Winter excursions: Culture

In St. Gallen you'll find history at every turn. The city's landmark is the Convent of St. Gall with its Baroque cathedral. The convent, including the library and monastery archives, was added to the Unesco World Heritage List in 1983.

Walk through the car-free old town of the oldest city in Switzerland. Between winding alleys, boutiques and restaurants, you will immerse yourself in over 5000 years of history.

The Spalentor is the most imposing of the three city gates that were part of the large city fortifications dating back to the year 1400. Many important supplies entered the city of Basel from Alsace through this gate. From here, there is a wonderful view over the roofs of Basel’s old town and the hills of the Jura, the Black Forest and Vosges.

Versailles in miniature: this magnificent palace was built in 1696 by Charles de Chandieu, an officer in the French army, in the French classical style. You’ll see families of ducks enjoying themselves on the pond.

La Chaux-de-Fonds is more closely associated with watches than perhaps any other town or city. Located at an altitude of 1,000 metres above sea level, its streets are laid out in a chessboard pattern. This successful symbiosis between urban development and the watchmaking industry has led to the city being designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. La Chaux-de-Fonds is also the birthplace of Le Corbusier.

The Treasure Chamber of the Principality of Liechtenstein is located in the heart of the Liechtenstein capital, Vaduz. The little museum exhibits unique treasures that are closely associated with Liechtenstein and that cannot be found anywhere else in this form and combination.

The Verbier 3-D Foundation Sculpture Park is a free, year-round open-air museum at 2,300 meters in the Swiss Alps. It showcases contemporary art created during artist residencies, blending seamlessly with the alpine landscape between La Chaux and Les Ruinettes list stations above Verbier.

Schadau Castle was built between 1846 and 1854 for the Neuchâtel banker Denis Alfred de Rougemont. The location of the castle, on the southern banks of Lake Thun where the River Aare flows out of the lake, and with its views of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, is almost as attractive as the architecture itself.

The Grossmünster is Zurich's landmark. You will visit the Romanesque church, climb the Karlsturm and discover the medieval stained glass windows – right in the heart of the old town, between Limmat and Niederdorf.

Is it the Aare River that lets inspiration flow or the milk which used to be given out during school breaks? There’s hardly another city in Switzerland that has produced as many writers as Olten.

The Musegg Wall towers over Lucerne and offers you history and views in one. Climb the medieval towers and enjoy the view of the lake, the city and the Alpine panorama.

Rheinfelden is the oldest town in the canton of Aargau. Offering over 15 different themed tours, city guides present Rheinfelden’s rich history and illuminate its journey into a modern future.

Vullierens Castle, together with its magnificent gardens and sculpture park, constitutes one of Switzerland’s most remarkable heritage sites with a superb 180° view of the Alps, Mont Blanc and Lake Geneva.

In the last 10 years the industrial wasteland to the west of Zurich has grown into a new bright lights district: The blue-green shimmering Prime Tower, the University of Arts on the Toni-Areal and newly awakened life beneath the arched viaducts. And the nicest way to view all this and the constantly made changes is on foot or by bicycle.

The internationally-renowned Convent of St. John in Müstair enjoys UNESCO World Cultural Heritage listing and owes its existence and uniqueness to Charlemagne. It is one of the few existing architectural examples from the Carolingian period.

Hohenklingen Castle has been towering above the charming town of Stein am Rhein since the year 1200. The renovated castle attracts visitors interested in history as well as connoisseurs.

The Cathedral Treasure Museum comprises two groups of objects: The actual cathedral treasure and the cycle of murals depicting death from 1543, both of which are exhibited on two floors and are a source of fascination to visitors of all ages as well as a unique resource for experts. The location of the museum, the baroque Episcopal Castle in Chur, is a cultural monument of national importance and also one of the most important secular buildings in Graubünden.

One pass, six museums. The Ascona-Locarno region is a cultural hot spot.

At AQUATIS Lausanne you will immerse yourself in the freshwater worlds of all 5 continents. See around 10,000 fish, reptiles and amphibians up close and learn why freshwater is so precious.

"Frÿburg1606" is not just an audio guide - it is a unique experience. A mixture of audio, video and augmented reality takes back to Fribourg of the 17th century.

The castle at the foot of the Calanda is the highlight of Haldenstein. When the roses flower in the spring, the castle garden is a visual and olfactory feast.

Since September 2015, LAC (Lugano Arte e Cultura) has been an impressive platform for contemporary creativity from southern Switzerland. The building by Ticino architect Ivano Gianola offers visitors art across 2500 square metres and a modern theatre and concert hall with space for 1000 guests.

The Abbey of St. Gall has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1983, and has plenty of impressive treasures just waiting to be discovered in its library, vaulted cellar and new exhibition hall.

St. Gallen has so much to offer when it comes to museums. Attractive, internationally renowned exhibitions and countless historic collections make for a diverse museum landscape. The open art Museum is particularly worth a visit.

The abbey church of Payerne, which was founded in the 11th century by Cluniac monks, is a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture and building technology of the period. The abbey church, the 14th century parish church facing it, and the adjacent buildings together form a noteworthy unity.

St. Martin’s Church is the heart of the Catholic parish in Olten. This is where the community comes to worship.

Drive over one of the most historic Valais Alpine passes: On the Grosser St. Bernhard, you will visit the almost 1000-year-old hospice, meet St. Bernard dogs and hike through the alpine landscape on the border with Italy.

Culinary delights, culture and beer all come together in the small city of Rheinfelden on the Upper Rhine in Aargau. Where a small medieval old town, the oldest Zähringer town in Switzerland, invites you to take a stroll. On leaving the town, one building in particular catches the eye: that of the Feldschlösschen brewery. It is the leading brewery in Switzerland and produces excellent beer.

As one of the few museums in Europe dedicated to this art form, the paper mill preserves historical techniques at an authentic site. Participants are shown these traditional techniques and given the opportunity to have a go at making paper and printing themselves.

Each Saturday, people come together to enjoy the colourful weekly market that stretches from Piazza Nosetto to the alleyways of the old town.

The Collegiate Church of St. Leodegar is the oldest sacred building listed under the protection of monuments in the canton of Solothurn. It was first mentioned in 778 AD. as the Werith Monastery.

The tropical gardens Papiliorama and Nocturama in Kerzers are home to plants and animals from the tropics. In the Anthropodarium, arthropods are exhibited. The Swiss Butterfly Garden is dedicated to native butterfly species.

The fortifications of Bellinzona are an extraordinary example of a late-medieval defensive structure located at a key strategic point on the Alpine pass. The castles of Bellinzona are among the most marvelous examples of medieval fortified architecture in the Alps.

The bell tower of the Gothic cathedral, high on the hill on which the Old Town is built, is home to the city’s most enigmatic resident.