Swiss Highlights

Switzerland's remarkable places, verified and told

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Where to start

Each entry point rests on an explicit criterion, verifiable on the page it opens — never on a decorative category.

Places to discover

Snow-covered street in Bergün lined with Engadine houses with snow-laden roofs; in the background, a snowy mountainside under a clear sky.

Graubünden · Albula Valley

Bergün/Bravuogn

At 1,367 metres in the Albula Valley, Bergün lines its sgraffito-decorated Engadine houses along one climbing street. Its Romansh name, Bravuogn, has been official since 1943.

The Kramgasse in Bern, lined with sandstone buildings with arcades: in the foreground the Zähringerbrunnen, a painted fountain topped with a bear in armour, and in the background the Zytglogge tower with its golden clock face and green spire.

Old town · Bern

Bern, Old Town

More than six kilometres of arcades, 16th-century fountains and the Zytglogge tower set the rhythm of a centre rebuilt in sandstone after the fire of 1405.

Chillon Castle seen from the south: its towers and main building, covered with tiled roofs, stand on a rock at the edge of Lake Geneva, bordered by a tree-lined lakeside path.

Medieval castle · Vaud

Chillon Castle

On a limestone rock at the edge of Lake Geneva, Chillon layers eight centuries of occupation: seat of the counts of Savoy, Bernese bailiwick for some two hundred and sixty years, cantonal monument since 1798.

The Rhine Falls in full width: the sheet of white water splits around the vegetation-covered central rock; on the bank overlooking the falls stands Laufen Castle, surrounded by trees in autumn colors, and a bridge spans the river upstream.

Waterfall · Schaffhausen

Rhine Falls

A sheet of water 150 metres wide falls 23 metres over a sill of Malm limestone. As a summer average, the flow is close to 600 cubic metres per second.

A male Alpine ibex, with long ringed horns, stands on a snowy slope at the Creux du Van; behind it rise wooded Jura ridges under a pink end-of-day sky.

Rock cirque · Neuchâtel

Creux du Van

A limestone wall closes an arc 1,000 to 1,400 metres across. Ibex, chamois and lynx live in the 15.5 km² reserve around the cirque, crowned by Le Soliat at 1,464 metres.

The Étang de la Gruère on a calm day: the spruce forest and a sky streaked with clouds are mirrored perfectly in the water, with rushes and a clump of reeds in the foreground on the right.

Protected raised bog · Jura

Étang de la Gruère

At 998 metres, in the municipality of Saignelégier, a body of water five hundred metres long bordered by a 56-hectare peat bog, where peat has built up to nine metres thick over twelve thousand years.

The Aletsch Glacier seen from the Eggishorn: the river of ice, streaked with long parallel dark bands, sweeps in a wide curve between snow-covered slopes; in the distance, the peaks of the Bernese Alps stand out under a blue sky.

Glacier · Valais

Aletsch Glacier

Three rivers of ice meet at Konkordiaplatz to form the largest glacier in the Alps. It flows 180 to 200 metres a year and loses up to 50 metres of length annually.

A red Rhaetian Railway train, seen from above, negotiates the loop of the Brusio spiral viaduct: the superimposed stone arches carry the track on two levels between green meadows and groves with golden autumn foliage.

Graubünden · UNESCO World Heritage

Bernina Railway

From St. Moritz to Tirano, 60.688 metre-gauge kilometres cross the Bernina Pass at 2,253 metres. No rack rail: adhesion alone, on gradients reaching 7%.

The Chapel Bridge and its octagonal water tower span the Reuss at dusk; the lights of Lucerne's old town, with its snow-covered roofs, reflect in the calm water under a blue winter sky.

Old town and covered bridge · Lucerne

Lucerne, old town and Kapellbrücke

It joined the Confederation in 1332, before any other town; along the Reuss, Lucerne lines up a wooden bridge of 1333, an octagonal water tower older than the bridge, and 870 metres of curtain wall with nine towers.

An aerial view of Morcote: the houses lined up along the shore of Lake Lugano, the church of Santa Maria del Sasso and its bell tower on the wooded slope above the village.

Ticino · Lake Lugano

Morcote

Morcote is strung along the shore of Lake Lugano, facing Italy. Above the roofs stands the church of Santa Maria del Sasso; between them, a stairway of 404 steps and a cemetery of 1750.

The turquoise waters of Lake Oeschinen hemmed in by high limestone walls streaked with snow patches, seen from a fir-wooded promontory, under a changeable sky.

High-altitude lake · Bernese Oberland

Oeschinensee

A lake of 1.1 square kilometres held at 1578 metres by rock masses fallen from the Fründenhorn and the Doldenhorn, with no surface outflow, at the western edge of the UNESCO property Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch.

The Soglio bell tower emerges from a cluster of trees, between sloping meadows and the peaks of the Bregaglia valley, with sunlight filtering through the foliage.

Graubünden · Val Bregaglia

Soglio

Set at 1,090 metres on the northern flank of Val Bregaglia, Soglio looks out to the Bondasca glacier. Five palaces of the Salis family stand among the village's stone houses.

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