Candle dipping in Bern: the hour missing from the calendar
✓ Checked at the source · as of 19 October 2026
Bern holds both ends of our calendar's price scale: the country's lowest published wax price — tied with Basel — and the only place where you choose what you pay. It also hides a trap: a time that appears on no opening-hours sign.
📅 Dates 2026 — when and where
3 events across 32 days – on 7 of them you can choose between 3.
Kerzenziehen im Kirchgemeindehaus Marien
✓Friday, 20 November 2026 – Wednesday, 2 December 2026 · 13 days
- Organiser
- Reformierte Kirchgemeinde Bern-Nord und Katholische Pfarrei St. Marien
Source: kirchen-nordquartier-bern.ch · checked on 8 September 2026
Kerzenziehen auf dem unteren Waisenhausplatz
✓Sunday, 29 November 2026 – Sunday, 6 December 2026 · 8 days
- Organiser
- Verein «Kerzenziehen für Jung und Alt, Bern»
Source: kerzenziehen.ch · checked on 8 September 2026
Kerzenziehen im Innenhof des Berner Generationenhauses
✓Monday, 30 November 2026 – Wednesday, 23 December 2026 · open 21 of 24 days
- Organiser
- Berner Generationenhaus in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Verein UND Generationentandem
Source: begh.ch · checked on 19 October 2026
🕐 Opening hours 2026
Usually open until 20:00 – most events in the calendar close earlier.
Sun 29.11 10:00–18:00 (last entry 17:00) · Mon 30.11 to Sat 05.12 10:00–20:00 (last entry 19:00) · Sun 06.12 10:00–15:00 (last entry 14:00)
Mon–Fri 12:00–19:00 · Sat 10:00–17:00 · closed Sundays · Fri 11 Dec and Wed 23 Dec 12:00–17:30
🗓️ Open today?
8 days fall on a Saturday or Sunday – enter your day and the check tells you what is open.
📅 Visit-Day Check by ConvivaPlus
Pick the day you are free — the answer comes from the verified ConvivaPlus dataset, not from a run you have to work out in your head.
Calculated from the ConvivaPlus dataset — every date with its own source above.
🚋 Transport & access
2 of the 3 venues are less than 300 metres from a stop, as the crow flies.
- Meeting point
- Kirchgemeindehaus Marien, Untergeschoss, Wylerstrasse 26, 3014 Bern
- Nearest stop
- Bern, Wyleregg (BUS) — 165 m as the crow flies
- Meeting point
- Unterer Waisenhausplatz, 3011 Bern
- Meeting point
- Berner Generationenhaus, Bahnhofplatz 2, 3011 Bern
- Nearest stop
- Bern, Bahnhof (BUS · TRAM) — 41 m as the crow flies
Coordinates © swisstopo · Stops: opentransportdata.swiss (FOT)
📋 Good to know before you go
- As of 08.09.2026 the organiser publishes the period and the price, but not yet any opening hours («a flyer with opening hours and further details will follow»).
- Mind the address: the event is not held in the Markuskirche, but in the Marien parish house at Wylerstrasse 26.
- Mind the last entry: it is one hour before closing, and on the final Sunday as early as 14:00. Anyone going by the closing time instead of the last entry arrives too late.
- Prices: beeswax CHF 4.20/100 g, coloured wax CHF 4.00/100 g.
- Time needed according to the organiser: beeswax candle thickness 1 (2 cm) one hour, thickness 2 (5 cm) 2 to 3 hours. Coloured wax is much faster (thickness 1: 30 minutes).
- With beeswax you can dip up to 8 candles at once, with coloured wax only one.
- Schools and groups only Mon–Fri in the morning (09:00–10:30 or 10:30–12:00), 90 minutes maximum, registration mandatory up to two weeks before the start. Registered groups receive a 10% discount.
- Groups Mon–Fri 10:00–12:00, by advance reservation only with the association UND Generationentandem.
- The dipping takes place in wooden huts in the inner courtyard; hosts help where needed.
✨ Highlights on site
What sets this candle-dipping session apart is not in its run dates.
On the lower Waisenhausplatz stands the only tent in our calendar whose dipping stations are staggered by height: eight stations at different levels so a child and an adult can work the same wax side by side without either standing on tiptoe. The association has run the event since 1991. The tent is heated – in a city where the wind sweeps the square at the end of November, that is not a footnote.
But the real Bernese peculiarity is a time printed on no sign: the last admission.
And then there is the price, twice over in the same city.
Which Bernese price model convinces you?
One click – anonymous, no sign-up required.
🎯 Practical tips for your visit
Bern spreads its candle dipping across the city centre, a residential district and the station area.
- 1The type of wax decides the time, not just the priceThe association reckons on roughly an hour for a thin beeswax candle and two to three for a thick one.
- 2Groups: mornings only, booking two weeks ahead, 10 % discountSchools and groups dip Monday to Friday in two 90-minute morning slots. Bookings must arrive two weeks before the season starts; registered groups get a 10 per cent discount.
📊 Season comparison with nearby places
None of the 3 neighbours in the chart ends later.
Each bar is a documented run. Dark = this session, pale = the nearest ones. Read a single date and you miss that the neighbouring village has already packed up when the wax here is only just warming.
- BernKerzenziehen im Kirchgemeindehaus Marien · Kerzenziehen auf dem unteren Waisenhausplatz · Kerzenziehen im Innenhof des Berner Generationenhauses
More candle dipping in the canton of Bern
All of the canton of Bern →❓ FAQ — answered
Answers from the verified dataset – no date carried over from last year.
People also ask
Related questions from our magazine
The one on the Uetliberg: it starts in November and only ends on 3 January 2027 – the only session in the calendar past New Year.
In Basel: on Barfüsserplatz and in the Fairytale Forest on Münsterplatz, dipping is part of the Christmas market and therefore runs almost to Christmas Eve.
The ConvivaPlus verdict
Bern has the most differentiated candle-dipping landscape in the calendar: a large heated tent with height-adjusted stations for the classic family afternoon, a neighbourhood offering at the country's lowest price and a courtyard with a self-chosen contribution. If you know what you want, this city has it in every price bracket.
What Bern does not offer is duration. The Waisenhausplatz tent runs for only 24 days. Anyone thinking about candles in the second half of December will find nothing left in this city and has to fall back on the national calendar.
When we last checked: As of 8 September 2026 the Marien parish house had not yet published its opening hours («flyer to follow»); that is flagged above – check before travelling. The basis is the ConvivaPlus-Kerzenzieh-Kalender 2026: every entry was read individually at its source for the ConvivaPlus calendar — this ConvivaPlus verdikt rests on nothing else.
Check the latest: ConvivaPlus candle-dipping dataset 2026 – Bern →
🗓️ At the same time in the canton of Bern
- ✨ Light trails in the canton of BernSat 17 Oct – Sun 10 Jan
- 🏊 Winter swimming in the canton of Bernfrom Sat 24 Oct
- 🏮 Turnip lanterns in the canton of BernFri 13 Nov · Sat 28 Nov
- ✨ Christmas markets in the canton of BernThu 19 Nov – Sun 27 Dec
- 🛍️ Sunday shopping in the canton of BernSun 29 Nov · Sun 6 Dec · Sun 13 Dec · Sun 20 Dec
- 🚂 Festive rides in the canton of BernSun 6 Dec – Sun 20 Dec
- 🎅 St Nicholas in the canton of BernSun 6 Dec
How we check
According to the ConvivaPlus calendar, 24 of the 52 confirmed events this season start earlier than this one and 26 later.
Every date comes from the organiser's, the municipality's or the canton's own site — never from an aggregator, never copied over from last year. Next to each source is the date we last read it.
Something missing or changed? A note below is enough; we check it at the source.
ConvivaPlus Editor · Family & Day Trips
Writes about day trips, family and local life – honestly assessing what's worth it.
- Day trips
- Family
- Local
- Cities & regions
All information without guarantee. Found an error? → support@conviva-plus.ch
The only place in the calendar with a tiered solidarity price: you choose the price per candle yourself — CHF 4.– for a small budget, CHF 8.– to cover costs, CHF 12.– as a solidarity price.
Found an error or have feedback? Let us know or write to us directly.
🕯️ Candle dipping · 19 October 2026