City venue guide

The 10 best wedding venues in Thun

Thun splits its weddings between the lakeshore and the old town. Schloss Schadau, the Gothic Revival house standing in its own park at the mouth of the Aare, and the medieval Rittersaal inside Schloss Thun take most of the historic bookings; Hotel Seepark absorbs the large guest lists, and the converted goods warehouse at FrachtRaum takes couples who want no gilding at all. Further along the shore the choice widens to Schloss Oberhofen, Parkhotel Gunten and the castle church at Spiez, and the BLS fleet can be chartered from the landing stage beside Thun station. Almost all of it is seasonal: most of the historic rooms open in May and shut again in October.

Researched and last reviewed 2026-08-26. We have no commercial relationship with any venue listed.

Thun, Switzerland — where couples marry — Thun · Photo: chensiyuan · CC BY-SA 4.0

Schloss Schadau — wedding venue in Thun, Switzerland

Photo: schloss-schadau.ch

No. I

Schloss Schadau

Lakeside châteauSchadaupark, ThunUp to 80 guests by the lake or in the Rougemont-Saal

Built between 1847 and 1852 for the Neuchâtel banker Denis Alfred de Rougemont, to plans by James Victor Colin and the Paris-trained Pierre-Charles Dusillon, this Gothic Revival house has belonged to the city of Thun since 1925 and has run a restaurant on the ground floor since 1928. Weddings take up to 80 guests either on the grass at the water's edge or inside the Rougemont-Saal; smaller parties use the salons on the first floor. The registry office comes out to the lake for Thursday afternoons in season, fitting as many as six couples into one sitting. The castle keeps a private landing stage, so guests can arrive by boat rather than car, and a few minutes through the park stands the church of Scherzligen, first documented in 762 and seating 140 — which is why a fair number of couples book here for the church and treat the castle as the reception.

Its own landing stage on the lake

Visit venue site Get an invitation for Schloss Schadau

Schloss Thun — wedding venue in Thun, Switzerland

Photo: schlossthun.ch

No. II

Schloss Thun

Medieval castleSchlossberg 1, above the old town60 seated in the Rittersaal, 130 standing

Up on the Schlossberg, the donjon raised for Berthold V of Zähringen around 1190 holds the Rittersaal, which the castle lets for banquets and standing receptions. It seats 60 at CHF 700 for the first hour and CHF 150 for each hour after, holds 130 at a standing apéro, and runs no kitchen, so a professional caterer is your own arrangement. The constraints are real and worth knowing early: the hall is unheated and bookable only between 1 May and 31 October, and then only from about 17:15 in the evening; the courtyard below it, good for 100 standing and open year-round until 21:30, has no roof and is used only in dry weather. Heritage-protection rules also forbid dancing or concerts with guests on their feet, which decides the shape of the evening before you do.

Unheated medieval hall, May to October only

Visit venue site Get an invitation for Schloss Thun

Hotel Seepark Thun — wedding venue in Thun, Switzerland

Photo: seepark.ch

No. III

Hotel Seepark Thun

Lakeside hotelSchadaupark, ThunUp to 170 at a banquet in the Saal Genève

When the guest list outgrows the castles, the four-star superior Seepark at Seestrasse 47 is the practical answer: seventeen function rooms in the same Schadaupark as the castle and directly on the water. The Saal Genève is the largest, taking 170 for a wedding banquet and up to 320 in a lecture layout, with the Parksaal at 120 and the Seesaal at 90 behind it. Ceremonies go on the Seeterrasse at the water's edge or the roof terrace, and three terraces in all are free for the apéro — the Parkterrasse and Dachterrasse hold 150 each. Ninety-one rooms and suites sit above the event floors, which removes the late-night transport problem entirely: nobody has to leave the building.

The largest banquet room on the lakefront

Visit venue site Get an invitation for Hotel Seepark Thun

Deltapark Vitalresort — wedding venue in Thun, Switzerland

Photo: deltapark.ch

No. IV

Deltapark Vitalresort

Spa resortGwatt, ThunUp to 200 across eleven modular rooms

Gwatt, at the southern edge of the municipality, is where the Kander empties into Lake Thun, and the Deltapark occupies some 70,000 square metres of parkland on that delta. Eleven modular rooms scale from a handful of people up to 200 and open onto the grounds; three restaurants, a spa of more than 2,000 square metres over four floors, 91 rooms and two lake villas sit around them. Worth raising at the first enquiry: the house advertises wedding apéros rather than full-day receptions, so pin down the format before you fall for the setting. It suits a weekend better than an evening either way — the kind of booking where guests arrive on Friday and are still swimming on Sunday.

Seventy thousand square metres of delta parkland

Visit venue site Get an invitation for Deltapark Vitalresort

No. VFrachtRaum Thun

No. V

FrachtRaum Thun

Converted warehouseSeestrasse 14, by Thun station80 seated, 120 standing

Five minutes' walk from Thun station, a former goods warehouse on Seestrasse now trades as one open event floor — industrial volume, but planted and softened rather than stripped back. It takes 80 seated or 120 standing, and the house supplies the staging and technical kit as part of the hire: stage, sound, microphones, projector and screen, lighting. Catering is the clause to read twice, since it runs through a single fixed partner rather than a caterer of your own choosing. Access is barrier-free, four parking spaces come with the building, and the platforms are close enough that guests arriving from Bern or Zurich need not hire a car at all.

A goods warehouse five minutes from the platforms

Visit venue site Get an invitation for FrachtRaum Thun

Restaurant Zündkapselfabrik — wedding venue in Thun, Switzerland

Photo: zuendkapselfabrik.ch

No. VI

Restaurant Zündkapselfabrik

Riverside restaurantUttigenstrasse 14, on the AareUp to 120 in the main hall

The name is literal — this is the old percussion-cap works on the Aare at Uttigenstrasse, now a restaurant run by Stiftung TRANSfair, which has been creating adapted workplaces for people living with mental-health conditions since 1995. The main hall seats up to 120 and can be dressed to whatever scheme a couple brings, and three terraces step down to the river, one of them gravelled, for the apéro. Weekday lunch is the everyday trade, with a buffet running between 11:30 and 13:30; evenings and weekends are given over to private bookings, so a wedding party has the building to itself.

A former cap factory on the river

Visit venue site Get an invitation for Restaurant Zündkapselfabrik

Schloss Oberhofen — wedding venue in Thun, Switzerland

Photo: Alps · Public domain

No. VII

Schloss Oberhofen

Castle and lakeside parkOberhofen am ThunerseeUp to 100 in the Sommersaal; 40 in the chapel

Eight kilometres along the north shore, Oberhofen's castle stands with its foundations almost in the water and a park climbing behind it. The fifteenth-century chapel holds 40 for a ceremony, with flowers arranged on request for CHF 280; the Sommersaal takes 80 for the ceremony itself and 100 for an apéro, and the dining hall opening onto the castle terrace takes 80 for an apéro. Rooms come with tables and chairs, and the hire is priced by room, hours and head count. The Salle Harrach is the one room that can be heated, which is why it carries the winter bookings, and the curiosity is the Seetürmchen, a small tower out over the lake let by the hour at CHF 300 and seating eight — an elopement room in all but name.

Fifteenth-century chapel and a lake tower

Visit venue site Get an invitation for Schloss Oberhofen

Schloss Spiez — wedding venue in Thun, Switzerland

Photo: Yesuitus2001 at de.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 2.5

No. VIII

Schloss Spiez

Castle churchSpiez, on the southern shoreMaximum 120 in the Schlosskirche

What pulls couples up the lake to Spiez is the castle's own church rather than the castle itself. The Schlosskirche opens from 1 May to 31 October — it is unheated and very cold through the winter months — seats a maximum of 120, and costs CHF 790 for the hour, covering the sacristan, use of the castle organ (an organist is billed separately), a second room to wait in, church decoration in green and white, set-up and clearing, a wedding bell rung by hand, and a site visit beforehand. The church belongs to no parish, so the officiant is yours to find. Civil ceremonies move indoors to the Neuschloss on Friday afternoons for up to 30 guests at CHF 330 for the Gartensaal, and an outdoor ceremony in the grounds is capped at 60.

Castle church, 1 May to 31 October

Visit venue site Get an invitation for Schloss Spiez

Parkhotel Gunten — wedding venue in Thun, Switzerland

Photo: parkhotel-gunten.swiss

No. IX

Parkhotel Gunten

Lakeside garden hotelGunten, SigriswilUp to 80 seated

Trading on this stretch of shore since 1915, the Parkhotel pairs a banquet hall and salon holding 80 between them with a park of old trees running down to the water and a boathouse spa with direct lake access, its sauna and whirlpool on the sun deck. The house is unusually candid about outdoor ceremonies: it warns in writing that a ceremony in the park takes considerable effort and is often overtaken by rain, wind, temperature or glare, and steers couples towards a church ceremony with the apéro in the garden instead. Availability is the binding constraint rather than capacity — every date from May to the end of September 2026 was already reserved, with a waiting list running behind it.

Lake garden and a boathouse sauna

Visit venue site Get an invitation for Parkhotel Gunten

BLS Schifffahrt Thunersee — wedding venue in Thun, Switzerland

Photo: bls-schiff.ch

No. X

BLS Schifffahrt Thunersee

Charter steamerBLS landing stage, Seestrasse 9, Thun156 at a served meal; 750 licensed aboard the DS Blüemlisalp

Not a building at all: BLS runs about a dozen vessels across Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, three of them steam-powered, and any of them can be chartered from the landing stage at Seestrasse 9, beside Thun station. The one couples ask for is the Blüemlisalp of 1906, a paddle steamer with a saloon on each deck. Read its two capacity figures separately: the licence is for 750 passengers, but a seated wedding meal fits 156 — 146 with a buffet — split between a 64-seat saloon below and a 52-seat panorama restaurant above. Charters run to a two-hour minimum, and Friday and Saturday sailings carry a ten per cent surcharge on the total. Since Schloss Schadau has its own dock, a castle-then-boat itinerary needs no coaches.

A 1906 paddle steamer you can charter

Visit venue site Get an invitation for BLS Schifffahrt Thunersee

Marrying in Thun?

Want an invitation designed for your venue?

Tell us where you’re marrying in Thun, Switzerlandand we’ll build the invitation around it — the venue’s own colours, an illustration of the building if you want one, your map and timings already in place. One link for every guest, with live RSVPs.

Make ours for Thun See the designs

Planning a wedding in Thun

The legally binding civil ceremony is run by the Zivilstandsamt Oberland West, and the rooms licensed outside its own office are small and rationed — the Trauungslokal on the Schlossberg in Thun takes the couple plus 30 guests, Schloss Spiez runs Friday afternoons in the Neuschloss for 30 at CHF 330 for the room, and Schloss Schadau hosts the registry in the Rougemont-Saal on Thursday afternoons several times a year, with as many as six couples slotted into a single afternoon. Schadau also caps how far ahead you can hold a date: reservations more than two years out are taken only for parties of 60 or more. Two summer facts are worth planning around: the Thunerseespiele occupy the lake stage at the Lachen from 7 July to 21 August in 2027 and draw roughly 75,000 people over 28 performance days, which tightens hotel supply; and the Rittersaal at Schloss Thun is unheated, so it takes no bookings at all between November and the end of April.

When to marry — May to early October is the working season and September is the sensible pick within it, since July is both the warmest month in Thun and among its wettest, and it collides with the Thunerseespiele.
What it costs — Swiss planning guides put a 60-to-80-guest wedding somewhere between CHF 25,000 and CHF 55,000, with a working rule of thumb of CHF 180 to CHF 250 per guest all-in — the local caveat being that Thun's historic venues bill room hire separately and several expect you to bring your own caterer, so a headline figure like the Rittersaal's CHF 700 buys the first hour of the room and nothing on the plate. At Schloss Thun the set-up and clearing labour is charged on top of that, at CHF 60 per person per hour.

Once the venue is settled, the next thing most couples deal with is telling everyone. A digital wedding invitation carries the address, a map, your timings and a live RSVP on one link — which matters more than usual when guests are travelling to Thun and need directions, and plenty of notice.

Questions

Marrying in Thun: your questions.

Where does the legally binding civil ceremony happen in Thun?

It is conducted by the Zivilstandsamt Oberland West, either in the office's own room or in one of a short list of licensed outside venues. Those are the Trauungslokal on the Schlossberg in Thun (the couple plus 30 guests, with the apéro in the castle courtyard and the banquet in the Rittersaal afterwards), the Rougemont-Saal at Schloss Schadau, where the registry sits on Thursday afternoons several times a year and can marry up to six couples in one afternoon, the Sommersaal at Schloss Oberhofen on chosen dates, and the Neuschloss at Schloss Spiez on Friday afternoons for 30 at CHF 330 for the room. The handful of Thursday slots each year is the tightest part of the whole plan, so confirm the registry date with the office before you commit to a reception.

Can a couple living abroad legally marry in Thun?

In most cases, no. Canton Bern requires a partner who is not a Swiss citizen to demonstrate lawful residence in Switzerland for the whole of the preparation procedure and right up to the wedding day, which rules out a fly-in civil marriage for the great majority of non-resident couples. The usual route is to complete the civil marriage at home first and hold a free or religious ceremony here — the chapel at Schloss Oberhofen, the Schlosskirche at Spiez, the lawn at Schadau — with no registry involvement at all. Note that the Schlosskirche belongs to no parish, so you supply your own officiant there. If one of you does hold Swiss residence, check your own position with the Zivilstandsamt Oberland West before you book anything.

How far ahead do we need to book a venue in Thun?

Twelve to eighteen months for a summer Saturday. The pressure is structural rather than fashionable: the Rittersaal at Schloss Thun and the Schlosskirche at Spiez both run only from 1 May to 31 October, which compresses the year into five months, and the registry's outside dates are rationed to a few afternoons. Parkhotel Gunten had every date from May to the end of September 2026 taken with a waiting list behind it. Booking the civil slot first and fitting the reception around it is the safer order here, because the registry dates are the scarcer commodity — though note that Schloss Schadau will only hold a date more than two years out for parties of 60 or more.

What does a wedding in Thun actually cost?

Swiss planning figures point to CHF 180 to CHF 250 per guest all-in, and CHF 25,000 to CHF 55,000 for a day of 60 to 80 people. Room hire is frequently quoted separately in Thun: the Rittersaal at Schloss Thun is CHF 700 for the first banquet hour and CHF 150 for each hour after, the castle courtyard runs CHF 150 to CHF 500 for the first hour depending on numbers, and the Schlosskirche at Spiez is CHF 790 for the hour. Set-up and clearing labour at Schloss Thun is a further CHF 60 per person per hour. The most economical credible option for a small party is the castle cellar at Schloss Hünegg in Hilterfingen, let for CHF 490 and capped at 50 people — and, unusually for this lake, available year-round rather than only in summer. At any of the castles you are also paying a caterer on top, so compare the total cost per plate rather than the hire figure.

Keep looking

More wedding venues near Thun.

Biel Lucerne Emmen Lake Geneva Zug Basel Dietikon Zurich

Or browse every venue guide.

Marrying in Thun?

Want an invitation designed for your venue?

Make ours for Thun See the designs

The 10 best wedding venues in Thun

Researched and last reviewed 2026-08-26. We have no commercial relationship with any venue listed.

Planning a wedding in Thun

When to marry — May to early October is the working season and September is the sensible pick within it, since July is both the warmest month in Thun and among its wettest, and it collides with the Thunerseespiele.

What it costs — Swiss planning guides put a 60-to-80-guest wedding somewhere between CHF 25,000 and CHF 55,000, with a working rule of thumb of CHF 180 to CHF 250 per guest all-in — the local caveat being that Thun's historic venues bill room hire separately and several expect you to bring your own caterer, so a headline figure like the Rittersaal's CHF 700 buys the first hour of the room and nothing on the plate. At Schloss Thun the set-up and clearing labour is charged on top of that, at CHF 60 per person per hour.