Editor’s note: my experience with Switzerland is fairly limited, with a couple days spent in a couple towns on a bus tour when I was a child, and two nights just outside of Liechtenstein when I wrote about that tiny country. I’ve been largely put off by the cost, but in reading this piece by Jackie, it seems that the beauty and history outweigh even notorious Swiss prices. For more of Jackie’s writing, please click here to visit her index page.

Places in Switzerland are not nearly as well known as the “grand” cities of Europe, such as London, Paris, and Rome.  But I am recommending you take the time when you are in Europe to visit Switzerland.  My primary reasons are the gorgeous natural beauty (mountains, lakes, rivers, meadows) and the beautiful old, walkable city centers.  Because Switzerland was not bombed during the wars, it has many old buildings and churches.

A quick few facts on Switzerland, which is small, both in population and area.  Its population is about 9 million and its area is about 16,000 square miles.  You can contrast this with Los Angeles County with almost 10 million people and about 4,000 square miles.  The government of Switzerland is led by seven federal councilors, one of whom is elected president for a one-year term.  This is not too different than the 5-person Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.  Switzerland also has a legislative branch with two chambers similar to our House and Senate – one with two people from each canton (their equivalent of states) and one with each canton having representatives proportional to their population. Switzerland also has direct democracy, allowing the electorate to weigh in on decisions by the government and to propose amendments to the Federal Constitution.  Bern is the seat of the government.

On the trip this year, we spent three days in Lucerne and two days in Bern.  We have also been in Lugano, Zurich, and Basel.  All are beautiful, but this article will focus on Lucerne and Bern. 

Lucerne

Lucerne is situated on Lake Lucerne and the Reuss River, which flows into and out of Lake Lucerne.  The old town is on both sides of the river and the two sides are connected by several bridges, including two wooden bridges. The more well known of the bridges is Chapel Bridge, originally built in 1332 and largely rebuilt after most of it burned down in 1993. Its water tower is original and was built around 1300.  The bridge has many triangular paintings in the ceiling, originally dating from the 17th century.  Some of them were restored after the fire and the rest are replicas. 

The lesser-known wooden bridge is the Spreuer Bridge, originally built in 1408 and rebuilt following a flood in 1566.  It, too, has many old paintings.

On one side of the river is the “onion-domed” Jesuit Church.  Construction started in the 1660s, consecration was in 1677 (but the inside was not complete), and the towers were only completed in 1893.  In the background you can see Chateau Gutsch on the hill, which has been an inn since 1859.  There are many outdoor restaurants and some hotels along the river and in some of the squares behind these buildings.  Many of these are historic buildings.

Although it doesn’t fall into the natural beauty nor old town categories, I highly recommend seeing the impressive Bourbaki Panorama.  This unique painting commemorates 87,000 weary and injured French soldiers (under General Bourbaki) asking for and receiving refuge in Switzerland in 1871, near the end of the Franco-Prussian War.  The villagers and Swiss Red Cross nursed the soldiers and their horses for six weeks until their return to France.  The panorama has a circumference of 112 meters and has 3-D objects in front of it.  In places, it is difficult to tell where the painting starts, with items such as fences, train tracks, and wires starting in the “real” part and continuing onto the painting.  The painting was designed by Edouard Castres, and he and ten other painters completed it in an astonishing five months.  It is great to see a commemoration of the best of humanity – helping people in need.

To appreciate the natural beauty of Switzerland, one can go up to various peaks in the Alps.  In Lucerne, we ventured to the top of the Pilatus, which at nearly 7,000 feet is 4,600 feet above the city.  The trip up consisted of a four-person gondola followed by a 55-person cable car.  At the top are a hotel and a restaurant and spectacular views of Lake Lucerne and the city of Lucerne.  On the way down we took the cog rail and then a boat ride across the lake.  It was an amazing and beautiful day. 

We were fortunate to be in Lucerne for its music festival, one of the world’s leading international classical music festivals, and heard a concert entitled Silk Road, featuring many old and unusual instruments.  Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed.

We took the train from Lucerne to Bern and passed beautiful countryside with typical Swiss houses.

Bern

Bern is a very old, medieval city.  The entire old city is a UNESCO heritage site.  In the underground mall near the main train station, one can see fortifications dating from 1344 as well as color-coded maps showing the various expansions of the fortifications over time.  The original city was built on a peninsula surrounded on three sides by the Aare River.  In other places in this mall and throughout the city are additional pieces of these fortifications.  Bern started in the red area of the map in 1200, which has the minster or Swiss reformed cathedral (or Münster, near bottom of red area) and the Clock Tower (Zytglogge, on left edge of red area).  The yellow and orange areas began about the same time, but independently.  The blue area was the first major expansion, which occurred in 1255 and reached to the Prison Tower (Käfigturm, on left edge of blue area).  Then the city incorporated the nearby yellow and orange areas around 1270.  The green area was incorporated around 1344 and includes the area of the mall near the train station (Christoffel Turm, near the left edge of green area).

Bern is also where the seat of the Swiss government is, though it does not call itself the capital, but rather the “federal city”.  The Parliament Building or Bundeshaus or Federal Palace houses the legislative and executive parts of the government.  Free tours are available of this beautiful building, but they are in English only on certain days.  The domed hall contains the sculpture of the three founders of the Swiss Confederation in 1291, a beautiful glass mosaic featuring the coats of arms of 22 cantons, the separate coat of arms of an additional canton, other sculptures, paintings on glass, and more.  The two chambers of the legislature are also beautiful and the lobby is gorgeous.

Bern is known for its more than 6 km (3.7 miles) of covered walkways (or arcades) in the old town, giving shelter to pedestrians and easy access to stores and restaurants.  Bern also has over 100 historic public fountains, with 11 ornate ones mostly dating to the 1540s.  The Zähringer Fountain honors founders of the city with a bear (the symbol of Bern) with armor.  The Samson Fountain takes its name from the Biblical Samson and shows him subduing a lion.  The water from all these fountains is drinkable, which is so convenient on warm days.

Confusingly, Bern has a clock tower (Zytglogge) and a prison tower (Käfigturm) which also has a clock on it.  The former was first built in the early 13th century as a gate tower for fortifications for the original city (red area on map above) and became a prison after the first major expansion of the city.  The astronomical clock was added in the 15th century.  This clock tower features animation including a crowing rooster, a jester, and dancing bears, with the jester ringing bells a minute or two before he should.  This animation is much smaller than I anticipated, but cute. 

The prison tower was built in 1256, during the first major expansion (blue area on map above) for fortifications, and later was the prison.  It was demolished and completely rebuilt in the 1640s. The clock is a fairly small and plain one.

There are several places where one can get a good view of the city.  One is from the Rose Garden.  From this viewpoint, one sees the old city clearly with the Aare River in the foreground, the minster in the center, and the Parliament Building near the top right. 

One can also take the funicular up to Gurten Park and look down from there.  Again, one sees the Aare River, the Parliament Building to the left, and the minster to its right.  The river makes a right turn (which is not visible in the picture below) prior to reaching the Parliament Building.  By the way, there is a lovely, buffet restaurant in Gurten Park, which has a nice patio. 

A few things to keep in mind.  Switzerland has four official languages – German, French, Italian, and Romansh – and the different regions predominantly use one of their respective dialects.  Both Lucerne and Bern are in the German-speaking part of the country.  Many people also speak English and French.   For both cities, we were fortunate to be with distant relatives who speak both German and English, who translated for us when necessary. 

Switzerland uses its own currency – the Swiss Franc – and is expensive relative to many other places in Europe.  The hotels we stayed in provided free local public transportation on the trains and buses and even the funicular up to Gurten Park in Bern.  The Swiss trains are known for being punctual.

I highly recommend putting Switzerland on your must-see list and pick one or more of its beautiful towns to explore.

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