The most beautiful places I've seen in Switzerland

For me, Switzerland turned out to be the country where at some point you stop understanding exactly where to look, because literally everything around you seems beautiful. I went there with the usual tourist spirit: to see several famous places, take photos, walk around the cities, taste the local chocolate and finally see the very Alps that I have come across so many times in photographs. But in reality, it turned out that the photos did not convey the main thing at all – scale, silence, air and some absolutely incredible feeling, as if you accidentally got inside a very expensive screensaver on your computer.

Zurich – the first acquaintance with Switzerland

The first place that made a strong impression on me was Zurich, although for some reason I thought in advance that it would just be a beautiful and tidy city, without any special surprises. As a result, I walked around the Old Town for a long time, looked at the colorful facades, looked into the small streets and constantly stopped by the Limmat River, because each new turn opened up another beautiful view. 

I especially liked the Grossmunster and Fraumunster towers, and when I saw Lake Zurich, I finally realized that my plan to "quickly see the city and drive on" could safely be thrown away.

Lucerne is a city that you want to photograph endlessly

But my real feeling of Switzerland began in Lucerne, and here I was just walking around with my phone, like a person who urgently needed to fix absolutely every corner. The city itself is incredibly picturesque, and the famous wooden Kapellbrücke Clock Bridge over the Reuss River looks like it was specially built for tourist postcards, although it is completely real and has existed for many centuries. There is a water tower nearby, and mountains rise outside the city, so sometimes I found myself thinking that it would be impossible to come up with a more beautiful setting for a walk, even if I tried very hard.

Mount Pilatus – when you want to see everything at once

From Lucerne, I went to Mount Pilatus, and it was one of those trips when the road itself becomes part of the attraction. I was driving up, looking out the window and trying to figure out how people can live peacefully next to such landscapes and not take pictures of the mountains every five minutes. At the top, there are stunning views of Lake Lucerne and the Alps, and the weather in the mountains, as I've seen, can change my mood faster than I can get my phone out of my bag.

Riga – "Queen of the Mountains"

Another place I've wanted to see for a long time was Mount Riga, which is called the "Queen of Mountains." I especially liked the fact that you can climb there on a cogwheel railway, and the trip itself turns into a small adventure with constantly changing views outside the window. Upstairs, I found myself in a situation where I seemed to have come to see one particular landscape, but in the end I just stood and looked around, because the Alps were absolutely not going to fit into the frame of my phone screen.

Interlaken – Alps, lakes and the feeling of being in a postcard

""After Lucerne, I went to Interlaken, and here Switzerland finally moved from the category of "very beautiful" to the category of "is it even legal to look like this?". Interlaken is located between the Thun and Brienz lakes, and the Alps rise around it, so wherever I went, there was always a mountain, lake or another valley on the horizon, which I immediately wanted to take a closer look at. The funny thing is that at some point I stopped understanding exactly where to go, because each subsequent view seemed better than the previous one, and the tourist route turned into an endless "oh, let's turn here again."

Lauterbrunnen is a valley that cannot be forgotten

A special place in my heart was occupied by the village of Lauterbrunnen, which looks so perfect that at first I even suspected some kind of tourist deception. Huge cliffs surround the valley, and waterfalls fall down from the slopes, among which the Staubach Waterfall is especially famous, which has become one of the region's business cards. I walked through the valley and tried to photograph the mountains, waterfall, green meadows and small houses at the same time, but I quickly realized that the camera still would not convey the feeling that arises when you really stand in the middle of this valley.

Zermatt and Matterhorn – the very view from the advertisement

And then there was Zermatt, a place for which I was ready to forgive Switzerland almost everything, including the prices, after which I wanted to look at my bank account and cry quietly. The main reason for coming here was obvious to me: the Matterhorn, one of the most recognizable mountains in the world, which I had seen countless times before in photographs. But when I saw it live, I realized why people come here again and again, because this mountain really makes a very special impression.

I also really liked Zermatt itself, especially its wooden houses, narrow streets and a very special atmosphere of a mountain resort. However, I quickly realized that beautiful photos are suspiciously easy to take here, because no matter where you turn, there's already an Alpine peak behind you, and there's bound to be a pretty house with flowers in front of you. I even tried to just walk down the street calmly, but after a few minutes I took out my phone again because my brain was talking every time.: "Wait, we need to take a picture of this."

Gornergrat – mountains in all their glory

One of the most beautiful experiences was a trip to the Gornergrat, which offers a famous panorama of the Matterhorn and surrounding peaks. The road up is incredibly scenic in itself, and at the top there is a feeling that you are somewhere very far from the familiar world. I was standing there, looking at the mountains, and for the first time during the trip I was in no hurry at all, because in such places you don't even want to take pictures right away, but first just stand and see it all with your own eyes.

St. Moritz and Engadine are a completely different Switzerland

Another place that I would definitely include in the list of the most beautiful is the Engadine Valley and St. Moritz. Nature looks a little different here: high-altitude lakes, coniferous forests, mountains and very clean air create a very special atmosphere, and St. Moritz itself looks as if it was carefully placed among the Alps and asked not to spoil anything. I walked along Lake St. Moritz, looked at the mountains and thought that Switzerland is generally a master at creating places where you want to live, relax and for some reason immediately start drinking coffee with a view of the mountains.

Glacier Express – when the road itself becomes an attraction

One of the most vivid impressions was a trip along the Glacier Express route, which passes through incredibly picturesque Alpine landscapes between Zermatt and St. Moritz.

You don't even need to look for a separate attraction here, because the road itself turns into a journey worth coming to Switzerland for: bridges, gorges, mountain villages, snow-capped peaks and endless landscapes outside the window replace each other while you sit in the carriage and try to decide whether to take pictures or just watch. Of course, I did both, and then I discovered that half of the photos were taken through glass with some completely mysterious reflection of my face.

Geneva is a beauty of a completely different nature

I couldn't miss Geneva either, especially the area around Lake Geneva and the famous Jet d'Eau fountain. After the mountain villages and alpine valleys, the city is perceived quite differently: there is more urban elegance, wide embankments, beautiful architecture and that very European atmosphere when you can just walk around without a specific goal and feel like a man from a good movie. I walked along the lake for a long time and looked at the water, the mountains in the distance and the huge fountain jet that soars high above the lake, and I thought that Switzerland knows how to be completely different and at the same time remain equally beautiful.

Bern – medieval Switzerland

But in Bern, I was captivated by a completely different kind of beauty. The historic city center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its medieval streets, arcades, fountains and the famous Zittlogge Tower make me feel like I was inside an old European postcard for a few hours. I especially liked walking without a route, when you can just turn onto the next street, look at the facades of houses and suddenly come out to the Aare River, which offers a beautiful view of the city.

Rhine Falls – when nature is not going to be quiet

If we talk about places that I remember specifically by nature, then the Rhine Waterfall near Schaffhausen deserves special mention. It does not look at all like quiet Alpine lakes and green valleys, because here the water passes through the rocks with great force and creates a real natural spectacle. I got closer and realized pretty quickly that it's beautiful to be photographed near a waterfall, but it's advisable to think in advance about where to put wet hair and clothes later, because nature isn't particularly interested in your styling.

What did I take with me from Switzerland?

In Switzerland, I saw a huge number of beautiful places, but what struck me most was not even any particular lake, mountain or city, but how harmoniously everything here connects to each other. You can walk through the medieval streets of Bern in the morning, then drive through the mountains, find yourself by the lake in the evening, and the next day look at the Matterhorn and think that after such a journey, the usual landscape outside the car window already seems a little boring. I left Switzerland with the feeling that I had not seen everything, because this country is designed as an endless collection of beautiful places, where for some reason there is another reason to stop at every turn of the road.

And that's probably why I can't name one of the most beautiful places in Switzerland that I liked the most. The Matterhorn impressed with its power, Lauterbrunnen with its incredible nature, Lucerne with its atmosphere, Bern with its architecture, and the Alpine roads just made me constantly grab my phone and say, "Well, this is definitely the last shot." Of course, it was never the last one, because after five minutes a new view appeared, which seemed even more beautiful, and I took out my phone again, forgetting that I had actually come to relax, and not to work as a personal photographer of the Swiss Alps.