Photo: Wikimedia contributors · See sourceEmmental & Lucerne Country
Roll through Burgdorf, Affoltern, Trubschachen and the Entlebuch to Lucerne, returning via Sempach over three days.
- Allow
- 3 days
- Route
- 224 km
- Drive time
- 3 hr 10 min
- Stops
- 7
This is the softest introduction to driving from Bern. Burgdorf’s castle opens the Emmental, Affoltern explains the cheese behind the name and Trubschachen places the road among deep-roofed farms before the landscape rises into the UNESCO-recognized Entlebuch biosphere.
Lucerne is the urban turn, not a place to circle for parking. Leave the car at the hotel or a signed garage, walk the lakefront and old town, then return through Sempach’s gentler lake country. Farm lanes are working roads: slow down, pass cyclists patiently and never stop in gateways.
The road, in one glance
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Drawing the route…
The route earns
its distance
Each pin is selected as a place to do something—not merely proof that you passed through.
Photo: Wikimedia contributors · See sourceBern
Collect the car after the arcades, river and museums have been explored on foot and by tram.
Bern (Swiss Standard German: ), or Berne (French: ), is the de facto capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city". With a population of about 146,000 (as of 2024), Bern is the fifth-most populous city in Switzerland, behind Zurich, Geneva, Basel and Lausanne. The Bern agglomeration, which includes 36 municipalities, had a population of 406,900 in 2014.
Photo: Wikimedia contributors · See sourceBurgdorf
A hill castle and handsome upper town form the Emmental’s sandstone gateway.
Burgdorf is the largest city in the Emmental in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It was the capital of the district of the same name until 2010, when it became part of the new Emmental district.
Photo: Wikimedia contributors · See sourceAffoltern im Emmental
Pastures, farm roofs and the show dairy put the region’s cheese tradition in context.
Affoltern im Emmental is a farming village on the rolling ridges of Switzerland's Emmental region. It is best known to visitors for the Emmental Show Dairy, where demonstrations connect the famous holey cheese to the surrounding milk-producing landscape.
Photo: Wikimedia contributors · See sourceTrubschachen
A compact village among wooded ridges makes the road feel decisively rural.
Trubschachen is an Emmental village at the meeting of the Trueb and Ilfis rivers, surrounded by wooded hills and dairy country. It is also the home of the Kambly biscuit company, whose visitor centre turns a working food producer into a useful tasting stop on the rural loop.
Photo: Wikimedia contributors · See sourceEntlebuch
Moorland and karst scenery shift the drive from farm country toward the Alps.
Entlebuch District is one of six districts (German: Wahlkreise) of the canton of Lucerne, Switzerland. Its administrative center is the village of Schüpfheim. Entlebuch District roughly corresponds to the basin of the river Kleine Emme.
Photo: Wikimedia contributors · See sourceLucerne
Lake, bridges and mountain horizons provide a luminous overnight between country roads.
Lucerne (English: loo-SURN) or Luzern (Swiss Standard German: ) is a city and a municipality in central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the district of the same name. With a population of approximately 82,000 people, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and a nexus of economics, transport, culture, and media in the region.
Photo: Wikimedia contributors · See sourceSempach
A small walled town and quiet lake shore make a measured final pause.
Sempach is a compact medieval town on the eastern shore of Lake Sempach in canton Lucerne. Its preserved lanes and lakeside are paired with the history of the 1386 Battle of Sempach, a formative episode in the old Swiss Confederacy.
Drive the conditions,
not the itinerary.
Keep to public paved roads, yield on narrow farm lanes and use town-edge parking. Book dairy visits rather than arriving at working farms unannounced.
Checked against
the people who run it
Distances and driving times are planning estimates. Conditions, closures, ferries, permits and park rules can change, so check the linked official guidance before setting out.