Explore Switzerland in Europe - Switzerland Tourism Info

Description and Basic Information

Switzerland with its capital Berne is located in Europe (Central Europe, east of France). It covers some 41,291 square kilometres (slightly less than twice the size of New Jersey) with 7,581,000 citizens. German, French, Italian and Raeto-Romance are the official languages spoken in Switzerland (consider regional differences). Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, France and Austria are bordering countries.

Switzerland is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The climate is temperate, but varies with altitude. Switzerland has cold rainy/snowy winters and cool to warm summers with occasional showers. Switzerland is a peaceful, prosperous, and stable modern market economy with low unemployment, a highly skilled labor force, and a per capita GDP larger than that of the big Western European economies. Major international airports are in Zurich, Geneva and Basel, with smaller airports in Lugano and Berne. Common tourist destinations within Switzerland are easily reachable by car, e.g. Geneva from central eastern France, and Zurich from southern Germany. The Swiss will spoil you with fantastic transportation - swift, disturbingly punctual trains, clean buses, and a half dozen different kinds of mountain transport systems, integrated into a coherent system. Switzerland is famous for a few key goods: watches, chocolate, cheese, and Swiss Army knives (Note that these must be packed in hold luggage). Swiss employment law bans working on Sundays, so shops generally stay closed. Switzerland is not surprisingly one of the safest countries in Europe, but anywhere that attracts Rolex-wearing bankers and crowds of distracted tourists will also bring out a few pickpockets. Obviously, keep an eye on belongings, especially in the midst of summer crowds.

Pictures from Berne (Capital)

Photos provided by Panoramio are under the copyright of their owners.

About Switzerland

The topography features mostly mountains (Alps in south, Jura in northwest) with a central plateau of rolling hills, plains, and large lakes. The average density of population is about 183 per km². The climate in can be described as temperate, but varying with altitude with cold, cloudy, rainy/snowy winters, cool to warm, cloudy, humid summers with occasional showers. Potential natural disasters are avalanches, landslides or flash floods.

To reach someone in Switzerland dial +41 prior to a number. There are 4,650,000 installed telephones. And there are 9,255,000 registered mobile phones. The cellular networks operate on frequencies of 900, 1800 Mhz. Websites typically end with the top level domain ".ch". If you want to bring electric appliances (e.g. battery charger), keep in mind the local 230V - 50Hz.

The country consists of 26 regions/states which are listed below.

Regions/States of Switzerland

Swiss Tourism Information

Official Tourism Office

Website: Switzerland Tourism

Toedistrasse 7
P.O. Box 695
8027 Zurich

Phone: +41 1 288 1111
Fax: +41 1 288 1205

Unesco World Heritage Properties

Switzerland has 6 more world heritage locations. To see all of them, visit the Switzerland Unesco Heritage location overview.

Benedictine Convent of St John at Müstair

The Convent of Müstair, which stands in a valley in the Grisons, is a good example of Christian monastic renovation during the Carolingian period. It has Switzerland's greatest series of...

Convent of St Gall

The Convent of St Gall, a perfect example of a great Carolingian monastery, was, from the 8th century to its secularization in 1805, one of the most important in Europe. Its library is one of the...

La Chaux-de-Fonds / Le Locle, Watchmaking Town Planning

The site of La Chaux-de-Fonds / Le Locle watchmaking town-planning consists of two towns situated close to one another in a remote environment in the Swiss Jura mountains, on land ill-suited to...

Lavaux, Vineyard Terraces

The Lavaux Vineyard Terraces, stretching for about 30 km along the south-facing northern shores of Lake Geneva from the Chateau de Chillon to the eastern outskirts of Lausanne in the Vaud region,...

Monte San Giorgio

The pyramid-shaped, wooded mountain of Monte San Giorgio beside Lake Lugano is regarded as the best fossil record of marine life from the Triassic Period (245–230 million years ago). The...

Demographic Information

Age Distribution in Switzerland

Each pair of bars represents a single age group (male/female). Each group is spanning 5 years. E.g. 0 to 5 years, 5 to 10 etc. and group "0 to 5" being at the left end and "100 +" at the right end of the chart.

Natural Population Growth

Population, Migration and Growth: The population in Switzerland is growing at an rate of 0.22% (or by 16,924 citizens). Each year 9,987 people enter this country (or 1.30 per thousand citizens) - making it an immigration country. This leads to an absolute natural increase rate of the population of 0.09%. Or an total increase of 6,937 citizens.

Based on content from wikitravel.org. The original article can be found here based on the work of these users.
Geographic information is based on the data provided by geonames.org, CIA factsbook and Unesco.