Switzerland – the land of ski slopes, hiking trails, watches, cheese, and chocolate (and so much more). Switzerland is a country I have wanted to visit ever since hearing about the stories of my dad’s pre-college backpacking days. However, even as excited as I was to visit, I underestimated the beauty of the landscapes, deliciousness of the food, and friendliness of the people.
We spent 10 days in Switzerland, and even if we had spent months there I know we would only touch the surface of all the amazing experiences Switzerland has to offer. We already know we want to go back someday! But in the meantime, here are some of our favorite things to do in Switzerland.
Interlaken
One of the most popular places in Switzerland is Interlaken, and for good reason. Located in Central Switzerland, you really can’t go wrong with any experience here.
Lake Thun and Lake Brienz
The name “Interlaken” means “between two lakes” because this resort town sits in a narrow valley of the Bernese Alps between two emerald-colored lakes: Lake Thun and Lake Brienz.
One of our favorite activities was spending a day floating in Lake Thun with our friends Tim and Fin, who were coincidentally also in Interlaken at the same time. The mountains make an incredible backdrop for the beautiful turquoise lakes, and we were lucky to have good weather in early September.
Paragliding
Interlaken is one of the best places in the world to go paragliding. And many paragliders land in Schlosspark, which is right in the middle of downtown Interlaken. I spent a few hours sitting there one day and probably saw close to 50 paragliders land!
After watching everyone landing with the biggest smile on their faces, we decided that paragliding in this beautiful place is something we couldn’t miss. We flew with Twin Paragliding Interlaken and had an incredible experience!
If you’ve never paraglided before because of a fear of heights, I’d really encourage you to try it. I do not like looking down from the top of tall buildings, but I love to paraglide. There’s something about the breeze in the air that makes you feel like you’re gliding like a bird through the air, taking in all the beautiful views instead of worrying about the heights!
A good pilot also makes a big difference. Our pilots Mark and Luki made our flight so much fun – and they even let us steer for a bit! Twin Paragliding Interlaken pilots speak English and they also offer complimentary pick up from your accommodations near Interlaken, making everything super easy. Even before we began our paraglide, the drive up the mountain was incredibly scenic. Switzerland in general is not cheap, but – especially if you have a beautiful day like we did – paragliding in Interlaken is an experience you will remember forever!
Harder Kulm + Jungfraujoch Viewpoints
Harder Kulm and Jungfraujoch are on many “must-do Interlaken” articles as some of the best things to do in Interlaken.
Harder Kulm is a viewpoint 1,322 meters above Interlaken that you ride a funicular up to. It is a beautiful view and an incredible way to see both lakes in Interlaken. However, there is not much at the top other than the viewpoint and a restaurant. For the steep price (around $37 USD per person), we think it’s worth skipping this and paying the extra to go paragliding.
Jungfraujoch – nicknamed “the top of Europe” – is a day trip from Interlaken and run by the same company (Jungfrau) as Harder Kulm. We skipped out on this because of the steep price (more than $100 USD per person) and because it technically isn’t the highest point in Europe, but our friends who went said it was a beautiful winter wonderland at the top!
There are many, many other cable cars and funiculars up the mountains of Switzerland – especially in the area surrounding Interlaken – and countless ways to have incredible views. However, after paragliding in Interlaken, we’d recommend saving your money on some of the viewpoints and putting it toward paragliding instead! During our paragliding flight, we actually flew above the height of Harder Kulm and it made for a better view. :) Another amazing – and slightly cheaper – alternative than paying for a roundtrip cable car up to the viewpoints is to go hiking.
Hikes
There are countless hikes in Interlaken, fitting for every type of level of adventure. Hud spent a day hiking part of the Hardergrat Trail (the section from Brienz to Oberried am Brienzersee) and said it’s his favorite hike ever!
The Hardergrat Trail is an exposed ridge trail with steep cliffs on either side – and Hud said every step was a beautiful view but also an adrenaline rush. He said that – just like life – the peaks were very thrilling and the downhills were the scariest. Personally, after seeing his photos, I am very thankful I did not do this level of hike haha, but it made me so happy to see how happy he was when he returned. He took the cog railway up from Brienz and then hiked back down to Oberried am Brienzersee.
I spent part of my day walking along the Interlaken riverside trail from town along Lake Brienz, which was also beautiful and slightly more relaxing ;)
Day Trips from Interlaken
In addition to exploring the town of Interlaken, there are so many incredible nearby locations for day trips! Two of our favorites were the Lauterbrunnen and the Gelmerbahn.
Lauterbrunnen is a quaint town set inside a valley, surrounded by mountains and other beautiful ski towns. This is also the typical launch point for Jungfraujoch, mentioned above. Lauterbrunnen can be reached through a short, 30-minute train ride from Interlaken.
The Gelmerbahn is a funicular that has become popular on social media because of its 106 degree incline. It only goes 4.5 miles per hour, but it is quite a thrill seeing the steepness of the track below you. I was impressed with how thrilling it actually was, and even more impressed with the beautiful lake at the top!
We spent a few hours at the top having a little picnic and then hiking around the lake before riding the funicular back down. It’s easiest to reach the Gelmerbahn by car, but there is also a bus that runs there from Interlaken.
Zermatt
We only spent a couple days in Zermatt, and we wish we would have planned for longer! Zermatt is a beautiful ski town in the southern Switzerland mountains. The most unique aspect of Zermatt is that it is a car-free town. Except for doctors, police, and taxis – everyone is walking or biking through the streets! Hud always says he loves cities that have a pedestrian-only street…but in Zermatt, every street is like this!
But more than the car-free streets, what Zermatt is most known for is Matterhorn, a pyramid-shaped peak that’s nearly 5,000 meters high. Matterhorn is also the logo for Toblerone, so of course we “had” to be the tourists who bought their obligatory Toblerone chocolate bar (although we forgot to take a picture with it, so I think for us it was more about eating it :)
Paragliding
After having such an amazing time paragliding in Interlaken, we decided to paraglide in Zermatt as well! After reading amazing reviews about the company Fly Zermatt, we booked a flight with them and were SO thankful we did!
Not only was this a great way to experience Zermatt, but also this was the most professional company that we’ve gone paragliding with. Our pilots, Phil and Ronnie, are two of the four co-owners of Fly Zermatt, and from the moment we walked into their office – which is right across from the train station in the most central location of Zermatt – we felt comforted that we’d be flying with such a professional company.
Often, paragliding companies are a one-man business with the rest being freelance pilots, but Fly Zermatt has four co-owners who are all pilots, and they work together as a team not only on their business but also in the air. Of the four paraglides that Hud and I have done, this was the most we felt that we were “together” in the air. We were in the air for a while and circling around each other so that we could see each other’s expressions!
Fly Zermatt offers many different paragliding options – the best being the “Elite” that takes you up the highest lift station in Europe and off the highest paragliding spot in Zermatt. We did the “Scenic” option from Riffelberg and really enjoyed our view, so I can only imagine how beautiful it would be to paraglide from an even higher point! And as I mentioned before about paragliding, it really is an activity anyone can do – Fly Zermatt has even flown with a 2-year old toddler and a 94-year old passenger!
Hiking
Like the rest of Switzerland, there are many different hikes in and around Zermatt! Unfortunately we did not have the best of weather during our time there, but we had planned to do the “Five Lakes” hike, which – as its name implies – has beautiful views of mountains and lakes :)
Viewpoints
Again, like the rest of Switzerland, there are many different viewpoints where you can go up by funicular, cog railway, or cable car to view Zermatt from above! Two of the most popular are the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise cable car and the Gornergrat cog railway.
We chose to go up the Gornergrat cog railway because (1) it was included in our Eurail pass (yay!) and because we heard that Riffelsee Lake – which is very close to the Rotenboden railway station on the way – is one of the best views of Matterhorn. We were SO happy because we didn’t think we would be able to see the Matterhorn peak, but an hour before we were supposed to leave the clouds opened up and we saw it!
Zurich
Zurich really surprised us. I normally hear about Zurich being known for its banking and finance industry – but I didn’t realize just how much there is to do there and how beautiful it is. The city sits right on Lake Zurich and, since the weather was excellent when we were there, there were many people out sitting on the shores of the lake and even swimming in it! We decided we couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to join them, and had so much fun swimming one morning! And later that day, we walked along the shore for about an hour to the Lindt chocolate museum and had a lot of fun learning more about the chocolate making process (and sampling lots of chocolate)!
And speaking of food…one of the highlights of our time in Switzerland was eating fondue and raclette! We visited Swiss Chuchi Restaurant, a traditional Swiss restaurant that began in 1953 and was the first fondue parlour in Zurich’s old town. The food was SO GOOD. I already want to go back! We tried a variety of dishes, including traditional Swiss cured meats, cheese fondue, and raclette – which involves heating cheese and scraping the melted part onto potatoes, meats, and more.
This was by far one of the best meals we have had in a very long time! Their team was also so kind to us to explain the history behind fondue and raclette. Swiss Chuchi is located inside Hotel Adler Zurich, whose motto is “History, Art, and Swiss Hospitality” and it’s easy to see why. The history of the building dates back 500 years and famous Swiss painter Rudolf Koller spent his childhood here while his father ran the hotel. Now, every room of the hotel is hand-painted with a scene from the city that was created by Rudolf Koller. This is a great place to stay where you can combine history, a great location near the water, and excellent food!
In addition to the city of Zurich, there are a lot of fun things to do as a day trip from Zurich. One day we went to the country of Lichtenstein for a day, and another day we took a train to do the Sattel-Hochstuckli alpine slide!
Other Areas of Switzerland
We spent the majority of our time in Zurich, Interlaken, and Zermatt – but we also visited the cities of Basel, Lucerne, and Bern. We did a self walking tour around each of these cities (thanks to the luggage storage facilities at the train stations!) and loved the beauty and history of each city. And speaking of the trains, the views of the mountains from the trains were unlike anything we have ever seen before!
We would have also loved to visit other Switzerland cities such as Geneva and Lausanne, as well as the countless other beautiful, mountainous regions that this incredible country has to offer. In total we spent 10 days in Switzerland, but the time went so quickly. There are so many incredible things to do in Switzerland and we really hope we can visit again sooner rather than later to see more of what this incredible country has to offer!
