Bulle

Bulle is the main town of the Gruyère region, in the French-speaking canton of Fribourg. It is not as pretty as its famous neighbour Gruyères, the walled village on the hill five kilometres away, but it is a real working town: the market centre of the region for more than eight hundred years, with a castle, two old churches and the best museum of the area.

For visitors, Bulle is above all the hub. Trains and buses for Gruyères, Broc and its chocolate factory, Lake Gruyère and the Moléson all run from here. If you are exploring the region without a car, you will pass through Bulle, and it makes a practical base.

What to see

The old town

The old centre is a long rectangle, about 400 by 150 metres, with two parallel main streets, the castle at the southern end and the parish church at the northern end. Almost the whole town burned in 1805. It was rebuilt with wider streets and a large market square where some rows of houses had stood, so most of what you see dates from the early 19th century. The town walls and gates were demolished in the 1930s.

The castle

The Château de Bulle was built in the 13th century by the bishops of Lausanne, who owned the town. It is a square castle in the Savoyard style, with a massive round keep, 33 metres high, at its south-east corner, and smaller towers at the other three. It has changed little since the Middle Ages. Today it houses the district administration, so you can admire it from outside but not visit it.

The Musée gruérien

The museum of the Gruyère region, in a modern building of 1978, is the place to understand the region: farmhouse interiors, painted furniture, cheese-making and the seasonal move of the herds to the alpine pastures, folk art and local history. It is good on a rainy day and works well with children.

The churches

• Saint-Pierre-aux-Liens, the parish church, stands on the site of a very old church, mentioned as early as the 9th century. It burned in 1478 and again in the fire of 1805, and took its present form in 1812–16.
• Notre-Dame-de-Compassion, next to the castle, built in 1663–88 for a Capuchin friary, with a Baroque high altar and a large collection of votive pictures. Its statue of the Virgin drew pilgrims from as far as Savoy and Franche-Comté.

A short history

Bulle is first mentioned in the 9th century. From early on it belonged to the bishops of Lausanne, and for centuries the bishops and the counts of Gruyère quarrelled over it. The bishops kept the town, built its walls in the 1230s and its castle later in the century, and made it the market for the whole valley.

During the Burgundian Wars, in January 1476, Bulle made an alliance with Fribourg, which spared it from being plundered by the victorious Swiss. When Bern conquered the Vaud in 1536, the bishop fled to Fribourg, and Bulle soon passed under Fribourg’s rule; that is why it stayed Catholic. For the next centuries it lived on the trade in cattle and cheese. The railway arrived in 1868 and brought a new period of growth.

Getting there

Bulle is reached by regional train from Fribourg or from Romont on the main Lausanne–Bern line. From Zurich or Bern, change in Fribourg or Romont; the whole trip from Zurich takes about two and a half hours. From Bulle, trains continue to Gruyères, Broc and up the valley to Montbovon, with connections on to Montreux, and buses run to the Moléson and around the lake.

By car, Bulle is just off the A12 motorway between Bern and Vevey.

For regional passes and fares, see tickets and passes.

Around Bulle

• Gruyères, the castle and the walled village on the hill, and the show dairy in the valley below. See also cheese dairies.
• Broc, with the Cailler chocolate factory.
• The Moléson, the local mountain, reached by funicular and cable car, with wide views over the region on a clear day.
• Lake Gruyère, a reservoir on the Sarine, with a lakeside path.
• Fribourg, the cantonal capital, half an hour away.