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Off the Beaten Path Switzerland from three hubs

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Starting to plan my fourth/spouse's third trip to Switzerland, so we're definitely going for off the beaten (OBP) path ideas, and not the typical circuit. Dates are spring-ish, likely April or May. We'll have a Swiss Travel Pass, and love daytripping by train, bus, and/or boat. Right now we are focused on three "hubs" from which to explore some regions that will be new to us, or have only been lightly explored before. They are:

  • Visp or Brig (incl. Zermatt – Matterhorn ... not OBP, but we've never been!)
  • Locarno
  • Zug, as well as hopping over to Lake Lucerne

Geneva and Zurich will be the bookends, but feel like we have that covered. Any suggestions for some hidden gems in these regions? We love history (obviously!), art, architecture, museums, nature, hiking, cable cars and funiculars (even if it is just for the views), food, wine, and photography. Big fans of historic hotels, cafes, and bars, and maybe see my other/related post about ski lodges (for non-skiers) if there are really great chalets and lodges of the historic variety. Separately, bonus points for anything medieval, Romanesque, or Gothic especially frescoes. Basically, open to all ideas and suggestions. Lay 'em on us...!

Posted by
11320 posts

Instead of Visp or Brig, consider Saas Fee or it’s neighbor at a slightly lower elevation, Saas Grund. We enjoyed a week of hiking there in late August of 2021. April and May are a bit early for higher elevations but there should be Valley opportunities. Check to see that lifts are running, though. You can still get to Zermatt easily enough.

Locarno has been on my radar but we’ve not made it happen yet. My sense after some exploratory research is that a car is almost essential there.

We are trying Zug for a couple of nights this fall and I have high hopes as an alternative to Lugano.

There is a lot of hiking around Zurich and while we’ll only have a short time there, I anticipate a return. This blogger https://swissfamilyfun.com/ outlines a lot of activities there as they live in Zurich but she covers many other locations as well.

Finally, take a look at Pontresina, certainly less-visited than many other places and very charming. Should be good access to hiking at the lower elevations and maybe some of the higher ones by later in May.

Posted by
415 posts

Have you been to Bettmeralp? It's neat to see the Aletsch Glacier from the cable cars up there and there is some nice hiking, though not sure how much would be available for hiking in April/May, as there will probably still be snow. It's a very sleepy/non touristy car free village and on clear days we could see the Matterhorn in the distance from our chalet.

I'd also highly recommend posting this question on the TripAdvisor Switzerland forum, as there are multiple posters on there who live in Switzerland and would probably have some really good ideas for you.

Posted by
27113 posts

From Locarno there's a really nice Postbus trip up the Val Verzasca. I don't know whether it's seasonal.

The Centovalli train trip from Locarno to Domodossola in Italy is very scenic and will really give you a back-of-beyond feeling. I don't know whether that could be the first leg of a good loop trip, but I would guess that it could.

I've never gotten off the train in Bellinzona, but it's impossible not to notice the castles. I imagine it would make a nice day trip.

From Lugano there are possible day trips to the small towns of Gandria and Morcote--both picturesque, but they were quite touristy when I was last there about 30 years ago.

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