Switzerland travel

jixani
Tue, 17 Aug 2010 00:48:52 +0000

I’d definitely recommend traveling by train. The TGV from Paris to Switzerland to Basel is like 3.5 hours, with a car you’ll need minimum double this time. In general Swiss public transport is typically on time and has a quite tight schedule (on the majority of routes there is a train every half hour). And most importantly, I find traveling by train much more enjoyable than driving, and typically you get a better view of the landscape.

First, I agree that Zermatt, Lucerne and the Lake Geneva region (near Lausanne/Montreux, not Geneva) are probably the most “typical Swiss places”, other places you might want to visit (some random thoughts):

There are a couple of very scenic routes you might want to take, most importantly the Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz, though that might take quite some time. In my opinion the part from Disentis to St. Moritz is the nicest part, especially the Rhine gorge is very impressive and the Albula root has some really beautiful bridges.

Another nice area is the Interlaken/Grindelwald-area with the three mountains Eiger, Mönch & Jungfrau, there is a train, the Jungfraubahn that goes up to 3’400m, and, given nice weather, you have a probably unique view over the high-alpine landscape.

A really cool place is also the Walensee region east of zurich, the lake is settled very idyllic in a rather narrow valley.

If you like medieval cities, Berne is a very nice place to go, but also smaller cities like Murten or Spiez are very lovely.

And if you are in Lucerne (my hometown), I’d definitely recommend to either go up Mt. Pilatus or Mt. Rigi if the weather is nice, especially the latter provides a stunning view of (almost) the entire Swiss alps.

But i guess it depends a lot on your preferences; would you like to hike? do you like medieval cities? Museums? Good food? There’s lot of things to do!