Independent guides to Switzerland

Glacier Express & Bernina Express: the two benchmark panoramic routes

Switzerland operates eight officially designated panoramic train routes, but two define the category. The Glacier Express (Zermatt to St. Moritz, 7h 45min, CHF 153 second class plus CHF 49 reservation, not covered by Swiss Travel Pass without supplement) markets itself as "the world's slowest express train" — a description it earns by climbing the Oberalp Pass at 2,033 m via 91 tunnels and 291 bridges. The highlight is the Landwasser Viaduct near Filisur: a six-arch limestone structure that curves into a tunnel at its far end in a single unbroken arc. Sit on the right side traveling eastbound for the better approach angle. Travel in May or late September to avoid the summer reservation crush; the SBB panoramic car windows tilt at the top to allow direct skyward photography without reflections.

The Bernina Express (Chur or Davos to Lugano or Tirano, CHF 90–130 second class plus CHF 15 reservation) is a UNESCO World Heritage railway and, in our view, the more scenically rewarding of the two. The section from Pontresina to Ospizio Bernina at 2,253 m is above the treeline for nearly an hour; the Morteratsch Glacier tongue is visible from the train window, retreating visibly year on year since our first review in 2019. The descent to Poschiavo through the circular Brusio viaduct — an S-curve that loses elevation without gaining length — is the engineering set-piece. From Tirano you can continue to Milan in 2h 30min by Trenitalia; the journey from Zürich to Milan via Bernina is seven hours versus two by direct train but categorically different as an experience. Both routes require advance seat reservation in the panoramic carriages; book directly with SBB or Rhätische Bahn. See our passes page for supplement information with Swiss Travel Pass and Interrail.

For the six remaining panoramic routes — GoldenPass Line, Wilhelm Tell Express, Mont Blanc Express, Voralpen-Express, Palm Express, and Centovalli Railway — see our full mountain railways section where each is reviewed with timing and booking notes.

Schilthorn, Rigi & Harder Kulm: three approaches to the summit viewpoint

Switzerland's cable car network counts over 700 installations, and the temptation is to treat them as interchangeable. They are not. The Schilthorn (2,970 m, Stechelberg to summit via two stages, CHF 109 return without passes) offers the only rotating restaurant in the Bernese Alps — the Piz Gloria, used in the 1969 James Bond film — and a free-standing view of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau that is, on a clear day, spatially more impressive than the view from Jungfraujoch itself, because you are at eye-level with the massif rather than on it. The first and last gondolas are less busy; the fog burns off most mornings by 9:30, so arriving early and waiting is a viable tactic. Rigi, described by Mark Twain in 1878 and still recognizable from his description, is reached from either Vitznau (rack railway, CHF 65 return from Luzern) or Weggis (cable car from the lake). The summit ridge at 1,798 m is wide enough to walk without crowds even on a Saturday afternoon in August, and the sunset Alpine glow — Alpenglow — onto the Bernese Alps from the Rigi Kulm hotel terrace is among the most dependably beautiful hour in Swiss travel. Harder Kulm above Interlaken (funicular, CHF 38 return, 10 min, runs year-round) is less famous but provides the single most useful orientation view in the Bernese Oberland: the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau lined up in a single panoramic frame with the two lakes — Thun and Brienz — visible below on either side of the town. A strong planning tool for first-time visitors before committing to the full Jungfraujoch ascent.

Other viewpoints worth noting: Santis (CHF 45 return, Appenzell region, views into six countries on clear days), Niesen (the so-called "Pyramid of Switzerland," CHF 52 return from Mülenen, longer queues but less commercial than Schilthorn), and the free viewpoint at Signal de Bougy above Lake Geneva — reached on foot from Aubonne station in 45 min with no cable car required. For family-specific recommendations on which viewpoints work well with young children, see our family attractions section.

Lake Geneva, Lake Lucerne & Lake Lugano: scheduled versus tourist boats

The distinction between the tourist boat and the scheduled lake steamer matters more than it might initially seem. The tourist boat runs a circuit from the main pier, returns to the same pier, and costs twice as much. The scheduled steamer connects actual communities on the lakeshore, is treated as public transport, accepts the Swiss Travel Pass at no extra cost, and carries a mix of commuters, school groups and tourists — which is a considerably more interesting atmosphere. Swiss lakes operate four major steamer networks, all worth riding for different reasons.

Lake Geneva's CGN (Compagnie Générale de Navigation) operates the largest fleet of Belle Époque paddle steamers still in regular service anywhere in Europe — five working steamships from the 1900s–1920s alongside modern vessels. The Lausanne to Montreux run (55 min, CHF 17.60 one-way, covered by Travel Pass) passes the Château de Chillon from the water, which is architecturally more satisfying than the land approach. The full circuit from Geneva to St-Gingolph on the French border and back is one of the longest one-day lake journeys in Switzerland at 9 hours; bring food as the onboard brasserie is adequate but overpriced. Lake Lucerne's SGV network runs four historic paddle steamers alongside a modern fleet; the Uri route south through the Urnersee arm to Flüelen (2h 30min one-way) passes the Rütli meadow where the Swiss Confederation was founded in 1291 according to tradition — a detour of 20 minutes if you disembark and walk the shore. Lake Lugano's Società Navigazione offers shorter crossings but the approach to Gandria — a village technically accessible only by boat or a mountain path — justifies the CHF 25 day pass on its own. For full timetables and advice on which steamer routes interlock with mountain railway excursions, see the relevant sections of our guide.

Swiss Museum of Transport, Zurich Zoo & Ballenberg: tested with actual children

Switzerland's family attractions divide sharply between places that claim to be child-friendly and places that demonstrably are. We have tested both categories with children aged 4–14 across three separate research trips and the results are clear. The Swiss Museum of Transport (Verkehrshaus) in Luzern is the best all-weather family day in the country: 21,000 m² of coverage across rail, road, air, water and space transport, with a separate planetarium (CHF 15 supplement), an IMAX cinema (CHF 22 supplement), and a Swiss Chocolate Adventure simulator that children between 6 and 13 regard as unambiguously the best part of the trip. Budget a full day; adult entry CHF 32, child 6–15 CHF 16, Swiss Travel Pass holders free. The museum is a 10-minute walk from Luzern station or 25 minutes by scheduled lake steamer from the main pier.

Zurich Zoo (Zürichbergstrasse, tram 6 from Bellevue, adult CHF 36, child CHF 20) distinguishes itself from comparable European zoos by the Masoala Rainforest Hall — a 11,000 m² sealed tropical greenhouse housing free-ranging lemurs, birds and reptiles in conditions genuinely close to their native habitat. The temperature inside is 25°C year-round, making it an effective rainy-day solution in any season. The gorilla group housed in an 8,000 m² outdoor enclosure is among the most behaviorally complex and watchable in Europe. Ballenberg open-air museum near Brienz (CHF 32 adult, CHF 16 child, bus from Brienz station 10 min) relocates 110 historically significant Swiss farmhouses and craft buildings from across the country to a single 66-hectare site. Craftspeople demonstrate cheese-making, cooperage, linen weaving and smithing on rotation through the week; the schedule is on the museum website. For a full family itinerary linking these three with cable car rides and lake excursions that work for young children, see our dedicated family attractions guide.

Rochers-de-Naye, Signal de Bougy & Fronalpstock: the less-obvious summits

Switzerland's most photographed viewpoints — Jungfraujoch, the Matterhorn from Zermatt, the Schilthorn — exist in a state of managed saturation. They remain worth visiting, but their experience is inseparable from the infrastructure built to make them accessible to hundreds of thousands of people annually. The country has dozens of less-documented high points where the ratio of vertical gain to visitor count is far more favorable. Rochers-de-Naye (2,042 m) above Montreux is reached by a narrow-gauge rack railway from Montreux station (MGN, 55 min, CHF 76 return, covered by Travel Pass) that climbs 1,700 m through terraced vineyards and alpine meadows. The summit has a small marmot colony accessible on foot from the terminus — a reliably productive wildlife observation in July and August. The view north across Lake Geneva to the Jura ridge and south to the Dents du Midi is structurally different from the east-facing Bernese panoramas and worth seeking out for that contrast alone.

Fronalpstock above Stoos (reached by Europe's steepest funicular, 110% gradient, from Schwyz, CHF 46 return) is known primarily to Swiss hikers and almost unknown to international visitors. The summit ridge walk to Klingenstock at 1,935 m takes 2h return from the funicular top station and delivers a 360° view including the lake arms of Lucerne and Lauerz visible simultaneously. Signal de Bougy above Lake Geneva near Aubonne requires no cable car: a 45-min walk from Aubonne station on a clearly marked path through vineyards rewards with a view south across the lake to the Mont Blanc massif that is, on clear November or January days, closer and more dramatic than comparable views from summer tourist season. The viewpoint has a restaurant open April–October, free entry to the belvedere platform. For regional context, these viewpoints connect naturally to the lake itineraries and the nearby towns of Nyon and Schwyz.

Appenzell, Gruyères & Ticino wine country: the edible Switzerland

Switzerland's food geography is as specific as its topography. The country has six protected designation of origin cheeses, four recognized wine-growing regions, and a chocolate industry whose production-per-capita exceeds every other country in the world. Understanding the regional logic makes the travel more coherent. Appenzell — the smallest full canton in Switzerland by population, in the northeast near St. Gallen — is the center of the Appenzeller cheese appellation, a spiced hard cheese with a protected herbal brine recipe known to only two people at any given time according to the manufacturer. The dairy show facility at Stein AR (open daily year-round, free entry, bus from Herisau station 15 min) is more engaging than it sounds: the production line operates from 9 a.m. and the aging cellar holds upward of 70,000 wheels at any given time. The Appenzell old town itself — one of Switzerland's most intact examples of painted-facade architecture in the eastern tradition — warrants an afternoon regardless of the cheese. Adult day excursion from Zürich: CHF 29 return to Herisau on Swiss Travel Pass routes.

Gruyères in the canton of Fribourg offers a functioning medieval hilltop village (cobblestone main street, 13th-century castle, CHF 14 adult entry) plus the Maison du Gruyère cheese dairy at the base of the hill (CHF 10 adult, CHF 7 child). The combination works well as a half-day from Bern (direct train to Bulle, then narrow-gauge to Gruyères station, 1h 15min total). The village restaurant La Fleur-de-Lys serves a cheese fondue using freshly produced AOC Gruyère; CHF 32 per person for a full fondue plus bread. Ticino, the Italian-speaking canton south of the Gotthard Pass, produces red wine from Merlot grapes on steep lakeside terraces above Lugano and Locarno that has improved markedly since the 2010s and is virtually unknown outside Switzerland. The Cantina Kopp von der Crone near Ligornetto is open for visits on Saturdays in growing season; the Mendrisiotto wine route on foot from Mendrisio station to Riva San Vitale is a 14 km walk through the highest-density Merlot production zone in the country. For seasonal food events including the Zürich Streetfood Festival (May) and the Engadine Nusskuchen season (autumn), see our seasonal festivals page.