Ballenberg Swiss Open-Air Museum
About
The Swiss Open-Air Museum Ballenberg is the only open-air museum in Switzerland. Covering an area of 66 hectares it shows everyday life in rural Switzerland. 110 historical buildings from all parts of the country can be discovered and visited at the Swiss Open-Air Museum Ballenberg. In addition to the buildings, over 30 traditional crafts are demonstrated on site, 200 farmyard animals can be seen and discovered and numerous exhibitions and attractions invite visitors to join in. At Ballenberg you experience Switzerland with all your senses.
Duration: More than 3 hours
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Admission tickets
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AU$56.32
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4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles946 reviews
Excellent
678
Very good
196
Average
51
Poor
15
Terrible
6

These reviews have been automatically translated from their original language.
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ozzie2010
Adelaide, Australia1,683 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
June 2024 • Solo
This is a fabulous open air museum, quite sizeable so needs a half day allocation of time (and stamina).
A wonderful collection of historical buildings, with furnishings and tools and clothing, gardens, farming equipment, animals.
Such an important cultural and historical collection, being added to with a school being rebuilt there over next 2 years.
The site is fantastic, surrounded by forest, so the walks between areas are so lovely.
The buildings are mostly grouped into regions, as the areas differ so much between the cantons.
This is a perfect outing for adults and children, lots of fun play areas, a willingness to allow visitors to explore and learn.
The staffed areas are also great - displaying local crafts or work, and chatting to visitors. That personal aspect really added to an already excellent site.
In typical Swiss efficient fashion, the museum has 2 entrances and is well serviced by local bus. It’s a nice way to see the local area behind Brienz on the way.
Written 24 June 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your great review! We are delighted that you enjoyed your visit to the Open-Air Museum Ballenberg. We hope to welcome you again soon. Kind regards from the Ballenberg team
Written 1 July 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

CK1890
Lincoln, UK65 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2022
The Open air museum is an excellent way of experiencing how Swiss people in various regions lived, farmed and organised their business and technology at different points in their history. There are preserved examples of numerous styles of houses from different regions of Switzerland as well as demonstrations of various skills: weaving, basket making, ceramics, bread making, cheese making etc. This site is huge. We only had 2 hours and we barely covered half of the site and we were trying to see as much as we could. Recommend enjoying this as a full day out.
Written 5 September 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you very much for your kind 5 star rating and your friendly commentary. We are happy to hear that you have spent a good day at the open-air museum Ballenberg. Maybe we can welcome you again someday? Best regards from Ballenberg
Written 3 October 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

W R
1 contribution
3.0 of 5 bubbles
July 2024 • Couples
Very interesting park, definitely worth seeing. Friendly staff. Too bad the whole park is defaced by completely inappropriate Helvetas advertising. It is also a pity that Simon Gfeller's stories are defaced in theatres. Despite appealing acting performances boring, punchy and witless. Entrances to the park at 3pm are full price, although everything closes around 5pm.
Automatically translated
Written 26 July 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Gaia B
5 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2024 • Friends
Absolutely worth visiting! The space is the buildings are cared for in every detail, the view is spectacular and the interactive proposals are interesting and suitable and every age.
Very welcome that dogs are allowed and that you can picnic in different parts of the park!
Impeccable cleanliness of both the park and the toilets!
I will definitely return!
Automatically translated
Written 27 October 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Grazie per l'ottima valutazione e il bel commento. Anche voi siete diventati fan del Ballenberg. Siamo già in attesa della vostra prossima visita! I migliori auguri dal team del Ballenberg
Written 30 October 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Monika
Interlaken, Switzerland74 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2023 • Couples
Beautiful every year, the houses well maintained and well preserved.
I am a huge Ballenberg fan and so a visit once a year is a must.
Unfortunately, many of the crafts are no longer “active” to admire, which is understandable a week before the end of the season and not so bad for us coming from Interlaken - but there were a lot of people who made a long journey and then were no longer able to experience less than half of the activities in operation.
It’s a shame and that at the full price of 32.-.
Gastronomically nothing has changed with the new tenants, they were so convinced that they would do it much better than the creators of gastronomy before, the plum cake was unfortunately still raw on the cake base for a whopping 7.50.
When we asked for sugar for our tea, the sugar packets were thrown down on the table from above, sorry, so there’s no tip.
Google
Written 23 October 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Vielen herzlichen Dank für dein positives Feedback und deine Treue zu unserem Freilichtmuseum Ballenberg. Gleichzeitig bedauern wir zu hören, dass dein letzter Besuch kurz vor Saisonende nicht ganz deinen Erwartungen entsprochen hat, insbesondere was die Vielfalt und Aktivität unserer Handwerksvorführungen betrifft. Wir bemühen uns, bis zum Saisonende ein möglichst umfassendes Erlebnis zu bieten, doch manchmal sind wir aufgrund verschiedener Umstände – etwa Verfügbarkeit der Handwerkerinnen und Handwerker oder Wartungsarbeiten – gezwungen, das Angebot zu reduzieren. Wir nehmen deine Rückmeldung sehr ernst und werden prüfen, wie wir die Kommunikation darüber verbessern können, um zukünftige Besucher besser über den aktuellen Stand der Aktivitäten zu informieren. Bezüglich der Gastronomie ist es bedauerlich zu hören, dass dein kulinarisches Erlebnis nicht zufriedenstellend war. Die Qualität unserer Speisen und der Service sind unserem Partnerbetrieb sehr wichtig, und was du beschreibst, entspricht nicht den Standards von Gehri-Food GmbH. Deine Erlebnisse bezüglich des Services und des Umgangs mit unseren Gästen nehmen wir sehr ernst, und wir entschuldigen uns für das Verhalten, das dir widerfahren ist. Wir werden dein Anliegen an die richtige Stelle weiterleiten. Vielen Dank für deine ehrlichen Worte und dass du dir Zeit genommen hast, uns dein Feedback zu geben. Wir hoffen, dass du uns auch in Zukunft die Gelegenheit gibst, dich von unserem vollen Potenzial zu überzeugen und dich wieder als Gast bei uns im Freilichtmuseum Ballenberg begrüssen zu dürfen.
Written 9 November 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Eiichi Katakawa
Buchs, Switzerland111 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2021 • Friends
Messer schmieden Kurs- a knife making course 3 days. It has open museum but also have many
Cultural and handcraft courses. All staff are friendly, relaxed, and also participants from the course as well as from other courses were very friendly. I just loved the experiencing of making own knives from a scratch. It started with hammering steel forging, handle crafting, polishing and sharpening, end to end. I’m a total novice, and never done anything of handcrafting. But it was lots of fun. Not only men but two ladies were there (out of 8 participants). Learning even from how to start coal fire. And I even managed to make two. Some made three to four knives. All equipments provided and plenty for all the participants. Very friendly and collaborating atomischem. I could get to lean forging knives at my face, and get personal advices according to individual levels. The instructor allows lots of freedom, too. He even let me design my own handgrips! Lots of new learning, lots of skills and tools to learn. I enjoyed every minutes. It is also very flexible instructor allows you learn and do something very specific and individual wishes.
Written 26 June 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you very much for your kind 5 star rating and your friendly commentary. We are happy to hear that you enjoyed your course at the Swiss Open-Air Museum Ballenberg. Maybe we can welcome you again someday? Best regards from Ballenberg
Written 28 June 2021
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

DayTrip41672364563
2 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2024 • Friends
We celebrated our anniversary in the Werkhofschopf. Cooperation with the Ballenberg, in terms of sightseeing, food, technology, special needs was very straightforward and courteous! The place is a dream and actually quite easy to reach by public transport. We only paid the admission, otherwise no rental fees. I would always recommend it as an event location!
Automatically translated
Written 2 September 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Vielen Dank für deine tolle Rückmeldung! Es freut uns sehr zu hören, dass ihr euer Jubiläum im Werkhofschopf Aarau gefeiert habt und die Zusammenarbeit so unkompliziert und angenehm war. Wir freuen uns auf euren nächsten Besuch im Freilichtmuseum Ballenberg!
Written 24 September 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

kpter
Kennebunkport, ME328 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2014 • Couples
We recently visited this open-air museum. We thought we would be there about 2 hours and we stayed almost 5 hours and still could have spent more time there. It is excellently executed-- the grounds of the museum are laid out like the shape of Switzerland and so the buildings are sited in the regions of the museum where they come from. So walking down to the Ticino area involves going down a hill to the southern section, as if going thru the San Bernardino pass (this is my supposition, it might not be totally correct). All the buildings from a region are grouped together, along with the appropriate crafts and folk customs and agriculture.
The buildings are well taken care of and have the appropriate housewares etc. As I recall, there was plenty of information in English. There are people doing crafts, such as a man making hats. Everything is spotless. We grabbed a sandwich and dessert in one place and ate at a nearby picnic table. There is a lot of walking and sometimes it was confusing trying to be sure you checked out all the buildings. I wish we could have taken the carriage ride but wasn't sure where to catch it and by then we had already been there for quite awhile (ride is an hour I think).
Lots of things for kids to do.
My only complaint- I did not see any info on the horses that were present. I wish the stables had been done when we were there.
As we walked along, we couldn't stop remarking about how wonderful this museum was.
Written 17 November 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear kpter Thank you a lot for you feedback and rating. We really appreciate it. We are actually improving the information about the animals. It is not always 100% satisfying for us either. We hope to see you soon again. Best regards
Written 19 November 2014
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Ade_246
Island of Malta, Malta36 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
July 2014 • Family
This is a huge outdoor museum, consisting of numerous buildings spread over a very large area, each representing an aspect of Swiss culture and history.
Four of us were charged a "Kombi Familie" rate of CHF50 for the whole family, which I think is quite reasonable.
We were encouraged to go by our hotel receptionist, who told us that there would be various live activities based on Swiss traditions and crafts. Indeed, when we entered we were given a list of activities. But after 2 hours of searching (signposting is very poor, and most of the staff cannot speak English) the closest we could find to a live activity was someone sweeping the floor of a bakery. The exhibits were all passive and static, and the only form of interaction was being told by the staff not to touch anything. My sons were even told off for ringing a cowbell.
In all it was a sterile and lifeless exhibition (at least when we visited). Its a pity, because this place has tremendous potential. If there was some animation and interaction activity, this could easily be a 5* attraction.
Also be warned: The parking meter at the park entrance does not give change and will keep all the money you give it.
Written 29 July 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

RaffiDublin
Dublin, Ireland47 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2014 • Friends
Ballenberg Open-Air Museum was a real treat; stepping back in time to see old traditions brought to life in hundreds of acres of alpine land that has been preserved and cultivated according to the Swiss traditions of old. There are several houses that are working museums and everything is interactive; you can learn how to weave a basket, how to bake bread, how to cultivate honey and if you’re as lucky as my travel companion and I were, you can even try some delicious home-made soup in an old farmhouse kitchen. Any food made in the houses is made using only ingredients that are sourced from the Ballenberg Museum farmland. Kids will enjoy petting the animals, such as pygmy goats, horses, donkeys, pigs and chickens and there are also playgrounds to keep them entertained.

Ballenberg has two entrance gates and there is a bus that you can get adjacent to the train station in Brienz that stops at both Ballenberg gates frequently, with a short journey time of approximately fifteen minutes each-way. Your Swiss Pass, if you have one, covers the cost of all public busses in Switzerland and also makes your admission to Ballenberg absolutely free-of-charge! Don't forget to visit the Ballenberg chocolate factory on your way in/out, where you can actually see chocolate being made and you can purchase a chocolate bar or two to bring home to friends as a perfect souvenir of your trip!
Written 19 August 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear Coby411 Thank you very much for your feedback. It is very nice and we appreciate it! I hope you enjoyed Switzerland as much you enjoyed Ballenberg. Take care and until next time. Best regards
Written 21 August 2014
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

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