Switzerland Guide
Introduction to Switzerland
Despite being one of the most visited countries in Europe, Switzerland remains one of the least understood. Faced by an ever-increasing onslaught of visitors, the Swiss are content to abide by a quaint stereotype that's easily packaged and sold – the familiar Alpine idyll of cheese and chocolate, Heidi and the Matterhorn – while keeping the best bits for themselves. Come for a "Lakes and Mountains" package, a week of skiing, or a city-break, and you'll get all the pristine beauty, genteel calm and well-oiled efficiency of the Switzerland the locals deem suitable for public consumption. The other Switzerland – the one the Swiss inhabit – needs time and patience to winkle out of its shell, but can be an infinitely more rewarding place to explore.
Within this rugged environment, community spirit is perhaps stronger than anywhere else in Europe. Since the country is not an ethnic, linguistic or religious unity, it has survived – so the Swiss are fond of saying – simply through the will of its people to resolve their differences. Although Swiss people value their shared Swissness above all, they also cherish their own home-town identity and their differences from their neighbours. Tensions exist between the four language communities, as they do between Catholic and Protestant, or between urban and rural areas, while regional characteristics remain sharply defined and diverse.
The three great Swiss cities of Geneva, Zürich and Basel are crammed with world-class museums and galleries. In Zürich and Lausanne, there's a humming arts scene and underground club culture that feeds nightlife as vibrant as anything you'll find in much larger European cities. The landscapes are dominated by the Alps and their foothills, but mountains aren't the only story. In the north and centre are lush, rolling grasslands epitomized by the velvety green hills of the Emmental, traditional dairy-farming country. Vineyards rise tiered above Lake Geneva, the Rhône valley and the Rhine. The southeast is cut through by wild, high-sided valleys, lonely, dark and thickly forested. Most surprisingly of all, bordering Italy in the south you'll find subtropical Mediterranean-style flower gardens, sugarloaf hills and sunny, palm-fringed lakes.