Kursaal Bern, congress centre and concert hall in Bern, Switzerland

Kursaal Bern is a congress and event centre at the northern end of the Kornhausbrücke in the Altenberg quarter, opposite Bern's old town. It contains 27 congress rooms between 18 and 1,700 square metres, the 163-room Swissôtel Kursaal Bern, two restaurants, a bar and the Grand Casino Bern. The Arena and Forum, reopened in 2012, raised capacity for large events to 1,500 people.

The site, called Gandegg in the Middle Ages, became the Schänzli area after a planned military earthwork was never built. In 1858 merchant Emanuel Lanz opened a summer restaurant there, and in 1903 hoteliers founded the Kursaal and Summer Casino Society Schänzli to prevent villa development. A new building with concert hall and lift tower followed for the 1914 national exhibition, which was cancelled at the outbreak of World War I.

The name Kursaal comes from the German "Kur" (cure) and "Saal" (hall), though Bern's was built for leisure, not cures. The site was long called Gandegg, then Schänzli from a planned military entrenchment never built. Since 1858, when merchant Emanuel Lanz opened a summer tavern in Laubsägeli style, it has hosted music and theatre; the Schänzli-Theater was often run in summer by directors of the Stadttheater Bern.

Kursaal Bern stands at the northern end of the Kornhausbrücke in the Altenberg quarter, opposite Bern's old town; the Altenbergsteg footbridge and the Kornhausbrücke connect it to the centre. The building holds 27 conference rooms ranging from 18 to 1,700 square metres, plus the Arena and Forum, which together take up to 1,500 people for large events.

The rooftop terrace is named Meridiano, after the Michelin-starred restaurant that operated here until the end of 2019 under chef Fabian Raffeiner and sommelier Giovanni Ferraris. Its summer grill concept began in 2017, and the winter igloos followed as an extension of it. The terrace looks across the Aare to Bern's old town.