Down the Aare: How Bern Bathes in the River

Blog (EN)

No ocean, no lake – and yet perhaps the most beautiful bathing city in the world: In Bern, people immerse themselves in the river and let the glacial water carry them through the capital.

clarus.news | Culture | July 16, 2026

by Thierry Leserf

Barefoot Upstream

It begins with a procession. On beautiful summer days, entire caravans move barefoot and in swimwear along the riverside paths, from the Marzilibad towards Schönausteg, from the Lorrainebad towards Altenbergsteg. Once far enough, it begins: You lay yourself in the river and let yourself drift seaward. Underwater, the Aare music plays – pebbles creating enchanting sounds. At the end of the long right curve, the Federal Palace slides into view, and the scant kilometer between Schönausteg and Marzili becomes, as the NZZ once wrote, the most beautiful spot in the world.

People

Topics

  • Living Traditions of Switzerland
  • Urban Swimming

A River Becomes a Landmark

Bern has no lake – but it has the Aare. What once served as a protective moat, water reservoir, food source, and transport route is today the city's natural landmark. People have been bathing in it for centuries: Already in the 18th century, the Aare between Elfenau and Engehalbinsel is said to have been one giant river bathing facility on beautiful days. In 1782, the city prepared the "Bubenseeli" at Marzili for bathing, and in 1822 the "Academic Bathing Facility" opened there – one of Europe's first bathing establishments. The Marzilibad grew over the decades into the largest and one of the most visited outdoor pools in Switzerland, while the smaller Lorrainebad followed downstream in 1892.

That swimming is so carefree today was not always a given. Stretches of the river became sewers – as early as 1468, the Council of Bern admonished the people of Thun not to throw animal carcasses into the Aare. Only the construction of sewage treatment plants from the mid-20th century brought the turning point. Today, the water is so clean that its purity is considered a curiosity by global standards – and Aare swimming as "Aare Swimming in Bern" is listed among Switzerland's Living Traditions, based on the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Model from Boston to Berlin

What is everyday life in Bern astounds the world. "Nowhere in the world is urban swimming such a broadly anchored part of city culture as in Bern," concluded the research project «urban swimming» by Northeastern University in Boston, whose team traveled across Europe in 2009 – Berlin, Barcelona, Venice, Rome, Amsterdam, Prague – and found what they were looking for in Bern. Following Bern's model, Boston's Charles River is to be made swimmable; Berlin had the Bern model specifically explained by then-city councilor Regula Rytz in 2005.

The river also carries sociological weight: "The fact that everyone is walking around in swimwear blurs the usual social distinguishing features. The river becomes the stage for a new equality," says Andreas Ruby, who dedicated the exhibition «Swim City» to the phenomenon at the Swiss Architecture Museum Basel. The Guardian, BBC, Süddeutsche and ZEIT report on it – tourism advertising that no campaign in the world could buy.

Highlights

  • The classic Marzili swim – Entry at Schönausteg, nearly a kilometer of drifting, exit at Marzili with a view of the Federal Palace. The epitome of Bern's summer.
  • The "Zibeleschwümme" – For 25 years, hardy souls have been swimming 350 meters through the cold Aare in late autumn, in keeping with the Zibelemärit tradition.
  • Record summer 2023 – Over 800,000 guests at Marzilibad, on August 20 alone, 20,000 people enjoyed a swim in the Aare.
  • "Topless" from 1976 – Marzili became a trendsetter for all of Switzerland when the first Swiss women sunbathed with bare breasts here.
  • The Aare in art – Stiller Has sang about the river ("Dr Aare naa, dr schöne grüene Aare naa" has become a fixed expression), Sandee paid tribute to Marzili with its own song in 2009.

Voices

British author Diccon Bewes, who has written several books about Switzerland, gets to the heart of the appeal: "Summer in the city means swimming in Bern." It's not just about cooling off, but about flowing along – "it's going with the flow." (Living Traditions, FOC)

Pascale from Bern describes her ritual like this: "When I want to go into the Aare, I leave the house in my bathing suit. I don't need my wallet, no padlock and no bag." And she makes it clear: Actually, you just let yourself be carried by the current – "Everything else you should leave alone!" (About Switzerland, FDFA)

And the comparison with Basel? Aare swimmer Hugo Rohrer lived on the Rhine for seven years and almost never swam in it: "It's simply not the same. Period." (Heimat Marzili, p. 28)

Key Points

  • Aare swimming is recognized as a living tradition of Switzerland and shapes Bern's summer culture like almost nothing else.
  • Clean waters and centuries-old bathing practice make Bern a worldwide model for urban swimming.
  • The river is free, unsupervised and demands respect: It is only suitable for river-experienced swimmers.

Amusing Snippets

Four apps for one river. Aare Schwumm, aare.guru, mAare and "Aare – Swim Weather Temperature?": The people of Bern check the water temperature digitally more thoroughly than many meteorologists check the weather – aare.guru alone has been downloaded over 91,000 times.

Federalism in swimwear. Three times – 1992, 1994 and 2002 – the municipal council proposed admission fees for the pools. Three times the idea was sunk. Free stays free, Bern doesn't joke about that.

Too warm isn't right either. When the Aare reached the record value of 24.1 degrees in 2022, many swimmers already found it too warm. After all, one is not here to splash around.

Petition instead of lease. When the Lorrainebad was to be leased out, over 8,000 people signed against it – the municipal council had to backtrack. You don't mess with the Lorrainebad in Bern.

Sources

Main sources:

  1. Living Traditions: "Aare Swimming in Bern" (Federal Office of Culture FOC, Version August 2024; Author: Katrin Rieder, Jörg Weidmann)
  2. About Switzerland (FDFA): "River swimming – a specialty of Swiss cities" (April 24, 2026)

Supplementary sources:

  • Christian Aeberhard et al. (Ed.): "Heimat Marzili. 80 Portraits aus dem Berner Aarebad", Baden 2004 (cited in the FOC documentation)

Verification status: ✓ July 16, 2026

This text was created with the support of an AI model. Editorial responsibility: clarus.news | Fact-checking: July 16, 2026

Tags: #AareSwimming #Bern #LivingTraditions

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