Switzerland

A far cry from the dramatic, heavily touristed Alpine landscapes most readily associated with 'la Suisse', this gentle western corner comprising the Canton of Fribourg, the Jura Mountains and the three lakes of Drei-Seen-Land is where you go to 'get away'.

Fribourg's eponymous, evocative capital boasts medieval riverside streetscapes and a wealth of historical attractions down dale from the fields of Gruyères, where the cheesemakers are. In the rolling hills, thick forests and pretty villages of the Jura, you'll find the delightful Val de Travers and mind-boggling Creux du Van, while Drei-Seen-Land is a veritable watery wonderland.

The region offers the chance to delight in world-renowned cheeses, meet absinthe’s green fairy and savour resist-if-you-can meringues smothered in double cream, then work off the calories as you explore Fribourg's cultural cache, amble among the Jura's verdant countryside or up the pace with more vigorous hiking, mountain biking, sailing and cross-country skiing.

Fribourg, Drei-Seen-Land and The Jura

Ask locals what it is that makes their canton special and they'll wax lyrical about how, well, wild it is. In a country blessed with supermodel looks, Graubünden is all about raw natural beauty. Whether it's wind-battered plateaux in Engadine where clouds roll over big-shouldered mountains, the Rhine gouging out knife-edge ravines near Flims, or the brooding Alpine grandeur of the Swiss National Park, this wonderfully remote region begs outdoor escapades. While you've probably heard about Davos' sensational downhill skiing, St Moritz' glamour and the tales of Heidi (fictionally born here), vast swaths of Graubünden remain little known and ripe for exploring. Strike into the Alps on foot or follow the lonely passes that corkscrew high into the mountains and the chances are you will be alone in exhilarating landscapes, where only the odd marmot or chamois and your own little gasps of wonder break the silence.

Graubünden

Natural beauty Valais has a tale of rags to riches, of changing seasons and celebrities, of an outdoors so fantastic it's always fashionable. Wedged in a remote corner of southern Switzerland, this is where farmers were so poor they didn’t have two francs to rub together a century ago and where luminaries flock today to sip Champagne cocktails in posh Verbier nightclubs.

Landscapes here leave you dumbstruck: from the unfathomable Matterhorn (4478m) that defies trigonometry, photography and many a carabiner, to the Rhône Valley’s vineyard tapestry; and the shimmering 23km Aletsch Glacier. With such backdrops, how can any hike, bike or ski tour be anything but great?

As earthy as a vintner’s boots in September, as clean as the aesthetic in Zermatt’s lounge bars, this canton is fickle. The west speaks French and the east German, but both are united in matters of cantonal pride by fine wine and glorious cheese.

Valais

Western Europe’s largest lake, known by the francophones who people its shores as Lac Léman but the rest of the world as Lake Geneva, is anchored by the city that claims it, wrapping around her southern shore. Half the lake belongs to France and most of its eastern shoreline, but the rest of it is the pride of the Vaudoise, from where views across the lake onto the Alps are nothing short of spellbinding. Explorations into the Alps reward summer hikers with perfect air and unthinkable vistas. In winter, the region becomes a pricey playground for the world's ski-loving elite. The shore-hugging rail journey from Geneva to Montreux, past the terraced vineyards of the Lavaux, to Lausanne, home to a boisterous student population and the International Olympic Committee and Vevey (of Nestlé fame), whizzing by fairy-tale châteaux, luxurious lakeside manors and sparkling 'beaches', is one you simply must take.

Lake Geneva & Vaud

Nature works on an epic scale here. Whether you’re hiking in the shadow of the fearsome north face of Eiger, carving powder on a crisp winter’s morning in Gstaad, or gawping at the misty Staubbach Falls, the Swiss Alps don’t get more in-your-face beautiful than this. Nowhere are the resorts quainter, the peaks higher, the glaciers grander. Fittingly watched over by Mönch (Monk), Jungfrau (Virgin) and Eiger (Ogre), the Bernese Oberland sends spirits soaring to heaven. The region's cinematic looks haven't gone unnoticed. Mark Twain wrote that no opiate compared to walking here (and he should know), Arthur Conan Doyle thought Meiringen a pretty spot for a Sherlock Holmes whodunnit, while Ian Fleming brought the icy wilderness of Schilthorn to screens in 007 films. Yet try as they might, few photographers manage to do the Bernese Oberland justice. Listen for tutting tourists at postcard carousels trying – and failing – to find something to match their memories.

Bernese Oberland

The summer air is rich and hot in Ticino. Vespas scoot along palm-fringed promenades. A baroque campanile chimes. Kids play in piazzas flanked by pastel-coloured mansions. Italian weather. Italian style. And that’s not to mention the Italian gelato, Italian pasta, Italian architecture, Italian language. The Alps are every bit as magnificent as elsewhere in Switzerland, but here you can admire them while sipping a full-bodied merlot at a pavement cafe, enjoying a hearty lunch at a chestnut-shaded grotto (rustic Ticino-style inn or restaurant), or floating in the mirror-like lakes of Lugano and Locarno. Ticino tempers its classic Alpine looks with Italian good living. To the north, the stunning medieval fortress town of Bellinzona keeps watch over valleys speckled with homely hamlets and Romanesque chapels. Rearing above them are wild, forested peaks with endless hiking options past lakes and roaring mountain streams.

Ticino

To the Swiss, Central Switzerland – green, mountainous and soothingly beautiful – is the essence of ‘Swissness’. It was here that the pact that kick-started a nation was signed in 1291; here that hero William Tell gave a rebel yell against Habsburg rule. Geographically, politically, spiritually, this is the heartland. Nowhere does the flag fly higher.

Locals swell with pride at Lake Lucerne: enigmatic in the cold mist of morning, molten gold in the dusky half-light. The dreamy city of Lucerne is small enough for old-world charm yet big enough to harbour designer hotels and a world-class gallery full of Picassos. From here, cruise to resorts such as Weggis and Brunnen, or hike Mt Pilatus and Mt Rigi. Northeast of Lucerne, Zug has Kirschtorte (cherry cake) as rich as its residents and medieval heritage. Come snow time, head to the Alps for Andermatt’s austere mountainscapes or Engelberg for powdery off-piste perfection.

Central Switzerland

Naturally, the lakeside city of Zürich is the canton's centre of attention, with a clutch of excellent museums and restaurants in the walkable Altstadt (Old Town), not to mention happening bars, galleries and boutiques with urban edge in the revitalised Zürich-West neighbourhood. But it’s also worth venturing beyond Switzerland’s financial capital for a day or two to delve deeper into this canton, where the Alps seem tantalisingly close on cloud-free days. Within half an hour of the city, you can try out walking trails or mountain-bike routes in the heights of 871m Uetliberg, or explore castle-topped Rapperswil and its medieval Old Town by the lake. Should art be more your bag, factor in a detour to Winterthur, something of a cultural hotspot, with a trio of terrific galleries and one of Europe’s foremost photography museums.

Canton of Zürich

Tucked in a corner against the French and German borders, northwestern Switzerland, comprising the cantons of Basel and Aargau, boasts an enticing mix of cultural attractions. Basel, the recommended base for your explorations, has a wealth of avant-garde architecture that juxtaposes with its enchanting Old Town, and is both built for business and deeply cultural. The city itself boasts a diverse collection of almost 40 museums, but a host of lesser-known treasures awaits in the surrounding verdant countryside. A short excursion outside Basel leads to Switzerland’s finest Roman ruins at Augusta Raurica. Further east along the Rhine, the pretty medieval city of Aarau was the original homeland of the Habsburgs, the clan that eventually came to rule over the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Here, a journey around the Aare and Limatt valleys takes in the craggy castles of Habsburg, Wildegg, Lenzburg and Hallwyl, along with a collection of pretty villages and the fetching thermal spa-resort town of Baden.

Northwestern Switzerland

At the heart of this central region lies Bern, the laid-back city that few realise is Switzerland's capital. Most mistakenly assume that title belongs to Geneva or Zürich. Incorrect.

When in 1848 politicians had to settle on a capital for the troubled Swiss Confederation, little Bern-in-the-middle seemed the obvious choice – Geneva was too French, Zürich too German. Bern was just right. It still is, with its fairy-tale 15th-century, World Heritage–listed Old Town of terraced stone buildings, covered arcades, clock towers, cobbled streets and a remarkably easygoing vibe.

If you can tear yourself away from Bern's wealth of historical and cultural attractions, you'll find the surrounding countryside to be as beautiful as the capital is charming, from the villages and farms of Emmental, producing the cheese that couldn't be more Swiss if it tried, to Solothurn, Switzerland's most alluring baroque town. Plan to linger.

Mittelland

Northeastern Switzerland is the place to tiptoe off the map and back to nature for a few days. Country lanes unravel like spools of thread, weaving through Appenzell’s patchwork meadows, past the steel-blue waters of Walensee and south to remote hamlets engulfed by the glacier-licked peaks of the Glarus Alps. This region calls for slow touring, whether you’re cycling through cornfields and apple orchards on a cloudless summer’s day or walking through Klettgau’s gold-tinged vineyards in the diffused light of autumn.

From the thunderous Rheinfall to the still waters of Lake Constance, nature here is on a grand scale. Completing the storybook tableau are castle-topped towns such as Stein am Rhein and Schaffhausen, their facades adorned with frescos and oriel windows, while in graceful St Gallen, the abbey library will take your breath away with its rococo splendour.

Northeastern Switzerland

Like the swans that frolic on its eponymous Alpine lake (Europe's largest), Geneva (Genève) is a rare bird. Constantly perceived as the Swiss capital (it isn't), Switzerland's second-largest city is slick and cosmopolitan, and its people chatter in almost every language among streets paved by gold. The headquarters of the World Trade Organization, World Health Organization, International Committee of the Red Cross, the second-largest branches of the United Nations and World Bank (among some 200-odd international organisations, including not-for-profits) are here, along with the overload of luxury hotels, boutiques, jewellers, restaurants and chocolatiers accompanying them. Beneath this flawless exterior, lies a fascinating rough-cut diamond, peopled by artists and activists educated in international schools, drifters and denizens. Geneva's counterculture dwells in Les Grottes, the Quartier des Pâquis and along the post-industrial Rhône where neighbourhood bars hum with attitude and energy. This is the Geneva of the 'real' Genevois…or as close as you'll get to it.