Swiss Alps 🇨🇭 Bernese Highlands

Swiss Alps 🇨🇭 Bernese Highlands Rosenlaui Gletscherschlucht


The Bernese Oberland (German: Berner Oberland; Alemannic German: Bärner Oberland; French: Oberland bernois; "Bernese Highlands") is the higher part of the canton of Bern, Switzerland, in the southern end of the canton, and one of the canton's five administrative regions (in which context it is referred to as Oberland without further specification).

The region consists of the area around Meiringen and Hasliberg up to Grimsel Pass (2,164 m [7,100 ft]), around Lake Thun (558 m [1,831 ft]) and Lake Brienz, and the valleys of many high mountains with the towering Jungfrau Peak (4,158 m [13,642 ft]), the area southwest of the Lake Thun with Kandersteg (connection to the Valais) and Adelboden, and the area round Gstaad and Lenk in the Simmental. The mountain range in the Berner Oberland south of the Aare and north of the Rhône are collectively called the Bernese Alps.

The flag of the Berner Oberland consists of a black eagle in a gold field (in reference to the region's old status as reichsfrei) over two fields in the cantonal colours of red and black.

The Swiss German dialects spoken in the Berner Oberland are Highest Alemannic German, contrasting with the High Alemannic Bernese German spoken in Bern and the northern parts of the canton.

In the short-lived Helvetic Republic (1798–1803), the Berner Oberland was a separate canton.