Gotthard Base Tunnel
Railway tunnel through the Swiss Alps
A railway tunnel through the Swiss Alps, opened in June 2016, with full service from the following December.
Photo: Hannes Ortlieb ( Diskussion ), CC BY-SA 3.0 de
CH · Curated travel guide
Switzerland: 10 places worth the journey
Gotthard Base Tunnel, Matterhorn, Monte San Giorgio and 7 more — what each one is, and why it is worth the detour.
- Places
- 10
- World Heritage
- 1
- Language
- French, German +2
- Currency
- CHF
What to see in Switzerland
Chosen from everything Wikidata knows about Switzerland and ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions describe them, which is about as close to "famous" as open data gets. One is on UNESCO's World Heritage list.
Matterhorn
Mountain in the Swiss and Italian Alps
A mountain of the Alps on the main watershed and border between Italy and Switzerland: a large, almost symmetrical pyramid in the wider Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps. Its summit, 4,478 metres (14,692 ft) above sea level, is one of the highest in the Alps and in Europe.
Photo: Gianluca Miscione, CC BY-SA 4.0
World Heritage
Monte San Giorgio
Mountain in Switzerland and Italy
Rising above Lake Lugano in Ticino, a Swiss canton, a mountain of the Lugano Prealps close to the Italian border, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Photo: Roland ZumbĂĽhl, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Eiger
Mountain in the Bernese Alps, Switzerland
A mountain of the Bernese Alps, 3,967-metre (13,015 ft) high, above Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald in Switzerland's Bernese Oberland, just north of the main watershed and the Valais border. It is the eastern end of a ridge that runs over the Mönch to the Jungfrau, 4,158 m (13,642 ft), and ranks among the Swiss Alps' most emblematic sights.
Photo: qwesy, CC BY 3.0
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Jungfrau
Mountain summit in the Bernese Alps, between the Swiss cantons of Bern and Valais
Rising to 4,158 m (13,642 ft), a principal summit of the Bernese Alps, on the border of the cantons of Bern and Valais, midway from Interlaken to Fiesch. With the Mönch and the Eiger it makes up a vast wall of mountains above the Swiss Plateau and the Bernese Oberland, and counts among the Swiss Alps' most distinctive sights.
Photo: Roland ZumbĂĽhl, Arlesheim, CC BY-SA 3.0
Aletsch Glacier
Largest glacier in the Alps
Also called the Great Aletsch Glacier, the biggest glacier in the Alps. Lying in Valais, a Swiss canton, in the eastern part of the Bernese Alps, it was about 23 km (14 mi) long in 2014, and in 2011 had a volume of 15.4 km³ (3.7 cu mi) and an area of roughly 81.7 km².
Photo: Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0
Dufourspitze
Highest point in Switzerland
The highest peak of Monte Rosa, an ice-covered massif of the Alps. It is the highest mountain both of Switzerland and of the Pennine Alps, and second in the Alps and in Western Europe only to Mont Blanc.
Photo: TobiasBender, CC BY-SA 3.0
Engadin
Valley in the Swiss Alps
Also spelled Engadine, a long, high Alpine valley in the eastern Swiss Alps, in GraubĂĽnden, in Switzerland's far southeast, home to about 25,000 people. It follows the Inn from its source at Maloja Pass, in the southwest, roughly northeast until the river enters Austria, a little under one hundred kilometers downstream.
Photo: Biovit, Public domain
Chillon Castle
Castle in Veytaux, Switzerland
A medieval castle standing on an island in Lake Geneva, south of Veytaux, in Vaud, a Swiss canton. It sits where the lake ends in the east, on the thin strip of shore from Villeneuve to Montreux that opens onto the RhĂ´ne's Alpine valley.
Photo: Zacharie Grossen, CC BY-SA 3.0
Mönch
Mountain in the Bernese Alps, in Switzerland
A mountain of the Bernese Alps in Switzerland, 4,110 metres (13,480 ft) high. With the Jungfrau and the Eiger it makes a very recognisable group of peaks, visible from far off.
Photo: Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0
About Switzerland
Officially the Swiss Confederation, a landlocked country where Central, Western and Southern Europe meet. Germany lies to its north, France to its west, Liechtenstein and Austria to its east and Italy to its south. It divides into the Jura Mountains, the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss Alps; the Alps cover most of the land, but most of its 9 million people live on the plateau, home to many of the biggest cities and business centres, among them Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Bern, Lausanne, Winterthur and Lucerne.
Officially The Swiss Confederation. Known locally as Suisse, Schweiz, Svizzera, Svizra.
Based on the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0: the facts are Wikipedia's, the wording is this site's.
Questions travellers ask
What is worth seeing in Switzerland?
This guide lists 10: Gotthard Base Tunnel, Matterhorn, Monte San Giorgio and Eiger and others. Monte San Giorgio is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
How were these places chosen?
By machine, from open data, with no human ranking them and nobody able to pay for a place on the list. Everything Wikidata records in Switzerland that is a building, a landform, a protected area or a tourist attraction, has coordinates, a photograph and an English Wikipedia article, is ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions wrote about it. Provinces, cities, airports, stations and stretches of sea shared with the neighbours are filtered out.
Which places here are UNESCO World Heritage Sites?
1 of the 10 in this guide: Monte San Giorgio. That is not the full count for Switzerland, only the listed sites that made this guide.
What language is spoken in Switzerland, and what currency?
French, German, Italian, Romansh. The currency is CHF.
How do I get mobile data in Switzerland?
A travel eSIM is usually the cheapest way, and avoids a roaming bill. The plans suggested at the foot of this guide start at $1.81 for 2GB per day. The eSIM is data-only and sits alongside your normal SIM, so calls, texts and WhatsApp keep working on your own number.
Which networks would my phone use in Switzerland?
Sunrise and Salt. Your phone picks whichever has the best signal where you are, the same way a local phone does.
One practical note: staying online
Maps, tickets and translation all want data, and roaming is the expensive way to get it. A Computatus eSIM eSIM connects to Sunrise and Salt once you land, and installs by QR code before you leave.
See 13 Computatus eSIM plans for Switzerland from $1.81
| Plan | Data | Valid | Price | Order |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2GB per day Cheapest | 2 GB | 1 day | $1.81 | Get it → |
| 2GB per day | 2 GB | 1 day | $2.15 | Get it → |
| 3GB per day | 3 GB | 1 day | $2.54 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 15 days | 3 GB | 15 days | $2.69 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 30 days | 3 GB | 30 days | $2.86 | Get it → |
| 3GB per day | 3 GB | 1 day | $3.04 | Get it → |
No app needed. Install by QR code before you fly, keep your own number for calls, and it connects the moment you land.
Sunrise 5GSalt 5G
A commission on plans bought through these links is what pays for this guide. Nothing above depends on it: the places are chosen before any price is looked up.