Frommer's Shortcut Switzerland

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Frommer Media LLC

Copyright © 2016 by Frommer Media LLC, New York City, New York. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to Support@FrommerMedia.com.

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ISBN 978-1-62887-232-3 (paper), 978-1-32887-233-0 (e-book)

Editorial Director: Pauline Frommer

Editor: Elizabeth Heath

Production Editor: Erin Geile

Cartographer: Liz Puhl

Photo Editor: Meghan Lamb

Editorial Assistant: Ross F. Walker

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In researching this book, we discovered many wonderful places—hotels, restaurants, shops, and more. We’re sure you’ll find others. Please tell us about them, so we can share the information with your fellow travelers in upcoming editions. If you were disappointed with a recommendation, we’d love to know that, too. Please write to: Support@FrommerMedia.com

Frommer’s Star Ratings System

Every hotel, restaurant and attraction listed in this guide has been ranked for quality and value. Here’s what the stars mean:

Red-Star1_redstar1.jpg Recommended

Red-Star2_redstar2.jpg Highly Recommended

Red-Star3_redstar3.jpg A must! Don't miss!

AN IMPORTANT NOTE

The world is a dynamic place. Hotels change ownership, restaurants hike their prices, museums alter their opening hours, and busses and trains change their routings. And all of this can occur in the several months after our authors have visited, inspected, and written about, these hotels, restaurants, museums and transportation services. Though we have made valiant efforts to keep all our information fresh and up-to-date, some few changes can inevitably occur in the periods before a revised edition of this guidebook is published. So please bear with us if a tiny number of the details in this book have changed. Please also note that we have no responsibility or liability for any inaccuracy or errors or omissions, or for inconvenience, loss, damage, or expenses suffered by anyone as a result of assertions in this guide.

1Introduction

2Zurich

Essentials

The Neighborhoods in Brief

Exploring Zurich

Organized Tours

Especially for Kids

Where to Stay

Where to Eat

Shopping

Entertainment & Nightlife

3Geneva

Essentials

The Neighborhoods in Brief

Exploring Geneva

Parks & Gardens

Outlying Attractions

Organized Tours & Excursions

Where to Stay

Where to Eat

Shopping

Entertainment & Nightlife

Day Trips from Geneva

4Lucerne

Essentials

Exploring Lucerne

Where to Stay

Where to Eat

Shopping

Entertainment & Nightlife

5Zermatt

Essentials

Exploring Zermatt

Where to Stay

Where to Eat

Shopping

Entertainment & Nightlife

6Planning Your Trip

Getting There

Getting Around

Organized Tours

Index

Zurich

Geneva

Lucerne

Zermatt

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Arthur Frommer is a graduate of the Yale University Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal, and he is a member of the New York Bar. After service with U.S. Army Intelligence in Europe in the 1950s, he practiced law in New York with the law firm of the late Adlai Stevenson, but later embarked on the publication of travel guides, following the record-breaking success of his Europe on $5 a Day, which led to the creation—in partnership with his daughter—of one of the nation's leading publishers of travel guidebooks and travel websites, Frommers.com. He has subsequently written numerous other guidebooks, including several yearly editions of The New World of Travel exploring forms of alternative travel. He also co-hosts the nationally syndicated radio show The Travel Show with his daughter and writes an internationally syndicated newspaper column for King Features. He lives in New York City, where he has been an active trustee of the Community Service Society, the nation's leading anti-poverty organization.

Teresa Fisher is an author, photographer, and travel writer who has had a life-long love affair with Switzerland. She has written extensively for a variety of publishers including Frommer’s, National Geographic, and Thomas Cook. She has also penned more than 30 guidebooks and children’s travel reference books on a wide variety of destinations worldwide, and features periodically on BBC local radio as a travel advisor.  Her travel features have appeared in such British publications as The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and The Sunday Times.  She specialises in European cities, adventure travel, and all things Alpine, dividing her time between photojournalism and her family-oriented website, www.familyskinews.com.

Donald Strachan is a travel and technology journalist who has written about Italy for publications worldwide, including National Geographic Traveller, The Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald, and CNN.com.

ABOUT THE FROMMER TRAVEL GUIDES

For most of the past 50 years, Frommer’s has been the leading series of travel guides in North America, accounting for as many as 24% of all guidebooks sold. I think I know why.

Though we hope our books are entertaining, we nevertheless deal with travel in a serious fashion. Our guidebooks have never looked on such journeys as a mere recreation, but as a far more important human function, a time of learning and introspection, an essential part of a civilized life. We stress the culture, lifestyle, history, and beliefs of the destinations we cover, and urge our readers to seek out people and new ideas as the chief rewards of travel.

We have never shied from controversy. We have, from the beginning, encouraged our authors to be intensely judgmental, critical—both pro and con—in their comments, and wholly independent. Our only clients are our readers, and we have triggered the ire of countless prominent sorts, from a tourist newspaper we called practically worthless (it unsuccessfully sued us) to the many rip-offs we’ve condemned.

And because we believe that travel should be available to everyone regardless of their incomes, we have always been cost-conscious at every level of expenditure. Though we have broadened our recommendations beyond the budget category, we insist that every lodging we include be sensibly priced. We use every form of media to assist our readers, and are particularly proud of our feisty daily website, the award-winning Frommers.com.

I have high hopes for the future of Frommer’s. May these guidebooks, in all the years ahead, continue to reflect the joy of travel and the freedom that travel represents. May they always pursue a cost-conscious path, so that people of all incomes can enjoy the rewards of travel. And may they create, for both the traveler and the persons among whom we travel, a community of friends, where all human beings live in harmony and peace.

Arthur Frommer

Because of a widespread belief that the Swiss keep themselves aloof from the issues and problems confronting the rest of the world, a vacation in Switzerland can often seem a rather odd experience. It occurs among a people with a reputation—whether justified or not—for strongly isolationist attitudes. One hesitates to query them about their viewpoints on political or other serious matters.

An acquaintance of mine once summed up his understanding of that nation in the following analogy: pose a topic of politics to the average European, he said, and their eyes will light up with interest, their arms and hands will flail about, they will forcefully express an opinion. Pose the same question to most Swiss and, in his experience, their eyes will film over with boredom, and they will switch the subject to something trivial. They simply don’t want to burden themselves with the cares afflicting other nations or other peoples.

That widespread belief about the Swiss is based, in part, on recent history, according to the same friend. Switzerland, the richest country on earth, with the highest per capita income, has made an almost religious commitment to neutrality. It refused to go to war, on either side, in both World Wars I and II. It has remained, since then, out of the European Community; it circulates its own currency, it failed even to join the United Nations until 2002, and it has evolved in such a different manner from the rest of us that it did not permit women to vote until 1971.

How much truth is there in the reputation of the Swiss as uninterested in what goes on elsewhere? I can’t fully answer that question, because my own contact with Switzerland has been solely as a tourist with little opportunity to engage in personal discussions. But regardless of what others may feel, it is at least undeniable that the Swiss offer a superb touristic experience.

In addition to specializing in confidential commercial transactions (without asking questions), Switzerland has offered remarkable vacations to the hordes of foreigners who descend on it each year to go skiing or mountaineering in its breathtaking Alps. Prior to World War II, it was perhaps the most popular touristic destination in Europe, and although it later lost that position to beachfront resorts that could be reached easily by air, it still counts tourism as one of its most important sources of income.

Now where in Switzerland does the non-European visitor go for vacation pleasures? Many of us confine our stays to four cities: Lucerne, Zurich, Geneva, and Zermatt.

Skiing in front of the Materhorn.

From a strictly touristic standpoint, German-speaking Lucerne (only 80,000 residents) is probably your best choice, for its cog-railway to the top of Mt. Pilatus and Mt. Rigi (commanding awesome views of the Alps), for its remarkable 14th-century wooden bridge, its touching monument of the Dying Lion (commemorating Swiss guards killed by Parisian activists during the French Revolution), and for its countless concerts and recitals in a music hall designed by the famous Jean Nouvel. Having myself vacationed there in recent years, I can vouch for its ability to calm and relax even the most stressed-out types.

For a very different stay of urban interest, we go to the much-larger Zurich, the financial, banking, and business capital of Switzerland. On its awesome Bahnhofstrasse, the city’s main boulevard, we stroll a world-famous array of glitzy stores and offices. Elsewhere, we encounter a city of cultural riches (big theaters and concert halls, countless important museums) and of vast historical importance (here Zwingli led the Protestant Reformation of the 1500s). We take public transportation out onto the city’s lake and river, and then into the heights overlooking it, from which one can view the nearby Alps. I have greatly enjoyed my own stays there, and have devoured more Swiss fondues in the city’s excellent cafes than I care to remember.

French-speaking, expensive Geneva is the other largest city of Switzerland (bigger than Berne and Basel, and second in size only to Zurich), the home of numerous international government organizations whose sophisticated staffs patronize its many superb restaurants and theaters. The building and assembly hall of the former League of Nations is now the European headquarters of the United Nations, and numerous UN agencies are located here, as is the headquarters of the international Red Cross. It is no wonder that nearly half its population are resident foreign nationals, who enjoy the countless museums, theaters and concert halls in this graceful and elegant place. It makes for an interesting stop in your European tour.

As for tiny Zermatt (less than 6,000 residents), totally devoted to tourism and skiing, it is famous because it is entirely surrounded by the highest mountain peaks in Switzerland (some 15,000 ft. high), including the renowned Matterhorn, which dozens of adventurers have died attempting to climb (don’t try it). The altitude is such that you can ski here year around (with some difficulty in summer). Many visitors claim their travels are complete once they have stayed in Zermatt.

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