IF you were a Bond villain, you could do worse than hide out in Bern.

The pretty Swiss city, which became the latest destination from Southend Airport in October, rivals Ottawa and Canberra as the world’s least-known capital.

Sure enough, Piz Gloria, the mountain-top retreat of 007’s nemesis Ernst Blofeld in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, is a short drive from Bern and other scenes from the 1969 movie were filmed around the quaint, unassuming city.

As our tiny twin-propeller Dornier 328 descended over Bern’s grey-green sandstone buildings, their terracotta roofs glowing like the changing autumn leaves, I felt like a secret service spy on a mission to consume cheese and chocolate. I could almost hear Adele belting out the Bernese airline’s name as a new Bond theme: “Skywork”.

In fact, the special agent experience starts at Southend Airport, which itself featured in the Bond film Goldfinger, as SkyWork Airlines passengers are fast-tracked through security and get free access to the airport’s first class lounge.

In real life, Piz Gloria is one of the world’s first revolving restaurants, offering a 360- degree view of the Swiss Alps and its three most famous peaks: the Jungfrau, Monch and Eiger.

After its use as a film set, its astute owners kept the name.

Now so many Bond fans make the 2,970-metre pilgrimage up four cable cars to the restaurant that the summit itself, the Schilthorn, has become synonymous with Piz Gloria.

The restaurant hams up its silver screen heritage like Roger Moore, serving vodka martinis (shaken not stirred) and an array of other “007” meals and drinks with no obvious Bond link, from cappuccino to fillet steak.

But its interactive exhibition, Bond World, in which visitors can fly a helicopter, shoot bad guys from bob sleigh and even look up George Lazenby’s kilt, is great fun whether you’ve seen the film or not and postcards of the view are breath-taking (unfortunately the first snow of the season meant we saw nothing).

Switzerland is better known for clocks than James Bond and in Bern the association goes back more than 600 years.

At the heart of the medieval Old City, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site, stands Bern’s most famous sight, the Zytglogge, a clock tower that dates back to 1405.

You can tell the time by the number of tourists standing below its multiple faces, which show the date, day, month and zodiac symbol as well as minute and hour, waiting for it to strike.

In the three and a half minutes before a golden jacquemart, known locally as Hans von Thann, rings the 609-year-old gold bell, figurines on the clock face act out a spellbinding dance. Seven bears rotate, a cockerel crows, Chronos turns an hour glass and a jester wiggles his legs.

You can take a tour up to see the giant mesmerising mechanism, completed in 1530, behind the clock face. The 54.5metre tower also affords breathtaking views over the Old City’s roofs to Bern’s Gothic cathedral.

Legend has it Bern’s founder, Duke Berthold V of Zahringen, named the city after the brown bears that have been kept there since at least 1513.

Today, visitors can see Finn and his daughters, Ursina and Berna ambling around the enclosure.

Bern Airport can also be used to explore the rest of Switzerland, with the beautiful lakes and mountains of Interlaken nearby and the rest of the country just a scenic train ride away. The efficient Swiss train system, and the Swiss Travel Pass, which allows unlimited travel on trains, buses and many ferries, makes it easy, if not cheap, to get around.

Like a special agent, Bern, which is smaller than Southend, holds many extraordinary secrets and, like a Swiss watch, you will be fascinated when you take a look inside.