Switzerland Mountain villages, pristine lakes, local cheeses and some of Europe’s finest Alpine retreats

Switzerland’s rail network is one of the most complete in the world, and the trains run to a schedule you can actually rely on. Panoramic routes like the Glacier Express and Bernina Express are worth building a day around in their own right, not just a way to get from one place to another. For a trip that moves between cities, lakes and mountain resorts, trains and cable cars will usually get you there more easily than a car, especially in winter when mountain passes can close.

Switzerland has four official languages, and which one you’ll hear depends entirely on where you are. Zurich, Lucerne and Bern are German-speaking, Geneva and Lausanne are French-speaking, and Ticino, around Lugano, is Italian-speaking. English is widely spoken in hotels and tourist areas throughout the country, so this is more a point of interest than a practical concern.

Switzerland uses the Swiss franc, not the euro, despite being surrounded by eurozone countries. Cards are accepted almost everywhere, including small cafés and mountain restaurants, though it’s worth carrying some cash for rural villages or self-service honesty stalls, which are common in farming areas.

It’s a point that catches people out: Switzerland is in the Schengen Area, so there’s no passport control when arriving from most neighbouring countries, but it isn’t an EU member. This rarely affects a trip in any practical way, though it’s worth knowing before you assume EU roaming or customs rules automatically apply.

It depends entirely on what you want from the trip. Winter turns the Alps into ski country, with resorts such as Zermatt, St Moritz and Verbier at their busiest, while warmer months bring the hiking trails and lake regions to life, when Lake Geneva and Lake Lucerne are at their best for swimming. Quieter shoulder periods bring lower prices and fewer crowds, though some higher-altitude cable cars and trails may run a reduced service outside their main season.

Yes, and it’s worth knowing this extends well beyond the tap. Zurich alone has well over a thousand public drinking fountains, and the water running from almost all of them is safe to drink, drawn from the same supply as the city’s tap water. The only exception is a fountain marked ‘Kein Trinkwasser’ (or ‘eau non potable’ in French-speaking regions), which means it isn’t for drinking.

Layers matter more here than almost anywhere else in Europe, since temperatures can shift substantially between a valley town and a mountain summit reached by cable car within the same afternoon. Sturdy, broken-in shoes are worth prioritising if hiking is part of the trip, and a swimsuit is easy to forget but useful even outside summer, since several hotels and spa towns have thermal pools open year-round.

Service is included in restaurant and hotel bills by law, so there’s no need to calculate a percentage the way you might elsewhere. Rounding up a bill or leaving small change for good service is appreciated but not expected, and taxi drivers are typically tipped the same way.

If skiing, hiking at altitude or glacier excursions are part of the plan, it’s worth checking that a travel insurance policy specifically covers mountain sports and altitude-related activities, since standard policies don’t always include them as standard.

Fondue and raclette get most of the attention, and rightly so, but rösti, a pan-fried shredded potato dish, varies significantly by region and is worth trying more than once. Switzerland also produces chocolate at a level that’s genuinely difficult to compare to anywhere else, and a visit to a producer such as Läderach or Sprüngli offers a far better introduction than a supermarket bar ever could.

For anyone travelling above roughly 2,500 metres, which includes several popular viewpoints such as Jungfraujoch or the Matterhorn glacier paradise, mild symptoms like headaches or breathlessness are possible even for people who are otherwise fit and healthy. Taking it slowly on arrival at altitude and staying hydrated is usually enough to manage it.

Switzerland’s borders create a handful of genuine tripoints, the most accessible being near Basel, where Switzerland, France and Germany meet at a single spot on the Rhine. It’s a small, easy detour rather than a destination in its own right, but a memorable one if timings allow.