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Look
past the silk-smooth chocolate, cuckoo clocks and yodelling –
contemporary Switzerland, land of four languages, is all about epic
journeys and sublime experiences.Alpine Tradition
Variety
is the spice of rural life in this rich, earthy land where Alpine
tradition is rooted in the agricultural calendar and soaring mountains
are as common as muck. Travels are mapped by villages with timber
granaries built on stilts to keep the rats out and chalet farmsteads
brightened with red geranium blossoms. Ancient markets, folkloric
fairs, flag waving and alp horn concerts engrave the passing of seasons
in every soul. And then there's the food: a hearty and flavoursome,
gastronomic celebration of gooey cheese desperate to be dipped in,
along with velvety chocolate, autumnal game and air-dried meats.
Urban Chic
The
perfect antidote to rural beauty is a surprise set of cities: capital
Bern with its medieval old town and world-class modern art, deeply
Germanic Basel and its bold architecture, shopping-chic Geneva astraddle
Europe’s largest lake, tycoon-magnet Zug and uber-cool Zürich
with its rooftop bars and atypical Swiss street grit. Beard cutting or
stone throwing, Paul Klee art or hip club gig: what a euphoric journey
indeed.Great Outdoors
Switzerland's
hallucinatory landscapes demand immediate action – grab boots, leap on
board, toot bike bell and let spirits rip. Skiing and snowboarding in Graubünden,
Bernese Oberland and Central Switzerland are winter choices. When
pastures turn green, hiking and biking trails abound in
glacier-encrusted mountain areas and lower down along lost valleys,
glittering lakeshores and pea-green vineyards. View the natural
grandeur from a hot-air balloon or parachute, or afloat a white-water
raft. Then there's those must-do-before-death moments like encountering
Eiger's chiselled north face up close or reaching crevassed ice on
Jungfraujoch (3454m). Most extraordinary of all, you don’t need to be a
mountaineer to do it.Picture Perfect
Switzerland
is a harmonious tableau of beautiful images, a slideshow of epic
proportions that is easy to step into, and travellers have been seduced
ever since the days of the Grand Tour and Alpinism's Golden Age in the
19th century, and the birth of winter tourism in the Alps in the 1930s.
From the intoxicating chink of Verbier glitterati hobnobbing over
Champagne to the reassuring bell jangle of silky black Val d'Hérens
cattle being mucked out in the Valais,
Switzerland mixes rural and urban with astonishing ease, grace and
precision. Ride a little red train between peak and pine, soak in
mountain spa waters, snowshoe to your igloo or scamper across medieval
bridges and know that this small landlocked country will be picture
perfect, with not a hair out of place.
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