Best Places to visit in Switzerland

• Get to know some Interesting Facts about Switzerland, before your visit.
• Peak Season: June to Early September
• Pack some warm clothes and umbrella, irrespective of which time of the year you are visiting Switzerland.
• Get to know about Swiss Travel passes, to make your transportation in Swiss cheaper and easier. Swiss Pass allows unlimited travel for consecutive days, available as 4/8/15/22 days. With Swiss Flexi pass, you can choose which days of the month, you need unlimited travel.
• Buying a good travel guide will be of immense help during your trip to Switzerland

Take a Quiz on Switzerland

German Speaking part of Switzerland

The Swiss German region covers the north and central Switzerland. Bernese Oberland, and major Swiss cities like Bern, Zurich, Basel and Lucerne are part of this area.

Lapped by the scenic Lake Lucerne and surrounded by beautiful mountains, and a mixture of tradition and modernity, city of Lucerne is quintessentially Swiss! Great places in Lucerne:

• Musegg Wall
• Chapel Bridge
• Lion Monument
• Mt.Pilatus
• Mt.Rigi
• Transport Museum

Lucerne is the gateway to central Switzerland. Chapel Bridge, the oldest covered wooden bridge, dominates the city center. The International Music Festival held in Lucerne every year, attracts music lovers from all over the world.

Interlaken is a great base, for touring the Bernese Oberland region. Interlaken sits between two scenic lakes, Lake Thun and Lake Brienz.

Interlaken is home to endless recreational activities and adventure sports like sky diving, bungee jumping, and white-water rafting, paragliding, glacier walks and wind surfing. Interlaken is also a good place to buy Swiss souvenirs like cow bells, Kokoo clocks, posters, watches and chocolates.

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Grindelwald is a typical Swiss village, situated at the northern face of Eiger mountain. It's a half an hour train ride from Interlaken. Grindelwald hosts the International Snow Festival in January, where people from different parts of the world make ice and snow sculptures. It is less touristy than Interlaken, but very charming. Grindelwald is the only mountain resort in the Jungfrau area, that is reachable by car. Hiking in Grindelwald can be a beautiful experience, it also offers other outdoor activities like trekking, biking, canyoning and river rafting.

Lauterbrunnen is impossibly picturesque and offers a wealth of opportunity for sightseeing. It's a U-shaped valley surrounded by mountains, and doused by over 70 waterfalls. The slopes above Lauterbrunnen host two of the most amazing resorts of Switzerland, Wengen to the east and Mürren to the west. Staubbach falls is visible from the center of the village, where the water flows down over 300m.

Trummelbach falls is the major attraction of Lauterbrunnen, which has a series of 10 glacier waterfalls inside the mountain. This falls alone drains the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau glaciers, and the water here flows at a speed of 20000 liters per second! The tunnels inside the mountain are well lit, and is made accessible to visitors by a lift.

Schilthorn soars to around 3000m and provides breathtaking views of the Alps and excellent skiing opportunity. The world's first revolving mountain top restaurant Piz Gloria slowly turns and gives you a 360° alpine view. The view extends from the Titlis, along the Bernese Alps to Mont Blanc and far across the Mittelland to the Black Forest. It is on Schilthorn that the James Bond 007 movie 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' was filmed in late 1960's.

Jungfraujoch is the highest train station in Europe, and hence called as the Top of Europe. Jungfrau highlights include

• Ice Palace
• Sphinx, weather station
• Sledge dog ride
• Ice Gateway
• Plateau with hikes in snow
• Aletsch Glacier view

A trip to Jungfrau is very expensive, so ensure the weather condition is perfect for your trip!

How to reach: Take the train from Interlaken Ost to either Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald. After reaching, board the train to Kleine Scheidegg. Then switch to the JungfrauBahn, it is a small 2 carriage train that takes us to Jungfraujoch in 90 minutes. The train will stop at 2 places - Eigerward and Eismeer for 5 minutes, for the visitors to take pictures from the viewing platforms in the tunnel.

Brienz is a pretty lakeside village, that lies on the north bank of crystal clear Lake Brienz. The village is famous for woodcarving, you can see the narrow and winding roads of Brienz lined with wooden houses. Places to visit in Brienz include:

• Ballenberg Museum
• Giessbach Falls
• Brienz Rothorn Railway

Ballenberg museum is a open air Swiss museum, that consists of over 90 century old buildings from different parts of Switzerland. You can watch the staff making wood carvings, spinning the wool, baking bread, weaving, making cheese etc...The farmhouses there still have horses, cows, pigs and geese. It's a unique way to experience Swiss culture and architecture!

Thun is often overlooked by tourists, pressing onto Interlaken. The medieval old town and impressive castle, lovely Lake Thun and scenic Alps in the background provide an appealing setting for Thun.
Best places to visit in Thun are:

• Thun Castle
• Historic town center
• Schadau Castle
• Cruise on Lake Thun
• Schadau Park

How to reach: Thun is 20 minutes from Bern, and around 35 minutes from Interlaken.

Bern is the most beautiful and relaxing capital city. Not many cities have managed to retain their historic features as successfully as Bern. The sandstone facades, historic towers, cobbled lanes and the numerous fountains are unique to Bern. Best places to visit in Bern Switzerland are:

• Zytglogge Clock Tower
• Bear Pit
• Bundeshaus (Parliament)
• Munster Cathedral
• Shopping Arcades

The old town of Bern is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Rose garden above the Bear Pit, offers excellent view of Bern city center. The famous covered shopping arcades in Bern is about 4 miles long, and is the largest in Europe.

For most of us, the first glimpse of Switzerland will be from Zurich, as we land on the Zurich Kloten airport. Zurich is the largest city of Switzerland and is a delight for all the visitors with many exotic places. Must see places in Zurich are:

• Kunsthaus Zurich
• Swiss National Museum
• FrauMunster
• GrossMunster
• Lindenhof

Zurich Bahnhofstrasse is famous for shopping. A leisurely walk along Lake Zurich is very refreshing. Zurich with its high standard of living, is one of the leading global cities of the world, and it is the cultural and economic center of Switzerland.

Schaffhausen is a beautiful town in northern Switzerland, located between Black Forest and Lake Constance. The lively and traffic-free old town of Schaffhausen is very appealing with lavishly painted facades of Baroque houses. The best excursion in the town is a short trip to Rhine Falls, which is the largest waterfall in Europe.Though it just falls at a height of 23m, it's the breadth that is impressive (150m). The nearby Laufen Castle offers wonderful views of this magnificent waterfalls.
How to reach: Take the train from Zurich to Schaffhausen, it takes around 40minutes. From there, you can either walk to the waterfall, which would take another 40 minutes, ensure you have a good map at hand. Or, you can take either a bus or local train from Schaffhausen to Neuhasen, it is just a short walk from there to the waterfall.

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Mount Titlis is the highest glacier destination in Central Switzerland. It is also a paradise for anyone interested in skiing and snowboarding. Titlis is located in the beautiful valley of Engelberg. The highlight of a trip to Titlis would be the ride in the revolving cable car, known as Rotair. You can also enjoy a romantic and relaxed horse carriage ride to discover the beauty of Engelberg village.Engelberg is around one hour from Lucerne.

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Zermatt is one of the most famous holiday resorts, situated in Valais canton. Dominant among the numerous peaks in Zermatt is the the huge and gracefully curved pyramid of the Matterhorn, supposedly the most photographed summit in the world! Visitors who would like to have a bird's eye view of the area can have a circular flight in a helicopter.

French Speaking part of Switzerland

Geneva is the third largest city in Switzerland, and often mistaken as the capital of Swiss. Must visit places in Geneva are:

• Carouge
• The Paquis
• United Nations Building
• Jet d'Eau
• English Garden
• Place Neuve
• Reformation Wall

Geneva is known for its humanitarian tradition, being the headquarters of International Red Cross and the European seat of United Nations, and home to various other international organizations. Jet d'Eau water fountain is one of the tallest fountain in the world, with a height of 140m. Visit the fountain in late evening, when it is fully illuminated!

Lausanne, the capital of the canton Vaud, is home to the International Olympic Committee. Lausanne is is built on three hills, surrounded by vineyard covered slopes at the feet of Lake Geneva. Highlights of Lausanne are:

• Collection de l'Art Brut
• Olympic Museum
• Old Town with cathedral
• Lake Geneva Cruise

Montreaux is located on the shores of Lake Geneva, in the French part of Switzerland. The long, flower bordered lake promenade is beautiful to stroll along. The Montreaux Jazz Festival held in July annually is a global phenomenon. The Chillon Castle near Montreaux, is the most visited castle in Switzerland. Lord Byron wrote about this castle in his poem 'Prisoners of Chillon'. The present structure of the building dates back to 13th century!

Italian Speaking part of Switzerland

Bellinzona in southern Switzerland, was once seen as a fortified barrier at the gateway to the Alps. The main places to visit in Bellinzona are:

• Castle Grande
• Montebello Castle
• Sasso Corbaro Castle
• Old Town

Bellinzona is the capital of the canton Ticino. The town is dominated by 3 medieval castles, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.People from all over Switzerland and neighbouring Italy throng Bellinzona, during Rabadan Festival.

The Italian speaking city of Lugano is the largest and most important town in the canton of Ticino. Some of the highlights of Lugano are:

• San Rocco church
• Monte Bre
• Mont San Salvatore
• St Lawrence Church

Lugano is one of the sunniest cities in Switzerland. You can take a city tour by boarding the little red train 'La freccia rossa', that will take you through the important places in the city for 40 minutes. The beautiful park by the Lake lugano - Parco Civico Villa Ciani is great to stroll around. The nearby village Melide has Swiss Miniature museum, with a collection of many picturesque features of Switzerland.

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If you want to experience the most spectacular Alpine scenery, Swiss Glacier Express would be a delight! The panoramic journey lasts 7.5 hours, and travels between the two famous mountain resorts St.Moritz and Zermatt, passing through 91 tunnels and 291 bridges. The 'Express' actually is meant to indicate that it's a long distance travel, infact it has the reputation of being the slowest express train in the world!