THE mere mention of Switzerland evokes images of beautiful mountain tops, picturesque landscapes with lakes and rivers. The truth is that Switzerland is that and so much more. To fully appreciate Switzerland one has to experience it first hand, and here are some of the must-see treasures it offers to tourists.
Lausanne: In a country where natural beauty is common, Lausanne is without a doubt the most beautiful of cites, a unique hybrid of old-world elegance and modern sophistication. Considered by many to be the San Francisco of Switzerland, Lausanne has steep hills, winding alleys, exquisite parks, and promenades. It is the smallest of Switzerland’s major towns, and has a rich history and culture. There are some 20 museums that tell its story in all its forms. One of the most incredible attractions is the Olympic Museum. Since it opened in the summer of 1993, the Olympic Museum — the only one in the world — has had over 1.7 million visitors from all over the world. The museum showcases a large and unique collection of Olympic items — torches, medals, posters, images, publications, stamps and coins — that date from ancient times up to the present as well as objects worn, and used by some of Olympic history’s most famous participants (Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves, Michael Jordan’s sneakers). The Olympic Museum also has a restaurant with a terrace that enjoys a truly exceptional view from the heart of the 22,000-meter Olympic park. The park features a number of sculptures by some of the world’s most prominent artists. The Olympic Museum is a must since it is what a 21st century museum should be — interactive multimedia, history and entertainment all rolled into one.
Finally, because of Lausanne’s strategic geographical location, its industrial and commercial fabric, and its hotel facilities, the town has taken its place as a lively convention city. As a member of the Swiss Association of Convention and Incentive Cities, Lausanne has the capability to host major meetings. It is estimated that seven out of every 10 travelers who visit Lausanne come on business or to attend a convention.
Montreux: This is the centerpiece of the Swiss Riviera. Its location is spectacular, bathed in afternoon sunshine streaming across the lake and protected from chill northerlies by a wall of giant mountains. The main reasons to visit Montreux are to gasp in wonder at the spectacular panorama of the Dents-du-Midi peaks across the lake and to visit Chillon. The stellar annual jazz festival which sends Montreux’s name worldwide offers top-drawer performers in all areas of music. In a case of truth being stranger than fiction, a century ago Montreux’s hoteliers were casting about for a logo they could attach to the advertisements they placed in the English press each season. On a walk in the nearby hills they came across the perfect answer, growing in lush abundance all around and so since 1897, the symbolic flower of Montreux has been, with ever-increasing aptness, the narcissus.
Perhaps the late Freddie Mercury said it best: “If you want your soul to find peace, go to Montreux.”
Zermatt: Zermatt has the Matterhorn. No other natural or human structure in the whole country is so immediately recognizable or magnificent; indeed, in most people’s minds the Matterhorn stands for Switzerland just as the Eiffel Tower stands for France. Part of the reason it is so famous is that it stands alone, its impossibly pointy shape sticking up from an otherwise uncrowded horizon above Zermatt. But you get the feeling that it would be famous even if it stood within a chain of peaks: There’s just something about it that’s bizarrely mesmerizing and it may well be one of the most memorable sights seen in anybody’s life, simply breathtaking.
Emerging from Zermatt station is an experience in itself: This little village — which has managed, much to its credit, to cling to its old brown chalets and twisting alleys — welcomes everybody, regardless of status, and the station square is where all worlds collide. Backpackers and hikers rub shoulders with high-society jet-setters amid a flutter of tour groups, electric taxis and horse-drawn carriages. Everyone of course has come to see the mountain. Zermatt has no off-season — it’s crowded year-round — but the crowds never seem to matter. You may have to shoulder your way down the main street but the terrain all around is expansive enough that with a little effort you can vanish into the wilderness, leaving everyone else behind.
The small area around Zermatt features 36 mountains over 4,000 meters, a statistic as enticing to summer hikers as to winter skiers. As early as the 1820s, British climbers adopted the isolated hamlet as a base camp from which to scale the nearby peaks. The first hotel opened in 1838. All through the 19th century, word spread and the local community quickly saw the potential: Grand hotels went up and public funds were diverted into construction of the Gornergrat rack railway at the turn of the century. The skiing boom of the 1960s saw the town double in size but today it remains acceptably small and low-key, rooted to the valley floor in a natural bowl open to the south. The Gornergrat railway lifts you up to a spectacular vantage point overlooking the Monte Rosa massif, with its summit the Dufourspitze (4634 meters) — the highest point in Switzerland. The skiing is good, but in many ways, the hiking is better with some of the most scenic mountain walks in the whole country within easy reach of the village.
Zermatt is car-free but it doesn’t necessarily pay to drive all the way up the valley. Certain sections of the large parking garages at and near Visp station offer free indefinite parking if you ask for a permit at the train station ticket office when you buy your train ticket to Zermatt. However, free parking only applies if you’ve parked in the right place — look for the clearly-marked “BVZ park and ride” car parks to the east (covered) and west (open) of the station, and only use those areas marked with the BVZ logo (not the SBB one). Check with the station staff that you’re in the right place before you leave or you’ll be charged when you return. Overall, for such a small town, there’s so much to do for the whole family, from learning to ski to shopping, or just absorbing the incredible atmosphere.
Crans Montana: This is another great Swiss skiing area, with a wonderful ski resort, and also great golf courses, for beginners or the Tiger Woods imitators. Many claim it to be the sunniest plateau in the Alps, facing south over the Rhone Valley with a spectacular panorama of peaks yawning beyond.
The resort actually comprises three villages, Crans-sur-Sierre, Montana and Aminona; the conglomeration sprawls for more than two kilometers between Crans, to the west, and Montana, to the east, with nothing to mark the shift from one to another. There’s no restriction on cars at all and traffic is permanently heavy; in high season village-to-village gridlock is not unknown. The skiing, “irretrievably intermediate,” according to those in the know, takes second place to the round of dining embarked upon by fashionable aficionados of Crans Montana’s affluent social life — although the resort does have the advantage of access to year-round skiing on the Plaine Morte glacier. Skiing aside, the place is best known for hosting the European Masters Golf Tournament every September, second only to the British Open for prestige and top names. Crans’ scenic course — “by far the most spectacular tournament site in the world” according to Greg Norman — was redesigned in 1999 by Steve Ballesteros, and now boasts fiendishly complex upturned-saucer greens, which led one frustrated player to describe playing a round as “having 18 teeth pulled one by one.” A must for those who enjoy physical activity during the day as well as the pampering that comes with VIP spa treatment.
Geneva: Geneva is an anomaly, the nearest thing the world has to a truly international city. It is not as populated as New York, as stuffy as London or as pretentious as Paris. It’s in the most beautiful location, centered around the point where the River Rhone flows out of Lake Geneva, flanked on one side by the Jura ridges and on the other by the first peaks of the Savoy Alps. Despite this, it is still a curiously unsatisfying place to spend more than a few days.
The spiritual father of the city is John Calvin, the inspiration behind Puritanism and Presbyterianism, who turned Geneva into what was dubbed a “Protestant Rome” in the 16th century. His parsimonious spirit — paradoxically enough — remains the motive force behind this wealthiest of city-states today. What’s officially still known as “The Republic and Canton of Geneva” is only nominally within Switzerland’s borders, squeezed into a bulge that shares just four kilometers of internal border with its Swiss neighbor but 108 kilometers with France all around. Some 30,000 French people commute daily to jobs in Geneva from dormitory towns just over the border. They benefit from a high Swiss salary and relatively low French living expenses. Equal number of Genevois save money by going to France to do their shopping. The Gallic influence is what defines the city and yet it is tempered by an ingrained streak of Calvinism even though the conservative Genevois are surrounded by some of the world’s most expensive shops and most elegantly exquisite restaurants. In fact, Geneva has become the businessperson’s city par excellence — unruffled, efficient and packed with hotels. The cobbled Old Town, high on its central hill, is atmospheric but strangely austere with abiding impressions of high, gray walls and the tap-tap of passing footsteps. At the heart of the city is the huge Cathedrale St-Pierre and packed in all around are an array of top-class museums, including the giant Musee d’Art et d’Histoire and an impressive gallery of East Asian art, the Collections Baur. Livelier residential neighborhoods on both sides of the Rhone, such as Les Paquis and Plainpalais, offer more appealing wandering. A short way south of the center is Carouge, an attractive 18th-century suburb built in Sardinian style designed as a place of decadence and freedom beyond Geneva’s control; its reputation lives on in its population of artists and designers.
And of course, Geneva is home to dozens of international organizations. Two of them — the United Nations’ European headquarters and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the latter with an award-winning museum — allow visitors a varied glimpse of the city, the diplomatic and administrative confidence that have made Geneva a world capital of international diplomacy.
