Switzerland covers 41,285 square kilometres — about the size of the Netherlands — and has 26 cantons with their own laws, school systems and public holidays. Distances here mislead in the good direction: Zurich to Geneva is under three hours by train, Basel to Lugano three and a half. You can see a great deal in a week.
At the same time the Röstigraben, the German-French language border, runs straight through the country, and south of the Gotthard more than the language changes.
Bernese Oberland
Postcard Switzerland: Jungfrau, Eiger, Mönch, Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen with its 72 waterfalls, car-free Mürren. From Interlaken everything is a day trip and the trains are frequent. The best region for a first visit and for anyone with a week.
Valais
The driest and sunniest valley in the country, with the most four-thousanders: the Matterhorn and Zermatt, Saas-Fee, the Aletsch glacier, the vineyards of the Rhône plain and the thermal baths of Leukerbad. German is spoken upstream, French downstream.
Grisons
The largest and most sparsely populated canton, trilingual — German, Italian and Romansh, the fourth national language with around 40,000 speakers. Here are St Moritz, the Engadine with its larch woods, the Swiss National Park and the World Heritage line of the Rhaetian Railway.
Ticino
South of the Gotthard: palms, merlot, polenta, Lugano and Locarno on the lakes, the Verzasca valley with turquoise water over white granite, and the chestnut woods of the Malcantone. Italian-speaking, and six weeks ahead in spring.
Lake Geneva region
Geneva with the UN and the Red Cross, Lausanne with the Olympic Museum, Montreux and Vevey on the shore, the World Heritage Lavaux terraces and Chillon Castle. French-speaking, urban, accessible year-round.
Central Switzerland
Lucerne, Lake Lucerne with its paddle steamers, Pilatus and Rigi, the Rütli meadow where the Confederation was founded, and the Gotthard as the historic north-south axis. Central and a good base.
Eastern and north-western Switzerland
The Rhine Falls near Schaffhausen, the Abbey Library of St Gallen, Appenzell with its mountains and customs, Basel with forty museums and its carnival. Less visited, and therefore quieter.
Routes that work
- One week: Zurich, Lucerne, Interlaken with the Oberland, Bern. All by train
- Ten days: add Zermatt and the Glacier Express to St Moritz
- Two weeks: north to south — Basel, Bern, Interlaken, Zermatt, Bernina Express, Engadine, Ticino, Lucerne
- Cities only: Zurich, Basel, Bern, Lausanne, Geneva in a week, feasible year-round
- Off the route: Val Verzasca, Appenzell, the Jura, Val de Bagnes, Swiss National Park
How to get around
- The train here is not a fallback but the best option. Regular-interval, punctual, in every valley, connecting to postbuses and boats
- The Swiss Travel Pass pays from four travel days; the Half Fare Card only for longer stays
- A car is needed only for remote side valleys. The motorway vignette is compulsory, 40 francs a year
- For two weeks pick three regions, not six. This country rewards depth over kilometres