Good evening
As a BSC Young Boys supporter and regular visitor to City's home games (and the odd away game where we manage to get a ticket or just sit in the home end), and with my wife's soft spot for the Blues, I feel obliged to give you an insight into our home town of Berne:
Flying in/Getting to the stadium
Berne has only a small airport (in Belp, 10 kilometres from Berne) where larger planes cannot land and which mostly only handles charter flights, so you'll probably land at one of Switzerland's three major airports, Zurich (ZRH), Basel-Mulhouse (mostly BSL, sometimes spelled MLH, but it's the same place) or Geneva (GVA). Flights to Zurich are the most expensive, as there are almost no low-cost airlines flying there. You’ll get the biggest choice of connections most likely to Geneva from various UK airports, including Manchester and Liverpool. I would advise you to search on Skyscanner and enter United Kingdom to Switzerland to see all the options at once per date.
The Swiss rail system is very efficient and convenient but, as you might expect, expensive. There are direct trains from Geneva (2 hours) and Zurich airport (1h20), from Basel you need to take the airport bus no. 50 (15 minutes) and then change to a train to Bern (1h). Timetables and fares can be found at
www.sbb.ch. The fare system is a bit tricky, we have a Half-Fare travelcard and the prices shown first are with this reduction, so don't get too excited before you click on "full price". You could try to buy Supersaver Tickets, which are the equivalent of Advance Tickets in the UK, but then you have to take that particular connection. If you are travelling from another Swiss city and return on the same day, you may want to check the Saver Day Pass prices, especially if the match is more towards the end of the year.
From Bern main station, you can easily reach the stadium by public transport in 10-15 minutes. You can either take bus no. 20 to Wyler (which will take you almost to the entrance of the away sector) or take the train to Wankdorf station, from where you can walk to the away sector in 5 minutes. The other option would be to take tram no. 9, but this only goes to Guisanplatz and from there you have to walk another 10 minutes past the home fans and around to get to the away section. Alternatively, you can take a walk along the “scenic” route along the tracks of tram no. 9 and then take a sharp left at "Tellstrasse" to get to the away section. This walk should take around 40 minutes. Public transport in travel zones 100/101 is included in the match ticket price 3 hours before kickoff and 2 hours after the match.
Where to stay
There are three Accor Group hotels in a building close to the stadium: Novotel, Ibis and Ibis Budget. The latter could be a good value option if you book before they raise their prices for the match. Another hotel near the stadium is the Prizotel. It's a 15-minute walk from the stadium and close to the Rosengarten, a beautiful public park overlooking the old town of Bern and the River Aare. If you choose this hotel, please behave as I live in the same building Be warned that you might be jinxed after staying here, as the Rags rented the whole place during Covid (we're talking about a two-star hotel here) and I almost couldn't get back to my apartment because of police and annoying “fans”. Another very cheap option is the Marthahaus Hotel, a very basic hotel but fine for a night if you don't mind the shared bathrooms. The youth hostel down by the river is very modern and nice, but expensive for a youth hostel (CHF 51.- for a bed in a shared room). If you decide to make an all nightery be warned as there are not many places open the whole night. The casino Bern Kursaal is opened until 4am but of course drinking there all night is more expensive than getting a Hotel.
Eating/drinking/shopping
As you may have heard (or experienced at the away game against FC Basel 2018), Switzerland is considered one of the most expensive places in the world. But don't worry, with a little preparation you can still enjoy a day out without going completely broke as public drinking is allowed. For alcohol, restaurants/pubs are expensive (especially the latter), expect to pay CHF 5 (£4.50) for a small lager and CHF 10 (£9.00) for a pint in a pub. However, you can buy beer in 500ml cans for as little as CHF 0.60 (50p) in supermarkets (Coop, Denner, Aldi, Lidl are the most common - there's also Migros, but they don't serve alcohol). As a rule of thumb, you can get cheap beer in supermarkets (even at the airport and train stations), but normal takeaways and smaller shops tend to be expensive.
As for pubs, we only have three places you could call a pub: The Mr Pickwick Pub (quite small but with some outside space and standing room), McCarthy's Irish Pub (on Aarbergergasse where I think you will be congregating, this is the biggest and has outside seating when the weather is fine) and the Old City Irish Pub in the Old City (small but the nicest IMHO). There is also the Nelson Pub, which is more of a small outdoor pub, but at least they serve slightly cheaper beer. The cheapest drinks are at the VERY weird Leo Pub, this place has a reputation for serving cheap drinks and the owner is very weird (don't tell me I didn't warn you). If you are a craft beer lover, I can 100% recommend Biercafé au Trappiste and On Tap Craftgallery, both on Rathausgasse - fantastic beer but might break the bank. On the way to the stadium is the Barbière, where many YB fans gather before home games.
Eating in a normal restaurant is expensive, expect to pay around CHF 25 to 40 for a meal. International fast food places charge around CHF 12 for a meal and you can get a kebab for between CHF 9 and 12. There are restaurants in the Coop and Migros supermarket chains where you can get a lunch for around CHF 14-17 (self service).
Food from the supermarket is mostly cheap if you buy fruit, bread and all that individual stuff. Only the ready meals (especially the freshly prepared ones) are overpriced IMO.
Safety and security
You'll be perfectly safe in Bern if you wear colors - the only thing that might happen is someone criticizing City's involvement with Abu Dhabi and the City Group in general. Unlike in the UK, away fans are tolerated in the Home End as long as they don't behave like complete muppets. But I expect less stupid behaviour from a Blue than from some Rags (we've played them twice) in the Home End, pointing their fingers at our singing section.
Normally they only kick off against opponents with a good reputation, so this should be no problem. Our loudest bunch is opposite the visiting section (B) in the sector D where our standing and singing area is.
Also I can confirm by own experience (we played twice there) that you really have to take care in Belgrade. They tend to throw things in the away section and also look out for trouble in the city - so better not to wear colors.
Things to see
As this thread got longer than expected, only the short version: Stroll down from the main station to the very end of the old town towards the bear pit/bear park where you can see our city bears (if they're not in hibernation already). You can either visit the Tramdepot (very touristy, but there's beer and a good view) or go straight up to the Rosengarten for the best view of Bern. Other places to visit are the Bundeshaus, the Einstein Museum and the cathedral with the nearby cathedral platform where Bernese people hang out. If you stay longer than a day I recommend you to check out other nearby places as well.
I wish you all a safe and enjoyable travel to our small, but lovely City! If you need any more advice feel free to pm me. My wifes excited to be able to walk to a city match - even if she most probably has to sit in the home end (Citizen membership won't get her a ticket for this one I'm sure).
