About Switzerland

Switzerland is a mountainous Central European country, home to numerous lakes, villages and the high peaks of the Alps. Its cities contain medieval quarters, with landmarks like capital Bern’s Zytglogge clock tower and Lucerne’s wooden chapel bridge. The country is also known for its ski resorts and hiking trails. Banking and finance are key industries, and Swiss watches and chocolate are world-renowned.

What is Switzerland known for?

Practically the whole country is a single vacation spot. Switzerland has idyllic landscapes with a variety of snow-capped mountains and ice-cold mountain lakes, melting glaciers and mountain pastures well suited as downhill ski slopes in winter.
The weather offers four seasons that effectively change the landscape.
The country has several cosmopolitan cities and many cozy villages like out of a Heimatfilm. Switzerland is home to 12 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The coffee is drinkable, and the food is mostly tasty. Switzerland has been ranked as the "world's best country" by the American media company U.S. News for several consecutive years. The relatively small country has four national languages and the oldest policy of military neutrality in the world.

Swiss landscape

The country is a popular tourist destination, known for its picturesque landscapes. Switzerland has about 1,500 lakes and nearly 50 mountain peaks that are 4,000 meters high or higher. The Dufourspitze (4,634 m (15,203 ft)), a peak of the Monte Rosa massif, is the highest mountain peak of both Switzerland and the Pennine Alps.
The waters of Swiss-born rivers end up in the Black Sea (Inn via the Danube), the Adriatic Sea (Ticino via Po) and the North Sea (Rhine).
The Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen is Europe's most powerful waterfall

Alpine culture and other Swiss traditions

Yodeling, the art of communication am

ong Alpine hill tribes. The Alphorns, very long Alpine instruments played by herdsmen and villagers.
Dirndl and other folk costumes originated in German-speaking areas of the Alps.
The Swiss St. Bernard dogs were originally bred for rescue work by the hospice of the Great St Bernard Pass on the Italian-Swiss border.
The Swiss Guard; Swiss mercenaries, usually equipped with halberds, were employed as a security force, formerly by sovereigns of France and Spain, now only at the Vatican.
Wilhelm Tell, the legendary hero of the liberation of Switzerland from Austrian oppression. The expert marksman with the crossbow and a master of arrows, allegedly killed Albrecht Gessler, a vasall of Habsburg (Austria), in the Hohle Gasse (hollow way) between Immensee and Küssnacht. Heidi, Geissenpeter, and the Almöhi, world-famous characters from the Heidi children books by Johanna Spyri.

Rappen and Franken

Switzerland is an expensive country by European standards. In global comparison, Geneva, Zurich and Bern frequently appear among the costliest cities.
A Swiss bank account has become a must for people who want to avoid the local tax collector; Swiss banks offer accounts in all major currencies. The Swiss banking industry, together with tourism, is one of the main pillars of the country's economy.
Swiss boarding schools; elite care facilities for the children of the rich and famous.

Sports

Due to the presence of mountains and the proper climate, skiing and mountaineering are important leisure activities in the country. Switzerland is traditionally one of the strongest nations in alpine winter sports and competes above all with its archrival Austria.

Background:

In the 13th century, the Gotthard Pass region in the heart of the Alps became negotiable and rapidly developed into an economically important north-south crossing point. As a result, the valleys of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden at the north foot of the Gotthard massif suddenly became a focal point of European power politics, and this led their inhabitants to found the core of what was to become Switzerland with a pact of mutual assistance.

Switzerland's independence and neutrality have long been honored by the major European powers. Switzerland was not involved in either of the two World Wars. However, the country's political and economic integration within Europe over the past half century and Switzerland's role in the UN and other international organizations and as the headquarters of multinational banks and corporations, cast some doubt on its independence and neutrality.

Geography – Facts and Figures

Switzerland lies in the heart of Europe. Its 41,285km2 surface area can be divided into three distinct geographical regions, including the Alps. They cover two thirds of the country, but only one tenth of the population lives there. Switzerland also shares its borders with five countries and has 6% of Europe's freshwater reserves.

Switzerland lies in the heart of Europe. It shares its 1,935km-long border with five countries: Italy, France, Germany, Austria and the Principality of Liechtenstein.

Switzerland can be divided into three distinct geographical regions. The Alps cover roughly 58% of the country, the Central Plateau around 31% and the Jura 11%. It has 49 four-thousanders – mountain peaks that are 4,000 metres or higher. The Alps cover most of the country, but only 11% of the population live there.

Settlement areas cover 7.5% of Switzerland's territory. These include areas given over to housing, infrastructure (trade, industry and transport), water and energy supply, wastewater disposal, as well as green and recreational spaces. Around 40% of Swiss land is used for agriculture, while roughly 30% is covered by forest and woodland. Much of the natural forest re-growth in Switzerland is on former mountain pastures.

Switzerland has around 1,500 lakes which, together with other bodies of water like streams and lakes, account for 4% of the country's surface area. The sources of four of Switzerland’s main rivers – the Rhine, Rhone, Reuss and Ticino – are in the Gotthard massif, in the heart of the Swiss Alps.

The country has 6% of Europe's freshwater reserves. The source of major European rivers like the Rhone, Rhine and Inn is in the Swiss Alps. The Ticino river is a tributary of the Po (Italy), while the Inn flows into the Danube (Germany).

Geography of Switzerland – Key facts and figures

• Switzerland measures 220km from north to south and 348km from west to east.
• Standing 4,634m above sea level, the Dufourspitze, part of the Monte Rosa massif, is the highest peak in Switzerland.
• The canton of Graubünden has more than 1,200 mountain peaks that are at least 2,000m high.
• Switzerland has 48 mountain peaks that are at least 4,000m high.
• Lake Maggiore, which is only 193m above sea level, is the lowest point in Switzerland.
• At 3,454m above sea level, the Jungfraujoch railway station, in the canton of Bern, is the highest in Europe.
• At 2,126m above sea level, Juf, in the canton of Graubünden, is Switzerland’s highest village.
• Around 20% of the Alps are in Switzerland.
• Stretching over 23km, the Aletsch Glacier in the canton of Valais is the longest glacier in Europe.
• Glaciers cover approximately 1,000 km2 of Switzerland's territory.
  Between 1985 and 2009, they shrank by as much as 390km2.
• The Monte Rosa Hut stands at 2,883m above sea level and is surrounded by glaciers and the imposing peaks of the Valais Alps.
• Switzerland is home to 12 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. They include the Jungfrau–Aletsch region, Monte San Giorgio and the Albula and Bernina lines of the Rhaetian Railways.