The A1 is a motorway in Switzerland. It follows Switzerland's main east–west axis, from St. Margrethen in northeastern Switzerland's canton of St. Gallen through to Geneva in southwestern Switzerland. The motorway spans 383 km (240 mi). Besides the motorway's main route, it has several branches that are variously numbered A1a, A1h, A1l and A1.1. It was opened for the Swiss national exhibition of 1964.

Bern, or Berne, is the de facto capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city". With a population of about 133,000, Bern is the fifth-most populous city in Switzerland, behind Zürich, Geneva, Basel and Lausanne. The Bern agglomeration, which includes 36 municipalities, had a population of 406,900 in 2014. The metropolitan area had a population of 660,000 in 2000.