The Switzerland Traveler

Just 20 minutes by train, the S10, from Zurich main station, is the best view of the city and lake you’ll find.

The Uetliberg is at the top of the ridge that runs along the lake, and gives spectacular views in all directions, especially from the observation tower.
 
It’s a 15 minute walk from the station to the viewing platform, and it is uphill, so can leave you a bit out of breath – but the view may well take your breath away too.
It’s also educational, along the walk are scale models of the sun and the nine planets (eight …read more

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It’s quite common for Swiss resorts to offer special offer packages at the start and end of the ski season.
So if you fancy a break in a car-free resort, why not try Bettmeralp for a change?
It’s in the Valais, the area to the east of Lake Geneva, so it would take a couple of hours from Geneva, or three from Zurich.
Bettmeralp is located on a sunny terrace above the Rhone Valley with a view of the four-thousand-metre-high peaks of the Valais: the Weisshorn, Dom and Matterhorn.
The resort is renowned as being very family-friendly. For example, the hiking trails have …read more

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Adelboden is an attractive and not over-populated resort at the southern end of Kanton Bern. It’s linked with Frütigen and is an attractive place for a family ski holiday.
In response to requests for more than just skiing, they’ve opened up 35km of snowshoe trails.
The sport is beginning to attract more and more people, maybe in response to the number of skiers, and the increasing speeds being seen on the slopes.
 
The routes have been designed with wildlife in mind, mainly to protect the animals, but you never know when you might come across a deer or a snow bunny. And …read more

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So if you don’t fancy St Moritz, and you’re not keen on skiing, well, how about taking a hike?
New this winter, the Alpavia travel agency will take the backpack from your shoulders while you walk through the winter wonderland.
And your luggage is guaranteed to be at your overnight rest hotel before you.
The classic tour is from Interlaken to Kandersteg, taking in the Jungfrau, the Gemmi Pass (a historic link between Berne and the Valais, see photo above) and Lauchernalp.
The hotels are of good quality (this is Switzerland) and a 6 day trip costs around 880 CHF/person.  This includes breakfast …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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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’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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When I first moved to Switzerland I lived in Konstanz (Constance), just on the German side of the Swiss border. One of the great beauties of the town is the lake there, the third largest in Europe.
The lake is surrounded by three countries, Germany, Austria and (you guessed it) Switzerland.
The Swiss part runs from Kreuzlingen (which merges smoothly into Konstanz, apart from the border crossing) along through Romanshorn and almost up to Bregenz in Austria.
The photo above is a sunrise taken from Arbon, which lies on the shore north of
St Gallen.
There’s also a much quieter part of …read more

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There are times when you have to admire the teutonic way of naming things. So logical.
Seealpsee (pronounced: say alp say) means literally “Lake Mountain Lake”. And you can’t argue with that. It’s a mountain lake, and er, a lake.
It’s located in Kanton Appenzell, on the eastern edge of Switzerland, allow a couple of hours to drive from Zürich, or a similar time to catch the train to Wasserauen. Then it’s about a four km (2.5 miles) walk to get to the lake, but I’m assuming that if you want to go to a really peaceful, quiet lake, then you won’t …read more

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High up above the town of Locarno, there is a sanctuary located on a forested cliff; Madonna del Sasso. Sasso means rock, so hopefully I won’t be struck down for translating it as Madonna on the Rocks.
The church was consecrated in the 19th century when a local monk, Brother Bartholomeo, claimed that the Madonna had appeared before him whilst walking in the woods.
You can reach the sanctuary either on foot, if you are feeling energetic, or there is a funicular railway that winds its way through the trees and delivers you at a very pleasant bar with terrace looking down …read more

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