Map of Switzerland

Bellinzona

Castle sasso corbaro

Wind on the ramparts, Lake Maggiore somewhere far below.

Culture

Brienz

Rothorn Bahn

Steam and coal smoke drifting up a mountainside above Lake Brienz.

Scenic trips

Brienz

Aareschlucht

Water carved this corridor stone by stone, and it hasn't stopped since.

Nature

Brunnen

Rütli

Grass, lake wind, and the spot where three cantons once swore an oath.

Culture

Brunnen

Seelisberg

High above the lake, the air smells of hay and quiet water.

Nature

Brunnen

Tellskapelle

Bells mark the hour above the rock where legend says Tell once leapt to shore.

Culture

Engelberg

Nidwaldner Höhenweg, Stage 3/6

Four lakes catch the light on the climb to the Jochpass, then the trail drops into monastery quiet.

Hike

Grindelwald

First Cliff Walk

A steel walkway ends in open air, forty-five metres above the valley.

Nature

Grindelwald

Jungfraujoch

At the Top of Europe: A mighty glacier, permanent snow and, on clear days, France.

Nature

Grindelwald

Kleine Scheidegg

Two railways climb from opposite valleys and meet at 2,061 metres, under a wall of rock and ice.

Scenic trips

Grindelwald

Bachalpsee

A lake that holds the Wetterhorn twice: once in the sky, once on its surface.

Nature

Grindelwald

Männlichen

Cowbells drift across the ridge while the Eiger holds still against the sky.

Hike

Grindelwald

Große Scheidegg

A ridge where two valleys divide, ice fields close enough to study.

Hike

Grindelwald

Pintenfritz toboggan

Spruce trees blur past in near silence, eleven kilometres of packed snow beneath the sledge.

Sport & adventure

Interlaken

Harder Kulm

A funicular climbing 735 vertical meters, and two lakes appear at once.

Nature

Koen's favourite

Interlaken

Harder Kulm Restaurant

A restaurant with a turret and a terrace, and a two-lake view from the table.

Food & drinks

Interlaken

St. Beatus Holen (Swiss caves)

A river runs beneath the mountain, cold and constant, whatever season waits outside.

Nature

Interlaken

Niederhorn

Ibex on the ridge, the Eiger on the horizon.

Nature

Interlaken

Lake Brienz by Paddle

Slow strokes, flat water, and Ringgenberg's cliffs sliding past at eye level.

Sport & adventure

Lausanne

Parc de l'Hermitage

Nature

Lausanne

Lausanne Cathedral

Nature

Locals' Secret

Lausanne

Le Vestibule

Food & drinks

Lauterbrunnen

Lobhornhütte

Take a hike and enjoy marvelous views of the Eiger, the Monk and the Jungfrau from the other side of the valley

Food & drinks

Lauterbrunnen

Trümmelbachfälle

Nature

Lauterbrunnen

Schilthorn

Walk in the footsteps of James Bond

Culture

Locarno

Madonna del Sasso

Sunlight finds the frescoes before it finds the square.

Culture

Locarno

Cimetta

An unique sideways chair swings open onto Lake Maggiore, with nothing between the seat and the air.

Scenic trips

Lucerne

Museggmauer

Six hundred years of stone, and the whole city laid out below.

Culture

Lucerne

Château Gütsch

A castle above the rooftops, reached by funicular through the trees.

Food & drinks

Koen's favourite

Lucerne

Hohle Gasse

This is the path where William Tell shot the tyrant Gessler through the heart with an extra arrow. The journey itself is definitely the destination, as it is, in fact, just a stone-paved path. There is also a chapel here.

Culture

Locals' Secret

Lucerne

Höllgrotten

Nature

Lucerne

Faßnacht Luzern

Brass bands echo off medieval facades at five in the morning, and the city does not sleep until Ash Wednesday.

Events

Lucerne

Spreuerbrücke

Sixty-seven painted panels above the water, each one a reminder that nobody crosses this river forever.

Culture

Lucerne

Bourbaki Panorama

A circle of painted snow that has not stopped falling since 1881.

Culture

Locals' Secret

Lucerne

Pastarazzi

A pasta counter near the station where the fillings change by the morning.

Food & drinks

Koen's favourite

Lucerne

Bachmann am quai

Gelato eaten with the lake for company.

Food & drinks

Lucerne

Swiss Museum of Transport

Touching the locomotives was always allowed.

Culture

Lucerne

Lion monument

A dying lion cut into rock, and a hush visitors keep without being told to.

Culture

Lucerne

Glacier garden

Culture

Lucerne

Lucerne Festival

Applause fading into the stillness of the lake outside.

Events

Lucerne

Live music Musikpavillon

Brass and folk tunes drifting across still water as the light over Pilatus turns from gold to grey.

Events

Lucerne

Rotsee

Water so still even the rowers call it the lake of the gods.

Nature

Locals' Secret

Lucerne

Ufschötti

Bare feet, lake, sand, and the Alps standing quietly across the water.

Leisure

Lucerne

Richard Wagner Museum

An Erard piano still stands where Wagner once composed, the lake close enough to hear.

Culture

Lucerne

St. Jost Chapel

The same bell has called pilgrims up this ridge since 1385.

Culture

Lucerne

Stanserhorn

The mountain opens its roof once the wind takes over.

Scenic trips

Lucerne

Klewenalp

The lake shrinks to a ribbon of light before the gondola even reaches the top.

Nature

Locals' Secret

Lucerne

Sunset Bar Luzern

Hammocks strung above the water, and a sky over Pilatus that turns gold before the last boat leaves.

Food & drinks

Lucerne

Jesuit church

Pale rose stucco and a silence that outlasts the crowds on Kapellbrücke.

Culture

Lucerne

Fräkmuntegg

Speed through the forest by day, sleep among its branches by night.

Sport & adventure

Lucerne

Hammetschwand lift

In the glass cabin of the Hammetschwand lift, you ascend 153 meters vertically in less than a minute.

Scenic trips

Lucerne

Chapel Bridge

The oldest wooden bridge in Europe, and it's most beautiful when no one else is there.

Culture

Lucerne

Lake Lucerne boat to Vitznau

A paddle steamer across water so still it mirrors the mountains.

Scenic trips

Lucerne

Pilatus

Take the world's steepest cogwheel railway and disappear into the clouds.

Nature

Lucerne

Meggenhorn Castle

A lakeside castle with gardens where time moves differently.

Culture

Lucerne

Rigi Kaltbad

A mineral bath on a mountain. Below you, a sea of clouds. Above you, nothing.

Wellness

Lucerne

Bürgenstock

A cliff walk above the lake that Audrey Hepburn called home.

Nature

Lucerne

Old Town

Painted facades, fountain squares, and bread shops that haven't changed in decades.

Culture

Lucerne

Weggis village

A lakeside village where the roses bloom and the ferry arrives on time, always.

Culture

Lugano

Gandria

A village with no road in, held between water and mountain.

Culture

Lugano

Olive trail Gandria

Old terraces of olive trees, planted back after the frost that took them.

Hike

Lugano

Monte San Salvatore

A red funicular climbs through chestnut woods to a summit where the lake opens in every direction.

Nature

Lugano

Parco Ciani

Lake water reaches the promenade edge while century-old plane trees hold the shade.

Nature

Lugano

Morcote

Voted Switzerland's most beautiful village. The boat ride there is half the magic.

Culture

Lugano

Monte Brè

Fifteen minutes by funicular, and Lugano's lake spreads out in full sun.

Culture

Lugano

Swissminiatur

All of Switzerland in miniature. Delightfully odd and somehow moving.

Culture

Lungern

Schmetterlingspfad

Hike

Lungern

Obwaldner Höhenweg, Stage 3/6

Hike

Lungern

Bärgmandlipfad Giswil

Hike

Lungern

Obwaldner Höhenweg, Stage 4/6

Hike

Montreux

Montreux Jazz Festival

Two weeks each July when jazz drifts across Lake Geneva after dark.

Events

Nyon

Château de Prangins

A Parisian banker built it. A king bought it. The Swiss turned it into a museum.

Culture

St-gallen

Säntis

Nature

St-moritz

Diavolezza

Ride to 2,978 metres and glaciers close in from every side.

Nature

St-moritz

Piz Nair

Nature

St-moritz

Stazersee

Nature

St-moritz

Zuoz

Culture

Stoos

Stoos Ridge Hike

Enjoy an incredible panorama on the ridge hiking trail from Klingenstock to Fronalpstock

Hike

Thun

Thun castle

Four white towers watching the Aare slide out of the lake.

Culture

Thun

Schadau castle

A summer house dressed as a castle, with a park to match its ambition.

Culture

Thun

Flusswelle

Watch surfers ride a standing wave in the middle of town, created by a wooden gate from 1818.

Nature

Thun

Stadtkirche

An octagonal tower has watched over Thun's rooftops since 1330.

Culture

Weggis

Rigi

Cows graze below the treeline; above it, thirteen lakes come into view.

Nature

Weggis

Rigi Kaltbad

A mineral bath on a mountain. Below you, a sea of clouds. Above you, nothing.

Wellness

Wengen

Bergrestaurant Allmend

This restaurant is a request stop on the Wengernalpbahn, where the train pauses only if someone raises a hand.

Food & drinks

Wengen

Hunnenflue

The path ends at a railing, and after that there is only air.

Nature

Wengen

Staubbachbänkli

Nine benches, one waterfall, and nowhere else to be.

Nature

Wengen

Lauberhorn

A finish line built into rock, where speed became a tradition.

Culture

Locals' Secret

Zermatt

The North Wall Bar & Restaurant

A neighbourhood bar with gluten-free pizza worth seeking out. Hard to find, easy to stay.

Food & drinks Ayla's favourite

Zermatt

Fluhalp

The Matterhorn arrives twice here, once overhead, once in the lake below.

Food & drinks

Zermatt

Marmot trail

The marmots' whistle carries before their bodies show themselves.

Hike

Zermatt

Flower trail

Snow gentians open for two months a year and close for the rest of it.

Hike

Zermatt

Freedom trail

Thirty-eight four-thousanders rise into view and none of them belong to just one country.

Hike

Zermatt

Gornergrat summit

At 3,089 metres, the Matterhorn finally meets its equals.

Nature

Zermatt

Riffelsee

The reflection of the Matterhorn in Riffelsee is worth waking up early for.

Nature

Zermatt

Gornergrat railway

Thirty minutes upward through a landscape that gets more impossible with every meter.

Nature

Zermatt

Old village center

Wooden chalets from the 1500s, blackened by centuries of sun. No cars. Just silence.

Culture

Zermatt

Five Lakes Walk

Five lakes, five colours, one mountain that keeps showing up in all of them.

Hike

Zermatt

Sunnegga

The locals' mountain. Less crowded, more authentic, same stunning view.

Nature

Zermatt

Glacier Paradise

Europe's highest cable car station. The ice cave feels like another planet.

Nature

Zermatt

Vispa river walk

Follow the river through the village. Let the sound of water replace your thoughts.

Hike

Zermatt

Findeln

A hamlet above Zermatt with restaurants that serve raclette with a Matterhorn view.

Culture