City-close high-altitude route

As a small “village within a village” the district Bi der Chilche lies somewhat outside the village center of Zimmerwald. From the bus stop at the church, walk back a few steps along the main road and then ascend between meadows to Waldhof. There is the Zimmerwald Observatory, used by the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern as an observatory and satellite observation station. With a gentle ascent, continue over the Allmid hiking trail junction towards Lisiberg. Despite the name, this is no actual mountain, but the view you enjoy is equal to a high alpine panorama: in lush splendor, the fields and forests of Längenberg stretch toward Lake Thun, above which extends the range of the Bernese high Alps. After a short descent on winding paths in the Kühlewil forest, you reach the hamlet of Egg with a slight ascent. Here begins probably the most beautiful part of the hike: more or less level paths with beautiful views to Jura and the Gantrisch range along the high route to the Zingghöch viewpoint. The descent to Oberscherli is accompanied by lovely views to the village of Oberbalm on the opposite side of the valley; the last section, however, runs through the forest and is quite steep. Köniz is considered the largest municipality in Switzerland without city status. For exemplary measures in preserving the village image, the municipality was awarded the Wakker Prize by the Swiss Heritage Society in 2012. 40,000 people live in the municipal area, which includes not only city-proximate centers like Liebefeld and Wabern but also distinctly rural villages, for example, Oberscherli. From here, a little more ascent is needed, up to Hübeli. Then follows mostly gentle, occasionally somewhat steeper descent through the Burisholz forest and finally through an impressive hollow way passage between sandstone rocks to Niederscherli.