Switzerland

I spent 2 weeks in Switzerland, traveling on the incredible rail network they have, ticking off the 4 largest cities, for one day each, but the other 10 days in the Bernese Oberland region, and if you love hiking and scenery then you'll struggle to find anywhere as beautiful!

Arguably the most beautiful country I have ever visited, it's like you're in a photo the entire time, or in magazine. The colours are incredible, green fields, brown mountain huts, blue water flowing through the streams, white/black cows, yellow flowers blooming from perfectly manicured gardens, quiet and quaint towns but at the same time the sheer size of the mountains towering over them.

I have also had a soft spot for the way of life in The Alps, it's very historic, unique, classy, beautiful but also brutal at the same time with it not being easy, tough weather conditions and remote areas.

• Basel & Zurich

• Lucerne

• Thun & Innertkirchen hike

• Oeschinen Lake & Blausse Lake

• Bernese Oberland (Wengen, Murren, Lauterbrunnen, Grindewald)

• Zermatt

Basel

My first stop was Basel, a short flight from LHR, it’s the 3rd largest city in Switzerland, but feels absolutely tiny, but I guess most places do when you lived in London for a decade. It has a lovely river that runs through it, and one of the most popular things to do there, in the summer, is float down the river with a bunch of friends with a floaty device. The streets were cobblestoned, small boutique shops and quaint restaurants, a few historical buildings but in general a nice city you can easily see in one day.

• Walking around the Old Town and in particular Marketplatz (500 years old!)

• Float down The Rhine

• Cross The Rhine on a unique boat that uses the current to move across

• Tinquely Fountain is moving kinetic art made out of random objects

• Old City Gates area

• Look out for street art

• Spalenberg shopping street

• Drink spring water from the fountains dotted round the city

I stayed at the Bloom Boutique Hotel which was great, really good value, a 5 minute walk into town, friendly staff and comfortable rooms.

Zurich

My second stop was Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland where most global companies have an office there, making it a very international city, and the London of Switzerland. With this of course comes high demand, and high costs for accommodation, meals and excursions. The lake was really nice, I jumped on a bike to cycle around parts of it, then strolled through the city which has a few canals, cobblestoned streets, and another river flowing through it when some picturesque bridges across it.

• Explore Altstadt (Old Town) on foot

• Niederdorf is a pedestrian only area which is great to stroll around

• Lindenhof Hill viewpoint to overlook the city seeing the river, churches etc.

• Bahnhofstrasse is THE street for high-end shopping, modern part of the city

• Cycle around a portion of Lake Zurich

• Grossmunster church and surrounding area

One hour train to Zurich

Lucerne

Leaving the cities behind, I jumped on a 50 minute train to the lakeside town of Lucerne, which is most famous for Kapellbrucke (chapel bridge) built in the 14th century. I stayed at a really nice hotel, not too expensive, right by the lake and a really good breakfast, called Hotel Beau Sejour Lucerne.

Mt Pilatus

I took the cable car half way up the mountain, to ride Switzerlands longest toboggan run. It was pretty spectacular riding it down with the view infront of you, even though depending on how fast you went you had to keep looking at the track, as you don't want to take a corner too fast. You then get dragged back up, where you can sit, relax and take in the view of the mountain and lake below.

I then got the big cable car up to the summit, which is 6,983 feet, with simply unbelievable views. I spent around 20 minutes up with a coffee just taking in the view, before deciding to get the worlds steepest cogwheel train back down. Quite the engineering feat as it was built in 1889, and at a gradient of 48%, which takes around 30 minutes to ride back down.

Once at the bottom, it was time to get on the lake! So I boarded a boat back to Lucerne, a tip is to pay the extra 5 euros so you get to be at the top of the boat where no one else is!

Mt Rigi

Standing at 5,686 feet, I had to go and check this out, so I got off the boat and took another cogwheel train up. This time it wasn't the steepest int he world, but the first operating cogwheel train in Europe. After taking in the view, I decided to get some steps in and went for a 8km hike, along the ridge of the mountain and down slightly to the cable car, which took around 2 hours.

I got back into town, after a pretty intense day of hiking and exploring, so I decided to get a day pass for a spa. The Swiss definitely know how to build spas, it's a huge part of their culture. I relaxed in the sauna, a large indoor heated pool and an outside heated jacuzzi.

The town itself is small, but it doesn't seem that small as has high-end shops, fancy restaurants, a bunch of bars and some well known hotels.

Thun

I decided to base myself here instead of the super busy, touristy and expensive Interlaken, and I'm so glad I did. It's a much smaller town, that holds more character, less tourists, and is just as beautiful, the only con is that it's an extra 30 minutes on the train to the Bernese Oberland region, but that's why it's also much cheaper.

I stayed in a BnB, hosted by lovely Swiss couple, who put on a great breakfast, provided great recommendations and it was right in the heart of town, Chez Muna.

One of the most popular things to do in the town itself, is watch the wakeboarders use the natural current of the water flowing under the bridges. It's effectively a naturally created wave that you can keep riding if you get in the right position, and once they fall they have to dash to the side so they don't float down the river and have a huge walk back up to the spot.

The other is to walk alongside, or cycle round some of Lake Thunersee. I rented a bike, and cycled around 10km down the lake, where I simply relaxed with a cold drink drink, listening to some music and taking in the scenes. Many people were either swimming in the lake, taking their sailboat out or kite surfing.

Trift Bridge Hike

This takes a good 1.5 hours to get to, you firstly have to get a train from Thun to Interlaken, Interlaken to Meiringen, Meiringen to Innertkirchen, then a 10 minute bus, and then finally a cable car up to the start of the hike, and breathe!

This was one of the best hikes I did, it was only 6km but had an elevation gain of 1,345 feet and it was very uneven surface, not flat paths but a lot of rocks to keep an eye on. But as it's quite far out of the way, it wasn't very busy which was nice. It also felt like very raw land, the path was narrow and going through canyons, alongside the mountain etc.

The suspension bridge is 557 feet long and 328 feet high, which meant your heart rate definitely increased! Quite the scene though, right in between the mountains and on the right hand side you had a medium sized lake from the glacier runoff.

On the way back, I took a detour and hiked an extra 20 minutes to this mountain hut, for a sandwich and a coffee. This was a moment of utter bliss, just me in the mountains, sandwich, coffee and a spectacular view. It is these small moments that you have to cherish.

The way back was a little bit tough on knees as it was all down hill, maybe the stop seized up my legs too but even though it's a small hike doesn't mean it's not a challenging one.

I randomly got talking to an American family on the way down, that had a place up in Tahoe, small world! The kids also grew up in Switzerland so they were fluent in French and German which I thought was super cool. This is what I love about travel, the different types of people you interact with.

I got the cable car back down, which is only a 6-seater so you have to book a timeslot, but luckily there was room to get an earlier one so I didn't have to wait around. Then it was the 3 trains back to Thun, where a well deserved cold one was consumed following by some carbs!

Oeschinen Lake

I'm struggling to think of a more beautiful hike I've ever done, we've all seen the instagram posts and magazine articles of spectacular lakes, when you're there it literally feels surreal. This was arguably the most spectacular viewpoint in my own Switzerland trip.

From Thun, it was a 40 minute trip across 2 trains, to Kandersteg. You then walk for around 10 minutes until you reach the cable car. The hike I did was left of the lake, where you follow a path carved into the mountain for around 4km, until you get to the money shot, the most spectacular view over the lake from high above. You then carry on for another 2km, where you have a couple huts to choose from to grab some lunch. You keep carrying on for another 4km along the lake, where you can take a dip or watch the many boats that people hire to sail across it.

The colours are something I'll never forget, the dramatic grey of the mountains, the white snow on the summits, the lush green grass alongside the trail, and of course the beautiful blue lake.

I then took the cable car back down to Kandersteg. Most people jumped on the 20 minute train to Blausse, however I wanted to get away from the crowds and had a super peaceful 2 hour hike down.

Blausse was a tiny lake, more like a pond, but the most clear water I have ever seen, you could literally see all of the trees and rocks at the bottom. They also placed a woman figure at the bottom which makes for the famous instagram spot. You can walk around it around 15 minutes it's that small. As a result it was very busy, a lot of tourists but still worth checking out for sure.

Bernese Oberland

The big part of the blog, and the main event! The Bernese Oberland region is an area of The Alps that has spectacular scenery ranging from summit mountain tops, to lakes, to valleys, to waterfalls, to mountain huts and villages, and amazing engineering with cable cars, railways and roads.

Wengen

This is where I based myself, a small mountain village that is only accessible by a funicular railway. It has access to all areas of the region which makes it a great base, and surprisingly it was quite quiet as I think most people just stay in Interlaken and make day trips up. I stayed at Hotel Berghaus which had a beautiful terrace overlooking the town and mountains. The staff were super friendly as well, and they also had a great breakfast buffet. The town has a few restaurants and a couple bars, but you also have Lauterbrunnen on the railway down 15 minutes away.

Murren

This is another mountain village only accessible by cable car or railway. I took the cable car up from Lauterbrunnen, and then the train across to Murren which is pretty spectacular that high up and on the edge of the mountain. I only went up here for the day, to hike the Northface Trail which is 8km but with 800 feet of elevation gain. It's a trail that has so much variety, you walk through peoples chalets, farms, cross a couple bridges over rivers, through a forest and also some exposed trail with more stunning views, would thoroughly recommend!

Lauterbrunnen

Arguably the most famous village in the Bernese Oberland, as it's set in the most incredible valley, with mountains each side of it, waterfalls cascading down after it's rained or the snow melt run off, and lush green farms with picturesque Swiss huts. I walked around 5km from the town centre, to take in some of the scenery and I would recommend do that, as you'll be in awe. On the way back I stopped at Trummelback Falls which is a series of around 10 mini waterfalls that have been carved inside in the mountain, I say mini but the amount of water that flows through them is staggering, you can't hear yourself speak in some parts.

Grindewald

This was a fun day out. I took a large cable car up from Wengen, to the stop of a ski slope where there were a bunch of hikes to do, and some mountain biking trails. I took another cable car down into Grindewald which is one of the larger mountain villages as it's a very popular ski resort in the winter. I took a cable car up the other side alongside the famous Eiger which is a popular mountain climbing route. From here I hiked down around 10km, which in actual fact was harder for me on the knees, as opposed to my cardio is OK going up and it's easier on the joints.

I then took another cable car up to First, a popular mountain with a lot of activities such as Mountain Cart and a Zipline. I went to the top, where they have a walkway built into the side of the mountain, and a very famous instagram spot but the queue was 20 minutes so I said absolutely not.

Advice, buy the Bernese Oberland pass, so you have unlimited rides on all of the cable cars and funicular railways!

Zermatt

One of the most well known ski resorts in the world, very expensive, historic, prestigious and has one of the most iconic mountains in the world, The Matterhorn. It's unique in the fact you can only reach it via train, you have to change at Spiez and then Visp, takes around 1.5 hrs in total so really not that bad considering some ski resorts in Europe are quite arduous drives. I stayed in Hotel Capricorn which was great, 10 minute walk into town, nice breakfast, view of the matterhorn and it was one of the cheapest.

The first day I was there, I strolled around the town, I personally just love european ski resorts, the history, unique old buildings, boutique shops, various restaurants and of course the ability to take in some great scenery.

I took the cable car (yep another one), up to the ski slopes, where I then took a short hike to get closer to the matterhorn. I saw some mountain bikers on the cable car which got me jealous, but also gave me the idea to rent one for my second day!

So that's what I did, and man this was a fun day, I'm in my element here, riding a bike in the mountains, getting some fitness in alongside stunning scenery. I will admit I rented an e-bike, that's because I prefer long climbs and the flexibility to cover long distances taking in the scenes, as opposed to getting the cable car up and bombing down the slopes.

I stopped for lunch, where I got a warm goats cheese salad, with some french fries and a cold refreshing diet coke in a quintessential mountain hut/restaurant. Again I love these mountain restaurants as they are steeped in history and normally have all of their photos on the walls from the past. There is also just something the way in which the Swiss do lunch, very respectful, slow and appreciative of the occasion.

After a day on the bike covering around 30km, it was time to utilize the spa in the hotel, jump in the sauna, read my book in my rope and relax. This is also one of my favourite things to do in the mountains, specially after a day of skiing, jumping in the spa and relaxing the muscles.

My third day there I was leaving in the afternoon, so to get my steps in I did the Gorner Gorge hike. This is a short 4km from town, but it's very unique and takes a while as you are walking through the canyon on small bridges. You come across a few waterfalls within the canyon too, a few different staircases for various different viewpoints and some interesting rock formations to take a look at too.

AND that concludes two weeks in Switzerland, getting around the country solely by train, cogwheel trains, funicular railways and many cable cars. I loved the country, beautiful, kind people, a lot of history, traditional buildings, amazing engineering in the mountains and really tasty wholesome food.

• It's not a cheap country to visit, so you defintely need to be aware of that and budget accordingly

• Buy the rail pass, and Bernese Oberland region pass

• Supermarkets are great to get the majority of your food and cuts costs

• It does get busy, so I would leave early for your day trips