The Switzerland Traveler

Next weekend sees another big party come to Zürich. Freestyle.ch is Europe’s biggest freestyle sports event. Covering snowboard, free-style skiing, skateboards and FMX (I assume that’s something to do with little bikes) the top stars from each sport will be competing for the top USD 100,000 prize.The action all takes place at Landiwiese, on the south side of the lake. I caught part of the action last year, by accident(!) and everything takes place in a relaxed party atmosphere, especially if the weather is behaving itself. Currently the forecast doesn’t look too bad, although we aren’t expecting blazing sunshine.Nightime sees …read more

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One of Switzerland’s main attractions is of course, its mountains. And one of the best, if not the best, ways of seeing them is to put on a pair of stout shoes and go for a walk.
A good map is always recommended, but like most things in the country, walking is well organised.
Wherever you go, you’ll find signposts giving you directions and guidelines for how long a walk will take. Not only that, the yellow signs also tell you if it’ll be a simple path or a bit of a scramble.
And should you need to know, the signs …read more

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As this blog doesn’t just cover upcoming events, let’s take a look at one of the most famous restaurants in Switzerland; the Kronenhalle – which translates literally to "Hall of Crowns".
Located close to the lake in Zürich, the restaurant was started back in the mid 1800s and achieved legendary status when famous artists used to congregate there, paying for their dinner or drinks with works of art. This was clearly a smart move on the part of the owner, as paintings by Miro, Klee and Picasso, amongst others, decorate the walls.
It’s not a cheap restaurant, so readers of Europe …read more

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Hot on the heels of the Badenfahrt (and I can’t tell you how gutted I am that this blog came into existence too late to tell you about that) comes Fantoche.
Re-using some of the infrastructure from the 10-day street party, Fantoche is a bi-annual celebration of animated film. And it’s not just about audio-visual experiences, the centre of the festival also features a restaurant based on a couple of old cargo containers. Sounds a bit weird, but trust me on this one.

Baden may not have the cachet of Cannes, or even the more local annual film festival in Locarno, but …read more

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Those of you that know me will not be surprised just how soon I managed to mention motor racing in a blog about Switzerland, even though it has been banned here since 1955.
Last held in 1971, this retrospective celebrates the ten years when the hillclimb counted towards the European mountain Championship. It started in 1953, so you can expect to see exotic historics from the 50s, 60s and 70s taking part.
Classic Ferrari, Maserati and Mercedes sports cars will be there, alongside single seater racing cars which will undoubtedly set the faster times. It could probably be quite noisy, so maybe …read more

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Hi, My name is Geoff Collins and I’d like to introduce this new b5media blog.
The Switzerland Traveler is here to tell you all about travelling in Switzerland. And for those of you (like myself) of English rather than American extraction, yes, I know that traveller is not spelt with one “l”. But that’s the way that search engines like it, and therefore, that’s the way it’s spelt here.
So please come back regularly to find out what delights Switzerland has to offer. Some you’ll know about, some you won’t, but either way, I hope you’ll find the site entertaining. Bookmark it, …read more

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