See separate page at https://github.com/coreruleset/coreruleset/wiki/Dev-Retreat-2025-Topics

Sa Nov 22nd - Sa Nov 29th, Bern, Switzerland

Hotel Kreuz, Bern, Switzerland

Hotel Kreuz is right in the middle of Bern, the federal city of Switzerland. The beautiful old town house is only a few minutes’ walk from the main railway station, the Federal Palace and Zytglogge. The old town, shopping facilities under historic arcades and a wide range of cultural activities are just around the corner.

Bern is the political centre of Switzerland and it is well-known for its high quality of life, good cultural offering and tourist attractions. Bern is also home to international organisations and enterprises and it has gained itself a reputation as a place of research and science.

The Swiss capital with its UNESCO-listed old town, cathedral, clock tower, fountains and numerous arcades, is one of Switzerland’s most beautiful cities. Among all of the sights, the city also offers plenty of nature and a chance to refresh yourself on the River Aare (yes, even in winter but rather for the tough ones).

Zurich Airport has two direct train connections to Bern per hour.

Travel time Zurich Airport - Bern main station: 1 h 20 min

Geneva Airport has two direct train connections to Bern per hour.

Travel time Geneva Airport - Bern main station: 2 h 15 min

Basel Airport has no direct train connections to Bern, but you can take the bus and the train frequently from the airport to Basel main station and then take the direct train to Bern from there.

Travel time EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg - Bern main station: 1 h 30 min

Berne itself has a small airport but does not offer many commercial flights. From Bern Belp Airport you can reach Bern main station via bus and train or via bus and tram.

Travel time Bern Airport - Bern main station: 30 min

SBB, the official Swiss national rail services, offers connections from all four airports to Berne main station both first or second class.

The second class in Swiss trains is great for travel. The only downside can be that it can be quite full, depending on time, day of the week, and other factors.
First class travel is usually approximately twice the price of second class travel and usually offers more space.

In general, it is not necessary to reserve seats in Swiss trains, but you can do so if you want to be sure.

You can book your train at any station or online at https://sbb.ch.

Getting to Bern by car is simple and straightforward. Take one of the direct motorways in the direction of Geneva/Valais (A12), Zurich/Basel (A1) or the Bernese Oberland (A6), and you’ll be there in no time. Drive directly into Bern city and there into the direction of “Waisenhausplatz”. Right there is the multi storey car park Metro, just a few steps from the hotel entrance. For hotel guests, there is an advantageous night rate.

The Hotel Kreuz Bern is just a 5-minute walk from Bern’s main train station, offering a comfortable and eco-friendly way to reach the hotel. The nearest tram and bus stop to the hotel, "Bärenplatz" (Trams 6, 7, 8, 9, Bus 12), is only one stop from the main railway station and is only a 2-minute walk from the hotel.

From your very first overnight stay at the Hotel Kreuz in Bern, you will receive a Bern Ticket for your entire stay, which lets you travel for free on public transport in zones 100/101 (Berne city and close surroundings) operated by the Libero Association.
After you've received your Bern Ticket at the hotel, you can download the Bern Welcome app to use the ticket online (see here for a step-by-step guide).

In the city of Bern and in the canton of Bern "Bernmobil" is the main public transport provider.

Since the inner city is not huge you can easily get around on foot or by taking the tram or a bus for a few stops.

There's a lot of cheese, potatoes and meat in "traditional" Swiss cuisine. Fortunately, Bern is a fairly modern city with all manner of food vendors with many different backgrounds and foci. Vegan and vegetarian options can be found on most menus and there are many places that cater specifically to vegans and vegetarians.

Bern is a fairly safe city. As in every city, there are spots to avoid after darkness, and the occasional band of pickpockets. But in general, Bern might very well be the safest city you will ever visit.

The hotel is just a short walk away from the river Aare, which is great to jog along. It's also possible to jog in the city streets if you like that.

There's a nice little bouldering gym that I go to frequently. If anyone would like to join me, make sure to bring pants and t-shirt that can get dirty.

Bern has three public indoor swimmin pools. They're all a 20-30 minutes from the hotel. Find out more here.

There's an (apparently) very well known spa in Bern, a Hammam actually (I've never been, so I can't speak from personal experience).

The weather in Bern will be chilly, so pack warm clothes, shoes, gloves, a warm jacket, a warm cap (e.g., a beanie). It is possible that it might snow or rain, and in either case the streets may be slippery, so ideally your shoes should have a bit of grip.
Consider bringing a down jacket or thick jumper that you can wear in rooms that aren't well heated.

• November Mean Daily High: 7°C
• November Mean Daily Low: 1°C

Forecast by MeteoSchweiz.

The voltage in Switzerland, as in most of Europe, is 230V/50Hz. Switzerland uses the Type J (3-pin) plugs and the Type C / Europlug (2-pin) plugs. The Type C plugs are compatible with Type J sockets.

The water distributed in Switzerland meets very high-quality standards. Eighty percent of the water comes from underground sources, the rest is taken from the lakes. The establishment of groundwater protection zones makes it possible to distribute half of this water without having to treat it. It can be drunk from every tap without posing a health hazard.Tap water in Switzerland also has a much better ecological balance than bottled mineral water.
Source: Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office FSVO

The official currency is Swiss Francs (CHF). In the city, most shops and establishments will accept electronic debit and credit cards (MasterCard and Visa usually, often also a bunch of others).
Usually, paying cash is also possible.

You never have to worry about tipping in Switzerland, as tips are included in the price. You can, however, add a smile to the face of someone who has provided good service by rounding up to the nearest franc or round figure.

• General but helpful facts about Switzerland
• More tourist information about Bern

A market taking place always at the end of November every year and focusing on onions (“Ziebele” is the Bernese word for "onion", "Märit" the word for "market).

One of the newer but most charming Christmas markets in Bern.

A captivating audiovisual display at the Swiss parliament building.

We ask all developers to state what they think they contributed to the project. Everyone should decide for themselves, whether they feel they qualify for participation. The project leaders may reach out when they feel that the qualification is not justified.

One thing we would like to avoid is people feeling it's obvious they contributed a ton and they do not want to declare this themselves. It's important everyone writes a few items or the plan does not work and we need to become stricter. So please fill out the column.

Name	Role	Length of Stay	Dietary requirements	Self-declaration of contribution to project since last dev retreat
Franziska Bühler @franbuehler	dev	full	standard	Dev-on-duty, CRS chats, few PRs
Christian Folini @dune73	dev	full	standard	My contribution has gone down to the minimum, but I reviewed a few PRs, I hosted the first two community calls
Ervin Hegedüs @airween	dev	full	standard	Rewrite CRS linter; Design new SecLang; Review new seclang-parser; Write tests for ModSecurity (MRTS); Other ModSecurity things (tons of them); CRS self-documentation "project"
Andrew Howe @RedXanadu	dev	full	vegetarian	Dev-on-Duty coordination & participation; contributed to a few issues this year; found/fixed a few ModSec bugs (inc. CVE-2025-52891). This has generally been my least active year with CRS, overall.
Max Leske @theseion	dev	full	standard	Tool maintenance and development, containers maintainer, website
Jozef Sudolský @azurit	dev	25. - 29.	standard	Lots of PRs, Dev-On-Duty, Referer hardening plugin
Felipe Zipitría @fzipi	dev	full	standard	Co-leading, crslang, projects, etc.
Matteo Pace @M4tteoP	dev / guest	25. - 29.	standard	-
Michela Toscano @michelamarie	guest	full	-	-