Lausanne Webcam – The Olympic Capital’s Pont Bessieres

Live Cities and Towns Switzerland 📍 Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland

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About this webcam

The Lausanne Webcam looks straight down the Pont Bessieres, the 1910 steel bridge that carries traffic from the Cite, the old hilltop quarter crowned by Lausanne Cathedral, across the Flon valley to the Caroline district. The camera sits high above the Cite end, so the deck runs away from it toward a row of hotels and apartment blocks, with a pair of the bridge’s stone obelisks partway along. Cars, vans, scooters and cyclists cross all day, and people wait at the yellow pedestrian crossing at the bottom of the frame. On a clear day the mountains on the French side of Lake Geneva fill the skyline above the rooftops. The City of Lausanne has streamed this view on YouTube since November 2020.

About Lausanne and the Pont Bessieres

The Pont Bessieres is the highest upstream of the three bridges that cross the Flon valley in central Lausanne. It links the Cite hill, the administrative center of the canton of Vaud, with Rue Caroline and the eastern districts. Plans for a crossing here go back to the first half of the 19th century, but nothing was built until a Lausanne banker and jeweler, Charles Bessieres, gave 500,000 Swiss francs for it in 1901. Work began on 14 September 1908, and the bridge opened on 24 September 1910.

Eugene Jost won the design competition in 1899, though his first plan, with neo-medieval turrets at each entrance, was judged too expensive. What went up instead is a steel and cast iron arch spanning about 80 meters (262 feet), reached by two stone arches. The deck is 15 meters (49 feet) wide and stands 23 meters (75 feet) high. Its four obelisks, each 11 meters (36 feet) tall, were given a Louis XVI style to match the neoclassical old hospital beside the bridge. Rue Saint-Martin runs underneath, and in 2006 and 2007 a lower bridge, the Pont Saint-Martin, was built beneath it for the M2 metro, which opened in October 2008.

The city climbs steeply from the lake, from 372 meters (1,220 feet) at the shore to 935 meters (3,068 feet) at its highest point, with the center at 526 meters (1,726 feet). Lausanne had 144,873 residents at the end of 2024, and the International Olympic Committee, which is based here, has recognized it as the Olympic Capital since 1994.

Weather and Climate in Lausanne

The nearest long-term record comes from the Pully weather station, on the lakeshore just east of the city at 456 meters (1,496 feet). Its 1991 to 2020 averages give January highs of 4.7 C (40 F) and lows of 0.7 C (33 F). April afternoons reach 14.6 C (58 F), and July averages 25.0 C (77 F) by day and 16.2 C (61 F) at night. October is as warm by day as April, at 14.6 C (58 F), with milder nights of 9.1 C (48 F).

Around 1,132 mm (44.6 inches) of rain and snow falls in a typical year, and the station logs about 1,957 hours of sunshine. On the camera, the weather shows mostly in the skyline. On grey autumn days cloud can sit on the summits across the lake for hours while the bridge below stays dry, and in winter the higher peaks often turn white long before the city does.

Things to Do Near the Pont Bessieres

Lausanne Cathedral is a few minutes’ walk uphill from the Cite end of the bridge. Built in the Gothic style between about 1170 and 1235, it was consecrated in 1275 by Pope Gregory X, with King Rudolf I of Germany in attendance, and is a Swiss Reformed church today. Its south transept rose window dates from around 1220 to 1230. Every night a watchman in the tower calls out the hour from 10 pm to 2 am, a custom kept without a break since 1405.

From the cathedral, the covered wooden Escaliers du Marche, in their present form since 1717 to 1719, lead down to Place de la Palud, with the town’s oldest fountain and a clock that plays out scenes from the history of Vaud every hour from 9 am to 7 pm. For the lake, ride the M2 metro down to Ouchy, where the Olympic Museum stands on the waterfront. Farther east along the shore, the Lavaux vineyard terraces, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, climb the slopes above the water.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What can you see on the Lausanne Webcam?

The camera looks southeast down the Pont Bessieres from above its Cite end, toward the Caroline district. The roadway, two of the obelisks and the traffic fill the middle of the frame, a large sandstone building with a clock in its pediment takes up the right side, and cafe tables with red parasols line the pavement at the bottom left. Grey boxes over the windows of the houses on the left are a privacy mask, and the city says the camera only broadcasts and records nothing.

Where is the Pont Bessieres in Lausanne?

In the center of Lausanne, in the canton of Vaud in western Switzerland. It crosses the Flon valley and Rue Saint-Martin between the Cite, the hill where the cathedral stands, and Rue Caroline to the east. Lausanne lies on the north shore of Lake Geneva, about 50 km (31 miles) northeast of Geneva in a straight line.

Does the Lausanne Webcam show Lake Geneva or Ouchy?

Not the water itself. The lake lies below the rooftops in this direction, so what the camera picks up is the line of mountains on its far, French shore. Ouchy, the lakeside quarter, sits down at 372 meters (1,220 feet) and is out of view.

Does this webcam show Place de la Palud?

No. The old market square is about 300 meters (984 feet) west of the bridge, below the cathedral hill, and out of this camera’s sight. The City of Lausanne lists a separate webcam for the Palud on its website, along with one at the Sauvabelin tower.

Who was the Pont Bessieres named after?

Charles Bessieres, a Lausanne banker and jeweler. His gift of 500,000 Swiss francs in 1901 came on the condition that this bridge be built before a second crossing planned farther up the Flon valley, and his brother Victor added 50,000 francs in 1908. Its full name is the Pont Charles-Bessieres.

What is the weather like in Lausanne by month?

Cool in winter and warm in summer. January averages 4.7 C (40 F) by day, April and October both reach 14.6 C (58 F), and July averages 25.0 C (77 F), according to the Pully station’s 1991 to 2020 record.

Can you watch the Lausanne Webcam at night?

Yes. The stream runs around the clock, and after dark floodlights turn the obelisks into bright white columns, with street lamps tracing both sides of the deck. If you are in the old town late, listen for the cathedral watchman calling the hour.

Source: VilleLausanne