ALPS · LAKES · CITIES
Up to the glaciers, down to the lakes.
Cogwheel trains to the summits, steamers across the lakes, old-town walks and chocolate tastings. Zürich, Lucerne, Interlaken, Zermatt, Geneva and the alpine country in between.
Only in Switzerland
Three days that only happen in Switzerland.
Cable cars, lake cruises and old-town walks turn up all over Europe. A railway tunnelled up to a glacier at 3,454 metres, the peak every postcard copies, and the country that invented milk chocolate do not.
3,454 metres up
The Train to the Top of Europe
A cogwheel railway bores straight through the Eiger and the Mönch and climbs out onto a glacier saddle at 3,454 metres, the highest railway station on the continent. Up top there is an ice palace cut into the glacier, a terrace over the Aletsch (the longest glacier in the Alps), and snow underfoot in July. No other railway in Europe reaches this high.
- 1 Jungfraujoch: Top of Europe Day Trip from Zurich
- 2 Jungfraujoch Day Trip from Zurich: Swiss Alps & Bernese Oberland
- 3 Jungfraujoch Top of Europe Day Trip from Lucerne
The famous peak
The Matterhorn at Zermatt
The most photographed mountain on earth rises in a near-perfect pyramid above a car-free village you can only reach by train. Ride the Gornergrat cogwheel for the classic glacier-framed view, or take the cable car to the highest lookout in the Alps. That silhouette is on every Toblerone bar, and it only stands here.
- 1 Private Ski Lessons – 3 hours Zermatt
- 2 Matterhorn Paragliding flight in Zermatt (20-25min)
- 3 FLYMATTERHORN VIP Paragliding from Zermatt, With Matterhorn View
Where it was invented
Chocolate at the Source
Milk chocolate, and the conching that makes it melt on the tongue, were both invented in Switzerland in the 1800s. Tour the Lindt Home of Chocolate outside Zürich, ride the vintage Chocolate Train to the Cailler factory, or taste your way through a Gruyères afternoon. The Swiss still eat more of it per head than anyone, and they make it where you can watch.
- 1 Award-Winning Geneva Chocolate &Old Town Tour with Boat Ride (3h)
- 2 Zurich Sights: Cruise, Lindt Chocolate and optional FIFA Ticket
- 3 Maison Cailler chocolate factory Visit
The big day trip
If you only do one day trip, do this one.
Most first-time visitors base themselves in Zürich or Lucerne and take one big day into the mountains. This is the one they book.
The classics
Switzerland's Most Popular Day Trips
Jungfraujoch, the Matterhorn, Mount Pilatus, the Rhine Falls. The days most visitors build a Swiss trip around.
Plan by season
Switzerland keeps two calendars.
The lakes and the high passes open up in summer; the snow line drops and the pistes fill in winter. What there is to do swings hard with the season, so start by picking your half of the year.
Lake steamers, cable cars to the glaciers, paragliding off the ridges, and the high trails opening as the snow melts.
Skiing and sledging above the cloud line, snowshoe trails, and glacier summits that keep their snow all year round.
By region
Pick where to base yourself.
Each region is a different trip. Lucerne for the lake and the day trips. Interlaken for the peaks and the paragliding. Zermatt for the Matterhorn. Zürich for the city and the chocolate. Geneva for the French-speaking west.
By experience
Or choose how to spend the day.
Cogwheel train if you want the summit. Lake steamer if you want the slow view. Chocolate tastings, cheese cellars, scenic rail, a paraglide off the Interlaken ridge, and the rest.
Above the clouds
The summit days.
Pilatus, Titlis and the rest: a cogwheel train or a revolving cable car lifts you from a lakeside town to a glacier viewpoint in well under an hour. If we had to send you up just one mountain, it would be one of these three.
On the lakes
Out on the water.
Half the country is reflected in a lake. Glide along the Lucerne shoreline on a paddle steamer, cross Lake Geneva to the vineyards, or push out onto the turquoise of Brienz. These are the three cruises we would step aboard first.
The edible Alps
Chocolate, cheese, and the rest.
Fondue in a stone cellar, a wheel of Gruyère straight from the dairy, pralines warm off the marble, a glass of Lavaux white above the lake. Three tastings worth building a whole afternoon around.
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