Best Bars in Bern Old Town

Bern’s Old Town drinks the way it dines: quietly, and largely below ground. The same vaulted sandstone cellars that hide its restaurants — once storerooms beneath the merchant houses — also hold some of its best bars, reached down a short stair from the street and threaded along the roughly 6 km of covered arcades, the Lauben, that define this UNESCO World Heritage quarter (inscribed in 1983). The effect is intimate and a little secret: stone walls, low light, and rooms that feel discovered rather than advertised. This is not a city of giant clubs and neon strips; the pleasure here is atmosphere.

Central to it all is Swiss apéro culture — the early-evening drink that bridges the end of the day and dinner. An apéro might be a glass of local white wine, a Swiss beer, or a simple spritz, usually with a few small bites alongside. What you drink reflects the region: Switzerland makes far more wine than it exports, and crisp whites from nearby Lake Biel (the Bielersee) and the wider Three Lakes area turn up on Bern wine lists, while local and Swiss craft beers are easy to find. For a calmer, cellar-led evening, see our wine bars in Bern.

For contrast, drop down to the river. The historic Matte quarter sits on the Aare directly below the Old Town — once the boatmen’s and artisans’ district, with its own slang — and the riverside stretches around the Schwellenmätteli trade a vaulted-cellar mood for water, open air and a more relaxed crowd. Reach it from the Old Town by the Mattelift or the lift from the cathedral platform. The two moods — cellar and riverside — are the heart of a good Bern night.