City break
Basel, Europe’s best crossroads city, is just a short tram ride from both Germany and France. Everyone staying in a hotel or hostel here is entitled to free public transport – your booking counts as your ticket from the airport from the moment you arrive. Basel is not only a great place for transport enthusiasts, it’s also an arty, fun-focused paradise, especially in the summer months. Locals swim home after work or, more likely, drift down the Rhine River, keeping their clothes and belongings dry in a locally made, waterproof Wickelfisch bag. This may be Switzerland, but Basel’s art student vibe helps keep costs down. Visiting the university botanical gardens, including the tropical house, is free. Relax at Café Zum Roten Engel on Andreasplatz coffee and kitchen or at the Fischerstube, home of the locally acclaimed Ueli beer. Basel’s luxury youth hostel on the banks of the Rhine has been renovated by the very cool Buchner Bründler design group and has double rooms with private bathrooms.
En suite bed and breakfast from £70 pages; youthhosteli.ch
Mountain sports
Laax is a Swiss mountain resort that your young children won’t mind visiting, especially if they’re interested in skateboarding. Along with an indoor hall, the new Freestyle Academy Laax is opening this summer, offering expert tuition with a skateboard bowl, vert ramp and trampolines. The Riders Hotel is the unofficial heart of Laax, and welcomes the winter season with a party-oriented focus. There are DJs and yoga sessions, the rooms are designed for couples, families and groups of friends who want to sleep together, and are a lovely mix of concrete, plywood and large windows with dreamy views. It’s also classed as one of Switzerland’s bike hotels, with an on-site workshop and repair area.
B&B double rooms from £164; ridershotel.com
Land of Lakes
There are around 1,500 lakes in Switzerland, from the big hits of Lac Léman and Lake Constance to the smaller idylls. Blausee (“Blue Lake”) in the Bernese Oberland lives up to its name. It’s just 6,400 square metres of pine-framed perfection – its deep turquoise waters are truly impressive. Take a trip on a glass-bottomed boat or enjoy a gentle walk through the surrounding woodland. Blausee is easy to get to – bus 230 will take you directly from Adelboden to its shores. The Blausee Hotel is a great place to base yourself, with beautiful views over the lake. There’s a spa and food, including fresh trout; the owners will also pack you a picnic so you can head up into the hills and enjoy it.
B&B double rooms from £185; blausee.ch
Wonderful Montreux
Even when the Montreux Jazz Festival ends next week (July 20), the musical legacy continues throughout the year, with jazz at Funky Claude’s Bar and tours of Mountain Studios, where Queen recorded six albums. Montreux is also a great base for visiting the Lavaux vineyard terraces by train, taking the cable car to Glacier 3000 and exploring Lac Léman by stand-up paddleboard. Just beyond Montreux, Hotel Masson is a three-star attraction with old-fashioned elegance, lakeside gardens and some of the most affordable room rates in the area.
B&B double rooms £220; hotelmasson.ch
Walking and cycling
A four-hour walk from the splendors of Gstaad and a million miles away, the village of Abländschen is a small church, surrounded by endless green meadows and small streams, behind the Gastlosen mountain range. So far, so Heidi. But Hotel Zur Sau is quietly radical despite its traditional appearance. All its staff and food are locally sourced, as part of a foundation that aims to use tourism to help make this area a sustainable place to live. There are hiking and cycling trails from the hotel, and if you don’t have a car, the electric postal bus 185 stops in front of the hotel four times a day (twice in each direction).
B&B double rooms from £200; bergdorf-ablaendschen.ch
Pure style
In 1996, the village of Vals in the Surselva region hired architect Peter Zumthor to build a building to house its thermal waters. Using more than 60,000 slabs of Vals quartzite alongside water that rises from deep underground at 30C, his award-winning Vals Therme has been a pilgrimage site for architecture students ever since. It’s definitely worth a visit: pop in for a cocktail at its Blue Bar. But for a stay, Brücke 49 is a more affordable, stylish guesthouse owned by designer Ruth Kramer, who has softened Vals’ local granite with sheepskin and wool, creating chic, understated interiors in soothing greys. The Brücke’s warm heart continues with an organic Swiss breakfast, and guests get half-price access to the spa.
B&B double rooms from £219; brucke49.ch
Italian-Swiss fusion
Switzerland borders five different countries, but Ticino, next to Italy, is the part the Swiss try to keep to themselves. The mountains extend down to the pastel-coloured villages and towns of Lake Lugano, and the legendary Swiss fertility comes with an extra dose of Italian charm. It’s no surprise to learn that this is Switzerland’s most gourmet region; not just the vineyards and cheesemaking (although they are very good), but also the edible flowers in the Piano di Magadino national park. messy living room The movement – using restored village houses as accommodation – has also taken root here. Corippo, in the village of the same name, offers simple rooms and excellent food. A bus leaves every hour from Tenero station and takes you a short walk from the village.
B&B double rooms from £195; corippoalbergodiffuso.ch.