Switzerland Travel Guide
Curated by Our Guild Explorers · Updated August 2026
Switzerland is about the size of Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts put together, and it is laced with the best railway network in Europe — which means you can see a great deal of it without ever renting a car or boarding a domestic flight. It is also, honestly, one of the most expensive countries in the world, and it closes down more than visitors expect between seasons. This guide covers where to go first, how to pay for the trains, what things actually cost, the two windows each year when the mountain lifts simply stop, and where to stay in the five places most first-time visitors should consider.
The basics
The five things worth knowing before you book anything.
It is not a euro country
Switzerland is in the Schengen area but not the European Union, and the currency is the Swiss franc. Some tourist shops and hotels will take euro notes, but your change comes back in francs at a rate the shop sets, and it is reliably poor. Pay by card — accepted virtually everywhere, including ticket machines and mountain restaurants — or draw francs from a bank cash machine. A rough rule: a price in francs is about a quarter more in US dollars.
Tipping is not expected
Service has been included in the price by law since 1974, so there is no obligatory tip anywhere in Switzerland. Rounding up a restaurant bill, or leaving five to ten per cent for something genuinely good, is plenty, and nobody will chase you down the street. American visitors often over-tip here out of habit; you do not need to.
English will not be a problem
German is spoken by roughly six in ten Swiss, French by a quarter, Italian in Ticino in the south. Locals speak Swiss German among themselves, which sounds nothing like the German taught in American schools, but everything written is standard German. English is spoken widely and confidently in hotels, restaurants, shops and on the railways, and announcements on the tourist routes are in English.
Allow extra time at the border
The Schengen biometric entry system came fully into operation in April 2026: on your first entry you give a photograph and fingerprints instead of receiving a passport stamp. Queues of two hours and more have been reported at Zurich and Geneva during the summer. Do not book a tight onward connection on your arrival day, and allow a generous buffer.
Where to stay — the five places to consider
Each has its own chapter with honest hotel picks by style, and a plain word on which streets are level and which are a climb.
Where to Stay in Zurich ›
The gateway city and the airport most Americans land at. Handsome old town on the Limmat, a lovely lakefront promenade, and flat central streets — though the lanes climbing to the Lindenhof are cobbled and steep. Worth a night at either end of a trip rather than a week.
Where to Stay in Lucerne ›
If you make one base for a first Swiss trip, make it this one. Forty to fifty minutes from Zurich, a compact medieval old town on a green river, lake steamers from the quay opposite the station, and two great mountain excursions at the door. Exceptionally flat and walkable.
Where to Stay in Interlaken ›
The gateway to the Jungfrau, set on a flat plain between two lakes. The town itself is functional rather than pretty, but there is not a hill in it, and every mountain train — Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, the Jungfraujoch — leaves from Interlaken Ost.
Where to Stay in Zermatt ›
Car-free, at 1,605 metres, with the Matterhorn at the end of the street. You leave the car at Täsch and take a twelve-minute shuttle train up. The village climbs, so which street you sleep on matters — and the Gornergrat railway is the easiest great view in the country.
Where to Stay in Geneva ›
French-speaking, on the western tip of the lake, and more an international institution than a holiday town. Level walking almost everywhere except the Old Town hill, and every guest is handed a free public transport card at check-in. The most skippable of the five if time is short.
Two more the guidebooks under-sell
Neither has its own chapter yet, but both deserve a mention.
Bern — almost nobody goes, and they should
The federal capital is quietly the most charming city in the country, and its entire old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site: a peninsula inside a loop of the river, six kilometres of covered stone arcades — shopping in the rain, which older travellers appreciate — a medieval astronomical clock, sandstone fountains and the bear park. Smaller and slower than Zurich, far less touristed than Lucerne, and an easy day trip from either. Highly walkable and flat along the arcaded main street.
Ticino — Italian Switzerland, south of the Alps
Lugano and Locarno sit on lakes among palm trees and piazzas, with a Mediterranean climate and Lombard architecture, and Bellinzona nearby has three UNESCO-listed castles. It is one hour and fifty-three minutes from Zurich through the Gotthard Base Tunnel. Summers get genuinely hot, into the nineties, so it is a poor choice in July and August for anyone heat-averse and an excellent one in May, June, September and October. Give it two or three nights or skip it.
The trains — and why you should never fly inside Switzerland
The country is small, the trains are punctual, and they put you in the centre of town rather than at an airport twenty miles out.
The distances are tiny
Zurich to Lucerne is about forty minutes. Zurich to Bern is under an hour, with roughly ninety trains a day. Zurich to Geneva is under three hours, hourly and all direct. Zurich to Lugano, under the Alps through the Gotthard Base Tunnel, is one hour fifty-three. Airport security, transfers and check-in would eat more time than any of those journeys. Bern does not even have a meaningful commercial airport.
The connections genuinely work
The federal railway reported 94.1 per cent punctuality in 2025, its best in years, but the more useful fact is that the timetable is engineered so connections hold. Trains run to a clock-face pattern, the same minutes past each hour all day, and a five- to seven-minute cross-platform change is normal and reliable. Buses and lake boats are timed to meet the trains. You do not need to build in slack.
Half Fare Card or Travel Pass?
For a slower trip based in one or two places, the Half Fare Card — around 150 francs, valid a month, roughly half price on trains, buses, boats and most mountain excursions — is usually the smarter buy, and it pays for itself in about 300 francs of travel. The Swiss Travel Pass rewards constant motion: unlimited travel, free entry to over 500 museums, and worth it if you are changing towns most days.
Send your suitcase ahead
This service is genuinely useful and badly under-used. The railway will move a case from station to station for about twelve francs, up to 23 kilos. Standard timing is drop it off today and collect the day after tomorrow, so plan around that. It means you can spend the day on a scenic train with a daypack, and never haul a heavy bag up a station staircase. You need a valid ticket for the route.
The scenic trains — and the reservations trap
The Glacier Express runs St. Moritz to Zermatt in about seven and a half hours; the Bernina Express crosses a UNESCO-listed line from Chur to Tirano in about four, and many think it the better of the two for half the sitting time. Seat reservations are mandatory on both, and they sell out in summer — book weeks ahead. On the GoldenPass Express from Montreux to Interlaken, reservations are only required in Prestige class.
One seasonal warning about the Glacier Express
It does not run at all between 11 October and 4 December 2026. The summer season ran 2 May to 10 October and winter service resumes on 5 December. If your trip falls in that gap, the ordinary scheduled trains cover the same route perfectly well with a change or two — you simply do not get the panoramic carriages and the lunch.
What it honestly costs
Switzerland is one of the most expensive countries in the world for a visitor, and we would rather set the expectation than soften it. Rough 2026 figures; a franc is about a quarter more than a US dollar.
Four ways to soften it
Supermarket lunches are excellent and completely normal — Coop and Migros do proper hot food and picnic supplies, and eating on a bench with a lake view is no hardship. Tap water is safe and free, and the public fountains everywhere are drinking water. Hotel breakfast is usually included and generous. And many towns give overnight guests a free local transport card at check-in, so ask at the desk.
Where the money actually goes
Accommodation is the biggest line, with mountain excursions a close second — a single cable-car day can cost more than the hotel room. That is exactly why the Half Fare Card is worth the arithmetic: it halves the Jungfraujoch, the Gornergrat and most of the other big lifts, not just the trains. First class on Swiss trains is also a real comfort upgrade for the money if you are travelling with luggage.
When to go — and the two windows when things close
The single most important planning fact on this page, and the one most visitors learn the hard way.
September, or early June
September is the best single month for this readership: excellent walking weather, gold coming into the valleys, thinning crowds, fewer afternoon thunderstorms and the clearest summit visibility of the year. Early to mid June is a close second — almost everything is open, the meadows are in flower, snow still caps the peaks, the days are longest and the crowds have not yet arrived.
The two closure windows
Swiss resort villages and mountain lifts effectively shut twice a year for maintenance: roughly mid-April to mid-June, and roughly mid-October to early December. In those windows hotels, restaurants and shops in villages like Wengen, Mürren, Grindelwald and Zermatt may simply be closed, and the cable car you built the day around may not run. Always check the specific lift’s own dates before booking flights.
What runs all year anyway
If you are travelling in a shoulder month, these are the reliable ones: the Jungfraujoch tunnel railway runs every day of the year, and so, with only short maintenance breaks, do the Gornergrat, Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, Titlis, Stoos and Rigi. Rigi in particular is a fine winter mountain, because it frequently sits above the fog that settles over the lakes.
Avoid November, and think twice about April
November is the cheapest month for a reason: the ski resorts have not opened, the summer mountain facilities are closed, and the lowlands are grey and often fogbound. April is the classic trap — low ski areas are closing, summer services have not started, and resort villages go quiet. Both are fine for cities and Christmas markets, and poor for mountains.
Switzerland — common questions
Do I need a visa or an ETIAS permit to visit Switzerland?
No visa is needed for a stay under 90 days in any 180-day period if you hold a US, Canadian or UK passport. As of August 2026 the EU's ETIAS travel authorisation is still not in force: the EU dropped its 2026 target and has not set a new date, with 2027 now expected, and it has promised to announce the start several months ahead. Do carry a passport valid well beyond your arrival, and expect to give a photograph and fingerprints at the border under the biometric entry system now operating. Allow extra time at passport control.
Should I buy a Swiss Travel Pass, or just buy tickets?
It depends how much you move. A Swiss Travel Pass runs from roughly 254 francs for three days to about 499 for fifteen, and only pays off if you are changing towns most days. For a slower trip based in one or two places, the Swiss Half Fare Card - about 150 francs, valid a month, half price on nearly everything including the mountain railways - is usually the better buy. Point-to-point tickets suit anyone making only two or three journeys, and advance Supersaver fares are cheaper still.
Is Switzerland really as expensive as people say?
Yes. Budget roughly 250 to 440 US dollars per person per day for a comfortable mid-range trip, excluding flights. A mid-range hotel night runs about 180 to 280 francs, a simple restaurant meal around 25, and a coffee about 5. Mountain excursions add up fast. You can trim meaningfully, though: supermarket lunches from Coop or Migros are excellent and normal, tap water is free and safe from public fountains everywhere, hotel breakfast is usually included, and there is no obligatory tipping.
When is the best time to go if I want to avoid crowds and heat?
September is the single best month, with early to mid June a close second. Both give you open lifts, comfortable temperatures, clear mountain views and far fewer people than July and August, when crowds and prices peak and valley towns reach the high eighties Fahrenheit without reliable air conditioning. Avoid mid-April to late May and all of November: those are the two windows when mountain railways and resort village hotels close for annual maintenance.
Does Switzerland use the euro?
No, and this catches many visitors out because the country is ringed by the eurozone. Switzerland uses the Swiss franc. Some shops and hotels in tourist areas accept euro notes, but your change comes back in francs at a rate the shop sets, and it is reliably a poor one. Pay by card, which is accepted virtually everywhere including ticket machines and mountain restaurants, or withdraw francs from a bank cash machine. Decline when a terminal offers to charge you in US dollars.
How high is the Jungfraujoch, and will the altitude bother me?
It sits at 3,454 metres, or 11,332 feet, and you reach it in under two hours from the valley, so your body has no time to adjust. Shortness of breath, light-headedness and headache are common and usually harmless. Move slowly, drink water, and do not plan anything strenuous up there. If you have a heart or lung condition, ask your doctor first. Gentler alternatives with the same kind of view include Harder Kulm, Schynige Platte and the Schilthorn.
Plan your Swiss trip
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Best Time to Visit Switzerland ›
Month by month on weather, crowds, prices and exactly what is open when.
The Italy Guide ›
Just over the southern border, and an easy pairing by train from Ticino or the Bernina line.
The Guild Travel Library ›
Every country chapter the Guild has written, on one shelf.