Geneva
World cuisine, luxury shopping and alternative clubs mingle in this international hub.
World cuisine, luxury shopping and alternative clubs mingle in this international hub.
Zürich is a city whose reputation precedes it - and does it a complete disservice, trashes its name, gives it a good kicking.
Welcome to the fairy-tale alpine creation they call the Berner Oberland, a place so silver-screen perfect you’ll think you’re conjuring it up.
You won't spend long in Bern without hearing or reading the name Unesco.
East of Geneva, Western Europe's biggest lake stretches like a giant liquid mirror between French-speaking Canton de Vaud (pronounced Voh; Waadt in German) on its northern shore and France to the south.
Although it's famous for its Fasnacht and Vogel Gryff festivals in spring and winter, perhaps the best time to visit Basel is in summer.
Legend has it that an angel with a light showed Lucerne's first settlers where to build a chapel, and in good weather even an atheist might describe the city's location as heaven-sent.
This hilly city (loh-san), Switzerland's fifth largest (and third most visited after Geneva and Zürich), enjoys a blessed location.
The summer air is rich and hot.
Standing in Interlaken's large central park, gazing at the Jungfrau massif in the distance, it's possible to sense the romance of a place that first attracted early package tourists in the 19th century.
Ticino's lush lake isn't its only liquid asset.
Its Old Town sandstone elegance, the airy Gallic nonchalance of its café-life and the gay lakeside air that breezes along the shoreline of its glittering lake makes Neuchâtel disarmingly charming.
A far cry from the staggering Alpine scenes more readily associated with Switzerland, this gentle less-visited corner in the west of the country remains something of a 'secret'.
With the 10 highest mountains in Switzerland - all over 4000m - this scenic canton offers pinnacles of pleasure for those who enjoy the high life.
Switzerland, we are told (and often can't help feeling), is so utterly tidy, so irritatingly perfect that it feels like you shouldn't touch anything for fear you'll spoil the postcard.
With its palm trees and much vaunted 2300 hours of sunshine a year, Locarno has attracted northern tourists to its warm, Mediterranean-style setting since the late 19th century.
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