Known in German as Biel and in French as Bienne, the city is truly bilingual. While Freiburg might advertise itself as being legally bilingual and give French preferred typefaces on signs, Biel treats both languages equally. When you walk into a store, you’re greeted by a “Grüesse” followed by a “Bonjour”, which reminds me of post offices in Vancouver that greet customers with a “Hello” followed by a “Bonjour”.
Reminds me of East Germany 
Brutalist Congress Center 
Very Swiss bus stop 
Canal at Zentralplatz
In public, the buses provide announcements in both languages and street signs display both languages in the same font size, conferring equal preference to both languages. In addition to French and German, nearly 8% of the population speaks Italian, and those in the service industry have a good command of English. You can learn all of this in the Neues Museum Biel where they currently have a special exhibition on the city’s bilingualism until the end of March.
Neues Museum Biel 
Exhibition on biligualism
The old town looks French at first sight with residential architecture not unlike that of Neuchâtel, but a closer inspection of street life reveals German shop signage mixed in with French and the occasional Italian shop. Some shops even have signs mixed in both languages such as a French shop name with opening hours listed in German. While it is true that Switzerland is multilingual, the official languages are largely localised in their own areas with few cities like Biel that mix in two languages.
Tower 
Vennerbrunnen 
French-looking houses 
Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen
There are two funicular railways in Biel that bring you up to the Jura mountains. The one with the nice view is the one up to Evilard at 697 meters above sea level. The train comes once every quarter hour so you can stay up there and enjoy the view without worrying about transportation for the way down.
Funicular 
View of Biel
