From Thursday 9 August until Saturday 11 the streets of Bern’s Old Town will be alive with 150 musicians, clowns, puppeteers, actors, dancers and other performers from 25 countries. Plus lots of tasty international food. The 15th annual Buskers Bern Street Music Festival, entitled Lunatic Lights, begins Thursday night and continues Friday and Saturday spread […]
Swiss mountain passes to be reserved for cyclists this summer
This summer some of Switzerland’s mountain passes will be temporarily closed to cars. This will allow cyclists to ride more safely and breathe more easily. The passes will be closed to cars over a series of weekends for an event called Coop Ride the Alps. Ten passes will be car free this summer starting with […]
Museum night – a highlight of Geneva’s entertainment calendar approaches
26 May 2018 One Saturday evening a year, Geneva opens its museums, workshops, and gardens until midnight. This year, the event starts on the evening of Saturday 26 May 2018, runs into the night. The event is spread over 31 locations, together offering 150 activities. 7 locations offer presentations and activities in English. Not to be […]
FIFOG – Festival International du Film Oriental de Genève – this weekend
This 13th edition is once again bringing a multitude of films from the Near and Middle East, including Iran, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and many other countries, to show the amazing diversity of cultures. This year, with about 100 films from 30 countries and some 80 guests, the festival is focusing on women’s issues and […]
Move over Montreux. True Jazz lovers go to Cully
On a sunny spring evening, the setting by the shore of Lake Geneva blows the mind away. It does not get better than this picture-postcard Swiss locale. It’s not just the lake but the 30 kilometre backdrop of Lavaux’s terraced vineyards, deservedly classified as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 2007. The music festival […]
Forum Wallis – cutting edge music in a medieval Swiss Alpine town
Forum Wallis has established itself as a world leader in presenting new music in the medieval Swiss Alpine town of Leuk. Its 12th festival, from 17 to 21 May, it offers some 50 works from 25 countries. In all, the festival has presented 300 premieres since 2006, including Stockhausen’s rarely performed Helikopters + Strings Quartet […]
Basel Fasnacht – Renu reports from the ground
Like me, many expats in Geneva are determined to go to the famous Basler Fasnacht. But year after year they ruminate and decide they’ll go next year. And it’s not only expats. A charming Swiss lady I met on the train this morning confessed that she had lived in Geneva close to 50 years but […]
Get ready for this year’s Geneva Writers’ Conference
The 2018 Geneva Writers’ Conference (GWC) takes place from 2-4 March 2018 at Webster University, Bellevue, Geneva. Founded more than 20 years ago to bring together creative writers, the group brings writers together from across Switzerland. This season marks the 11th biennial Conference. The GWC will host writer/instructors who range from the best-selling author in […]
Basel Fasnacht – no ordinary festival
A parade that starts at 4 in the morning? With piccolos? And drums? In winter? Really? Yes, and you’ll be enchanted by the whole thing. Every year in the city of Basel on the Monday after Ash Wednesday (this year, February 19th), the Morgestraich (“Morning sweep” in Basel dialect) marks the beginning of the three-day […]
Hot air balloon festival set for take off in Swiss Alps
The international hot air balloon festival runs from the 27 January to the 4 February 2018 in the picturesque pre-Alpine town of Chateau d’Oex in Vaud, Switzerland. This year is the event’s 40th anniversary. The 9-day festival, which brings together pilots from around twenty different countries and nearly a hundred hot air balloons, includes a […]