The Best of Switzerland

c 542834 Ch01.qxd 1/27/04 10:11 AM Page 4 1 The Best of Switzerland You’re visiting Switzerland to relax and have a good time, so you don’t want to waste precious vacation hours searching for the best deals and experiences. So take us along and we’ll do the work for you. Throughout our years spent traveling in Switzerland, we’ve tested the best lake shores, reviewed countless restau- rants, inspected hotels ranging from remote alpine inns to luxurious city palaces, and sampled the best skiing, mountain climbing, and hiking. We’ve even learned where to get away from it all when you want to escape the crowds. The follow- ing is a very personal, opinionated list of what we consider to be the best Switzerland has to offer. 1 The Best Travel Experiences • Hiking the Swiss Mountains: at Chillon where Lord Byron From the time the snows melt in wrote The Prisoner of Chillon. spring until the late autumn Everyone knows Gruyères for the winds blow too powerfully, visi- cheese, but it’s also the most tors head for the country’s alpine craggy castle village of Switzer- chain to hike its beautiful land, complete with dungeon and expanses. Well-trodden footpaths spectacular panoramic views. through the valleys and up the Both Bern and Basel have historic mountains are found in all the Münsters of cathedrals—the one resorts of Switzerland. Hiking is in Bern dates from the 14th cen- especially enjoyable in the Ticino tury. Among the great cathedrals, and the Engadine, but quite won- St. Nicholas’s Cathedral, in the derful almost anywhere in the ancient city of Fribourg near Bern, country. You’ll find fewer visitors dominates the medieval quarter, in some of the less-inhabited val- and Schloss Thun, on Lake Thun leys such as those in the Valais. in the Bernese Oberland, was Every major tourist office in built by the dukes of Zähtingen at Switzerland will give you a free list the end of the 12th century. of the best trails in their area. If • Joining the Revelers at Fasnacht you go to one of the area’s local (Basel): Believe it or not, Switzer- bookstores, you can also purchase land has its own safe and very topographical maps of wilderness appealing version of Carnival, with trails. origins dating back to the Middle • Viewing Castles & Cathedrals: Ages. It begins the Monday after There is so much emphasis on Ash Wednesday (usually in late Feb outdoor sports in Switzerland that or early Mar). The aesthetic is hea- many visitors forget that it is rich then (or pagan), with a touch of in history and filled with land- existentialist absurdity. The horse- marks from the Middle Ages. drawn and motorized parades are Explore at random. Visit the castle appropriately flamboyant, and the c 542834 Ch01.qxd 1/27/04 10:11 AM Page 5 THE BEST SCENIC DRIVES 5 cacophonous music that accompa- on the William Tell Express. Begin nies the spectacle includes the in Lucerne on a historic paddle- sounds of fifes, drums, trumpets, wheel steamer that chugs across and trombones. Sometimes as the lake while you have lunch. many as 20,000 people participate Before the tour is over, you’ll have in the raucous festivities, which boarded a train on the lake’s most might change your image of distant shore, traversed one of the straight-laced Switzerland. See most forbidding mountain ranges “Basel” in chapter 5. in central Europe (through the rel- • Summiting Mount Pilatus: The ative safety of the St. Gotthard steepest cogwheel train in the Tunnel), and descended into the world—with a 48-degree gradi- lush lowlands of the Italian-speak- ent—will take you to the top of ing Ticino district. See chapter 11. Mount Pilatus, a 2,100m (7,000- • Wandering the Waterfront ft.) summit overlooking Lucerne. Promenades: One of the greatest Once at the top you’ll have a summer pleasures of Switzerland is panoramic sweep that stretches all wandering the palm-lined prome- the way to Italy. Until the 1600s it nades in the Ticino, the Italian- was forbidden to climb this speaking southern section of the mountain because locals feared country. The best resorts—and the that Pontius Pilate’s angry ghost best promenades—are found at would provide trouble. His body, Ascona, Locarno, and Lugano. or so the legend says, was brought You’ll have not only lake scenery, here by the devil. Queen Victoria but the rugged Italian Alps as a made the trip in 1868 and did backdrop on your stroll. Of much to dispel this long-held course, you can do more than just myth. You can follow in the walk. There’s swimming, boating, queen’s footsteps. See “Lucerne” cafe sitting, people-watching, and in chapter 11. even shopping. At night, when the • Discovering the Lakes of Cen- harbor lights shine, you can join tral Switzerland: Experience the the Ticinese in their evening stroll. country’s sparkling lakes with a See chapter 14. tour through central Switzerland 2 The Best Scenic Drives • The Road over the Great St. half of every year. Technically, the Bernard Pass: Of the many moun- Swiss section of the pass road tain passes of alpine Europe, this is begins in French-speaking Mar- the most famous. Since the days of tigny and ends in Italian-speaking the Roman Empire, much of the San Bernardino, 56km (35 miles) commerce between northern Italy away. In reality, most motorists use and the rest of Europe has navi- the pass road as a slow but scenic gated this low point in one of the midsummer diversion on long most forbidding mountain ridges drives that begin near Basel or in the world. Modern-day pilgrims Zurich and end in the Italian cities follow in the steps of Napoleon of Aosta or Milan. See “Verbier” in and his armies, who traversed the chapter 8. perilous pass in 1800 to invade • The Road over the Furka Pass: Italy. Since 1964 a tunnel beneath Traveling in a southwest-to-north- the mountains has allowed traffic east line for only 32km (20 miles), to move unhindered for at least from the hamlet of Gletsch, c 542834 Ch01.qxd 1/27/04 10:11 AM Page 6 6 CHAPTER 1 . THE BEST OF SWITZERLAND northeast of Brig, to the mountain Switzerland. Frostbite was com- resort of Andermatt, the road fol- monplace, and many died in the lows the high-altitude frontier snows en route. Today cars can between German-speaking and navigate the pass as part of a Italian-speaking Switzerland. En 2-hour, 55km (34-mile) drive route you’ll see the frozen mass of between St. Moritz and Tirano. Be the glacier that feeds the Rhône warned, this drive is never prob- and scenery that’s absolutely mag- lem free. The road is winding, and nificent. Any number of scenic ice patches have a way of surfacing highlights radiate out from here. even in summertime. Snow usu- See “Andermatt” in chapter 11. ally closes the pass completely • St. Gotthard Pass Road: One of between mid-October and late the most vital roads in Europe April, although trains can usually stretches for 64km (40 miles) get through except during the between German-speaking Ander- worst midwinter blizzards. But the matt and the Italian-speaking vil- views are truly spectacular. See lage of Biasca. It shares many “Pontresina” in chapter 13. characteristics of the above-men- • The Simplon Pass Road: Unlike tioned St. Bernard Pass, which lies the St. Gotthard Pass Road, which about 40 almost-impassable kilo- is interspersed with artfully engi- meters (25 miles) to the east. neered bridges, hairpin turns, and Some historians have suggested retaining walls, the Simplon Pass that the tolls collected since the Road gracefully conforms to the 1300s along this road helped natural topography of some of finance the continued independ- the most scenic mountainsides ence of Switzerland itself. Since in Europe. It stretches about 1980 a 16km (10-mile) tunnel has 64km (40 miles), from German- allowed motorists to travel the speaking Brig over the Italian bor- route year-round. Traffic on the der to Domodossola. Napoleon high road, however, remains demanded a low-altitude pass for clogged with summer vacationers his artillery, and the present road who come for the stunning views. follows the 1805 plan designs. The landscape is mournful and Napoleon’s grip on power, ironi- bleak throughout much of this cally, crumbled before his armies adventure, a testimony to the sav- could ever use the pass. Despite age climactic conditions that exist the best efforts of the Swiss at these high altitudes. See Department of Highways, the “Andermatt” in chapter 11. road is often closed between • The Road over the Bernina Pass: December and early May, with During the Middle Ages, mer- automobiles diverted onto flatbed chants led horse and donkey cara- trains instead. These are rather vans over this pass, risking their awkwardly carried through one of lives to carry supplies between the longest railway tunnels in the what are now the German-speak- world, the Simplon Tunnel. See ing and Italian-speaking regions of chapter 14. 3 The Best Train Trips • The Glacier Express: It’s adver- Switzerland. Despite that, its tised as the slowest express train in 274km (170 miles) of track are an 1 the world, requiring more than 7 ⁄2 awesome triumph of engineering hours to pass through southeastern (of which Switzerland is justifiably c 542834 Ch01.qxd 1/27/04 10:11 AM Page 7 THE BEST WALKS 7 proud).

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