The Sarine (; frp, Sarena ) or Saane () is a major river of Switzerland.6th longest, 7th largest basin, see

List of rivers of Switzerland The following is a list of rivers in Switzerland: Rivers by length (> 100 km, only the length in Switzerland) #Rhine - 375 km - 36,494 km2 #Aare (or Aar) - 295 km - 17,779 km2 #Rhône - 264 km - 10,403 km2 #Reus ...

It is long and has a drainage area of . It is a tributary of the

Aare The Aare () or Aar () is a tributary of the High Rhine and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhine comprises about , during which distance it descend ...

. The Sarine rises in the

Bernese Alps , topo_map= Swiss Federal Office of Topography swisstopo , photo=BerneseAlps.jpg , photo_caption=The Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau , country= Switzerland , subdivision1_type=Cantons , subdivision1= , parent= Western Alps , borders_on= , l ...

, near

Sanetschhorn , french: Mont Brun , topo_map= Swiss Federal Office of Topography swisstopo , native_name= , photo= Sanetschhorn.jpg , photo_caption= The Gstellihorn (left) and the Sanetschhorn (right) from above Les Diablerets , elevation_m= 2924 , eleva ...

, in the

Canton of Valais Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages outside Valais: it, (Canton) Vallese ; rm, (Chantun) Vallais. is one of the 26 cantons forming the Sw ...

. It forms the Lac de Sénin (French; german: Sanetschsee) reservoir at 2034 m, and then enters the

Canton of Bern The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...

, traversing the Sanetsch falls between 1900 and 1400 m. It then forms the westernmost valley of the

Bernese Oberland The Bernese Oberland ( en, Bernese Highlands, german: Berner Oberland; gsw, Bärner Oberland; french: Oberland bernois), the highest and southernmost part of the canton of Bern, is one of the canton's five administrative regions (in which context ...

, flowing past Gsteig,

Gstaad Gstaad ( ; ) is a town in the German-speaking section of the Canton of Bern in southwestern Switzerland. It is part of the municipality of Saanen and is known as a major ski resort and a popular destination amongst high society and the internatio ...

and

Saanen Saanen (french: Gessenay; Highest Alemannic German, Highest Alemannic: ''Saanä'') is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern in Switzerland. It is the capital of the Obersimment ...

in the

Obersimmental-Saanen Obersimmental-Saanen District in the Canton of Bern was created on 1 January 2010. It is part of the Oberland administrative region. It contains 7 municipalities with an area of and a population () of 16,784. References {{coord, 46, 29, N ...

district. Downstream of Saanen, at 982 m, it enters the

Canton of Vaud Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms b ...

, passing Rougemont,

Château-d'Œx Château-d'Œx () is a municipality in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut. History Château-d'Œx is first mentioned in 1115 as ''Oit'', ''Oyz'', ''Oix'' and ''Oyez''. Prehistoric settlements Dur ...

and

Rossinière Rossinière is a municipality in the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut district of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. History Rossinière is first mentioned in 1155 as ''La Ransonery''. Geography Rossinière has an area, , of . Of this area, or 38.2% ...

, forming the ''Lac du Vernex'' at 859 m. At 833, it traverses the ''Creux de l'Enfer'' and enters the

Canton of Fribourg The canton of Fribourg, also canton of Freiburg (french: Canton de Fribourg ; german: Kanton Freiburg ; frp, Canton de Fribôrg rm, Chantun Friburg it, Canton Friburgo) is located in western Switzerland. The canton is bilingual, with French ...

, forming ''Lac de Montbovon'' at 777 m. From this point, it more or less follows the linguistic boundary between French- and

German-speaking Switzerland The German-speaking part of Switzerland (german: Deutschschweiz, french: Suisse alémanique, it, Svizzera tedesca, rm, Svizra tudestga) comprises about 65 percent of Switzerland (North Western Switzerland, Eastern Switzerland, Central Switze ...

across the bilingual canton of Fribourg (and is often identified as the geographic representation of the ''

Röstigraben (; literally "Rösti ditch" or "Rösti trench" also transcribed in order to reflect the Swiss German pronunciation ) is a term used to refer to the cultural boundary between German-speaking and French-speaking parts of Switzerland, the latte ...

'' division of Switzerland). Passing Villars-sous-Mont, Enney,

Gruyères Gruyères (; frp, Gruviéres ; german: Greyerz) is a town in the district of Gruyère in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. The medieval town is an important tourist location in the upper valley of the Saane/Sarine river, and gives its nam ...

and

Broc Broc (; frp, Broc, locally ) is a municipality in the district of Gruyère in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. History Broc is first mentioned in 1115 as ''Broc'' and ''Broch''. The municipality was formerly known by its German name ' ...

, it reaches

Lac de la Gruyère Lac is the resinous secretion of a number of species of lac insects, of which the most commonly cultivated is ''Kerria lacca''. Cultivation begins when a farmer gets a stick that contains eggs ready to hatch and ties it to the tree to be infes ...

at 677 m. It then continues in serpentines towards

Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () o ...

itself; the historical city was built in 1157 on a peninsula of the River Sarine, protected on three sides by steep cliffs. Downstream of Fribourg, it widens into the ''

Schiffenensee Schiffenenseehttps://s.geo.admin.ch/74090f6089
map.geo.admin.ch. or Lac de Schiffenen is an artificial ...

'' reservoir at 532 m (built 1963), and is then taken to

Laupen Laupen is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district and its district capital, situated in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Laupen is first mentioned in 1130-33 as ''Loupa''. In 1173 it was mentioned, in French, ...

in a channel, where it is joined by the

Sense A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the cen ...

. Flowing north for another 6 km, it finally joins the Aar just downstream of Wohlensee, at 461 m, some west of

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

Reservoirs

References

Swisstopo Swisstopo is the official name for the Swiss Federal Office of Topography (in German language, German: ''Bundesamt für Landestopografie''; French language, French: ''Office fédéral de topographie''; Italian language, Italian: ''Ufficio fed ...

: Map ''Saane/Sarine 1:100000'',

External links

Sarine Waterlevels
at

(682 m)
Sarine Waterlevels
at

(532 m)
Saane Waterlevels
at

(480 m)
Saane Information
at Gümmenen,

Mühleberg Mühleberg is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Mühleberg is first mentioned in 1011–16 as ''Mulinberg''. There are several Hallstatt era grave mounds around Mühlebe ...

(473 m) * Rivers of Switzerland Bern–Fribourg border Rivers of the canton of Bern Rivers of Valais Rivers of the canton of Fribourg Rivers of the canton of Vaud {{Switzerland-river-stub