Country guide

Switzerland

Alpine air, mirror lakes and storybook villages

Switzerland is nature arranged with care — peaks that look drawn, lakes like glass, and trains that climb impossible gradients to arrive exactly on time. It is expensive, yes, but for families it may be the easiest mountain country on earth.

June – September for hiking; December – March for snow

The Swiss Alps

Chalets, cable cars and the Matterhorn

The Swiss Alps deliver the mountain fantasy in full — flower-boxed chalets, cowbells drifting across meadows, and the Matterhorn standing over Zermatt like a sentinel. What makes it extraordinary for families is the infrastructure: cable cars and cog railways lift you to the high meadows, so even small legs can picnic at two thousand metres.

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April – September; December for Christmas

Lucerne

Chapel Bridge and a lake of swans

Lucerne is the gentle face of Switzerland — a medieval old town of painted facades and a covered wooden bridge over a river of swans, set on a lake ringed by mountains. It is small, walkable and the perfect first stop for families: a lake to boat on, a mountain to ride up, and a traffic-free old town to wander.

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April – June & September – October

Montreux & Lake Geneva

Riviera light, vineyards and lakeside châteaux

Montreux is the Swiss Riviera — a palm-lined promenade along Lake Geneva, backed by vineyard terraces and snow-capped peaks. It is the gentlest corner of the lake, with a microclimate warm enough for figs, a flowered lakeside walk, and Chillon Castle rising from the water at the eastern end.

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May – September; December for markets

Bern

Medieval arcades and a river bend

Bern is the quiet, handsome capital — a medieval old town on a loop of the turquoise Aare, its six kilometres of arcaded lanes a UNESCO world heritage site. It is small, calm and wonderfully walkable, with bears in a riverside park, fountains on every corner, and a river so clean that in summer the locals swim to work.

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