Switzerland: General Presentation and Tourist Attractions

30 min

Let's begin

Switzerland, like Rwanda, is small, landlocked and mountainous. It has no coast, few minerals and long, cold winters, yet it has been one of the world's favourite holiday countries for more than 150 years: in 1863 the British travel agent Thomas Cook led his first group tour through the Swiss Alps. In 2025 Swiss hotels recorded 43.9 million overnight stays, a record for the third year running (Swiss Federal Statistical Office, FSO, 2026). What does Switzerland offer its visitors?

Definition

Overnight stay (night spent): one guest spending one night in a hotel or other accommodation; statisticians use it to measure tourism. Resort: a place visited for holidays, often offering skiing, walking or lake activities. Glacier: a slowly moving mass of ice formed from compressed snow.

General presentation of Switzerland

Feature	Switzerland
Location	Central Europe; landlocked, bordering Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein
Area	41,285 km² (FSO), about one and a half times the size of Rwanda
Population	About 9 million (FSO, 2024)
Capital	Bern (the federal city); largest city Zurich
Languages	Four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh
Relief	Three regions: the Jura mountains in the north-west, the Plateau (Mittelland) in the middle, and the Alps, which cover about 60% of the country; the highest peak is the Dufourspitze (4,634 m)
Drainage	The sources of the Rhine and the Rhône; large lakes such as Lake Geneva, Lake Constance, Lake Lucerne and Lake Zurich
Climate	Temperate, cooler with height: snowy winters in the Alps, mild summers; milder south of the Alps in Ticino
Economy	Very rich: banking and insurance, pharmaceuticals, watches, machinery, chocolate and cheese, and tourism

Tourist attractions

Mountains: the Matterhorn (4,478 m) above Zermatt; the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau above Interlaken; the Jungfraujoch railway station at 3,454 m, the highest in Europe.
Glaciers: the Aletsch Glacier, the largest in the Alps, part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Winter sports: skiing and snowboarding at resorts such as Zermatt, St. Moritz, Davos, Verbier and Grindelwald.
Summer activities: hiking, climbing, paragliding, cycling and boating on clear lakes.
Lakes and waterfalls: Lake Geneva, Lake Lucerne, Lake Lugano; the Rhine Falls near Schaffhausen, the largest plain waterfall in Europe.
Scenic railways: the Glacier Express (Zermatt to St. Moritz), the Bernina Express and many mountain railways and cable cars.
Historic cities: the old town of Bern (a UNESCO site), Lucerne's wooden Chapel Bridge, Zurich, Basel and Geneva.
International meetings: Geneva hosts United Nations offices and the International Committee of the Red Cross; Davos hosts the World Economic Forum; Lausanne the International Olympic Committee.
Culture and food: chocolate, cheese (fondue, raclette), watches, festivals and folk music.
Health and wellness: spas and clean mountain air.

The Matterhorn rising above the resort of Zermatt, Valais, June 1996. Chalets and hotels fill the valley floor, and forested slopes lead up to the snow-covered peak. Photo: Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Worked example

Worked example 1: domestic and foreign guests. Of the 43.9 million hotel overnight stays in 2025, 22.8 million were by foreign guests (FSO). What percentage was by Swiss residents?

Swiss residents: 43.9 − 22.8 = 21.1 million. Percentage: 21.1 ÷ 43.9 × 100 ≈ 48.1%. Almost half of Swiss hotel nights are spent by the Swiss themselves: domestic tourism is a big part of the industry.

Worked example

Worked example 2: temperature and height. Temperature falls about 6.5 °C for every 1,000 m of height. If Interlaken (about 570 m) is at 18 °C, estimate the temperature at the Jungfraujoch (3,454 m). (Average rate; real values vary.)

Height difference ≈ 3,454 − 570 = 2,884 m. Fall ≈ 6.5 × 2.884 ≈ 18.7 °C. Temperature ≈ 18 − 18.7 ≈ −0.7 °C. That is why there is snow and ice at the top all year, even in summer.

Warning

Do not say Switzerland's tourism is "only skiing". Summer is now its busiest season: in 2025 hotels recorded 25.1 million overnight stays from May to October, against 18.5 million in the winter of 2024–25 (FSO).

HistoGraphy: the geography of Switzerland, land of mountains and lakes. As you watch, locate each place it mentions on Figure 1.

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Practice

Name the countries that border Switzerland.
Name the three relief regions of Switzerland and say which covers the most land.
List six tourist attractions in Switzerland, with a place for each.
Why is Geneva visited by many business and conference travellers?
Explain why the Jungfraujoch has snow even in summer.
Suppose that, of 25.1 million summer hotel nights, 13 million were by foreign guests (illustrative split). Calculate the percentage by foreign guests.
Compare the relief of Switzerland with that of Rwanda.
Explain why summer has become as important as winter for Swiss tourism.

Show answersHide answers

Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein.
The Jura, the Plateau (Mittelland) and the Alps; the Alps cover the most, about 60%.
For example: the Matterhorn (Zermatt); Jungfraujoch railway (Interlaken); Aletsch Glacier; skiing (St. Moritz, Davos); Lake Lucerne; Rhine Falls (Schaffhausen); Glacier Express; Bern old town; Chapel Bridge (Lucerne); the UN in Geneva.
It hosts United Nations offices, the International Committee of the Red Cross and many other international organisations, so it holds many meetings and conferences.
It is at 3,454 m; temperature falls about 6.5 °C per 1,000 m, so it is close to or below freezing even when the valleys are warm.
13 ÷ 25.1 × 100 ≈ 51.8%.
Both are mountainous and landlocked. Switzerland has much higher mountains (over 4,600 m) with glaciers and snow; Rwanda's highest point is Karisimbi (4,507 m) and most of the country is hills of 1,500–2,500 m, with volcanoes in the north-west and lower land in the east.
Summer offers hiking, lakes, mountain railways and cooler air than hot cities in Europe and Asia; climate change makes snow less reliable at low ski resorts; visitors from Asia and America often travel in summer.

Sources and credits

Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), hotel accommodation statistics 2025 (final results, March 2026), area and population statistics. Facts used as stated.
Tourism in Switzerland, Geography of Switzerland and Jungfraujoch: Wikipedia contributors, Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, adapted by Ganzaa.
Photo: Zermatt and Matterhorn, Stan Shebs, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Photo: RhB Ge 44 II 614 Glacier Express on Landwasser Viaduct, David Gubler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Video: Geography of Switzerland, HistoGraphy, embedded from YouTube.
Figure 1, table, worked examples and exercises: written by Ganzaa.

This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1General presentation of Switzerland

2Tourist attractions

General presentation of Switzerland

Tourist attractions