Switzerland runs to a timetable. Book to it.
Which Jungfraujoch departure beats the cloud. What a fondue night in Lucerne comes to. Whether eight hours on the Glacier Express is worth the seat. Every tour in the country, reviewed.
The six days a Swiss trip gets built around.
A summit railway, a paddle steamer, a copper vat of cheese, a glacier lift and a wing. Most itineraries here are assembled from these, and every one of them books differently.
Four Swiss mountains, four completely different days.
All Jungfrau railway days →
Jungfraujoch is the highest and the longest. Titlis puts you on a glacier twenty minutes after Engelberg. Rigi and Pilatus turn a Lucerne morning into a summit and still hand the afternoon back.
Jungfraujoch, the Top of Europe
Up the valley to Grindelwald, change at Kleine Scheidegg, then the tunnel bored through the Eiger. Snow at the top in August, and a wait for the lift if you go up late.
Titlis by rotating cable car
Engelberg to glacier in three lifts, the last one turning slowly so every seat gets the same view. Cliff walk and ice tunnel at the top, both on the same ticket.
Rigi by cogwheel and paddle steamer
Europe’s oldest mountain railway starts at the lake shore. Most days come back down by steamer, and that is the half people describe afterwards.
Zurich is where most Swiss trips start.
A tram from the airport in ten minutes, a lake at the end of the main street, and day trips to Lucerne, the Rhine Falls and Titlis that all get back before the kitchens close.
Switzerland’s most popular tours.
Every review →The days more travellers take than anything else in the country, and what each one actually involves once you are on board.
1
Lindt Home of Chocolate Museum Entry Ticket
Zurich’s Lindt Home of Chocolate pairs a 9-meter fountain, audio-guided museum story, and unlimited tastings with a real production view.
From · $22
Read our review →2
Grindelwald, Interlaken & Lauterbrunnen Day Trip
from $140
3
City Tour, Cruise, and Lindt Home of Chocolate Visit
from $103
4
50-Minute Lake Geneva Cruise
from $24
5
Mount Titlis with Ice Flyer & Lucerne Day Tour
from $204
6
Award-Winning Geneva Chocolate &Old Town Tour with Boat Ride (3h)
from $131
7
Neuhausen am Rheinfall: Rhine Falls Boat Tour
from $13
8
Bus Day Trip to Heidiland and Liechtenstein
from $115
Every Swiss lake has a boat and a printed timetable.
Lucerne sends paddle steamers to the foot of Rigi and Pilatus. Thun and Brienz link Interlaken to a castle and a waterfall. Geneva crosses to the French shore and back before dinner. A boat leg is the cheapest scenery in the country.
- 150-Minute Lake Geneva Cruisefrom $24
- 2Mt. Pilatus Cable Car, Cogwheel Train & Lake Cruisefrom $212
- 3Scenic Lake Cruise with Snacks and Winefrom $37
Switzerland by price, not by wish list.
Every tour on the site sorted by what it comes to. The country is expensive; the best half-days are not.
Old town walks, chocolate visits, museum entry and a single lake crossing.
Cogwheel summits, cheese dairies, fondue nights and the classic day trips out of Zurich and Lucerne.
Jungfraujoch tickets, private drivers, tandem flights and the full panoramic rail days.
Interlaken sits between two lakes, under three big mountains.
Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau on one side, Thun and Brienz on the other, trains up both valleys every half hour. Paragliders land on the meadow in the middle of town all afternoon.
Three things Switzerland does that the rest of the Alps does not bother with.
Cable cars and mountain views run the length of the range. A vat of cheese turned at seven in the morning, a chocolate works you can walk into, and a red train crossing a viaduct to the minute are Swiss.
The Dairy and the Caquelon
Show dairies in Gruyeres, Emmental and Appenzell start their vats early, and the morning batch is the one visitors watch go in. The evening version is fondue: one pot, long forks, and a rule about what happens when your bread comes off the fork. Most visits end in the cellar where the wheels sit for months, being turned.
- 1Gruyères Tour from Geneva With Train, Chocolate and Cheese★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 258 reviews
- 2Chocolate and Cheese Tour in Appenzell★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 224 reviews
- 3Zurich eTukTuk Private Tour – with Cheese Fondue and Wine★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 223 reviews
The Chocolate Works on the Lake
Lindt built a working chocolate house on the lake shore at Kilchberg, a short boat or tram ride from central Zurich, and stood a nine-metre chocolate fountain in the atrium. The self-guided route ends at a tasting room with no rationing. Cailler runs the older, smaller version in the hills above Gruyeres.
- 1Lindt Home of Chocolate Museum Entry Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 9,329 reviews
- 2City Tour, Cruise, and Lindt Home of Chocolate Visit★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 4,624 reviews
- 3Zurich Sights: Cruise, Lindt Chocolate and optional FIFA Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 1,028 reviews
The Panoramic Trains
The Glacier Express takes eight hours between Zermatt and St Moritz and calls itself the slowest express in the world. The Bernina line climbs past 2,000 metres with no rack rail at all and drops into Italy on the far side. Seats are reserved separately from any rail pass, and the panoramic carriages go first.
- 1Milan to St. Moritz: Scenic Bernina Train Tour with Guide★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 1,840 reviews
- 2From Milan: Bernina Red Train to St Moritz Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 258 reviews
- 3From Milan: St. Moritz and Panoramic Bernina Express Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 215 reviews
Lake Geneva keeps a different clock to the mountains.
All Geneva experiences →Award-Winning Geneva Chocolate &Old Town Tour with Boat Ride (3h)
Read our review →
Book these before you land in Switzerland.
Most of the country can be arranged the night before from your hotel. These cannot. They run on compulsory seat reservations, fixed departure slots and weather windows that are gone by the time you check in.
- 01Glacier Express, Swiss Alps & Lucerne Tour | From ZurichA seat reservation is compulsory on top of any rail pass, and the panoramic carriages sell out first.
- 02Milan to St. Moritz: Scenic Bernina Train Tour with GuideThe panoramic Bernina cars need their own reserved seat; the regional train on the same rails does not.
- 03Day Trip to Jungfraujoch – Top of EuropeTickets carry a fixed departure time, and the early summer slots are taken weeks ahead.
- 04Tandem Paragliding Flight with PilotFlights fly only in a clear window and get pushed to the next one, so an early booking is what buys you the retry.
By region, in departure order
Zurich388 tours
Lucerne179 tours
Interlaken152 tours
Geneva144 tours
Basel97 tours
Bern56 tours
Zermatt44 tours
Montreux31 tours- All Switzerland tour reviews →
By experience, and what the day involves
A grey day in Switzerland is an indoor day, and the indoor days are good.
Cloud below the summit station means paying full price for the inside of a cloud. The alternative is a chocolate works on the lake, a museum in a converted warehouse, a cheese cellar at the far end of a valley, or a fondue table booked for the evening. Check the summit webcam first. The mountains keep.
The loop most first trips through Switzerland end up taking.
The newest Switzerland tour reviews.
All recent →
Solothurn: Old Town Historic Private Walking Tour
Read our review →
Private transfer from Zurich to Zermatt with 3h Sightseeing Stop
Read our review →
Discover Bern’s most Photogenic Spots with a Local
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Mount Rigi Tour from Lucerne Historic Train and Boat Ride
Read our review →
Grindelwald: Private Photoshoot by Professional Photographer
Read our review →
10h Porsche Self-Drive Swiss Alps: Grimsel-Susten & Furka Passes
Read our review →
Private Chocolate and Cheese Tasting Walking Tour
Read our review →
Private Tour of Basel and Alsace Region from Zurich
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