Where To Go
Avenches
Switzerland’s Roman heritage is very much evident in different parts of the country. But no place is more significant and impressive than the town of Avenches in Canton Vaud, located near the Lake of Murten in the western part of the country…
Bad Ragaz
Bad Ragaz is one of Switzerland’s oldest spas – some say, the oldest – first mentioned in the year 843. It’s located in the southeastern corner of the canton (state) of St. Gallen, on the border with Canton Graubünden (also known as the Grisons). Also nearby is the Principality of…
Ballenberg
Ballenberg might be called a “Swiss Disneyland”, but with a special difference: it’s all real. It’s a large open-air museum featuring 100 buildings that have been resettled there from all over Switzerland. Each one has a particular history…
Bern
What is the capital of Switzerland? No, it’s not Zurich and it’s not Geneva. It’s Bern!
Bern is a compact and very beautiful historic place, built on a peninsula defined by the Aare River. The Old Town of Bern, and the street between…
Centovalli
The train is a great way to travel around Switzerland. Probably even the best way.
One of the most scenic and popular train trips goes through a region of Italian-speaking Canton Ticino called The Centovalli, connecting Switzerland and Italy…
Chur
Most of the 35,000 people in Chur speak German. But the soul of the town is definitely Latin. This eastern Swiss city in the upper Rhine Valley was the capital of the ancient Roman province of Rhaetia Prima, and is still a key transit point…
Comologno
The Onsernone is an obscure mountain valley which begins west of the city of Locarno in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino in southern Switzerland. In bygone centuries, this, like other out-of-the-way Ticinese mountain valleys, lived on…
Domodossola
Domodossola in northern Italy is a town of 18-thousand people, located at the south end of the Simplon Rail Tunnel, which connects Domodossola with the Swiss town of Brig at the north end of the tunnel. Bob Zanotti is joined by the late Canadian hostorian…
Engelberg
Engelberg is in the canton (state) of Obwalden in central Switzerland. It’s just a one-hour trip by rail from Lucerne, or about 45 minutes by car.
The Engelberg exit on the Lucerne-Gotthard highway is well marked. Engelberg means…
Europa Park
One of the favorite fun destinations among the Swiss is not in Switzerland! It’s Europa-Park, Germany’s largest theme or leisure park, less than an hour from the Swiss city of Basel. Europa-Park is located just off the Basel to Mannheim autobahn…
Geneva
Mention the word Geneva, and all kinds of international things come to mind. For example, the European headquarters of the United Nations and most of its specialized agencies, the world headquarters of the Red Cross Movement, and scores of other international bodies…
Great St. Bernard Pass
The Great St. Bernard is one of Europe’s most important and historical mountain passes. It is located in Canton Valais, and marks the Italian-Swiss border.
The famous 11th Century dog-breeding monastery and hospice is here…
International Scout Centre
In the early 1920’s, Lord Robert Baden-Powell came to the village of Kandersteg in the Bernese Oberland. The founder of the Scouting Movement was so impressed by Kandersteg’s natural beauty that he decided to realize his dream…
Jungfraujoch
They call it “The Top of Europe”, and that’s not far from the truth. For generations, the trip up to the Jungfraujoch peak in the Bernese Oberland has been a must-do, and literally a high point to a visit to Switzerland. Whether originating from the village of Lauterbrunnen…
Kandersteg
The village of Kandersteg in the Bernese Oberland is well known to many as the place to drive cars onto the car-rail conveyance at the north side of the Loetschberg Tunnel on the BLS line – a classic north-south route which connects the cantons of Bern…
Klosters
The village of Klosters is surrounded by majestic mountains, not far from Davos in the southeastern Swiss canton of Graubuenden, also known as the Grisons.
Prince Charles skis here with his sons every March…
Lavaux
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Unesco, has added a famous Lake of Geneva wine-growing area to its list of World Heritage Sites.
The region in question is called “Lavaux”, and stretches 14 km (8.75 miles) between…
Leukerbad
They say that wherever the Romans settled, they did two things first: plant wine grapes and build a public bath.
Leukerbad in the mountains of the north side of upper Canton Valais has a strong Roman past going back to 200 BC…
Leysin
The sprawling village of Leysin lies on a plateau overlooking the Lake of Geneva in the canton or state of Vaud in French-speaking Switzerland. At over 1200 meters/4000 ft., the village is wide open and surrounded by even higher mountains…
Lötschental
Passing through the little station of Goppenstein at the south side of the BLS Bern-Brig rail line, you could be forgiven for not even noticing a little side road that leads to the Lötschental – a roughly 10 kilometer-long valley through which the glacier-fed Lonza River…
Lugano
A palm-lined lake of the same name is the setting for Lugano, the largest city in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino in southern Switzerland. This is a city and region which is seated squarely in Mediterranean culture and lifestyle. But at the same time…
Murten
Murten (Morat in French) is a small town of 5,000 people, located in the bilingual canton (state) of Fribourg, not far from the Swiss capital, Bern. Murten is on the cultural and linguistic divide between German and French-speaking Switzerland…
Mystery Park
Erich von Daeniken is the world’s most successful non-fiction author. And he’s Swiss! When he published his first book – Chariots of the Gods – back in 1968, Erich von Daeniken was greeted with resistance, ridicule and even disdain by many of the orthodox scientific community…
Schynige Platte
“Schynige Platte” is Bernese dialect for “shining plate”. This refers to the shale rock formations at this 2,076 meter-high (6,800 ft.) location in the Bernese Oberland, near Interlaken. The trip up to the Schynige Platte takes about…
Scuol
The village of Scuol in the Engadine region of eastern Switzerland lives on water!
First mentioned in 1178, this village of 2,500 speaks the 4th Swiss national language, Rumansch. It’s just a stone’s throw from Italy and Austria…
Seelisberg
Seelisberg in Canton Uri in central Switzerland holds great significance for the Swiss. It was here that the Swiss Confederation was founded on August 1, 1291, when a small group of local patriots signed The Pact of Everlasting Alliance, a mutual defense…
Simplon Pass
One of Switzerland’s most famous and historical mountain passes is the Simplon, connecting the town of Brig, in the upper, German-speaking part of the Canton (state) of Valais, and Italy.
The Simplon Pass became…
St. Gallen & Lake Constance
The city and region of St. Gallen in eastern Switzerland is rich in history and culture, as well as modern attractions. The city was founded by Gallus, an Irish monk, around the year 612, as depicted in a colorful legend. Gallus went on to found a…
Swiss Transport Museum
In German, it’s called the “Verkehrshaus der Schweiz”. To give it its official English name: The Swiss Museum of Transport and Communication, or the “Swiss Transport Museum” for short. It’s Switzerland’s most popular museum, on the shores…
Val Muestair
The Val Müstair – or in English: “Minster Valley” – is in the most eastern part of Switzerland, in the canton or state of Graubünden, on the border with the South Tirol in Italy.
This is a traditional part…
Zinal
The canton or state of Valais in southern Switzerland is well known as a place to escape the rigors of modern life, and it’s hot, dry climate is both relaxing and invigorating. But there’s one village there in particular that is known as an…