Gurtenfestival 2027

Walk up instead of joining the Gurtenbahn queue: At peak times you’ll wait an hour or more for the funicular, while the footpath from Wabern takes around 30 to 40 minutes. You can check the current waiting times beforehand on the festival website.

The funicular is the bottleneck; on foot you usually get to the top faster.

Take the forest path from the Spiegel, Blinzern bus terminus (bus 19 from Bern station): It’s flatter and shadier than the steep climb from Wabern and ends at its own entrance next to the Waldbühne. Despite the official 25 minutes, allow more like half an hour or more.

Less crowding and less elevation gain than on the classic route next to the Gurtenbahn.

You can no longer camp on the Gurten: Most people sleep at home or with friends in Bern. If you still want to camp, do what some visitors do and go to the Eichholz campsite on the Aare instead.

The campsite was scrapped for lack of demand; the festival is mainly one for locals.

Pack light: Since 2026, only a backpack of up to 20 litres and a PET bottle of up to 0.5 litres are allowed; it used to be 3 litres of your own drinks. Refill the bottle at the roughly 150 free drinking water points.

The rules were tightened considerably in 2026; older tips mentioning 3 litres of your own drinks no longer apply.

Your wristband counts as a free ticket for trams, buses and the S-Bahn in Libero zones 100/101 (Moonliner excluded), and on the first festival nights extra trains left Wabern at 2.30 and 2.45 towards Biel/Solothurn and Thun. Many people also come by bike: There’s free bike parking at the Gurtenbahn.

It saves on ticket costs, and trams, buses and extra trains still run even after the last concerts.

You can leave cash and your bank card at home: You pay with the cashless card that you get at the wristband exchange and top up via QR code. Any remaining balance is automatically refunded within 7 days to the account you used last.

Only the card works at the stands, and you don’t have to worry about the remaining balance.