Bern - Transport

Bern's city centre is compact, and sightseeing tourists are likely to move around on foot most of the time. The public transport network in the city is excellent, however, providing convenient and frequent services.

Bernmobil (tel: (031) 321 8844; www.bernmobil.ch) runs three tram lines with 17km (11 miles) of rail and 19 bus or trolley lines, making a total network of 120km (75 miles). In addition, there are Moonliner (tel: (031) 321 8812; www.moonliner.ch) night buses, operating 18 lines from the station square on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

Taxi companies include Bären-Taxi (tel: (031) 371 1111) and Nova-Taxi (tel: (031) 331 3313). BETAX (tel: 0800 903 090) provides transport services for disabled people. Public taxi ranks are on Casinoplatz and at the railway station (tel: (031) 311 1818).

Car hire is offered by Avis (tel: (031) 378 1515; www.avis.ch), Europcar (tel: (031) 381 7555; www.europcar.ch), Hertz (tel: (031) 318 2160; www.hertz.ch) and Sixt (tel: (031) 371 7100; www.sixt.ch).

Bern Rollt (tel: 079 277 2857; www.bernrollt.ch) is a free bicycle hire service (from April to October) on Bahnhofplatz, the main station square, and at various points around town. All you need to pay is a deposit. You can also hire bicycles for a fee at the railway station (tel: 079 277 2857) and at the Ski and Velocenter, Hirschengraben 7 (tel: (031) 312 0031; www.ski-velo-center.ch).