The Switzerland Traveler

Ever wanted to experience what gravity is like on the moon? Or maybe floating somewhere between heaven and earth?
Well, just maybe the new Woopy Park might be the place for you.
The management insist it is the place to go for adventurous snow sports enthusiasts, and who am I to disagree?
The park is in Morgins, in the Portes du Soleil, 2 hours from Zurich, 1 hour from Geneva.
The brand new sport, Woopy Jump, combines elements of skiing, snow boarding, and parascending/parachuting. It certainly sounds like a laugh!
Beginners can allegedly become proficient in no time. Naturally, all course …read more

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If going skiing or even just being in the mountains builds up your appetite, or even a thirst, then St Moritz is the place to be next week.
For five days (Jan 28-Feb 2), the luxury and first class hotels of St. Moritz pull out all the culinary stops during the 15th annual St. Moritz Gourmet Festival.
The party starts with a bang – cocktails at the Carlton, the newly renovated 5 star hotel, which only re-opened last month.
After that, international chefs from Europe, Asia and Africa provide tasty morsels at several gourmet tastings.
Like chocolate?  Sprüngli, one of Switzerland’s best …read more

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Up, up and away!
Colourful skies and fantastic photo opportunities are guaranteed this week in the south-west of Switzerland. Many of the world’s top hot-air balloonists will be meeting up for a festival.
As you can see, size and shapes are quite varied!
Wednesday is the day to take the children (I’d have thought they would have been at school, but maybe half-term is early this year). Special activities from balloon flights to the ever-loved face painting will be organised.
The festival runs until Sunday 27th January, so maybe a trip to the nearby glacier slopes would be the best way to appreciate …read more

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A few years ago, I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to ride in a bobsled down the famous Celerina run. It’s the only bob run in the world that is made exclusively of natural ice.
It’s often confused with the Cresta Run, but that’s reserved for skeleton (effectively head first down the ice on a tray) racing, we’ll come back to that later.
My wife Julie organised the trip, so fortunately I have no idea what it costs, simply that it can be done. Don’t expect it to be cheap though. In fact, don’t expect anything in St …read more

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The annual polo World Cup at St Moritz is certainly one of the most fascinating events I’ve ever witnessed.
For a start, there’s the car parking. To me there’s just something wrong with driving onto the lake to park, even if it has been certified as safe by the Swiss.
And those people selling roasted chestnuts with fires raging to generate heat – don’t they understand what they are standing on?
And then the temporary grandstands, packed with people – just how thick is this ice?
Perhaps that’s best answered by the fact that the tractors used to sweep the playing area are …read more

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Maybe I’m biased as Baden was the first town I lived in when I came to Switzerland, but I think it’s lovely.
As you can see, it is picture-postcard lovely, and has a beautiful old town with buildings dating back to the 14th century.
Of course, the internals have been modernised, the Swiss have a great, non-sentimental way about doing that, but from outside they are unbelievably authentic.
Starting with the covered wooden bridge (now you know where Madison County got the idea from) the walk up the hill towards the centre takes you past some unlikely, and thriving shops.
My favourite …read more

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If you live in Switzerland, you’ll already know what a great place Klosters is.
It has two major ski areas, Madrisa and Parsenn.
Parsenn is linked to the sister resort of Davos (Home of the annual economic forum) and this opens up a great ski area.
Klosters/Davos even has the longest run in Europe, over 13km (8 miles) and it takes you past lots of places like the huts above that are full of character.
There’ll be many photo opportunities, where you can capture the old world charm of skiing, rather than the modern hustle and bustle.
The village (town?) itself is delightful …read more

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Sometimes the delights of Zürich just aren’t enough and you need to get out into the real world of nature.
One possibility, and this is quite handy if you have guests and need to get to the airport quickly afterwards, is to walk along the ridge that runs from Baden to Regensberg.
It’s not an easy walk though, so you might want to take walking shoes and leave Granny with the young ones.
It really is a very pointy ridge at times, and you can see it’s a long way down on both sides, so vertigo suffers might give it a miss …read more

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I’ve never stayed in a youth hostel, but clearly they are improving.
This one down in Valbella, part of the Lenzerheide resort, about an hour and a half from Zurich has been recently refurbished and offers stylish accommodation at very reasonable rates.
And there’s no need to worry about age – the Swiss say that if you are young at heart, there’ll be a welcome.
Mind you, if you’re not a member of the YHA there’ll be a surcharge, but as it’s only 6 CHF that’s not a disaster.
During Winter minimum stay seems to be two days, and the double rooms seem …read more

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I’d completely forgotten about this little ski resort until I came across this little gem. It’s located down near Brienz/Meiringen, and takes about 90 mins to get there from Zürich.
It appears that everybody wants to combine snow and animals this year, and we haven’t even got to horse racing on the lake yet!
The Reindeer Trek is organised by the Restaurant Erzegg, and the trip starts at 10 am each morning.
It’s not a sleigh ride though,  you’ll be given snow shoes and have to walk alongside, the destination being a small hut where lunch is cooked over an open fire.
I think …read more

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