The coolest indoor activities for families

Westside – the word makes us think of shopping and cinema. However, the adventure centre in the west of Bern is much more: the Bernaqua (a water paradise), a variety of restaurants and, since summer 2024, the new Adventure Dome. Visitors can disappear into the depths of a veritable play jungle with various attractions: a huge Donut Slider, a climbing frame, laser tag, ninja tag, an area for toddlers and so much more. A variety of games will keep you entertained at the iWall and on the ValoJump (a huge jumping pillow) and in the ValoArena you can immerse yourself in the virtual world without needing any special glasses.

Who will manage a strike (knocking down all ten pins with the first ball) – or be crowned prince or princess of the pins with a “turkey” (three strikes in a row)? The Marzili bowling centre is the best place to find out. When it's raining cats and dogs outside, it should rain points in the bowling alley! Forget about the weather and hold a tournament to determine your group’s bowling champion. If the bowling balls start to feel a bit heavy, you can switch to the lighter billiard balls and try your luck with the cue. By the way, a visit to the Marzili bowling centre is also a treat for the eye: the lanes and the entrance area are sporadically styled by different artists.

After a visit to the Kiddy Dome in Rohrbach in the Oberaargau, your kids will have trouble keeping their eyes open during supper. Switzerland's largest indoor adventure world is 6,000 square metres of adventurous fun, be it in the high-energy trampoline park, high up in the ropes course, on Europe's largest doughnut glider, or on one of the many other attractions. And while the kids run, jump, slide, and climb, parents can sit back and relax in the comfy parents' lounge with a view of the entire Kiddy Dome. By the way: if the kids get hungry from all the action, the in-house bistro Jimmy’s Dschungelküche has got you covered.

The Berner Puppentheater has been at home in the former wine cellar in the lower old town since 1980. Every season, children and adults can look forward to a varied programme performed by professionals and their marionettes, rod puppets, hand puppets, shadow puppets, different objects and masks. With the help of the lovingly hand-crafted figures, the puppeteers take the audience on a journey full of humour, suspense, and poetry. Most of the shows are suitable for children aged five and over; the evening shows are mainly aimed at grown-up (puppet) theatre fans..

If, when hearing the word “museum”, you think of dusty painting on white walls – think again! The museum of fine arts in Bern, for example, may be the oldest in Switzerland, but there’s nothing antiquated about it. Bern’s museums are interactive, diverse, and exciting: from the Alpine Museum that lets visitors see and experience life in and with the mountains to the Museum of Communication that gets all our senses involved to the Museum of Natural History, where climbing and touching is encouraged. Several of the museums are just a stone’s throw from each other in the Kirchenfeld neighbourhood. And they are all great escapes from rain and boredom. Almost every museum has a “kid magnet” – at the Museum of Communication, for example, it’s the playful children’s activity “Find Ratatösk”.

A ball pit. Two slides. Half a circus tent for climbing and sliding. A climbing wall. Countless curious vehicles. Two rope tunnels high above the ground. All of it creatively designed, with lots of wood and murals, made largely from recycled materials. The indoor playground Bimano is a paradise for children and gives them space to move and express their creativity. And the in-house restaurant Zent is perfect for a little break and a snack to recharge your batteries. In the evenings, the playground turns into a skate park (they offer kids’ classes) and the adjacent boulder gym is bustling..

An amusement park for the senses: The Sensorium at Rüttihubelbad is a great experience for visitors of all ages and lies only half an hour outside of Bern. The large exhibition playfully shows how strongly we rely on our eyes in everyday life – and how ingenious our senses actually are. Discover numerous sensory phenomena, from the sound of the gigantic gong to the perfect meditative sand circles. There are different picnic areas on site, as well as a large outdoor playground for when the sun decides to peek out from behind the clouds.

If you think the Zentrum Paul Klee is “only” an art museum, you’ve never been to Creaviva. Drawing, folding, gluing, decorating – the studio on the subterranean level offers a colourful palette of child-friendly activities. From the interactive exhibition, which can be visited independently, to a variety of workshops – amateur artists of all ages can find their own personal style and form of expression and engage with Klee's works in a creative way. Up for more? The “Fünfliber”-Werkstatt, open from Tuesday to Sunday, gives little artists the opportunity to create their own works of art. One thing is clear: in terms of creativity, the sky’s the limit.it.

You probably won’t manage a sextuple somersault (that is the Skills Park record), but at this trampoline park near Guisanplatz square, even beginners are able to do some pretty impressive jumps. Different trampoline structures with mobile landing mats invite and enable visitors to practise their jumps safely, and the 5-by-5-metre freestyle trampoline lets you do anything from off-axis tricks to spins and somersaults. Even small children can bounce and jump to their heart's content: on Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., the Unik Playground is reserved for (accompanied) children up to the age of five.

Bern’s Botanical Garden is located right next to the Lorrainebrücke bridge and just a short walk from Bern’s main station. But as soon as you leave the main road and step into the BoGa, you will feel like you’ve been transported to a completely different world: Feel the relaxing effect of the chirping birds and swaying leaves and begin your exciting botanical journey across different continents. On rainy days, the seven greenhouses offer refuge and transport you to tropical or arid paradises. Children love the Garden’s many hidden nooks and paths and are fascinated by the more bizarre plants..

“Mom, where do the holes in the cheese come from?” We are convinced: even picky eaters will feel like trying something new after they’ve seen up close how cheese is made. At the Emmental Show Dairy in Affoltern, visitors can watch the professional cheese makers at work, learn how to make cottage cheese at home during a one-hour demonstration, and find out more about the history of the Emmental on the entertaining Königsweg (“king’s trail”). If you need a little break from all the cheese, you can visit the goats and chickens in the petting zoo next door. The trip to the Show Dairy is an experience, too, leading through the idyllic hilly Emmental landscape.

When we hear Westside, we think of shopping and movies. But the experience centre in the west of Bern offers so much more: a large indoor playground, lots of different restaurants, and of course the Bernaqua, a water park with all kinds of fun attractions. Whizz down one of Switzerland’s longest covered water slides, go for a float in the lazy river, jump into the icy cold-water pool, or have a water fight on a pirate ship! And there’s hardly anything better in cold, rainy weather than relaxing in a warm outdoor pool. The only problem: you’ll basically have to drag the kids out by their feet.

There’s much to discover at the Bern Animal Park, Dählhölzli. On wet days, the vivarium with its snakes, crocodiles, insects, fish and monkeys offers such a wide variety of fascinating creatures that you can easily spend half a day there. Other highlights for children include the feeding of the seals, the covered puffin enclosure, and the labyrinth-like building where you get to see the bears up close. Good to know: parts of the park can be visited for free, this includes the petting zoo with its cool playground. When it comes time to eat, there are two places to choose from, the Eulen Bistro and the Dählhölzli restaurant – which obviously have a playground and a fun kids’ play area, respectively.

Switzerland’s most famous fine biscuit brand has been around for over 111 years. To celebrate the big anniversary, Kambly pulled out all the stops and updated the Kambly Experience: the ingredient wall offers interesting facts about the local suppliers and their products, and a movie shows how the company’s iconic fine biscuits are made. The gingerbread house takes visitors on a journey through Kambly’s rich history, and in the play area, children can become train drivers or bakers. At only 35 minutes by train from Bern, it’s perfect for a day trip!

Bern has no less than three municipal indoor swimming pools – the Bernese are so enthusiastic about swimming that the 50-metre Neufeld indoor pool was opened in September 2023, inviting you to enjoy a dip. In the federal city, swimming is considered an important skill from an early age – after all, you want to take the plunge into the wonderful River Aare at some point – so you’ve got to practise, practise, practise! And that’s where the indoor pools come in. They’re perfectly suited: the learning pools at Wylerbad and Weyermannshaus, for example, are kept at a pleasant 30-32°C. The Neufeld indoor pool is not only a wellness oasis for parents and a place for children to swim, but also a national training centre for professionals, and it is fully wheelchair accessible (including a pool lift). On Sunday afternoons during the winter months, Wylerbad and Weyermannshaus are filled with inflatable toys and open only to families.s.