Switzerland travel guide: where to base yourself, and what each base is for

The short answer

Pick the base by what you want to reach. In Zurich, Bern, Basel, Geneva and Lausanne the museums, churches and old towns XTOUR covers are in the city. Lucerne, Interlaken and Zermatt are bases for mountains that are not: XTOUR's records list Pilatus and the Rigi under Lucerne, the Jungfraujoch under Interlaken and the Gornergrat under Zermatt as places reached from the base, not in it. St. Gallen, Lugano, Montreux and Schaffhausen are regional bases, each for one heritage site, lake shore, castle or waterfall. XTOUR does not name a best base, and it publishes no travel times between them; the SBB timetable is the source for those.

Each group below is described from the operators' and tourism boards' own pages, with a link to the guide that covers the decision in depth. The country page is Switzerland.

One national pass, several mountain railways

SBB sells visitors one national pass, which its pass page says covers travel by train, bus and boat all across Switzerland, panorama trains excluding seat reservations and supplements, and the Rigi, Stanserhorn and Stoos mountains.[3] How SBB's own pages word the discount on other mountain railways, and what the pass does not cover, are set out in what the Swiss Travel Pass covers; XTOUR does not calculate whether a pass saves money.

Switzerland Tourism's at-a-glance panel lists four languages, German (Swiss German), French, Italian and Romansh.[2] Several of the official pages cited below are in German or French.

City bases where the sights are in town

Zurich. Zürich Tourismus makes the case for its city as a base on the strength of the main station, naming the Jungfraujoch, Mount Titlis, the Rhine Falls, Rapperswil, Lucerne and Bern as excursions from Zurich.[6] Every one of those is outside the city, and two of them are claimed by other boards as well: Lucerne Tourism sells a Titlis glacier excursion from Engelberg, and the Jungfrau Railways call Grindelwald Terminal the start and end point of the journey to the Jungfraujoch.[23][17] XTOUR's reading: Zurich is a base for Zurich and for rail connections, not a mountain base. The city has its own pass, the Zürich Card, which the board presents as the city travel pass.[7] For the two churches of the Old Town, see the Grossmünster and Fraumünster. Destination page: Zurich.

Bern. The Old City of Bern was inscribed as World Heritage in 1983, together with the Abbey of St Gall and the Convent of St John at Müstair, the first Swiss cultural sites on the list.[4][5] The Bern Minster, whose foundation stone was laid in 1421, is the place of worship of the Reformed Münster congregation.[8] Wikidata records Bern as Switzerland's de facto capital and records no de jure capital, so XTOUR calls it the federal city.[1] XTOUR has not used the Bern tourism board's own pages, so Bern's city passes and tours are not described here. See Bern's Old Town, the Zytglogge and the Minster and the Bern destination page.

Basel. The Kunstmuseum Basel's three buildings, the Hauptbau and the Neubau facing each other on St. Alban-Graben and the Gegenwart on St. Alban-Rheinweg, all have Basel addresses.[9] The Fondation Beyeler does not: its own visit page gives Baselstrasse 101, 4125 Riehen, and describes the museum as in Riehen near Basel.[10] XTOUR therefore treats Basel as a base for the Beyeler, not as its location. Basel's tourism board pages were not used either, so its city offers are not described here. See Basel's art museums, Basel Carnival and Basel.

Geneva. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum is at Avenue de la Paix 17 in Geneva, and its home page says it stays open while its permanent exhibition is redesigned in phases between 2026 and 2028.[11] CERN's Science Gateway is not in Geneva: CERN's getting-here page gives the address as 1, Esplanade des Particules, 1217 Meyrin, and names tram 18 to the Meyrin, CERN stop.[12] CERN's home page says admission to the Science Gateway is free but registration is required.[13] The Palais des Nations tour rules are set out, from UN Geneva's own visit page, in Geneva's international district. Destination page: Geneva.

Lausanne. Lausanne Tourisme calls Lausanne the fourth biggest city in Switzerland and says it was named Olympic Capital in 1994, with 40 international sports federations headquartered there.[14] The Lavaux vineyard terraces are not part of the city. Their site managers, Lavaux Patrimoine mondial, describe the slope as lying above the lake between Lausanne and Vevey (in French, "au-dessus du lac entre Lausanne et Vevey").[15] XTOUR records no base relationship between Lavaux and either Lausanne or Montreux, so neither is presented here as the way in; how the terraces are reached is set out, from the site managers' own access page, in the Lavaux guide. See Lavaux vineyard terraces and Lausanne.

Lake and mountain bases: Lucerne and Interlaken

Lucerne. Lucerne Tourism presents the city as lying in the centre of Switzerland between lake and mountains.[16] Its mountain page names six peaks it calls the "Big 6", the Rigi, the Stoos, the Stanserhorn, the Titlis, the Brienzer Rothorn and Pilatus, and sells a regional Lucerne Travel Pass for three, four, five or ten consecutive days.[17] None of the six is in Lucerne; XTOUR's records list Pilatus, the Rigi and the Titlis as reached from a Lucerne base and record no base for the other three. The Pilatus cogwheel railway, commissioned in 1889, goes up from Alpnachstad to Pilatus Kulm, according to Pilatus-Bahnen.[18] The two mountains, and how each operator treats the Swiss Travel Pass, are compared in Mount Pilatus or the Rigi. In the city itself, see the Chapel Bridge and Water Tower, the Lion Monument and Lucerne.

Interlaken. Interlaken Tourismus places the town on an alluvial plain between Lakes Thun and Brienz and calls it an "ideal starting point for excursions to the Jungfrau Region and the entire Bernese Oberland".[19] The Jungfraujoch, at 3,454 metres, is not in Interlaken; the Jungfrau Railways describe three routes up and call Grindelwald Terminal the start and end point of the journey.[23] Grindelwald's own board calls the village, at the foot of the Eiger, a base for the Jungfraujoch and Grindelwald First.[24] Grindelwald is not one of XTOUR's Swiss destinations, so the choice between the two is set out in Interlaken or Grindelwald, and the tickets and seat reservation in Jungfraujoch tickets, routes and seat reservations. Destination page: Interlaken.

A dated notice: BLS, which runs the line, said on 8 October 2026 that the railway between Interlaken West and Interlaken Ost is closed to trains for eight weeks from Monday 19 October 2026 (to 11 December 2026), with replacement buses to Interlaken Ost and Wilderswil.[21]

Where the two overlap. The Brienzer Rothorn appears both in Lucerne Tourism's six peaks and on Interlaken Tourismus's list of mountain excursions, which describes the steam railway from Brienz.[20][17] The boards' excursion lists are sales territory, not geography, and XTOUR does not say which base is nearer. The two towns are also joined by a named train: Interlaken Tourismus describes the Luzern–Interlaken Express, run by Zentralbahn, as a panoramic journey over the Brünig Pass, and says the GoldenPass route continues from Lucerne via Interlaken to Montreux.[22] XTOUR's reading: on Interlaken Tourismus's account, Lucerne, Interlaken and Montreux lie on one named rail route, so none of the three needs to be treated as the single centre of a trip; XTOUR publishes no journey times on that route.

Zermatt: the village is the base

Zermatt is car-free. Zermatt Tourism says private vehicles may go only as far as Täsch, where travellers change to the shuttle train, a taxi or a limousine service, and it warns of fines for driving to Zermatt without authorisation.[25] The Gornergrat Bahn starts at Zermatt station and, according to its ticket page, goes up to 3,100 metres with intermediate stations at Findelbach, Riffelalp, Riffelberg and Rotenboden.[26] The Matterhorn itself is outside the village; XTOUR lists it, the Gornergrat and the Klein Matterhorn as reached from Zermatt, not in it.

Zermatt is also one end of the Glacier Express. Its FAQ gives the original route as Zermatt to St. Moritz, with boarding and alighting at Zermatt, Brig, Andermatt, Chur, Filisur, Samedan and St. Moritz.[27] See Zermatt and the Gornergrat railway, the Glacier Express and Bernina Express, the Matterhorn's first ascent and Zermatt.

Regional bases: St. Gallen, Lugano, Montreux and Schaffhausen

St. Gallen. St.Gallen-Bodensee Tourismus calls the Abbey District, a World Heritage site, the centrepiece of the city, and sells a St.Gallen Museum Card for 11 museums in the city.[29] The precinct, its library and its ticket are covered in the Abbey District of St. Gallen; destination page St. Gallen.

Lugano. Lugano Region's home page points to the LAC arts centre, the MASI and MUSEC museums, Hermann Hesse's Montagnola, Monte Tamaro and Monte Lema, and the Luini frescoes in Santa Maria degli Angeli.[30] Castelgrande, the one Bellinzona castle XTOUR's records list as reached from a Lugano base, is in Bellinzona, a separate town, not in Lugano. The Swiss Commission for UNESCO lists the three castles and the fortress and town walls of Bellinzona as World Heritage, inscribed in 2000.[4] Lugano also connects to the Bernina line: the Rhaetian Railway's Bernina Express page offers a Bernina Express Bus between Tirano and Lugano.[28] See Bellinzona's three castles and Lugano.

Montreux. Château de Chillon gives its address as Avenue de Chillon 21, 1820 Veytaux, not Montreux.[31] The castle is owned by the Canton of Vaud and run by the Chillon Castle Foundation, created in 2002.[32] XTOUR lists the castle as reached from Montreux, not in it. See visiting Château de Chillon and Montreux.

Schaffhausen. The Rhine Falls are not in the town of Schaffhausen. The official Rhine Falls site describes a footpath that leads from Schloss Laufen past the falls to the Fischetz platform, and links to the Schaffhauserland, Winterthur and Zürich tourism boards.[33] XTOUR treats Schaffhausen as a base for the falls, not as their location. XTOUR has no Schaffhausen guide and has not used Schaffhauserland Tourismus's own pages. Destination page: Schaffhausen.

The bases side by side

Heritage that cuts across the bases

Switzerland has 13 World Heritage sites, according to the Swiss Commission for UNESCO, and they do not line up with the bases: the list includes Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch, a natural site, and the castles and walls of Bellinzona, neither of which is in a base city.[4] The Jungfrau Railways' Jungfraujoch page presents it under the UNESCO World Heritage heading and names the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch site.[23] Which of the 13 XTOUR can source is set out in Switzerland's World Heritage sites. For traditions rather than places, see Switzerland's intangible heritage, the Fête des Vignerons in Vevey, the Swiss list of living traditions, Swiss AOP and IGP food names and Swiss heritage words on signs and tickets.

What XTOUR does not state

XTOUR publishes no travel times between bases, no hotel or ticket prices, no opening hours, no weather or seasonal advice, no crowd levels and no recommended number of nights. It does not rank the bases. Straight-line distance between them says nothing about the rail route. Tourism boards' excursion lists are quoted above as what each board promotes, not as evidence that a place is near or inside the town. Nothing here comes from the Bern, Basel or Schaffhauserland tourism boards' own pages.