The Rough Guide to Switzerland 2 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) [Paperback]

Matthew Teller (Author)

Book Description

Series: Rough Guide Travel Guides | Publication Date: June 23, 2003

The Rough Guide to Switzerland digs beneath the hype to show you how to get the best of this beautiful country. A full-colour section introduces Switzerland''s highlights from the iconic Matterhorn to Zurich''s markets. Throughout the guide there are inspiring accounts of every attraction, from world-class art galleries to classic train journeys. There is practical advice on where to find the best mountain walks, the most scenic ski resorts and perfect alpine hideaways. In addition there are accommodation reviews for all budgets and in-depth background on Swiss culture, history and wildlife.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Matthew Teller is an experienced and accomplished travel writer. He is also the author of the Rough Guide to Jordan.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

WHERE TO GO – AND WHEN

Although Switzerland is best known for its mountain scenery, there are any number of hooks on which to hang a visit, whether you choose to stay in one city or resort, take in the hiking or cycling possibilities of a region, or make a tour of exploration around the whole country. Getting about is easy, with an unrivalled network of trains, buses and boats cutting journey times between the regions to an hour or two in most cases. You’ll find places to stay and get a hearty meal wherever you end up, even in the wildest of mountain valleys.

Thankfully, Switzerland has no big metropolises on the scale of Paris or London. Swiss towns and cities were preserved from bombing in World War II, and all of them have at their core explorable networks of medi-eval alleys and old houses and churches. Geneva is positioned at the tip of the idyllic Lake Geneva in the southwest, a short distance from the graceful lakeside city of Lausanne. In the northeast, Zürich too is set on its own lake, within striking distance of the peaceful Bodensee (Lake Constance). The diminutive Swiss capital Bern has a fine cobbled Old Town, while equally attractive Luzern (Lucerne) lies in the centre of the country on its own, famously beautiful lake. Basel is located on the Rhine at the point where France, Germany and Switzerland meet, while at the opposite end of the country, Lugano basks on the shores of an azure lake a few kilometres from the Italian border. Any of these – or smaller but no less characterful regional towns such as St Gallen, Schaffhausen, Neuchâtel, Chur, Fribourg, Sion or Bellinzona – could serve as a base for a relaxing short break, especially during the temperate summer months (June–Sept). At other times they can get distinctly chilly, although most receive generous dumps of snow in the winter, which, combined with glittering sunshine and frozen lakes and rivers, paints the most romantic of urban pictures.

There are almost limitless possibilities for exploring the great outdoors. The Alps run in a band across the centre and south of the country, with resorts big and small plus stunning scenery guaranteed wherever you head for. The two main seasons run from late May to October, and from mid-December to mid-April; between these times, most mountain resorts close down altogether (see p.436 for more). The best-known Alpine region is the Bernese Oberland, focused around the tourist hub of Interlaken and boasting such famous names as Wengen and Grindelwald; to the south, in Valais, sit Verbier, Crans Montana and, at the foot of the iconic Matterhorn, Zermatt.

In Graubünden in the southeast are Davos, Klosters and St Moritz. Justifiably popular, all these places boast some of the best skiing and hiking in Europe. It’s relatively easy in even the busiest centres (which are still nothing like the mega-resorts of the French and Italian Alps) to head off the beaten path and explore alone, or to aim for smaller, more manageable satellite resorts in adjacent side-valleys. However, you may prefer to shun the big names altogether and seek peace and quiet in the less frenetic hinterlands. Two regions stand out: in the northwest, the scrubby Jura mountains are an ideal landscape for long lonely walks and bike rides; while in the south, the wild valleys of Alto Ticino lace the southern foothills of the Alps with little-known hiking trails, a world away from the chic lakeside resort of Locarno nearby.

Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: Rough Guides; 2nd edition (June 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1843530643
• ISBN-13: 978-1843530640
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,752,129 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

For as long as I can remember, I've been a writer. Fortunately, not much of my early stuff survives.

I grew up in suburban London, England. A family holiday to Jerusalem in 1980, when I was 11, was my first trip outside the UK. Even today, the smell of cumin takes me straight back there. That was also my first time in the desert - I remember standing on a lonely road, feeling the hottest sun I'd ever felt, seeing the longest views I'd ever seen.

Since then, I've lived and worked in Amman, Cairo, Jerusalem and elsewhere, learnt some Arabic and Hebrew, and travelled widely, over twenty years or more, through most of the Middle East.

I'm the author of the Rough Guides to Jordan, Switzerland, the Italian Lakes and - closer to home - the beautiful English Cotswolds. I also contribute regularly to the British newspapers, as well as magazines from CNN Traveler to Gulf Life. My website matthewteller.com has more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you can only get one guide on CH - this is it, August 16, 2002

By 

Chia-heng Yao "milesyao" (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Switzerland, 1st Edition (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

Doing my due diligence on this year's trip to Switzerland, I checked all the relevent guidebooks in local bookstores. Finally settled on this book over the similar Lonely Planet one. This one wins out for all the bonus info it manages to squeeze into its numerous sidebars. I am especially impressed by its mini-history of counterculture in Bern and Zurich - throws a monkey wrench into the usual Swiss stereotypes. It labors to do justice to the many less-well-known charms of Switzerland, and to a large degree seems to succeed (e.g. a full section on CERN - birthplace of the web), while still remaining compact and useful (as opposited to Michelin)

However, there are still a few shortcomings:
* No coverage of the major scenic trains of the Swiss Railway (Golden Pass, Glacier Express, William Tell Express, etc.) A major omission, since they are well-known, excellent experience in themselves, and make for a great backbone to hang your entire visit.
* More generally, not enough help for new visitors to pick and choose all these sights and put together a sensible itinery, e.g. scenic routes, top-10 experiences, and sample 7-day or 14-day itineries (although very few guidebooks do this). In particular, the book should help me take advantage of the best rail system in the world to maximize my stay. Swiss Rail deserves a section all its own.
* Not enough web addresses are supplied for hotels, attractions etc. where usually only phone #s are given. URLs are much more useful than phone #s for trip-planning (esp. hotels).
* A general problem for Swiss guidebooks, but still annoying: On Lake Leman and Maggiore, coverage stops at the border, as if the other French and Italian halves don't exist. C'mon - borders are for politicians. When I am at Lake Maggiore, I want to know what's there around the _whole_ lake, and how to enjoy them all. Just give me the info and I'll deal with the technicalities. In the case of Lake Leman, the French side on the south may well be on another planet - cuz it's too small for the French guides to cover!
* In Jungfrau region, it overlooks the small town of Gimmelwald - currently the exclusive scoop of the Rick Steves book

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for a Swiss trip.. I would combine with one other, April 10, 2004

By 

10za "10za" (Alpharetta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Switzerland 2 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

What I like best about the Rough Guides is that they give critical reviews. They will point out the tourist traps and will give negative reviews. I find that Frommer's and Fodor's rarely point out the negatives to a particular hotel or site. The rough guide is very critical and is a great balance to these other guides. I would balance your trip to Switzerland with a Fodors (or Frommers) book because the maps are often better and there are more higher end hotels listed.

This book will help you decide where is best to spend your vacation in Switzerland. There are clear critical descriptions of all the regions and great general info on getting around in Switzerland.

If you aren't interested in "roughing" it and staying in lower priced hotels.. the guides are still very useful in rating attractions, and areas in which to stay... but you will need another book to look at more moderate and luxury hotels.

I would definitely read this book before going to Switzerland.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not great, August 9, 2004

By 

T. Hooper "thdizzy" (Osaka, Japan) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Switzerland 2 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

This guidebook covers Switzerland from a British point of view. The Rough Guide series is not known for it's in depth coverage. The entries in this guide tend to be brief--only giving a mention and a list of business hours and transportation info. For those who are looking for more in depth coverage, this obituaries style of writing may leave you looking for something else. If you cut out the phone numbers, lists of business hours, and transportation information, then the page count would be cut in half. Also, for a book that spends so much time talking about transportation, it's a little frustrating that there aren't more maps to illustrate the directions. If you're looking for a comprehensive guidebook for Switzerland, I would get another guidebook.