Switzerland

It depends how much ground you want to cover. We spent five days split across two cities, Geneva and Zurich, one alpine stop in Brig, and a short window in Basel before flying home, and it felt well paced. If you want to add Zermatt or Lucerne, consider a couple of days in each, you could easily spend two weeks exploring Switzerland depending on how many train journeys you want to fit in.

Yes, it's one of the pricier countries in Europe, but it doesn't have to break the bank. Set up an eSIM before you land so you're not paying roaming charges, and use Coop or Migros, pay-by-weight, canteen style eateries rather than restaurants, for a cheap meal instead of sitting down every day. Budget around CHF 25 for a main course elsewhere.

If you're covering several cities by train, bus or boat, yes, it's usually worth pricing against individual tickets. It also gets you free entry to over 500 museums and a discount on your Glacier Express seat reservation. If you're staying in one place, you likely won't need it.

Yes, and earlier than you'd think. Seat reservations for first and second class open 93 days before travel, with Excellence Class opening even earlier. If there's just the two of you, the two-seat tables sell out faster than the rest of the carriage, so book those the moment reservations open, which is exactly what we did.

All three are Switzerland's scenic panoramic trains, but they're different trips. The Glacier Express is the slowest and one of the most famous, running Zermatt to St Moritz in around eight hours with incredible scenery, though you can make it shorter, see the Brig section of this guide for how we did it in four hours. The Bernina Express is around four hours, crosses into Tirano in Italy, and is widely rated the most dramatic for scenery. The GoldenPass Express runs Montreux to Interlaken, swapping mountains for vineyards and lake towns, running right alongside the water.

Second class is comfortable and budget friendly with the same panoramic windows as the rest of the train. First class steps it up, more legroom, a quieter carriage, and the option to order a three course meal to your table for an extra cost, complete with champagne and other drinks and waiter service running through the carriage, it can feel like a genuinely luxurious experience without paying Excellence Class prices. That's how we travelled, Brig to Chur, and we loved it, the food was properly good for a train, a real starter, main and dessert, with champagne to order alongside. Excellence Class goes further still, just twenty seats, a dedicated concierge, and that same style of meal with wine pairings built into the fare.

Most people think it's only Zermatt or St Moritz, but here's what nobody tells you, you can join or leave partway. We boarded at Brig, which let us skip the full eight hour route and still ride through some of the best scenery, Brig to Chur in around four hours.

No, and we wouldn't recommend one. The train network covers the whole country and is punctual enough to plan your whole trip around it. We travelled Geneva to Brig to Zurich to Basel entirely by train, no car needed.

Not really, service is included in the price everywhere. Rounding up to the nearest franc for cafes and casual meals is normal, and 10% at a sit-down restaurant is generous rather than expected.

Either works well, it depends on your route. We flew into Geneva to start in the west and flew out via Basel after finishing in Zurich, mainly because there wasn't a flight from Zurich to our local airport on the dates we needed. It worked out well anyway, since it let us cross the whole country by train without travelling back on yourself. If your trip runs the other way round, Zurich or Basel is just as easy to start from.

We always set one up before we land, so maps and train tickets work the second we're off the plane, no roaming charges. We use Ubigi and would recommend booking it before your trip rather than on arrival. Get your Ubigi eSIM →

The Glacier Express is built for exactly this, its route runs through the high alpine passes with wide panoramic windows the whole way. If you only have a shorter window, the Bernina Express covers dramatic scenery in around four hours instead of eight.

Yes, easily. The Bernina Express crosses the border into Tirano, so you can ride the scenic route and carry straight on into the Italian Lakes or Milan without a separate flight or booking a different trip.

Start with a proper cheese fondue at a dedicated fondue restaurant, it's one of the most iconic things to eat in the country. Läderach is our favourite for chocolate, and for a cheap meal between sightseeing, Coop and Migros supermarkets are pay-by-weight, canteen style eateries rather than sit-down restaurants. For our full recommendations, see the restaurants section of this guide.

We preferred Zurich for a longer stay, it has a proper Old Town, lake and enough to fill two full days. Basel is worth a couple of hours if you're passing through, especially if your flight leaves from EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, the Old Town is walkable straight from Basel SBB station.

For us, it was Brig. It felt more traditionally Swiss, a small town with loads of character, from Stockalper Palace to the boutique shops lining the streets. A close second was Geneva, the lake, the view, mountains surrounding the whole city, a boat trip on the water and a genuinely glorious Old Town. Our favourite restaurant of the whole trip was there too, Cottage Café, you'll find more on that in the Geneva section of this guide.

A few things. The currency is Swiss francs, and it's worth carrying some, but card payment is accepted almost everywhere, we barely touched our cash the whole trip. We also didn't realise the Swiss Travel Pass doesn't cover the Glacier Express, it's a separate paid seat reservation on top, so we booked that directly for the one train we wanted. And we didn't expect Brig to become one of our favourite stops, we'd planned it as a single night stopover, but with hindsight we'd add an extra night there and look at some of the other smaller towns along the route too.

The lake district and its terraced vineyards, we passed straight through on the train and the views down to the water looked incredible. We didn't stop this time, but it's high on our list for a future trip back, and worth building in if your itinerary has an extra day to spare.