Switzerland
Switzerland is a small, landlocked country in the heart of Europe.
Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world.
Of all Swiss cities, Bern is perhaps the most immediately charming. Crammed onto a steep-sided peninsula in a crook of the fast-flowing River Aare, its quiet, cobbled lanes, lined with sandstone arcaded buildings straddling the pavement, have changed barely at all in over five hundred years but for the adornment of modern shop signs and the odd car or tram rattling past. The hills all around, and the steep banks of the river, are still liberally wooded. Views, both of the Old Town’s clustered roofs and of the majestic Alps on the horizon, are breathtaking. Coming from Zürich or Geneva, it’s hard to remember that Bern – once voted Europe’s most floral city – is the nation’s capital, home of the Swiss parliament and wielder of final federal authority.
For all its political status, Bern is a tiny city of barely 130,000 people and retains a small town’s easy approach to life. The attraction of the place is its ambience; traffic is kept out of the Old Town and you could spend days just wandering the streets and alleys, café-hopping and – if it’s warm – joining the locals for a plunge into the river. The perfectly preserved medieval street plan, with its arcades, street fountains and doughty towers persuaded UNESCO to deem Bern a World Heritage Site, placing it in the company of such legendary sites as Florence, Petra and the Taj Mahal. In a competition for the world’s most beautiful and relaxing capital city, it’s hard to think what could knock Bern into second place.
You’re likely to find that Zürich most beautiful of Swiss cities, astride a river and turned towards a crystal-clear lake and distant snowy peaks, has plenty to keep you amused. The medieval Old Town, characterized by steep, cobbled alleys and attractive, small-scale architecture, comprises a substantial part of the city centre and is perfect for exploratory wanderings. With a handful of medieval churches to take in, a spectacular art gallery, the most engaging café culture in German-speaking Switzerland and a wealth of nightlife, you could easily spend days here. To do so, however, you’ll have to marry up the appeal of the place with its expense – prohibitive even by Swiss standards. Alternatively, you could base yourself in either of two towns near Zürich – Winterthur or Baden – both of which have museums and galleries of their own, and much more affordable accommodation than you’ll find in Zürich itself.
Because the River Limmat divides the Old Town into two distinct halves, it’s easier to consider the two banks of the river as separate entities rather than to concentrate on a New Town/Old Town split. The alleys of the east bank – known as Niederdorf or the “Dörfli” – are full of cafés and small shops, with the enormous twin towers of the Grossmünster as a centrepiece. The slender spire to the north belongs to the Predigerkirche with, above it on a hill to the east, the grandiose architecture of the university.
Opposite, the west bank is the oldest part of the city, centred around the raised platform of the Lindenhof and characterized by expensive fashion outlets and offices. Nearby rise the graceful spires both of St Peter’s, featuring the largest clock face in Europe, and the Fraumünster, a medieval church decorated in this century with beautiful stained glass by Marc Chagall. The long, curving Bahnhofstrasse follows the ancient course of the western city wall, and is now one of Europe’s most prestigious shopping streets, packed with jewellers and designer boutiques.
The best of the city’s thirty-odd museums are the marvellous Kunsthaus on the fringes of the Niederdorf, and the Schweizerisches Landesmuseum (Swiss National Museum) in a park on the west bank.
GENEVA is the international city, and yet with nothing of the pizzazz such a description might suggest. From its profile in world events, you’d imagine a megalopolis on the scale of London or New York, but Geneva is little more than town-sized. From its demographic diversity – 38 percent of the population are foreigners – you’d imagine its streets to be thronged with the nationalities of the world, but across most of the city centre you’d be hard pushed to spot a non-white face or eavesdrop on a conversation that wasn’t in either French or US-accented English. It’s in the most beautiful of locations, centred around the point where the River Rhône flows out of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman in French, Genfersee in German) flanked on one side by the Jura ridges and on the other by the first peaks of the Savoy Alps, but for all that, it’s a curiously unsatisfying place to spend more than a few days.
The spiritual father of the city is the Reformer Jean (or John) Calvin, the inspiration behind Puritanism and Presbyterianism, who turned Geneva into what was dubbed a “Protestant Rome” in the sixteenth century. His parsimonious spirit – paradoxically enough – remains the motive force behind this wealthiest of citystates today. What’s officially still known as “The Republic and Canton of Geneva” is only nominally within Switzerland’s borders, squeezed into a bulge of land that shares just 4km of internal border with its Swiss neighbour but 108km with France all around. Some thirty thousand French frontaliers commute daily to their workplaces in Geneva from dormitory towns just over the border, benefiting from both a high Swiss salary and relatively low French living expenses, and equally high numbers of Genevois save money by doing their shopping in France. The Gallic influence is what defines the city, and yet this is tempered by a streak of Calvinism so ingrained that the conservative Genevois – surrounded as they are by some of the world’s most expensive shops and most exquisite restaurants – can’t quite bring themselves to indulge, and leave most of the high living to the jetset glitterati who’ve taken up residence on the lakeside hills.
Instead, Geneva has become the businessperson’s city par excellence, unrufflable, efficient and packed with hotels. The cobbled Old Town, high on its central hill, is atmospheric but strangely austere, with abiding impressions of high, grey walls and the stern tap-tap of passing footsteps. At the heart of the city is the huge Cathédrale St-Pierre, and packed in all around are an array of top-class museums, including the giant Musée d’Art et d’Histoire and an impressive gallery of East Asian art, the Collections Baur. Livelier residential neighbourhoods on both banks of the Rhône, such as Les Pâquis and Plainpalais, offer more appealing wandering, and a short way south of the centre is Carouge, an attractive eighteenth-century suburb built in Sardinian style to be a place of decadence and freedom beyond Geneva’s control; its reputation lives on in its population of artists and designers. Last but not least, Geneva is home to dozens of international organizations. Two of them – the United Nations’European headquarters and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the latter with an award-winning museum – allow visitors a glimpse of the unseen lifeblood of the city, the diplomatic and administrative confidence that have made Geneva world capital of bureaucracy.
The Swiss Alps are the central portion of the Alps mountain range that lies within Switzerland.
Switzerland is well known for the Alps in the south and south east. North of the Alps, the Swiss plateau runs along the east-west axis of the country. Most of the population of Switzerland lives on the rolling hills and plains of the plateau. The smaller Jura Mountains are located on the north west side of the plateau. Much of the northern border with Germany follows the Rhine River, though the Rhine enters Switzerland near Schaffhausen. The eastern border with Germany and a portion of Austria is drawn through Lake Constance. A portion of the south west border with France is drawn through Lake Geneva.
Ski regions
Not only is Switzerland home of beautiful alpine scenery like the Jungfrau region (Grindelwald), the Kantons also define themselves through famous skiing areas like Verbier, cosy ski holiday destinations and the beauty of untouched nature. Families will feel at home here being welcomed with the typical Swiss hospitality.
Berner Oberland: Mountains of distinction – with nearly 4000 metres, spectacular view of the icy high mountain scenery.
Wallis and western Switzerland: Impressive setting of the mountain peaks, snow and ice: Here the highest mountains of the Alps are located here – amongst them the king of the mountains – the Matterhorn. The most spacious glaciers of the Alps can be found here too. Snowy forests beneath a blue winter’s sky in contrast to the old wooden buildings.
The croissant-shaped LAKE GENEVA, bluest of the Swiss lakes, is ringed with villages, castles and gorgeous walks that demand attention. This is wine country, with vineyards spread around the full sweep of the lakeshore and carpeting the first slopes of the hills which rise behind. Genteel, calming small towns such as Nyon and Vevey, either side of Lausanne, have made a living recharging the batteries of frazzled urbanites for generations. Over the decades, the lake has also attracted the world’s wealthiest people, and the shores around the jetset playground of Montreux in particular are lined with opulent villas – although a lakeside stroll can still let you taste the unspoilt beauty which drew Byron and the Romantic poets in a former age. Relaxing on one of the boats which crisscross the lake beneath the looming presence of the Savoy Alps and the Dents-du-Midi mountains on the French side helps bring home the full grandeur of the setting.
