Country guide
Switzerland
The Alps at their most engineered: mountain trains, lake towns and trails from Zermatt to the Jungfrau.
Currency
CHF
Language
German
+ French, Italian
English
Widely spoken
Payment
Cards & cash mixed
Power
Type C / J
230 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+41
Destinations
Bern
A UNESCO-listed medieval capital you can walk across in twenty minutes, with bears at one end and a swimmable river all the way round.
✓ best Apr, Sep-OctGeneva
A small, expensive lakeside city that runs half the world's diplomacy from behind a medieval Old Town, with the Alps an hour from the door.
✓ best Apr-OctInterlaken
The gateway to the Jungfrau region: two lakes, one huge meadow, and trains that climb from the valley floor to the highest railway station in Europe.
✓ best Apr, Sep-OctLausanne
Switzerland's Olympic capital: a steep lake city with a Gothic cathedral on top, a vineyard coast at its edge and the country's only metro linking them.
✓ best Apr, SepLucerne
The lake, the mountains and the medieval bridge in one small city - the Switzerland everyone pictures, with rack railways up the peaks on both shores.
✓ best Apr, OctLugano
Switzerland's Italian city: piazzas and palms on a mountain lake, with funiculars from the waterfront and Milan an hour down the line.
✓ best MarMontreux
A belle epoque lakefront strung between a castle on the water and the festival that made the town famous.
✓ best Apr-Jun, Sep-OctSt Moritz
The resort that invented the winter holiday, still sending skeleton riders down natural ice and horses across a frozen lake, high in the Engadine sun.
✓ best Jul-AugZermatt
The most famous mountain in the Alps, seen from a car-free village with lifts to 3,883 m and skiing that runs into summer.
✓ best May-SepZurich
A banking capital that swims: Zwingli's Reformation town on one bank, luxury windows on the other, and a lake clean enough to jump into.
✓ best Apr, Sep-OctClimate zones, month by month
Switzerland has 10 distinct climate zones. The right month depends on where in the country you're going.
Bern →
✓ Best Apr, Sep-Oct · ✗ Avoid Dec-Feb
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Geneva Lake Geneva →
✓ Best Apr-Oct · ✗ Avoid Dec-Feb
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Interlaken Bernese Oberland →
✓ Best Apr, Sep-Oct · ✗ Avoid Dec-Feb
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Lausanne Lake Geneva →
✓ Best Apr, Sep · ✗ Avoid Dec-Feb
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Lucerne →
✓ Best Apr, Oct · ✗ Avoid Dec-Feb
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Lugano Ticino →
✓ Best Mar
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Montreux Lake Geneva →
✓ Best Apr-Jun, Sep-Oct · ✗ Avoid Dec-Feb
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
St Moritz Engadin →
✓ Best Jul-Aug · ✗ Avoid Nov-Apr
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Zermatt Valais →
✓ Best May-Sep · ✗ Avoid Nov-Mar
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Zurich →
✓ Best Apr, Sep-Oct · ✗ Avoid Dec-Feb
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions