and tower of Strättligburg

Today, Strättligburg serves as an event venue but is otherwise closed to the public on most occasions. With few information panels, I had a hard time learning more about its history but the views of the Alps and Lake Thun from here are quite nice. A wander around the outside of the Castle walls imaging life in the Middle Ages is worthwhile.

From Strättligburg, our walk continues up and along the ridge with incredibly beautiful views of Thun on the right and Stockhorn, the nearly overhung mountain peak, to the left. Eventually, the trail reaches a road that goes down the hill into the neighborhood of Gwattegg and that is the direction we are going to go.

While you can continue across the road on the ridge path and eventually reach Thun, it ends up mostly going through the forest and you miss out on some gorgeous views.

Looking up at Niesen, the Swiss Pyramid from the walls of Strättligburg

View from either side of Strättlighüggel with Stockhorn on the left and Thun on the right

To the Shores of Lake Thun

Exceptional views of the Bernese Alps looking up Lake Thun from the shore front path

While the road down to the lake from Strättlihugel is a bit steep, it gets you to a nice starting point for the flat Lake Thun walking paths at Gwatt, Moos. If you find that you are short on time, this is an easy way to cut this walk in half. You can either walk the Strättligburg section discussed above (c. 2.5 km or 1.5 miles) then catch Bus 1 from Gwatt, Moos back into Thun or you can start your walk from here, two stops further on the Bus from Chanderbrügg. If you choose the latter option, the c. 6.5 km walk (4 miles) is much flatter.

From the road at Gwatt, Moos, the path wanders through wetlands toward the lakefront. There is great birding in the wetlands and I would consider bringing a pair of binoculars if you have them.

Once the path reaches the lake, you are greeted with fantastic views of the Bernese Alps. The path along the lake weaves through a number of parks, onto boardwalks and, eventually, into a neighborhood next to the Thun Strandbad. In the summer, the Strandbad has an entry fee, but you can easily walk around it.

Past the Strandbad, the path passes a small marina and the recently renovated BLS ship maintenance facility. Depending on the time of year, many of the 8 large passenger boats that regularly ply the waters of Lake Thun will be tied up here.

Some notable boats to keep an eye out for are the two oldest passenger boats on Lake Thun, the screw steamer Spiez, first laid down in 1901 and the saloon steamer Blüemlisalp built in 1906. The history of shipping on Lake Thun is the focus of another Interlaken walk coming out soon in our series Discovering Bern, so stay tuned!

The Second Castle: Schloss Schadau

Follow the path past the BLS ship yard and through a small neighborhood into the English gardens of Schadau Park. The waterfront here at the far north end of Lake Thun has spectacular views looking back up the lake towards the peaks of Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau. As such, it is no surprise that in 1846, this site was chosen by Swiss banker Abraham Denis Alfred de Rougemont-de Pourtalès as the location for his magnificent new villa, Schloss Schadau. Of course, Alfred was not the first resident at this location. There is evidence for occupation of this site as far back as the Bronze age with pile dwellings just off-shore.

In mid 1800's, Abraham de Rougemont came from one of the richest families in all of Switzerland. Their generational wealth was largely built on the back of the American slave trade.

Since 1925, the castle, built in a mixed Romantic Historicist style capturing architectural elements from a wide range of eras, has been in the possession the City of Thun. Today the castle serves as a small hotel and restaurant while the grounds are open to the public.

Within Schadu park, you can also find the hand-painted Thun Panorama, a massive indoor 360° mural built on the grounds in 1814, and the Romanesque Kirche Scherzligen, first mentioned in the 8th century. I have yet to visit the panorama, but the 13th century murals that line the church nave are stunning.

Upclose view of the mixed architectural style at Schloss Schadau

Into the Old Town of Thun

Following the 1500-meter-long shipping canal from Schadau Park brings you to the Thun train station with connections across Switzerland. Our walk continues on into the Thun old-town crossing the Aare river and up a narrow stair way between buildings to the base of Stadtkirche Thun or the City Church. The impressive church tower was built in the early 14th Century while the arched tower hall was built about 100 years later. In contrast, the much newer church nave dates to the 18th century.

The views from the Church entrance are wonderful and the decorations on the arched ceilings are equally impressive. The inside of the church is pretty but rather modest (as are most Protestant churches in Switzerland).

Stadtkirche Thun (center) and Thun Castle (left) on the hill above the Thun old town.

14th Century Mosaics under the arched entrance of the Stadtkirche Thun

On our last visit to the Stadtkirche, we stumbled upon a small arrow pointing around the corner and into the bell tower. Interest piqued, we followed the arrow up a steep set of stairs to a heavy wooden door. To our surprise the door was unlocked and lead into a tiny hidden museum holding artifacts preserved during renovations of the church. From there, a wooden staircase led further up into the bell tower to a display of the old church bells alongside the arms of an old tower clock which, at one point, crashed to the ground outside the church.

While the museum was small, it’s interesting stories added a whole new dimension to our visit. The kind of find that we here at Hidden Switzerland Travel absolutely adore!

Our Final Stop: Thun Castle

Steps away from Stadtkirche Thun lies the fairytale Thun Castle, our last stop on the walk, built around the 12th Century by Thun nobility. When we were visiting Thun a couple years ago on the Swiss Travel Pass, we got free entrance to the Castle and its museum which provides a great overview of the towns history. Spiral staircases lead up, up, and up into the high Castle towers with excellent views over Thun. I would highly recommend a tour of the castle if you still have time.

From here, you can make your way back down to the Thun train station the way you came or you can continue through the castle to a staircase which leads down into the middle of the Thun old town. The town center is one of our favorite in all of Switzerland, and the focus of an upcoming Thun walking tour in our Discovering Bern series.

In total, this walk is c. 9 kms (5.5 miles). It took us the better part of the morning to complete and we grabbed some delicious Thai takeaway at Mae Lek in Thun before hopping on the train back home. If you want to stop to explore Schadau Park and Thun a bit more, you could easily turn this walk into a full-day trip.

We hope you enjoyed reading about this walk and that it gives you some inspiration to plan your next adventure in the Berner Oberland. If you are looking for additional walks, you can check out the other articles in this series. If you would like to explore more of Switzerland, you can check out our One Year: 26 Canton project where we visit every Swiss canton in 2024.

Until next time, gute Reise, and feel free to share your suggestions in the comments on our social media!

13th Century Thun Castle from the Thun town center