Bellevue Palace Bern

Bellevue Palace Bern

The lobby windows at Bellevue Palace Bern face toward the Swiss Parliament building, with the River Aare curling beneath the old town and the Bernese Alps showing themselves on clear afternoons. Across five floors and 126 rooms, twenty-five of them suites, the hotel belongs to The Leading Hotels of the World, a membership that sets it apart from the rest of Bern's luxury hotels. Deluxe and Superior rooms add blackout blinds and soundproofing, plus air conditioning, minibar, bathrobe and slippers as standard, and suites run up to 570 square feet for groups who need the extra room. Downstairs there is a sauna, steam room and spa, a gym and fitness area, ski storage for anyone heading to the mountains after Bern, and, less expected in a building this formal, a casino alongside a library and picnic area. A conference hall and meeting rooms accommodate business travelers, and staff move between English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Portuguese without missing a beat. Pets are welcome for a nightly fee, and children under sixteen skip the city tax, though a 250 CHF per-guest deposit and 28 CHF daily parking are not for guests counting every franc. Theater am Zytglogge, Zahringerbrunnen and the French Church are all close enough to reach on foot before dinner. This suits the traveler who wants Bern's political and old town core within walking distance without giving up a polished room; it suits less the guest chasing anonymity, since the front door faces a national government building. What stays with you is the Parliament framed in the window, a government at work outside while the room stays quiet. Bellevue Palace Bern sits beside the Swiss Parliament building with the Aare and the Alps in view, a Leading Hotels of the World property with its own casino and spa. It suits central, political Bern over anonymity or budget rates.