Bern's city centre is compact, and sightseeing tourists are likely to move around by 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; website: www.bernmobil.ch) runs three tramway lines with 17km (11 miles) of rail and 19 bus or trolley lines with a total network of 120km (75 miles). In addition, there are Moonliner (tel: (031) 321 8812; website: www.moonliner.ch) night buses, operating 18 lines from the station square on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. The BernCard gives the holder free unlimited travel on the public transportation system in the city and the surrounding region, and there are other benefits too (see Tourist Information). The card is available for 24, 48 or 72 hours.

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

Bern Rollt (tel: (079) 277 2857; website: www.bernrollt.ch) is a free bicycle hire service (from May to October) on Bahnhofplatz, the main station square. All you need to pay is a deposit. Otherwise bicycles can be hired for a fee at the railway station (tel: (051) 220 2374) and at the Ski and Velocenter, Hirschengraben 7 (tel: (031) 312 0031; website: www.ski-velo-center.ch).