13 Must-Have Experiences on Your First Trip to Switzerland

Planning your first trip to Switzerland and not sure what to prioritize? You're definitely not alone. With so many breathtaking spots and unforgettable things to do, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed before you even book your flight.

In this episode, I’m sharing my top 13 must-have experiences for first-time visitors. These are the things I return to again and again, and I never get tired of them. Whether you’re dreaming of crisp mountain air or lakeside strolls, you’ll find something here to help shape your perfect itinerary.

We’ll talk about everything from hopping on scenic train rides to tasting the creamiest Swiss chocolate, and even filling your water bottle from a mountain fountain. You'll hear how to ride the world-class Swiss public transport, explore lesser-known towns, and plan lake cruises that deliver serious relaxation.

I also dive into some of the best spots for hiking in Switzerland, why visiting a car-free village is a must, and how to experience authentic Swiss culture through festivals, folklore shows, and local traditions.

If you’re hoping to travel Switzerland by train, I’ve got you covered with easy, practical tips, plus ideas for combining big sights with peaceful stops in places like the Bernese Oberland.

This episode is packed with Switzerland travel tips that’ll take the stress out of planning and help you build a trip you’ll always remember. 

Hit play now and start planning your own unforgettable Swiss adventure!

Safe travels,

Carolyn

👉 Show notes - Episode 144

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Transcript

Welcome to the Holidays to Switzerland podcast. If you're planning a trip to Switzerland, this is the podcast for you. I'm your host, Carolyn Schönafinger, the founder of HolidaysToSwitzerland.com, and in each episode, my expert guests and I share practical tips to help you plan your dream trip to Switzerland. You'll get helpful advice about traveling around Switzerland and hear about the most popular destinations, as well as some hidden gems, and we'll introduce you to plenty of wonderful experiences that you can enjoy as part of your Swiss vacation. Each episode is packed with expert tips, itinerary ideas, and inspiration to help make your Swiss vacation planning easy. So, let's dive in.

Hello, Grüezi. For many of you, planning your trip to Switzerland is pretty overwhelming. After all, if you look on Instagram or in any travel brochures or travel guides, you'll see that there are just so many beautiful places that you can visit in Switzerland. So, knowing which ones to visit and knowing what experiences you should plan to have in your vacation can be, as I said, pretty overwhelming.

Now, no vacation is ever going to include every single thing that you want to do. There's just too much beautiful scenery and experiences on offer in Switzerland to ever fit it into one single vacation. And I've been returning to Switzerland year after year after year for a long, long time, and I still haven't done everything or seen everything that I'd like to. But there are some experiences that I always recommend that people try and include in their vacation, if it's their first time visiting Switzerland.

Now, I'll be honest with you, even after all my trips, I usually have all these experiences every time I return anyway. They're just so good. They give you such a great immersive experience in Switzerland that it's something I just love to do over and over again. So today, I thought I would share with you my 13 must-have experiences for first-time visitors to Switzerland. Of course, if you can't manage to fit all these 13 experiences into your trip, don't worry, but you might like to include some of them, so that you can see exactly why I think they're so special. But don't worry, even if you can only manage one or two or half a dozen of these experiences, I'm sure you're going to enjoy them.

Now these are in no particular order, but they're things, as I said, I try and do every time I visit Switzerland. First up is to use public transport. Now I've had many, many podcast episodes about the fantastic Swiss public transport network, and I’ll keep having more episodes because it really is just so great. When you travel by public transport in Switzerland, you can expect reliability, frequency. The trains, the buses, the boats, everything you go on is just immaculate, and as I said, very reliable. You hardly have any delays, and the whole timetable is synchronized, so that if you have to change from one mode of transport to another, you'll hardly have to wait at all. The timetable's created so that there's very minimal waiting time.

The public transport system also gets you wherever you need to go, even if it's a very remote village in the country. You can be pretty certain that there will be a bus or even perhaps a cable car that will get you there. I don't mean that your entire travels must be on public transport. I know a lot of listeners will prefer to rent a car for the majority of their transport around Switzerland, but do use some of the public transport if you can. A bus to get you into town or to one of those rural villages, a train to get you up to one of those car-free villages, a tram within a city, or even just a lovely, relaxing train ride where you can leave the car at your accommodation for the day and go and experience Swiss trains. They really are something that every country should aspire to. I think the public transport system is just amazing.

Now must-have experience number two, for me, is to fill up a water bottle at a fountain. What? You might be thinking that's a pretty basic everyday kind of experience. 

But, in Switzerland, it's something quite special. In Zurich alone, there are over 1200 water fountains, can you believe? But there are fountains all over the country. The water is absolutely free. It's very safe to drink, and you can just carry a refillable water bottle wherever you go and fill up as you need it, as you need to. And the water, honestly, the taste is just amazing. It's fresh from the mountains, absolutely pure. You'll never taste anything like it. 

The next experience I put onto my must do list when I'm visiting Switzerland is to wander through an old town. Now mostly these are car free, so you can wander around without fear of having to look out for cars and trucks running into you. So it's a very pleasant experience. The old towns have beautiful, very attractive architecture, cobbled streets and alleys where you'll find small, artisan boutiques and cafes, as well as the largest stores that you'll see right across Switzerland.

In Bern, the federal capital, you'll find some covered arcades. So even if it's raining, you can happily wander around the old town without getting wet. And in Bern, some of the old town buildings are decorated with street art, so you get that really nice blend of old and new.

Wandering around an old town is great to see not only the history of the city or the town that you're visiting, but also just to people watch, to watch the locals go about their daily life. Sit down at an outdoor cafe, have a coffee or a cool drink, and watch the world go by. It's a great way to spend an hour or two.

A lake cruise is another must-do on my Switzerland experience list. I think there's nothing quite as relaxing as sitting back on a cruise on a sparkling Swiss lake, sipping a cold drink and watching the beautiful scenery all around you. So whether it's using a cruise or a boat as a way of getting from point A to point B, or for a leisure cruise, like I said, just to sit back and relax and enjoy the scenery. Either option is a very nice way to spend some time in Switzerland.

On most of the lakes, you'll find both paddle steamers and modern vessels, and there's a wide range of cruises available, from lunch cruises, dinner cruises, sunset cruises, and all for a variety of durations. You might like to plan your daily excursion to cruise to your destination and return by train, or you might like to do a round trip cruise. There are plenty of options, but honestly, cruising on a Swiss lake is a fabulous experience.

Speaking of fabulous Swiss experiences, you can't go past a mountain excursion. There are just so many to choose from that we could never cover them all in this podcast. You may have heard some of our previous episodes about some of the most popular mountain excursions, like Mount Titlis, Mount Pilatus, Jungfraujoch, and Schilthorn, just to name a few. But there are so many mountain excursions in Switzerland that there really is something for everybody, even for people like me who aren't particularly fond of cable cars, because some mountains can be ascended by a cogwheel train or even funicular. So there's plenty of options. And in some cases, you can actually choose which mode of transport you would like to reach the summit. So you can even do a combination, perhaps go up by train and come back by cable car, or the other way around. It's entirely up to you when those mountains have both options available.

On some mountain summits, you'll find lots and lots of activities. So some that come to mind are Grindelwald First, which has zip lines and mountain scooters and mountain carts, lots and lots of things to do. Other mountain summits are more about the view, and really those views, they're just breathtaking. So decide what you want to see or what you want to do and plan your mountain excursion accordingly. And of course, don't forget to check the weather before you go. It's a great idea to check the webcam, which is live video footage from the mountain summit. And each of the mountains have this footage available on their own website, so I recommend that you check that footage before you head off in the morning. And also keep an eye on the Swiss weather apps throughout the day, just in case the weather changes, so you know what's ahead of you.

Another must-have experience when you're in Switzerland is a scenic train ride. Of course, you're probably thinking about those premium panoramic trains. They're probably the ones that spring to mind straight away, the Glacier Express, the Bernina Express, GoldenPass Express, and so forth. But a scenic train ride isn't only restricted to those panoramic trains. The little train from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen, which is only about 11 minutes in duration, in my opinion, is one of the most scenic train rides in Switzerland. As you ascend up the mountain towards Wengen, oh, the views over the valley, they'll blow your mind.

So don't only think that you're only going to get those beautiful views on those premium panoramic trains. And getting seat reservations, which are mandatory on most of those premium panoramic trains, can be a bit difficult at times. So there are other options, the regular trains that run on the Bernina Express line, as an example, are a great alternative. You're traveling on the same railway line, so you're seeing the exact same views, and on a lot of those regular trains, you can actually pull the windows down. So if you're a photographer and you don't want the reflection from the glass, this might be a great option for you.

Seat reservations aren't required on those regular trains either. So it gives you much more flexibility. Should the weather not be good, you can put off your trip on that train to the next day, and you can also hop off and back on again throughout your trip, if you'd like to, which is much more difficult with the panoramic trains, because each time you get off, you need a new seat reservation for when you hop back on again. So consider that. And as I said, don't think that you're not going to get great views on what's called a regular train. But really, for most of us, it's far from regular.

My number seven must-have experience in Switzerland has to be eating chocolate and cheese. Now this is no hardship, believe me, and there are plenty of opportunities to eat delicious Swiss chocolate and Swiss cheese when you're in the country. There are some larger factories and museums that you can visit, and one that comes to mind immediately for many people is the Lindt Home of Chocolate in Zurich. But there are lots of smaller producers who also invite guests in for tastings and workshops and to see how the production of the cheese or the chocolate is done. When you're dining out in Switzerland too, there's always opportunities to try cheese fondue or raclette, which is another dish which is famous and uses delicious Swiss cheese. So that's a great way to experience the local produce as well.

Now, if you do want to take some chocolate home, don't think that you only have to buy the big brand names. As I said, there's lots of smaller producers. You'll find little boutique or artisan chocolatiers in lots of the cities as well. So try some of theirs. And even in the Swiss supermarkets, they have such a big range of Swiss chocolate, and even the store-brand chocolates are very, very tasty.

One of the things that I really love doing every time I return to Switzerland is to go on a hike or a walk, to get out in nature. In Switzerland, there are over 65,000 kilometers of marked hiking trails, so there's something for everyone. And when we talk about hiking, we're not talking about sticking on a backpack laden with all your food and drink and clothing and setting off on a big trek. It can be a leisurely stroll along a marked out trail. Often times it's not even gravel, it's a sealed path, it might be alongside a lake or towards a waterfall.

It doesn't have to be a strenuous hike if you're not into hiking as such, but you do love seeing nature. As I mentioned, you might like to go for a walk towards one of the waterfalls in the Lauterbrunnen Valley or through the Aare Gorge, which is near Meiringen in the Bernese Oberland. They're just a couple of options, but anywhere you go in Switzerland, you'll just be spoiled for choice when it comes to hiking paths, walking trails. Get out there, get into the nature, and just appreciate the beauty all around you. If it's not water-based, those waterfalls, the gorges, the rivers and lakes, there's just mountains everywhere. So the scenery wherever you are will be spectacular.

And when you're out in nature, why not enjoy a picnic or a barbecue? This is my must-have experience number nine. You can combine it, as I said, with your walk or even your mountain excursion, and you can buy supplies from the supermarket or the grocery store before you set off. So it doesn't have to be an expensive experience. Lots of mountain summits that you go to, lots of hiking trails that you go on, you'll find barbecues or grills there with the wood supplied. So a very popular thing for the Swiss to do is take some sausages and grill them over the fire when they have a break from their hike. Why not do that and join them?

For me, must-have experience number 10 is to visit a lesser-known village or town, or perhaps even a car-free village. Now I know that when you go to Switzerland for the first time, you'll want to go to all those main attractions, those famous towns that you've heard of. So visiting one of these lesser-known places doesn't mean you have to skip all those main attractions, because with the public transport system being so great, you may only need to take half a day out of your itinerary to go and visit one of these smaller towns and villages. You'll get a feel for a non-touristy village and see a different side to Switzerland.

Two great examples are Bettmeralp and Quinten. They're both non-touristy and car-free. Let me tell you a bit more about them. I visited Bettmeralp last year in June 2024 for the first time, and it was just amazing. This is a small car-free village in the Valais Canton. So the same canton that Zermatt is in. Bettmeralp is one of three car-free villages which are on a plateau, and they look straight towards the Matterhorn and they look over the incredible Aletsch Glacier. Now, there was an episode where we talked about the Aletsch Arena, where Bettmeralp is located. So go back and have a listen to that if that interests you. Bettmeralp is well known amongst the Swiss. They love to go there for hiking and in the winter for skiing. But hardly any international tourists go there. So it is a great spot if you want to visit a typically authentic Swiss village.

The other one I mentioned is Quinten. Now this is quite a special, well, it's a hamlet, probably, it's probably not even classified as a village. You can only reach it by foot or by boat. It's on Lake Walensee, which is not that far from Zurich or St. Gallen. And as I said, yeah, it's quite a small little hamlet. There's a couple of places to stay, like little B&B sort of arrangements. From what I remember, I only went there for a day visit. There's a couple of restaurants. You wander along the lakeside, and it's just beautiful. It's something so different to all of those tourist-oriented places in Switzerland that most of us spend most of our time in. So give Bettmeralp and Quinten some consideration when you're thinking of a lesser-known town or village to visit, and it may just be somewhere that you haven't heard of before. Look at the map, pick out a place and then see, can I visit there for half a day from Interlaken or from Montreux or from St. Gallen, or wherever you're planning to spend a couple of days.

Next up is to seek out some local culture and customs by attending a local festival or perhaps a folklore show. So some of the things that you might like to consider including in your itinerary, depending, of course, what time of year you visit, could be an Alpine descent. This is when the cattle are all brought back from the high alpine pastures back to their barns down in the valley. And this usually happens towards the end of September or early October. It's a very traditional event. The cows are all decorated with headgear, floral head arrangements, and have big bells. And it's, they parade through the villages, and it's a really special occasion for the whole community.

The first of August is Swiss National Day, and there are celebrations right across the country. So it's really great to be involved in that. There's usually concerts and fireworks and lots of cultural things happening. So that's a really fun day. Folklore shows are held right around the country at all different times of the year. A couple of years ago, I attended one in Wengen, which is held every two weeks, and it was just incredible. Lots of local people gathered there to perform. There were some alphorn players, there were some bell ringers, some yodelers, some doing the traditional Swiss dancing. So that was a really special evening, and it gives you a great insight into the culture and the customs of Switzerland.

Alphorn players, you'll hear and you'll find them in lots of places as well. For instance, if you go up to Mount Pilatus or to Stoos during the summer, you'll often hear and see the alphorn players there and in lots of other places, of course, as well. So seek out those opportunities to attend those festivals or shows, and you can find them usually listed on the website of the local region that you're visiting. So if you're in a particular region, do have a quick look on their website to see what local experiences you might be able to take part in.

A real Swiss institution and another great experience to have is the Sunday brunch, because most shops, businesses, and offices are closed in Switzerland on Sundays. It's a great day for families and friends to get together and enjoy a relaxing Sunday brunch. So you'll find these offered at lots of different hotels and restaurants and even on some mountain summits. Now, one that is quite popular is at Uetliberg, which is the Zurich home mountain. That's a really popular location for a Sunday brunch. So if you are actually interested in that one, check out the digital Swiss coupon pass, which I'll link to in the show notes, which offers a two-for-one brunch at Uetliberg. So that's definitely something to check out.

Experience number 13, and as I said, these are in no particular order, but for me, watching a sunset from a mountain summit is something that, oh, it's just amazing. There are quite a few places where you can do this. Lots of the mountains actually aren't accessible after about 5:00 PM in the afternoon. And the reason for this is that the cable cars or the mountain railways stop operating. Usually the last descent is around 5:30 or 6:00 PM in the evening. So unless you can get to the top of a mountain summit after that, you can't see the sunset from up there.

But there are a couple of exceptions. Harder Kulm, which is near Interlaken, and Stanserhorn, just outside of Lucerne, both open from mid-April to early November. Harder Kulm, the funicular usually operates until around 8:30 or 9:00 PM, and on, I think it's Thursday, Friday, Saturdays. Stanserhorn operates later as well, and it's until about 10:30 at night. So if you have the opportunity to go perhaps and have dinner or have a drink after dinner on the summit of one of those mountains and watch the sunset, it's really an amazing experience.

If you'd like to stay overnight and enjoy the sunset and then the sunrise the next morning, you can do this on Mount Pilatus. This is an experience I had a couple of years ago, and it's one of the best experiences I've ever had. It's quite incredible to see the sun setting over Lake Lucerne with all the mountains around you. It was just amazing.

So there you have my 13 must-have experiences for first-time visitors to Switzerland. As I said, if you can't fit all 13 into your vacation, it's not a problem. These are the things that I love doing, and I think they will create some really wonderful, lasting memories of your vacation, if you can experience any of them. If you'd like any more help planning your Switzerland vacation, you can find a link in the show notes to get my free Switzerland travel planning starter kit and guide. It's packed with helpful info and a 10-step guide to planning your trip. So do get the link in the show notes for that.

And don't forget, you can take advantage of the exclusive discounts offered by my valued partners. Whether you're planning to travel around by train, do a self-drive package, join a guided tour, or perhaps you just want some assistance planning your itinerary, there are discounts available from all my partners, and you'll find the link to those offers in the show notes as well. Thank you very much for joining me today. I hope you have found this episode helpful, and if you have, I'd be super grateful if you could share it with anyone you know who is planning to visit Switzerland, and if you enjoy the podcast, please leave a five-star rating or review so the podcast is shown to even more travelers, just like you who are planning their dream trip to Switzerland. Thanks so much for tuning in. And until next time, Tschüss!