Why Switzerland Hasn't Got A Capital City

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Bern is home to the Swiss government, parliament and large parts of the administration, but it's not officially the capital of Switzerland. Rather, it bears the title“federal city”. Why? This content was published on March 29, 2025 - 11:00 4 minutes

I cover topics related to the Swiss Abroad and Swiss specialities, also producing a daily briefing for the Swiss Abroad community. I studied communication sciences, then worked as a reporter and video journalist for private radio and television. I have worked for SWI swissinfo in various roles since 2002.

• More from this auth
• German Departme

• Deutsch de Warum die Schweiz keine Hauptstadt hat Original Read more: Warum die Schweiz keine Hauptstadt ha
• Français fr Pourquoi la Suisse n'a pas de capitale Read more: Pourquoi la Suisse n'a pas de capital
• Italiano it Perché la Svizzera non ha una capitale Read more: Perché la Svizzera non ha una capital
• 中文 zh 瑞士为什么没有首都 Read more: 瑞士为什么没有首

If you ask foreigners for the capital of Switzerland, they often say Zurich or Geneva. These aren't crazy answers, since Zurich is the largest and economically most important Swiss city and Geneva is the centre of international organisations.

But they're wrong. And so is Bern! Although the government, parliament, the Federal Chancellery and much of the federal administration are based in Bern, it's not called the capital. This is because Switzerland is Switzerland – meaning complicated, historically established and rather pragmatic solutions.

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