Switzerland 's cities are pristine and beautifully laid out with famous Swiss precision. Zurich is widely held to be the intellectual and artistic centre of the country, sporting incredible architecture and more than a thousand fountains, with many museums and galleries. Geneva is the principal city for the international community, and is home to hundreds of world organisations. Its setting on the shores of Lake Geneva give it a romantic atmosphere, and the city has an exciting, if rather expensive, nightlife.

It's the country that fashioned tourism, so it's no surprise that Switzerland caters to visitors all year round. In spring and summer it offers lakeside chalets, mountain trails and spa resorts. In the sunny southern region of Ticino , near the Italian border, visitors will find palm-fringed Riviera-style resorts offering a host of water sports. Those keen on hiking and mountaineering will find over 31,000 miles (50,000km) of mountain and forest trails throughout the country.

How to Get In

Visa

Passport/Visa Note: Travellers must have all documents necessary for their next destination and passports or passport replacing documents must be valid at least 3 months beyond period of stay.

Note: Passport and visa requirements are liable to change at short notice. Travellers are advised to check their entry requirements with their embassy or consulate.

Major international airports are in Zurich , Geneva and Basel , with smaller airports in Lugano and Bern . Flying into nearby Milan ( Italy ), Lyon or even Paris ( France ) or Frankfurt ( Germany ) are other options though rather expensive and time-consuming (3h Frankfurt-Basel, 4h Milan-Zurich, 5h Paris-Bern) by train. The Flagcarrier of Switzerland is SWISS which is a member of Star Alliance and successor of the famous Swissair.

Trains arrive from all parts of Europe . Switzerland is together with Germany one of the most central-lying countries in Europe , making it a center of railways and highways to the rest of Europe . Some major routes include:

* The TGV, with several trains daily from Paris , Avignon , Dijon , and Nice.

* Hourly trains to/from Milan with connections to all parts of Italy (also night-trains to Rome and Venice ).

* Hourly ICE (German high-speed trains) from Zurich to Karlsruhe , Mannheim , Frankfurt in Germany , many continuing toward Amsterdam , Hamburg or Berlin .

* Regular ICE trains from Zurich to Stuttgart and Munich

* Every night trains from Paris , Amsterdam , Berlin , Hamburg , Prague , Vienna , Belgrade , Rome and Venice to Basel , Geneva , Zurich and some also to Lausanne and Geneva . See http://citynightline.ch/

Get around

Public Transport

The Swiss will ruin you with fantastic transportation - swift, disturbingly punctual trains, clean buses, and a half dozen different kinds of mountain transport systems. The Swiss public transport system offers a multitude of discount options, from half fare cards to multi-day, multi-use tickets good for buses, boats, trains, and even bike rentals. In general there's at least one train or bus per hour on every route, on many routes trains and buses are running every 30 min. The bus network is an addition to the train network, there's no intercity bus network, but there are many scenic bus routes in the Alps . More information and all the timetables for Trains, Buses and Boats can be found at http://www.rail.ch.

Note with all trains and buses the "halbtax" option ('1/2' button on the machines) is only for people who have spent 150CHF on an annual half fare pass.

If you will be taking several train journeys in Switzerland it is worthwhile looking at some of the train passes http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/

Trains are all free of surcharge, a reservation is not required. There are two exceptions to this rule, the special trains: Bernina Express, running daily between Chur and Tirano and the Glacier Express running from St.Moritz to Zermatt .

Using the trains is quite easy, although the number of different kinds of trains can be a bit confusing unless you know that the schedules at a Swiss train station are color coded. The yellow sheet is for departures and the white sheet is for arrivals. Faster trains appear on both of these sheets in red, while the trains in black stop at more stations.

At the track, the signs indicate the destination and departure time. The small numbers and letters along the bottom show you where you can board the train. The letters indicate the zone you should stand in, and the numbers indicate the class. The class (1st or 2nd) is indicated by a "1" or "2" on the side of the car, these correspond with the numbers on the sign.

Luggage can be stowed above your seat or in between seats, or on a rack at the end of the car. During busy periods, people often stow large luggage (or skis) in the entrance area in between cars. This is usually fairly safe, but use common sense.

SWISS operates flights between Basel , Bern , Geneva , Lugano and Zurich .

Information for railway fans

In Switzerland nearly all railways run electrically. The only non-electric railway is the Brienzer Rothornbahn using steam traction. There are many interesting mountain railways of all types. In Switzerland most electric trains get their power from a single phase AC network. This network uses its own powerlines run with 66 kV and 132 kV, which have in opposite to normal powerlines a number of conductors not dividable by 3 (most powerlines for the single phase AC grid of the traction power grid have four conductors).

Car

For using the motorways you need to buy a "Vignette", a sticker costing 40.- CHF that allows you to use the motorways as much as you like for the entire year. Avoiding the motorways in order to save there 40.- is generally a false economy. These 40.- are well worth it, even if you are only on transit.

Speed limits: 120 km/h on motorways, 80 km/h on normal roads and 50 km/h inside villages. Whilst driving "a wee bit too fast" is common on motorways people tend to stick pretty closely to the other two limits. Fines are hefty and traffic rules are strictly enforced.

D.U.I.: 0.5 promille is the limit. We suggest not to drink and drive as you will lose your license for several months if you get caught. (And there will be a fine too.) Use public transportation instead.

Driving on small mountain roads can be nerve-tearing if you come from a flat country. But beside this, swiss roads are in general safe and very well maintained.

Five tips for mountain roads:

1. Honk if you're on a small road and you don't see around the bend.

2. The bus always has priority.

3. The car driving uphill has priority over the car driving downhill.

4. Don't even think about driving as fast as the locals, they know every bend, you don't.

5. In general, drive at a speed that you can stop at within the distance you can see to be safe; and drive so that you would be happy to meet yourself coming the other way!

Bicycle

Switzerland is a cyclists place! Veloland Schweiz has build up an extensive network of long distance cycle trails all across the country. Check their website for more details. http://www.cycling-in-switzerland.ch/There are many Swiss cities where you can rent bicycles if that is your means of traveling and you can even rent electric bicycles. During the summer it is quite common for cities to offer bicycle 'rental' for free! Cycling in cities is pretty safe, at least compared to other countries, and very common.

In-line Skating

Besides the main types of transportation, the adventurous person can see Switzerland by in-line skating. There are three routes, measuring a combined 600-plus kilometers designed specifically for in-line skating throughout the country. They are the Rhine route, the Rhone route, and the Mittelland route. These are scenic tours. Most of the routes are flat, with slight ascents and descents. The Mittelland route runs from Zurich airport to Neuenburg in the northwest; the Rhine route runs from Bad Ragaz to Schaffhausen in the northeastern section of the country. Finally, the Rhone route extends from Brig to Geneva . This is a great way to see both the country-side and cityscapes of this beautiful nation. For more information: http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/navpage-Active-Inline%20Skating.html

Climate and Weather

The temperature is moderate with no extremes of hot and cold, so Switzerland can be visited at anytime of year. Summer is warm lasting from about June to September, and although good for outdoor activities it is also the most crowded time for a holiday. Ski resorts open in late November and remain so until the snow begins to melt in April.

Stay Safety

Switzerland is not surprisingly one of the safest countries in Europe , but anywhere that attracts Rolex-wearing bankers and crowds of distracted tourists will also bring out a few pickpockets. Obviously, keep an eye on belongings, especially in the midst of summer crowds. In most cities the area around the train stations tend to be the seediest, and there is always some sort of 'red light district', though it may only be a block or two long.

Women traveling alone should have no problems, though the men in the Italian regions occasionally act a bit like, well, Italian men. The younger Swiss tend to be very open with public displays of affection - sometimes too open, and some women may find people getting too friendly especially in the wee hours of the club & bar scene. Usually the international language of brush-offs or just walking away is enough.

Swiss police take on a relatively unobtrusive air; they prefer to remain behind the scenes, as they consider their presence potentially threatening to the overall environment (practice of deescelation). Unlike some more highly policed countries, officers will rarely approach civilians to ask if they need help or merely mark their presence by patrolling. However, police are indeed serious about traffic violations. Jaywalking (crossing a red pedestrian light), for example, will be fined on the spot. The upside to stringent traffic rules is that automobile drivers are generally very well-discipled, readily stopping for pedestrians at crosswalks, for example. Generally, you are safe anywhere in Basel at any time. If, for any reason, you feel threatened, seek a near restaurant or telephone booth. The emergency phone number in Switzerland is 117, and operators are generally English-speaking. Football (soccer) games are the only notable exception to the above rule. Due to the potential threat of hooligan violence, these games are generally followed by a large contingent of police officers with riot gear, rubber bullets, and tear gas, in case of any major unrest.

Stay Healthly

Swiss medical facilities and health care are among the best in the world, but very expensive and health insurance is recommended. Immunisation certificates are only required if the traveller has been in an infected area within two weeks prior to arrival in the country. There is a reciprocal health agreement with the UK and most EU countries, whose citizens are entitled to free emergency medical treatment on presentation of a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). Medical insurance is advised for other nationalities. A duck on Lake Geneva was confirmed to have died from the deadly strain of bird flu and tests are being carried out in other parts of the country on dead birds, but no human infections have been reported. The risk to travellers from bird flu is very low, but close contact with live birds should be avoided, and all poultry and egg dishes well cooked as a precaution.