The 12 Best Travel Experiences in Switzerland

The Matterhorn's near-perfect pyramidal peak has made it one of the most recognised mountains in the world and the symbol of the Swiss Alps.

Rising 4,478 metres above the car-free village of Zermatt, it is reflected in the Riffelsee lake during clear summer mornings.

Billed as the world's slowest express train, the Glacier Express takes almost eight hours to cross the Swiss Alps between Zermatt and St Moritz, crossing 291 bridges and 91 tunnels while never exceeding 45 km/h, deliberately slow enough for the panoramic windows to take in the full scale of the Alps.

The curved Landwasser Viaduct is the journey's single most famous moment.

A UNESCO World Heritage rail line, the Bernina Express climbs from Chur in Switzerland over the Bernina Pass into Tirano, Italy, crossing the open-air Brusio spiral viaduct, a corkscrewing loop of stone arches built to gain altitude without a tunnel, and passing directly beside the glaciers of the Bernina massif at over 2,200m.

A cogwheel railway climbs through solid rock to a saddle between the Eiger and Mönch, 3,454 metres up, where the "Top of Europe" station opens onto the Aletsch Glacier, the largest ice stream in the Alps.

An ice palace, observation deck, and snow terrace fill out the visit, though thin air and shifting weather can erase the view without warning.

A compact old town of frescoed buildings wraps around the Reuss River where it leaves Lake Lucerne, crossed by the wooden, gabled Chapel Bridge that has linked both banks since the 14th century.

Mount Pilatus and Mount Rigi rise directly behind the rooftops, reachable by cogwheel train, cable car, or lake steamer, making Lucerne as much a gateway to the mountains as a destination of its own.

Held on the shore of Lake Geneva since 1967, Montreux built its reputation on landmark live recordings by artists from Miles Davis to Deep Purple, whose fire at the 1971 show inspired 'Smoke on the Water'.

Despite the name, the programme now spans well beyond jazz into pop, soul, and electronic music across indoor venues and free lakeside stages, with the mountains rising directly behind the promenade.

A vivid turquoise alpine lake at 1,578 meters, ringed by sheer limestone cliffs and wildflower meadows below the Blüemlisalp glacier.

Reached by cable car and a short walk, it's one of the Bernese Oberland's most spectacular — and comparatively uncrowded — spots.

Switzerland's largest lake curves along the base of the Alps between Geneva and Montreux, its mild microclimate supporting palm-lined promenades, terraced vineyards, and the turreted, moated Château de Chillon rising straight out of the water.

Lakeside towns like Montreux and Vevey give it a genteel, resort-town character, and paddle-steamers still cross between them much as they did a century ago.

Europe's largest waterfall by volume thunders over a 150-metre-wide limestone ledge near Schaffhausen, where the Rhine drops about 23 metres in a broad, permanent roar rather than a single dramatic drop.

Viewing platforms reach out over the spray from both banks, boats motor right up to the central rock, and the free riverside paths make it an easy stop rather than a planned expedition.

A covered timber footbridge zigzagging across the Reuss in Lucerne, built in 1333 and hung with painted gable panels telling the city's history.

The octagonal stone water tower beside it is the image on every Lucerne postcard.

Much of the bridge was rebuilt after a fire in 1993, but the effect from the riverbank is unchanged.

Basel's carnival opens at exactly 4am with the Morgestraich: every streetlight in the old town switches off, and thousands of costumed marchers set out through darkness lit only by hand-painted lanterns worn on their heads.

Three days of fife-and-drum cliques and satirical floats follow, built around a different secret theme each year.

UNESCO listed it as intangible heritage in 2017; it remains a local event run by the same societies.

A quiet alpine reservoir in Ticino reached by one of Europe's steepest funicular railways, climbing to a plateau ringed by peaks and pine forest.

Far quieter than the Bernese Oberland lakes, with hiking trails that see only a fraction of the region's tourists.