The Alps: Cities

  Switzerland

Let's dive in, starting with Alpine approaches from the North. Zurich is the biggest Swiss airport from the US; from the UK Geneva is a massive destination partly because of Chamonix and the other close-by French places, and Basel is often a handy choice if times are good. The Swiss trains are so easy. In Switzerland, trains link up most Swiss cities within an hour or two of each other, so Zurich, Bern, Basel, Luzern and St Gallen.

Travel in Switzerland - our guide to trains within Switzerland

  Basel

About Basel
Basel occupies the very edge of Switzerland as it borders France and Germany. We are off the Swiss tourism circuit here in this university town. Basel is a treat, thoroughly liveable and surprisingly pretty. At a high-ceilinged coffee shop we watch the purposeful bustle of the working day. Unmistakeably Swiss, there is a German dining influence with good beer halls.
(Photo: Basel and its trams.)

  Bern

About Bern
Bern is the seat of the Swiss parliament. The surprise is the old town on its bend in the river, with three chief streets lined with arcades; these are stone arch-ways above which sit three or four stories of apartments. Behind the arches and the walkway are so many independent shops and restaurants.. apparently 4km of such arcades in total. Including our first visit in 2016 we have stayed in 10 separate Bern hotels and we love to give clients tips about Bern.
(Photo: Bern at night.)

  Biel

About Biel
Biel is a funny one: perhaps the most simple and unimpressive centre of any of the big Swiss towns, containing a small old town that is arguably the nicest in Switzerland. The other side of the train station (central) from the main town and lovely old town, is a district with canals that is also worth a stroll. Enjoy these contrasts in Biel (Bienne in the French), a very Swiss-feeling place.
(Photo: Biel's old town.)

  Geneva

About Geneva
Geneva is Switzerland's second most populous city, sited at the Western end of Lac Leman and surrounded by France. The city centre has two halves: a small old town to the South of the River Rhone, and newer commercial streets to the North. Geneva hosts UN and Red Cross museums, but sights are limited; what makes the city is its cosmopolitan outlook.
(Photo: In the old town of Geneva.)

  Lausanne

About Lausanne
Fascinating contrasts within Switzerland, a confederation of regions and cities, are as sharp between Lausanne and Zurich as anywhere else. Lausanne is decidedly French: French speaking and French in architecture, food and street life. The old town and commercial town centre are combined, among dips, steps and bridges, up the hill from Lac Leman.
(Photo: Lausanne rooftops.)

  Luzern

About Luzern
Luzern is a smaller-scale version of Zurich, thoroughly Swiss, mountains forming the backdrop to charming old buildings around the head of a lake. After hours, squares open up with early-evening drinkers and diners outside restaurants. The touristic elements are relatively focused on the mini-estuary with its covered wooden bridge and rows of colourful houses.
(Photo: Close streets in Luzern.)

  St Gallen

About St Gallen
St Gallen is an hour's train ride from Zurich. Smaller than Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne, Bern or Basel, it is easily managed on foot. The town is home to the famous business school and Helvetia insurance, both on a hill above the town centre. Continuing a theme of the Via Alpina, for example, St Gallen makes a characteristically Swiss city stop a little off the beaten track.
(Photo: St Gallen's cathedral.)

  Zurich

About Zurich
Zurich stands in contrast to Geneva and not simply for being German-speaking rather than French. Zurich covers all of the bases for a fairytale European capital. It is obviously smart, clean and businesslike, a scientific centre as well as financial. After a Haute Route trip it makes a memorable finish, complementing Zermatt, and Zurich airport is handy for town.
(Photo: Central Zurich's riverside.)

  Austria

Austria extends far East and the prime target is Vienna. We love it. Smaller Austrian cities are worth seeing too, being neat and tidy with flowing beer. Graz is Austria's second city while Salzburg and Innsbruck are firmly in the Austrian alps.

  Graz

About Graz
Austria's second city after Vienna, Graz feels more like its own entity than do Salzburg or Innsbruck. Graz is not at the foot of the Alps: cross Austria by train to find this less-visited and real town that nevertheless combines ornate buildings with drinking squares and coffee shops. The university sits across gardens from the modest castle and the sweet old city centre.
(Photo: Overhead tram wires in Graz's centre.)

  Innsbruck

About Innsbruck
In the narrow Western limb of Austria, the small city of Innsbruck is in the thick of the mountains. In its neat and open centre is a fine old town with high Tyrolean buildings crowding narrow lanes. Austrian valleys such as the Stubai are a local bus ride from the city centre, barely less convenient than a suburb. Life here is clean and easy, mountains ever-present.
(Photo: Innsbruck's town centre.)

  Salzburg

About Salzburg
Salzburg is a town to visit by train or plane before the Austrian Tyrol or perhaps the Italian Dolomites. The castle overlooks the old town; a tramway and switchback streets lead up to it. Especially in Summer, Salzburg is a tourist destination in a way that Innsbruck slightly avoids: this is Sound of Music and Mozart country but local life is equally entertaining.
(Photo: Stiegl beer at the brewery shop.)

  Vienna

About Vienna
Few European capitals are as grand as Vienna. The city's scale and its stately layout are apparent even before reaching the parks, palaces and museums on the West side of the centre. Working Vienna is bustling; drop into a subway to find busy bakeries. From the mountains, Vienna is a substantial train ride, but this journey can complete a crossing of the Alps.
(Photo: Vienna across the roof tops.)

  Italy

After the Dolomites we suggest a visit to Venice. As other Northern Italian cities, it is easy to reach. Wherever you are in the Alps, pop through to Italy afterwards, and this is surprisingly easy to Milan and Turin from Switzerland.

  Milan

About Milan
Super on the train from Switzerland, Milan can come as a shock. Get to know Milan's grid pattern and expanding ring-roads, everywhere with a cafe. Milan is a bustle, grand, a chaos, starting with the vast Milano Centrale station. As a city it is not uniformly smart, mostly urban, very different from the Alps to which we have just been. See the big white Duomo but turn into the arcades.
(Photo: Grand shopping in Milan.)

  Turin

About Turin
Turin is a manufacturing city in Northern Italy, an alternative to Geneva for reaching the Tour du Mont Blanc if less quick a transfer. It is the first big place reached if leaving the TMB for travels into Italy. We like Turin; it is manageable, thanks in part to the extensive grid system. Covered walkways beside grand avenues lead into open squares with statuary and marble.
(Photo: Spot Turin's arcades.)

  Venice

About Venice
Venice is a city built on islands in a lagoon, its houses perched on petrified stilts. Impossibly narrow lanes cross beautiful backwater canals on ornate bridges, in such numbers as to create a maze. To explore Venice is a frustrating, bizarre yet enthralling experience that cannot possibly be imagined in advance. Piazza San Marco and water taxis come as a mere bonus.
(Photo: A typical back-street canal in Venice.)

  Verona

About Verona
Verona sits between Milan and Venice, also on the train line that comes South through the mountains from Innsbruck. It is very handy, and unlike its famous neighbours it gives a view of the real Italy untainted by either the size of Milan or the wondrousness of Venice. Walk the elaborate streets here and get lost among the chapels and flats all hewn from the stone.
(Photo: Verona's Bell Tower and rooftops.)

  France

The Southern French cities are centres for their own regions of the Alps, notably Lyon and Grenoble.

  Grenoble

About Grenoble
Grenoble is a city of busy streets between tall buildings, made more friendly by its metropolitan atmosphere and by the hills on all sides. Grenoble sits in a plain with the Chartreuse massif to the North, the Vercors to the South West, and the Ecrins away to the South West. Resorts like Alpe d'Huez are close. Grenoble is a major centre of science and engineering in France.
(Photo: Grenoble in its basin.)

  Lyon

About Lyon
Lyon is an appealing city set on two sides of the river. It covers a large area and it's a big walk to cross it! Restaurants adorn the pavements, or rather, the wide car-free streets. The Alps feel far away but the hills around Lyon have their own rise and fall. Look to the West of town, the centre, where the town hall and art gallery compete for space in the bustle of town.
(Photo: Lyon along the river Saône.)

  Germany

The German approach to the Alps centres on Munich, poised barely an hour from the Austrian border and a natural centre. Munich outdoor enthusiasts are in the Alps all the time.

  Munich

About Munich
The self-confident capital of Bavaria, Munich has the lot. Trams, enormous museum collections, the beginnings of Oktoberfest at the end of Summer, and a navigable city centre. Two branches of German outdoor stores make Munich a destination! Both spread across several floors and follow the seasons, skiing or walking, in creative displays.
(Photo: In Globetrotter in Munich.)

  Slovenia

Slovenia sits between Italy and Austria and works with approaches from either side, as well as directly to Ljubljana - which we love.

  Ljubljana

About Ljubljana
The capital of Slovenia and obviously so, Ljubljana makes a restorative destination after trekking in the Julian Alps. The beauty of the city is in its tranquil central streets, rather than a mass of sights. Ljubljana Castle and the extensive wooded Park Tivoli overlook the city. Ljubljana is Western European and Bohemian in much of its feel but with footholds in the East.
(Photo: Riverside in Ljublana.)

  Liechtenstein

Easily overlooked Liechtenstein could as well be a tiny province of Switzerland, on the Eastern Swiss edge between Sargans (Via Alpina) and St Gallen. Vaduz is the smart but unusual capital, with its castle.

  Vaduz

About Vaduz
Vaduz makes for an intriguing city visit immediately before the Via Alpina, more so than as a city break in its own right. It is a bit small, as if Switzerland (culturally, monetarily, politically linked) had a semi-autonomous region containing a mid-size town. Vaduz is pleasant, could possibly be described as sterile, has a mountain range of its own, and has a castle overlooking the town centre.
(Photo: The covered bridge over the Rhine, in Vaduz.)