When I tried to classify this place, I was split between calling it an “iconic place” or a “city” as there is a habited settlement in the area that serves the touristic area around it. The town of Kandersteg is served by a half-hourly train connection from Bern via Thun Read more
Freiburg is the most beautiful medieval city you’ve never heard of In Switzerland. Does the name sound familiar? That’s because there are two cities of the same name in Germany. Perched high on a hill top, Freiburg (or Fribourg in French) features original urban fortifications surrounding the well-preserved old town. Read more
Known in German as Biel and in French as Bienne, the city is truly bilingual. While Freiburg might advertise itself as being legally bilingual and give French preferred typefaces on signs, Biel treats both languages equally. When you walk into a store, you’re greeted by a “Grüesse” followed by a Read more
Not very well known to the outside world, nor to Swiss people for that matter, Heiden is locate in the conservative canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden. Despite having just 4,000 inhabitants, it actually holds some significance to Swiss history. Henry Dunant, one of the founders of the ICRC spent the last Read more
Right on the border with Switzerland, the little town of Tirano depends on tourists flowing from Switzerland to keep its economy afloat. In fact, there’s a Swiss railway station that serves as the starting point of the Bernina Express right in the centre of town. The urban centres of Tirano Read more
Most well known for its international role of hosting the World Economic Forum, Davos is also a ski destination and a retreat in the mountains. The rich come for holiday by helicopter, athletes use its slopes as training grounds for skiing, snowboarding, and bobsledding. It also has three museums, of Read more
The first thing that struck me about Bremen was its idyllic windmill located right next to the city. I almost thought I overslept on the train and arrived in the Netherlands. The walk from the main station to the city centre is long but pleasant as shops and kebab houses Read more
Bremerhaven is in the state of Bremen, yet it is separated from its capital of Bremen by about an hour of Lower Saxony. The exclave of Bremerhaven is right by the sea so it forms a part of the Hanseatic League. The harbour harbours several museums and museum ships. The Read more
Domodossola isn’t really too much of a tourist town so Milan is the first real Italian city I’ve visited and it is…quite Italian. The 4th century churches, gothic architecture, dirty metro, liberal traffic flows, and “free” trams are just some of the highlights of the city. There are so many Read more
Appenzell is a rather curious place in Switzerland. While the country was named after the canton of Schwyz in the centre of the country and its language is as diverse as birds in the trees, Appenzell feels to me as the most quintessentially Swiss region. Appenzell is located in the Read more