St. Peter's Island

St. Peter's Island is a small wooded peninsula (technically a former island, now connected to the Lake Biel shore by a narrow strip of land) that juts into the southern end of the lake about 25 km from Biel. Boat services from Biel and Nidau run in summer and are the most pleasant way to reach it; the journey takes about 45 minutes and passes the vineyards on the lake's northern shore. The island has one building of any size — a former Cluniac monastery that now operates as a hotel and restaurant — and is otherwise a nature reserve with walking trails through woodland and along the shore.

The Rousseau connection is well marked and the room he occupied in the monastery can be visited. The vineyards around the island's causeways produce a white wine (mostly Chasselas) that is sold at the estate and drunk locally — it rarely appears in export markets. The lake views from the shore are outstanding in clear weather, with the Jura hills behind and the Bernese Alps visible to the southeast.

things to do sight
A story
Jean-Jacques Rousseau spent two months on St. Peter's Island in the autumn of 1765, driven here after being expelled from the canton of Bern. He called it the happiest period of his life, describing days spent botanising, rowing, and doing nothing in particular in his "Reveries of a Solitary Walker." The Bernese authorities gave him ten days to leave; he asked if he could spend the winter instead. They refused. He was fifty-three years old and would never find that peace again.