About Ballenberg
Available: mid April-late October
Example travel costs
Bernese Oberland Regional Pass: FREE travel
Swiss Travel Pass: FREE travelÂ
Half Fare Card: 12 Sfr return from Interlaken
Entrance payable locally: 32 Sfr per adult and 16 Sfr per child (6-16 years). FREE entry with the Swiss Travel Pass; 25% discount with the Bernese Oberland Pass.
At the Ballenberg Open Air Museum, Switzerland is just as it once was. One hundred original, century-old buildings from all over Switzerland, original gardens and fields, demonstrations of traditional handicrafts, lots of special events, and 250 farmyard animals recreate a vivid impression of the past in rural Ballenberg.
Ballenberg is living testimony to Switzerland's rich cultural heritage. The clock is turned back as visitors are given a vivid glimpse of what it was like to live and work in the countryside in the old days. Farm animals grazing in rich pastures, well-tended fields and vegetable gardens in and around the farmhouses, and demonstrations of traditional crafts help make Ballenberg come alive. Some visitors choose to join the guided tours, others prefer to stroll around on their own with a digital guide which can be downloaded.
The Ballenberg museum is open 10.00 - 17.00.
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Contact us to book your holiday
Call us on 0800 619 1200 or email us at info@swissholidayco.com
Highlights
Traditional Swiss buildings
Have a look round the kitchens, bedrooms and parlours of houses and farm buildings from the 14th to 19th centuries reconstructed in their natural state. In the extensive grounds (a total area of 660,000m2),  you can see typical houses and settlements from almost every canton in Switzerland.
Restaurants
You soon work up an appetite in an open air museum. Luckily there are three welcoming restaurants catering for both your hunger and thirst. There is the old inn 'Alter Bären' at the west entrance (Hofstetten), the attractive restaurant 'Degen' in the heart of the museum grounds and a chalet style building, the restaurant 'Wilerhorn' situated at the easily accessible east entrance (Brienzwiler) on the Brünig Pass route.Â
Farm animals
In the grounds of the museum - unique in Switzerland - 250 native farm animals are represented: bees, pigeons, birds, hens, ducks, geese, rabbits, goats, sheep, pigs, cattle and oxen, horses and donkeys. At Ballenberg you'll be amazed to find some farmyard animals that were in danger of becoming extinct. You and your children can see examples of all the different kinds of farm animals which are found in Switzerland. You can even pet some of them!Â
Handcrafts
Craftsmen demonstrate traditional crafts and trades: baking bread, fine crochet work, wood carving, hat making, cheese making, lime burning, bobbin-lace making, cooking, basket weaving, bonemeal grinding, oil pressing, silk ribbon weaving, sawmill, saddlery, shingle making, forging, chocolate production, spinning, embroidery, hand-knitted lacework, pottery, weaving and barrel making. There are daily craft demonstrations.
Regular exhibits and numerous publications help visitors to better understand rural life in the past.Â
Horse drawn carriage rides
A 12 seat carriage is available for you to enjoy a charming horse-drawn ride around the Ballenberg site. Prices vary according to the route that you take; a ride from the West entrance all the way to the East (or vice versa) is 30 Sfr for 2 people.Â
Schwingen - traditional Swiss wrestling
New for this year are demonstrations of the traditional wrestling known as Schwingen. Enjoy the display of this unique Swiss activity ... and have a go yourself!
Directions
The Ballenberg Open Air Museum lies at the heart of Switzerland between Meiringen and Interlaken and is also easily reached from Lucerne.
Take the train to the towns of Brienz or Brünig and from there the regular bus from the stations Ballenberg West or Ballenberg East.
Please check before travel for maintenance closures.Â
Request your holiday quotation
Call us on 0800 619 1200 or email us at info@swissholidayco.com