Landlocked in the middle of Europe amid its lakes and mountains, with a unique linguistic mix, Switzerland has cultivated a determined, often almost eccentric individuality. Its insistence on neutrality has kept it apart from all Europe’s great conflicts of the last 200 years – and the resulting devastation – and its policy of not signing international treaties meant that it did not even join the United Nations until 2002. At the same time, its special status in standing aside from other nations’ conflicts has also made it a preferred location for the headquarters of many international organisations, including many that are part of the UN. This is one of the things, along with the proverbial Swiss thoroughness and business sense, that has also helped make the country rich.
Villages nestle between Alpine peaks in Switzerland.
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Undamaged by war, Switzerland conjures up an image of precision, wealth, neatness and good health. Its landscapes are stunning, from the high Alps to the lush green lower valleys with their picture-book lakes and villages, and their beauty and invigoratingly fresh air have made this one of Europe’s foremost tourist destinations ever since people first began to travel for pleasure in the 18th century.
The world’s best public transport system
The country’s special landscape, with acute ascents and massive mountain barriers dividing the main valleys, might be expected to make getting around difficult, but visitors to Switzerland benefit from the world’s best public transport system. Many of the most scenic places can be reached only by mountain railway or cable car, so it makes sense to buy one of the Swiss Travel System passes and enjoy the landscape without driving.
Narrow-gauge mountain railways are an essential part of the Swiss Alps. Most famous are the Rhaetian Railway (www.rhb.ch) in Graubünden, running from Chur to Klosters, Davos, St Moritz and into Italy – a line so beautiful it has been declared a Unesco World Heritage site – and the Matterhorn-Gotthard line (www.matterhorngotthardbahn.ch) from Disentis, where it connects with the Rhaetian, to Zermatt. The two companies provide the hugely popular Glacier Express (www.glacierexpress.ch), all the way from St Moritz and Davos to Zermatt.
Mountain trains and cable cars take skiers and sightseers up the Kleines Matterhorn, Jungfrau, Corvatsch and hundreds of other peaks. Among the best known is Europe’s highest railway, to Jungfraujoch, and the Alps’ longest aerial cableway. The world’s highest underground funicular railway, the Metro-Alpin, at a height of 3,456 metres (11,339ft) up in Saas Fee in the Valais, makes year-round skiing possible.
MTN train in snow.
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International Geneva
Geneva 1 [map] Genève) is at the westernmost tip of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman) which feeds the River Rhône, and is surrounded by France on three sides. It has a panorama of water, mountains, parks and flower beds, and the elegant villas lining the lakeshore and coloured sails on the water create a delightful setting for Switzerland’s most cosmopolitan city.
Reformation Monument in the Parc des Bastions, Geneva.
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Many of its well-known sights are found right where the Rhône leaves Geneva. The Water Fountain (Jet d’Eau) in the harbour sends a dazzling plume of white foam 145 metres (476ft) into the air. The first bridge to span the Rhône is the Pont du Mont-Blanc. From here and from Quai du Mont-Blanc, on the right bank, one can enjoy (on clear days) an unobstructed view of Mont Blanc far to the south, the highest peak in Europe at 4,808 metres (15,780ft).
The Jardin Anglais (English Garden) and Flower Clock, decorated with over 6,300 plants, are nearby on the left bank, while a little further on is Ile Rousseau, a place for literary pilgrims. Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) was born in the city, and the island, reached by a footbridge from the Pont des Bergues, was renamed when a statue of him was erected in 1834.
Fact
The Jet d’Eau is visible from all over the city and even when flying over the city at an altitude of 10km (33,000ft). The fountain shoots 500 litres (132 gallons) of water per second at a speed of 200km/h (124mph). When it is in operation, at any given moment there are about 7,000 litres (1,849 gallons) of water in the air.
Behind the Jardin Anglais, crossing the main shopping street of Rue de Rhône are numerous steep, narrow lanes leading to the Old Town (vieille ville), with its picturesque streets and squares. Don’t miss the Place du Bourg-de-Four and the Cathédrale St-Pierre. Geneva was the birthplace of Swiss watchmaking; the Patek Philippe Museum (Tue–Sat) displays timepieces and music boxes dating back to the 16th century.
Next to the cathedral is the Musée International de la Réforme (International Museum of the Reformation; Tue–Sun), which explores the roots and development of the Protestant break with the Catholic Church, while on the far side of the Old Town in the Parc des Bastions, the Reformation Wall commemorates some key figures of Protestantism. As the city of John Calvin (1509–64), Geneva figured prominently in the history of the Protestant Reformation. Fleeing from persecution in France, he inspired the city to take up the cause in 1536, and made it the “Protestant Rome”, promulgating his doctrine of predestination and rigidly austere morality, which included the banning of theatres, dancing and jewellery.
Calvin’s influence was not entirely negative, for it could be argued that it was he who made Geneva such an international city. Protestant refugees flocked in from England, France and Italy, and Calvin also founded an academy that evolved into the university. And since there were no recreational activities, the people of Geneva had no choice but to work and accumulate wealth.
Geneva’s next major figure, Rousseau, was the wellspring of many of the ideas that led to the French Revolution of 1789, combining the excitement of the French Enlightenment with a certain, rather Swiss, dogmatism. Rousseau’s theory of the equality of man caused the whole Western world to rethink the notion of aristocratic government, and his ideas on nature also helped spark the Romantic movement in literature and the arts. The French philosopher Voltaire was also a Genevan by adoption, and Romantic writers such as Byron and Shelley were drawn to the area too.
Geneva is important today because of its role as the headquarters for many international organisations. The Palace of Nations was built between 1929 and 1936 for the League of Nations, the predecessor to the UN, and is now its European headquarters. Several other UN subsidiary organisations, including the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), are based in Geneva, as is, most famous of all, the Red Cross.
The SS Savoie sets off from Geneva.
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Around Lake Geneva
The Swiss side of Lake Geneva is known as the Vaud Riviera, and the name is appropriate. Mountains protect the area from north and east winds, giving it a mild climate with 2,000 hours of sunshine a year. The lakeside towns and villages are lined with well-tended flower beds and trees. Behind them, neat vineyards grow on terraces that date from the 11th century; the Lavaux Vineyard Terraces are a World Heritage site. A ferry service – extensive in summer – links the towns around the lake, including Evian, Thonon and Yvoire on the French side.
Vineyards overlooking Lake Geneva.
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A string of pretty towns and villages lines the lakeshore between Geneva and the eastern end of the lake at Montreux. Coppet, with its picturesque main street and small Château de Coppet (Apr–Oct daily, pm only) is the first of these. The Château is celebrated as the home of the author Mme de Staël (1766–1817). Expelled from Paris by Napoleon for her liberal ideas, she returned to her family home at Coppet, entertaining the literary figures of the day, including Byron, at her salons. Further along, and clinging to a steep hillside, Nyon was founded by the Romans and is today an attractive town with a lakeside castle, winding streets and tree-lined lakeside promenade. The Château de Prangins, 2km (1¼ miles) east of Nyon, is a beautiful 18th-century building housing the Musée Suisse (Swiss National Museum; Tue–Sun) for the French-speaking part of the country, detailing Switzerland’s recent history. In the grounds, the castle’s pretty kitchen garden has been faithfully recreated.
The Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne.
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Lausanne 2 [map], the “second city” of French Switzerland and capital of Vaud Canton, enjoys a sheltered, sunny spot on the southern slopes of steep terraces and gorges. The old quarter, La Cité, is the location of the medieval cathedral, which has the most impressive exterior in Switzerland. The International Olympic Committee is based in the city, and the Olympic Museum stands by the lake at Quai d’Ouchy. However, it is undergoing large-scale modernisation, and is not due to reopen until late 2013. In summer, this lakeside area attracts a cosmopolitan crowd for boating and other water sports.
Eat
It’s impossible to spend any time in Switzerland without eating fondue (French for “melted”) at least once. The Swiss national dish is very simple, a communal bowl of melted cheese – generally gruyère, but possibly other Swiss cheeses – into which all the diners dip bread on long forks. Chefs often add other ingredients and personal touches, and there’s hot debate about what represents the best fondue. Café Tivoli (Place d’Armes, 18) in Fribourg, capital of the Gruyères region, has a high reputation.
The region of Montreux-Vevey lies along the lakeside near the southeastern end of Lake Geneva. While on a visit there, the mother of Tsar Alexander II wrote: “I am in the most beautiful country in the world.” The tsars are long gone, and Montreux 3 [map] now seeks to attract a different kind of international clientele. Only 72km (45 miles) from Geneva Airport, the city has a huge conference and exhibition centre to host international festivals such as the Montreux Jazz and Classical Music festivals. The pre-World War I glitter may have faded, but the beautiful setting remains. The lush green hills still slope down to the lake, with mountain peaks in the background. Flowers bloom easily in the unusually mild climate.
The literary set of the 18th and 19th centuries could not stay away. Rousseau set his 1761 novel, La Nouvelle Héloïse, in Clarens, now part of Montreux. Voltaire arrived, followed shortly by Byron, who put Montreux on the itinerary of British tourists for the next 150 years. Dickens, Tolstoy, Hans Christian Andersen and Dostoevsky are some of the other literati who came. The best-known resident of Vevey, just west of Montreux, was Charlie Chaplin, who is buried here. His statue stands in the main square.
Just 1.6km (1 mile) east of Montreux is the Château de Zermatt (daily). Built by a Duke of Savoy in the 9th or 10th century, and expanded in the 13th century, it has large dungeons into which critics and plotters were tossed.
Gruyères Castle, dating from the 11th century.
Gruyères and the Jura
The Montreux-Vevey area provides a starting point for several excursions, such as one to the cheese-making town of Gruyères, home of the most famous of Swiss cheeses, Gruyère.
The Gruyères district is idyllic. In addition to the famous cheese, it produces country ham, cream, strawberries and chocolate. Both cheese museum (a model dairy farm next to the railway station demonstrates the cheesemaking process, and samples are provided) and chocolate factories can be visited by the Swiss Chocolate Train from Montreux, using Belle Epoque Pullman and panoramic cars.
The medieval town of Gruyères has only one main thoroughfare: a wide cobblestone area from which cars have been banned and which is lined with traditional buildings. This street, which leads up the hill to a castle, is liberally planted with flowers.
The northernmost part of French-speaking Switzerland is covered by the Jura Mountains, running northwest of Lake Geneva towards Basel. They also extend into France, and though relatively low by Alpine standards are still ruggedly beautiful, with wonderful locations for hiking. The Haut Jura Neuchâtelois, one of the most impressive parts of the range, can be reached from Neuchâtel 4 [map], at the eastern end of the largest lake of the same name. Founded in the 11th century, under the counts of Neuchâtel, the city expanded on land reclaimed from the lake, and won fame as a centre of Swiss watchmaking. There are also some fine museums here, in particular the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire (Museum of Art and History; Tue–Sun), which among many other exhibits has a large collection of historic clocks and watches.
What language do they speak in Switzerland?
Travelling through Switzerland reveals that the linguistic and cultural background of each region, whether predominantly German, French or Italian, influences everything, especially food, architecture and lifestyle.
About two-thirds of the Swiss are German-speaking. They speak Schwyzerdütsch, a specifically Swiss dialect that is used at all social levels. Other German-speakers can have difficulty in understanding it and its regional variations, and often find Swiss German oddly archaic. French has worked its way into Swiss-German, too, so that people say merci vielmals for “thank you very much”. Menus may use a mix of German, French and Schwyzerdütsch. The languages in the French and Italian areas of the country are more similar to those spoken in France and Italy, although Swiss-French pronunciation tends to be a bit more emphatic than standard French, so can be easier to understand for foreigners.
Language divisions do not always follow the borders of the cantons. Basel, Zürich and St Gallen in the north, and Bern and Luzern are all fully German-speaking, but the Fribourg Canton, east of Montreux, has French- and German-speaking areas. The Italian Swiss are primarily concentrated in Ticino, but also extend into Graubünden or the Grisons, where different Alpine valleys have often maintained linguistic differences, and Romansch, the fourth official language, can be heard.
Into German Switzerland
The linguistic border between French- and German-speaking Switzerland runs just east of Lake Neuchâtel. Bern 5 [map] is the national capital of the Swiss Federation and also known as the town of bears, translated as Bearn in the local dialect. There are automated metal bears on the glockenspiel of the city’s famous Zeitglockenturm (Clock Tower) and bears in the zoo. The Old City is located on a peninsula, a sharp bend in the River Aare, with bridges heading off to the “mainland” in three directions. After a disastrous fire in 1405, the town was rebuilt with local sandstone, and the result is so impressive it is a World Heritage site. Gothic sandstone buildings, with elaborate bay windows, overhanging gables and red geraniums in window boxes, are ubiquitous, as are squares with flower-decked fountains. There are more arcades than in any other city in Europe. The neoclassical Bundeshaus (Parliament Building) and a number of banking houses face each other on the same square. Notable among Bern’s many museums is the Zentrum Paul Klee (Paul Klee Centre; Tue–Sun), in a striking building designed by Renzo Piano, which houses the world’s largest collection of the painter’s work.
Switzerland’s second-biggest economic centre after Zürich is Basel 6 [map], one of the largest ports on the Rhine. It is home to the Zolli (Basel Zoo; daily), Switzerland’s largest zoo, and plays a leading role in the international arts and antiques trade.
Nearly all the sights of the city are in Grossbasel, the Old Town, which rises steeply from the Rhine’s right bank. Among the striking Gothic buildings are the impressive Rathaus (Town Hall) and the 12th-century cathedral. Basel has no fewer than 35 museums, catering for every taste. A cast of Rodin’s Les Bourgeois de Calais welcomes visitors to the most prestigious, the Kunstmuseum (Fine Arts Museum; Tue–Sun), which has a very fine collection of works by 16th-century painters such as Holbein and Grünewald combined with an outstanding selection of 19th- and 20th-century art by figures such as Gauguin, Van Gogh, Picasso, Chagall, Klee, Max Ernst, Kandinsky and Basel native Arnold Böcklin.
To the north of the Old Town, The Dreiländereck (Three Country Corner) is something of a novelty. By walking around a marker, you are able to pass in seconds through Switzerland, France and Germany – all without having to show a passport.
A Zürich tram, with the towers of the Grossmünster in the background.
Swissimage
Tucked in between high hills at the north end of Lake Zürich is the country’s largest city, Zürich 7 [map], one of the world’s key financial centres. The region here is not yet part of the Alps but the Mittelland (Midland), a wide strip that cuts across Switzerland from northeast to southwest. The River Limmat divides the Altstadt (Old Town) between the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) on the west side and Limmatquai, a riverside promenade, on the east. Bahnhofstrasse, one of Europe’s most elegant shopping streets, runs south from the Hauptbahnhof parallel to the river. Price tags, if there are any, suggest a city of millionaires.
Zurich has some architectural gems, notably the Romanesque-Gothic Grossmünster church, with twin towers, cut down to size somewhat after an 18th-century fire. At the nearby Kunsthaus (Museum of Art; Tue–Sun) on Heimplatz you can race through an impressive range of mostly 19th- and 20th-century art in one of Switzerland’s largest galleries. The labyrinthine Schweizerisches Landesmuseum (Swiss National Museum; Tue–Sun) has Roman relics, medieval artefacts, heraldic shields and rooms furnished in the styles of the 15th to 18th centuries. On the west bank of the Limmat is the Rococo Zur Meisen Guildhall (Zunfthaus zur Meisen; Tue–Sun), a jewel-box of a building, alongside the slim Gothic grandeur of the Fraumünster, and St Peter’s church, with the largest church clockface in Europe.
Lucerne and its covered bridge.
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Lucerne
Its French and English name, Lucerne, leaves the visitor totally unprepared for the very German character of Luzern 8 [map]. The covered Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge), built in 1333 and reconstructed after a fire in 1993, is the city’s best-known landmark. It has a distinctive red-tile roof and its interior is lined with gable paintings glorifying the martyrs and heroes of the region. A few hundred yards further downstream a second medieval bridge with a small chapel crosses the River Reuss, which drains Vierwaldstätter See (Lake Lucerne). The wooden Spreuerbrücke (Spreuer Bridge) also has a gabled roof. The gable ends are decorated with Caspar Meglinger’s paintings of the Totentanz (“Dance of Death”).
For visitors coming from the north, Lucerne is a gateway to the Alps, and its medieval ambience enhanced by its breathtaking surroundings. The large lake, criss-crossed by majestic paddle steamers, is flanked on either side by the two giants of mounts Rigi and Pilatus. The crystal-blue waters meeting the mountain faces are the perfect setting for a romantic evening dinner cruise. Boat cruises stop at various points, from where cable cars stretch up to the surrounding peaks. You can walk up from the village of Vitznau to the peak of Rigi in about four hours, or take the cog-wheel train. The Alpine panorama is splendid, stretching 300km (nearly 200 miles) in every direction. The cog-wheel railway (closed Dec–Apr) on Pilatus, with a 1 in 2 gradient, is one of the world’s steepest. Yodelling, flag-throwing and alphorn concerts are kept alive for tourists.
Fact
It was at Altdorf, above Lake Lucerne, in 1291 that William Tell, the country’s national hero, was forced to shoot an apple off his own son’s head. Needless to say, the arrow was true and the boy was spared.
Lucerne is also known as the place where Richard Wagner wrote three of his major works, Die Meistersinger, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung. He lived in Luzern between 1866 and 1872, in a mansion on the Tribschen peninsula that is now the Richard Wagner Museum (mid-Mar–Nov Tue–Sun). This was where Wagner lived with Cosima von Bülow, the daughter of Franz Liszt, having begun their affair when she was still married to the conductor Hans von Bülow.
Each summer Lucerne is host to the Lucerne Festival, a celebration of classical music. A popular feature of the festivals are outdoor serenades at the Löwenplatz. The acoustics of the water and rock, and the soft illumination of the colossal lion carved from a cliff, provide an enchanting nocturnal experience.
The town of Schwyz 9 [map], on the east side of Lake Lucerne, gave its name to the country. Switzerland’s most important document – the Swiss Charter of 1291 – is housed here in the Bundesbriefmuseum (Museum of the Swiss Charters of Confederation; Tue–Sun). Close to the centre, the wonderfully preserved 17th-century manor house, the Ital Reding-Hofstatt (Tue–Sun) – a classic of Swiss traditional architecture with its chalet-style roofs – houses exhibits that tell the story of the rich families who supplied foreign courts with the town’s most famous export – mercenary soldiers – in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The Rococo library in St Gallen abbey.
Bill Wassman/Apa Publications
Eastern Switzerland receives relatively few visitors, but the area around the broad expanse of Bodensee (Lake Constance) ) [map], on the border with Bavaria, has vine-covered slopes, orchards, meadows and historic towns and villages. The city of St Gallen ! [map] is easy to reach from Zürich. It originally developed from a monastery precinct, now dominated by the Baroque cathedral (daily). The city also contains a series of exceptionally fine Baroque facades, particularly the Zum Greif house (Gallusstrasse 22) and the Haus zum Pelikan (Schmiedgasse 15).
In a quiet corner on the Swiss-Austrian border, next to the cantons of St Gallen and Grisons, lies Liechtenstein @ [map]. This independent Fürstentum (principality), left over from the Holy Roman Empire and occupying only 162 sq km (62 sq miles) between the Rhine and the Vorarlberg mountains, offers fabulous scenery.
Swiss winter wonderland
As the original home of winter sports, Switzerland’s ski-slopes have never lost their appeal. The most famous Swiss mountain towns – St Moritz, Klosters, Davos, Gstaad – also created the image of a classic ski resort: luxurious, with glamorous bars for “après-ski” socialising, and patronised by royalty and the kind of celebrities once known as “the international jet set”. Many are now a little elderly but still rich enough to afford the very high prices, but recently towns like St Moritz have discovered a fresh clientele in the all-new super-rich from Russia.
This kind of clientele often spends more time mingling and shopping than skiing, but these resorts still have excellent, though unavoidably expensive, facilities. There are, however, many less costly options. Bernese Oberland villages such as Grundelwald have a more relaxed atmosphere and less astronomic prices, and many skiers prefer other, lesser-known areas such as Laax, in the Glarner Alps west of Chur, or smaller valleys in the Valais like the Val d’Anniviers south of Sierre, with enjoyable resort villages like Vissoie and Zinal. Their slopes are often now used for snowboarding, snow-kiting, sledging and other options, as well as classic skiing. The official website www.myswitzerland.com lists some 355 winter-sports centres across the country.
Switzerland’s easternmost canton, Graubünden or, in French and English, Grisons, is also the most mixed: within it some areas speak German, Italian, and the oldest language of the mountains, Romansch. Chur £ [map], the capital, is the oldest town in Switzerland, having been settled by the Celts 5,000 years ago. The old part of town is exceptionally beautiful when snow lies on the mighty roofs of the Gothic town hall, the Bishop’s Palace and the Romanesque cathedral, which contains a magnificent late Gothic carved high altar.
Southwest of Chur the true high Alps begin in the Silvretta and Albula ranges, with famous glaciers and a string of peaks well over 3,000 metres (9,850ft) high, separating the town from the Engadine, the upper valley of the River Inn, which flows northeast into Austria. The towns in or above the valley became the first winter sports resorts anywhere in the world in the 1860s, and have never lost their cachet.
Anyone crossing the passes to the Engadine has to take one of the routes through the narrow gap around Chur, via Lenzerheide and Tiefencastel south to St Moritz or from Landquart through the Saars tunnel to Klosters, a small but discreetly luxurious ski resort that is the favourite skiing spot of the British royal family. A few kilometres along the same valley is the much larger but still opulent Davos $ [map]. Wealthy sufferers from tuberculosis were already sent to Davos in the 18th century, due to its famously clean mountain air, and hotels and sanatoria grew up to cater for them. It was thus well placed to join the boom in winter sports when they became fashionable in the 1880s, and more recently, Davos has diversified its activities again and acquired new fame by hosting the annual World Economic Forum, where the world’s most powerful gather to compare notes. For skiers, its prime attraction is the Parsenn mountain located between Davos and Klosters, which offers 200km (125 miles) of ski slopes.
St Moritz % [map] is, however, where the whole history of winter tourism began in 1864, when Johannes Badrutt, owner of the Kulm Hotel, invited some English summer guests to spend the winter here. Within a few years ice-skating and curling competitions were held, and skiing, demonstrated by visiting Scandinavians, was taken up by fashionable guests. With many upscale hotels and chic nightlife, St Moritz remains one of the Alps’ most lavishly equipped resorts.
To escape the bustle and crowds of the town and lake, take the route up the north side of the valley to Maloja, which leads across wooded, sheltered slopes through an idyllic landscape with wonderful views of Lake Silvaplana below, and continue past the foot of the Corvatsch, considered by many the best mountain for skiing in the world.
Near the St Gotthard Pass and the border with Italy.
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Italian Switzerland: Ticino
Apart from part of Graubünden, Italian Switzerland consists of just one canton, Ticino. It is still possible here to find wonderfully quiet valleys filled with sunshine and sub-Alpine vegetation, although they may be just a few kilometres from motorways and railways. Predominantly mountainous, the region has two great lakes at the foot of the Alps bordering Italy, Lago Maggiore and Lago di Lugano.
The town of Lugano ^ [map] has a modern banking quarter, but the developers spared a few arcaded alleyways; the Cathedral of San Lorenzo, a Lombard Renaissance masterpiece on the steep slope between the railway station and the lower part of town, has also survived. The Museo Cantonale d’Arte (Tue–Sun) in the Villa Malpensata has a good collection of works by Swiss artists.
Locarno & [map] and the small villages on the banks of Lago Maggiore enjoy the mildest climate in the Ticino. This has encouraged tourism to the extent that traffic around the lake can sometimes be unbearable. The 14th-century Castello Visconteo (Apr–Oct Tue–Sun) now houses the Museo Archeologico (Archaeological Museum; Apr–Oct Tue–Sun), which has Bronze Age and Roman artefacts. Ascona is one of the most ancient settlements on the lake, and the houses here along the promenade are now colourful cafés and restaurants overlooking the small harbour. Boat services on the lake call at 36 piers, most of them in Italy. The most notable Swiss port of call is the island of Brissago, for its villa and botanic garden.
View over Lake Thun to the Bernese Oberland.
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The Bernese Oberland and the Valais
Ticino is connected to central Switzerland via the San Gottardo (St Gotthard) pass, one of the historic routes over the Alps. There are some 51 peaks over 4,000 metres (13,000ft) high in the mountain chains formed by the Bernese Oberland (Alps) and their continuation in neighbouring Valais, and this is another of the great Alpine sports regions. If the Engadine was where Alpine skiing began, the Bernese Oberland was one of the first centres of mountaineering, especially around the Jungfrau, 4,158 metres (13,640ft) high and first climbed in 1811, and neighbouring Eiger, lower at 3,970 metres (13,000ft) but with a more dangerous reputation. The town of Interlaken * [map] grew up in their shadow, and is full of splendid hotel buildings from its glory days in the 19th century. Above it, villages such as Grindelwald, Mürren and Wengen are popular ski centres. The area is also a favourite for hiking in summer, as well as for adventure sports like canyoning or paragliding. Thun ( [map], considered the gateway to the Oberland, is dominated by its castle, perched on a steep hill. The 12th-century keep, with its four corner towers, is reminiscent of a Norman castle.
The route to Montreux passes through the mountain resort of Gstaad ‚ [map], another spot where high society from all over the world meets up in the winter months. To the south is the Valais, a mainly French-speaking canton that is another major Alpine sports region. In the last few decades Crans Montana near Sierre has risen in fashionable status, drawing in many celebrity names, but the older skiing and mountaineering mecca of Zermatt ⁄ [map] has the great plus of lying at the foot of the majestic Matterhorn, 4,478 metres (14,690ft) high. The finest easily reached view of the famous mountain is from Gornergrat, summit of a cog-wheel railway from Zermatt and the highest open-air station in Europe, at 3,092 metres (10,145ft). In the east of the Valais, the road from Sierre leads to the Simplon Pass and rail tunnel through to Italy.
