Lonely Planet Switzerland

Gregor Clark

Description

Lonely Planet's Switzerland is our most comprehensive guide that extensively covers all the country has to offer, with recommendations for both popular and lesser-known experiences. Hop aboard the Glacier Express, hike in the Swiss National Park, and wander the medieval cobbled streets of Bern; all with your trusted travel companion. Inside Lonely Planet's Switzerland Travel Guide: What's NEW in this edition? Up-to-date information - all businesses were rechecked before publication to ensure they are still open after 2020's COVID-19 outbreak NEW top experiences feature - a visually inspiring collection of Switzerland's best experiences and where to have them What's NEW feature taps into cultural trends and helps you find fresh ideas and cool new areas NEW pull-out, passport-size 'Just Landed' card* with wi-fi, ATM and transport info - all you need for a smooth journey from airport to hotel Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Eating & drinking in Switzerland - we reveal the dishes and drinks you have to tryColour maps and images throughout Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sightseeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - history, people, music, landscapes, wildlife, politics Over 73 maps Covers Geneva, Lake Geneva & Vaud, Fribourg, Drei-Seen Land, The Jura, Mittelland, Bernese Oberland, Valais, Ticino, Central Switzerland, Northern Switzerland, Zurich, Northeastern Switzerland, Graubunden, Liechtenstein The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet's Switzerland, our most comprehensive guide to Switzerland, is perfect for both exploring top sights and taking roads less travelled. About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and phrasebooks for 120 languages, and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, videos, 14 languages, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more, enabling you to explore every day. 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)

Sujets

• Suiza
• Switzerland

Informations

• Publié par: Lonely Planet
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781837580491
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 34 Mo

Extrait

Switzerland

Contents

Plan Your Trip

Switzerland Map
Welcome to Switzerland
Switzerland’s Top Experiences
Need to Know
What’s New
Month by Month
Itineraries
Switzerland Outdoors
Regions at a Glance

On The Road

Geneva
Sights
Activities
Festivals & Events
Sleeping
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
Lake Geneva & Vaud
Lausanne
Around Lausanne
Morges
Nyon
The Lavaux
Montreux
The Vaud Alps
Fribourg, Drei-Seen-Land & the Jura
Pays de Fribourg
Fribourg
Gruyères
Charmey
Drei-Seen-Land
Biel-Bienne
Ligerz
Murten
Neuchâtel
Yverdon-les-Bains
The Jura Mountains
La Chaux-de-Fonds
Porrentruy
Val de Travers
Mittelland
Bern
Emmental
Solothurn
Bernese Oberland
Interlaken
Jungfrau Region
Grindelwald
First
Kleine Scheidegg
Jungfraujoch
Lauterbrunnen
Wengen
Stechelberg
Mürren
Gimmelwald
The Lakes
Thun
Spiez
Brienz
East Bernese Oberland
Meiringen
West Bernese Oberland
Kandersteg
Gstaad
Valais
Lower Valais
Martigny
Around Martigny
Champéry
Col du Grand St Bernard
Verbier
Sion
Sierre
Crans-Montana
Upper Valais
Leukerbad
Zermatt
Saas Fee
Brig
Aletsch Glacier
Furka Pass
Ticino
Bellinzona
Lugano
Lago di Lugano
Gandria
Campione d’Italia
Morcote
Mendrisio & Around
Meride
Lago Maggiore
Locarno
Ascona
Western Valleys
Valle Maggia
Centovalli
Central Switzerland
Lucerne
Lake Lucerne
Lake Uri
Brunnen
Schwyz
Einsiedeln
Engelberg
Zug
Andermatt
Northwestern Switzerland
Basel
Baden
Aarau
Zürich
Zürich
Around Zürich
Rapperswil-Jona
Winterthur
Northeastern Switzerland
Schaffhausen
Rheinfall
Stein am Rhein
Lake Constance
Kreuzlingen
Arbon
Rorschach
St Gallen
Appenzell
Walensee
Glarus
Braunwald
Graubünden
Chur
Lenzerheide & Valbella
Arosa
Flims, Laax & Falera
Vals
Disentis/Mustér
Bündner Herrschaft
Bad Ragaz & Around
Klosters
Davos
The Engadine
Scuol
Samnaun
Müstair
Zernez
Celerina
St Moritz
Silvaplana
Sils-Maria
Bernina Pass
Pontresina
Val Poschiavo
Val Bregaglia
Liechtenstein
Vaduz
Malbun

UNDERSTAND

History
Swiss Way of Life
The Swiss Table
Swiss Wine

SURVIVAL GUIDE

Directory A–Z
Accommodation
Children
Discount Cards
Electricity
Embassies & Consulates
Health
Insurance
Internet Access
Legal Matters
LGBTIQ+ Travellers
Maps
Money
Opening Hours
Public Holidays
Safe Travel
Telephone
Time
Toilets
Tourist Information
Travellers with Disabilities
Visas
Volunteering
Work
Transport
Getting There & Away
Entering the Country/Region
Air
Land
River & Lake
Getting Around
Air
Bicycle
Boat
Bus
Car & Motorcycle
Mountain Transport
Train
Language
Behind the Scenes
Our Writers

Covid-19
We have re-checked every business in this book before publication to ensure that it is still open after the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the economic and social impacts of COVID-19 will continue to be felt long after the outbreak has been contained, and many businesses, services and events referenced in this guide may experience ongoing restrictions. Some businesses may be temporarily closed, have changed their opening hours and services, or require bookings; some unfortunately could have closed permanently. We suggest you check with venues before visiting forthe latest information.
Welcome to Switzerland

Switzerland for me has always meant the Alps. For years when I lived in the Black Forest, they were the closest proper mountains. Sighting them on the horizon brought the promise of winter snow and happy days spent cross-country skiing, snowshoeing in silent, frozen forests and curling up in a log cabin. Or else the joy of summer: bell-swinging cows, high pastures and rising with the first pink light to crest a summit. This idiosyncratic little land hooked me 20 years ago and I’m still in love with its wild places, and the great railways and never-ending trails that make reaching them a breeze. This idiosyncratic little land hooked me 20 years ago and I’m still in love with its wild places, and the great railways and never-ending trails that make reaching them a breeze.

Matterhorn , Zermatt | PATHARA BURANADILOK/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

By Kerry Walker, Writer

@kerryawalker
For more about Our Writers
Switzerland’s Top Experiences

1 EPIC MOUNTAINS
Der Berg ruft...The mountain calls. With the Alps rippling across much of the country, Switzerland has serious altitude and, come winter, snow. Insanely beautiful views set spirits soaring, making you want to grab your boots, pop on skis or leap into a bike saddle. Then there are the mountains of myth: fierce peaks punching above 4000m, where rock climbers have for centuries grappled for fame and a foothold in the realms of eternal ice.

Jungfrau Railway | ALESSANDRO COLLE/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Matterhorn
No mountain has more pulling power than the Matterhorn (4478m), Switzerland’s perfect pyramid of a peak. Whether ensnared in mist, dusted with snow, or glimpsed by the first pink light of day, this ferocious fang of a mountain will keep you utterly gripped as you climb, hike or ski in Zermatt.

MATT MUNRO/LONELY PLANET ©

Eiger, Jungfrau & Mönch
The Jungfrau Region’s ‘Big Three’, Eiger (Ogre), Jungfrau (Virgin) and Mönch (Monk) hit the mountain spot every time, with sky-high hiking trails and slopes, Europe’s highest railway station and views of the 23km-long icy swirl of the Aletsch Glacier.

View of Mt Eiger | CHEN MIN CHUN/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Rigi
Other mountains might beat it for height, but few are as steeped in legend and enshrined in romance as this crag rearing up above shimmering Lake Lucerne. In the 19th century, Turner painted its many moods and Queen Victoria trotted up here on horseback.

VICTOR FLOWERFLY/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Switzerland’s Top Experiences
2 ROAD TRIPS
Switzerland might look tiny on paper, but whopping great Alps mean this little nation packs in a lot of vertical. Wherever you go, you’re in for one hell of a drive: roads unfurl along the shores of great lakes to glaciers, mountain passes corkscrew up to fairy-tale medieval castles and, on the high roads, every glorious bend makes you want to screech to a halt and yodel in delight.

Gotthard Pass
If it’s Alpine highs you’re after, the old road over the 2108m (6196ft) Gotthard Pass (pictured) enthralls. Buckle up, roll down the window and prepare for a feast of wild, lonely, bleakly beautiful scenery on this serpentine road between Italian-speaking Ticino and German-speaking Uri.

4KCLIPS/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Grand Tour of Switzerland
Wrapping up the entire country is the 1600km (994-mile) Grand Tour of Switzerland (pictured): an efficiently-signposted lap of the country that strings together 12 Unesco World Heritage Sites and shows off the Alpine nation from its most flattering angles.

BENNY MARTY/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Furka Pass
The Alps never leave your rear-view mirror on this astonishingly steep, snaking, stop-the-car-and-grab-the-camera drive (picture below right) from the remote valley of the Goms in Valais to mountain-encrusted Andermatt in Uri.

UROš MEDVED/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Switzerland’s Top Experiences
3 ART & ARCHITECTURE HIGHS
With the mountains never more than a whisper away, Switzerland’s landscapes are limelight-stealers, but the country deserves to be better feted for its outstanding cache of art museums and galleries, which can easily rival some of the world’s best. Cities like Zürich, Basel, Bern and Geneva are big-hitters, but you’ll also unearth wonders in the least-expected places: from rural mansions to revamped factories.

Zürich
Once the stomping ground of the Dada crowd, Zürich sets the artistic bar high with its cavernous, fine arts-filled Kunsthaus (recently expanded by David Chipperfield Architects) and contemporary arts–focused Kunsthalle.

Bern
Beyond its World Heritage, arcade-woven medieval heart, Bern manages to woo art lovers with Switzerland’s oldest fine arts collection, Kunstmuseum, and the city’s own wavy Guggenheim, Zentrum Paul Klee.

Basel
Finger-on-the-pulse Basel deliver’s Switzerland’s biggest international art fair and Pritzker Prize winner–designed architecture. Top billing goes to its Frank Gehry Vitra Design (pictured) Museum and Renzo Piano–designed Fondation Beyeler.

LAURAVR/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Switzerland’s Top Experiences
4 OFF-PISTE WILDERNESS
Focus solely on the central Alps and you’ll be missing a trick. Switzerland saves its most endearing villages, riveting wildernesses and heart-quickening views for those who go the extra mile beyond map and app. From tucked-away national parks where you can hike hut-to-hut at eye level with ibex, to wildflower-freckled meadows you can hole up in a log cabin and live the Swiss dream.

Jura
Snuggling up to the dark forests of France, the ever-so-peaceful Jura Mountains (pictured) have their own beauty: lush meadows, ancient woods, rocky outcrops overlooking a trio of lakes, Alpine backdrops and slow-the-pace villages that have remained largely unchanged for centuries.

SASKIAACHT/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Swiss National Park
Huddled away in the country’s southeast, Switzerland’s one-and-only national park (picured above left) is a ravishing, nature-gone-mad, trail-laced spectacle of snow-frosted peaks, waterfalls, canyons and Alpine wildlife - all barely touched by human hand.

IRIS KURSCHNER/GETTY IMAGES ©

Appenzell
Switzerland’s rural, folksy heart beats at its loudest in the Appenzell region, sidling up to Liechtenstein in the northeast. It’s a terrifically unsung area, with rolling dairy country giving way to lavishly frescoed towns.

Apenzell’s historic quarter | KARL ALLEN LUGMAYER/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Switzerland’s Top Experiences
5 PURE INDULGENCE
Few nations are as downright indulgent