Cernier is a village in the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. It lies in the Val-de-Ruz area north of the city of Neuchâtel and long served as the district capital, giving the settlement a regional administrative role that outweighed its small size.

The locality is part of the Swiss plateau landscape of the Jura foothills, where villages are closely linked by roads, public services, and farming land. Cernier is representative of many communities in western Switzerland that combine a rural setting with administrative and service functions.

Municipal merger

Until the start of 2013, Cernier was one of several independent municipalities in the district of Val-de-Ruz. On 1 January 2013, a major reorganization brought these communes together in a single municipality, also called Val-de-Ruz. The merger aimed to streamline government, pool resources, and create one administrative framework for the valley.

The other former municipalities were Chézard-Saint-Martin, Coffrane, Dombresson, Engollon, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Fontainemelon, Fontaines, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane, Les Hauts-Geneveys, Montmollin, Le Pâquier, Savagnier, Villiers, and the new commune of Val-de-Ruz. Cernier now survives mainly as a locality and historical name, but it remains well known because of its former administrative importance.

In local usage, the difference between the village and the municipality can still matter. The village of Cernier refers to the built-up place and its surroundings, while the former municipality refers to the now-merged political unit. This distinction is common in Switzerland and helps explain why the name continues to appear in historical, administrative, and geographic contexts.