Switzerland's 13 UNESCO World Heritage sites, and which ones XTOUR covers

The 13 sites

Switzerland has 13 places on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Both the Swiss Commission for UNESCO and the Lavaux site managers give that number, and both say Switzerland ratified the World Heritage Convention in 1975.[2][1] XTOUR could not open the UNESCO World Heritage Centre's list pages, so the list below follows those two Swiss pages, and where they disagree, the disagreement is stated.

The Lavaux page splits the 13 into nine cultural sites, the responsibility of the Federal Office of Culture, and four natural sites, the responsibility of the Federal Office for the Environment.[2] The commission marks four of the 13 as transboundary: the Rhaetian Railway, the pile dwellings, Le Corbusier and the beech forests.[1]

The three of 1983

The Old City of Bern, the convent of St John at Müstair and the Abbey of St Gall were inscribed together in 1983; the St. Gallen abbey's own page says they were the first Swiss cultural sites on the list.[3][1]

Old City of Bern. The commission describes the Zähringen town's closed rows of houses, roofscape, arcades, cellars, towers and fountains, much of it in original fabric.[1] The Lavaux page dates the arcades to the 15th century and the fountains to the 16th, and says most of the medieval town was renovated in the 18th century.[2] XTOUR's guide is Bern's Old Town, the Zytglogge and the Minster, and the destination page is Bern.

Müstair. The commission says the convent in the Val Müstair, in Graubünden, is said to have been founded by Charlemagne around 800; the Lavaux page states the foundation by Charlemagne without that hedge. Both name the Planta tower, built in 957.[2] The commission's German list calls it a convent of Benedictine nuns.[1] XTOUR has no guide for Müstair.

Abbey of St Gall. The commission names the ensemble as the abbey church, the abbey library and the abbey archives, with their early medieval manuscripts and charters.[1] The abbey's own page adds that the Plan of St Gall, a drawing of an ideal monastery from about 820, is an explicit component of the inscription.[3] XTOUR's guide is the Abbey District of St. Gallen and its Abbey Library; the city is the St. Gallen destination.

The other cultural sites

Bellinzona (2000). The commission lists the castles of Castelgrande, Montebello and Sasso Corbaro with their fortress and town walls, at a point where several Alpine pass routes meet.[1] The Lavaux page adds that the Visconti built the great wall from Castelgrande across the valley in the 15th century.[2] Bellinzona is its own town, not part of Lugano; XTOUR's records give Lugano only as a possible travel base for Castelgrande.[5] See the Bellinzona castles guide.

Lavaux (2007). The two pages disagree on when the terraces began. The commission says monks were already cultivating vines on the slopes in the 11th century; the Lavaux site managers say the slopes were cleared from the 12th century.[1] They agree on the 14 villages, and the site managers count more than 10,000 terraces held up by 450 km of stone walls.[2] Lavaux is not part of Lausanne, and XTOUR's records do not place it inside any Swiss destination.[5] See visiting the Lavaux vineyard terraces.

Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina landscapes (2008). The line runs 128 km from Thusis in Graubünden to Tirano in Italy, and the commission marks it as a transboundary site.[1] The Lavaux page splits it into the Albula line (67 km) and the Bernina line (61 km) and counts 55 tunnels and covered galleries and 196 viaducts and bridges.[2] XTOUR's Glacier Express and Bernina Express guide covers the named trains on these lines.

La Chaux-de-Fonds / Le Locle (2009). The commission describes twin towns where production and housing were planned together around the watchmaking industry.[1] See La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle: watchmaking town planning.

Prehistoric pile dwellings (2011). Both pages give 111 sites in six countries, 56 of them in Switzerland across 15 cantons, and the Lavaux page dates the remains from 5000 to 500 BC.[2] The commission says Switzerland led the nomination. The commission describes them as prehistoric settlement remains in lakes and moors around the Alps.[1] XTOUR has no guide for them.

Le Corbusier (2016). Of 17 works in seven countries, two are in Switzerland. The two pages agree on the Immeuble Clarté in Geneva but name the Corseaux house differently: "La Petite villa au bord du lac Léman" for the commission, "la Villa 'Le Lac' Le Corbusier" for the Lavaux page.[2][1] XTOUR has no guide for either building; the destination page is Geneva.

The natural sites

Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch. The commission describes more than 850 km² around Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau and the great Aletsch glacier, and lists the site as "2001, 2007"; the Lavaux page gives only 2001.[2][1] Neither page says what changed in 2007. XTOUR's Jungfraujoch guide covers the railway trip to the Jungfraujoch, not the World Heritage property as such.

Monte San Giorgio. The mountain rises between the southern arms of Lake Lugano in the Mendrisiotto. The two pages disagree on its age: the commission dates the marine basin to 230-245 million years ago, the Lavaux page dates the lagoon to 239-243 million years ago. The commission also lists the site as "2003, 2010", where the Lavaux page gives 2003.[2][1] XTOUR has no guide for it.

Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona. Both pages describe some 300 km² where the cantons of St. Gallen, Glarus and Graubünden meet, with the Glarus thrust, where 250 to 300 million-year-old rock lies on top of rock 35 to 50 million years old.[2][1] XTOUR has no guide for it.

Beech forests. Switzerland's share is two forest reserves: the valleys of Lodano, Busai and Soladino in Ticino, and the Bettlachstock in Solothurn.[1] The Lavaux page spells one valley "Saladino". The two pages also count the whole property differently, 94 beech forests in 18 countries for the commission and 93 protected areas in 18 countries for the Lavaux page.[1][2] Both Swiss pages date the site 2021, while a UNESCO Intangible Heritage page that refers to the same property dates it 2007. None of the three pages explains the difference, and XTOUR does not resolve it.[4][2][1]

What XTOUR does not know

XTOUR does not state opening hours, prices, tickets, access or accessibility for any of these sites. Several are landscapes, railway lines or groups of archaeological sites rather than places with one entrance, and XTOUR has not read a boundary map for any of them, so it does not say which towns, stations or viewpoints lie inside a property.