The previously announced half price plus rail pass, which has some of the features of an annual pass, will be available from mid-December 2023, reported Swiss Rail this week. The pass comes in three flavours: Half-Fare travelcard PLUS 1000, Half-Fare travelcard PLUS 2000 and Half-Fare travelcard PLUS 3000. They all work the same. You essentially […]
US company buys another Swiss ski resort
After Andermatt, the US ski resort operator Vail Resorts is to buy the Swiss mountain resort of Crans-Montana in the canton of Valais. The US company will buy 84% of the lift company, reported SRF. Tourism director Bruno Huggler welcomes the deal. With Vail Resorts we have a new owner who really comes from this […]
International Olympic Committee drops Swiss bid
The Winter Olympics will not take place in Switzerland in 2030, decided the International Olympic Committee (IOC) this week, reported SRF. The IOC said it is refusing to allow the Swiss project to enter the next application phase, known as targeted dialogue. This means France will almost certainly be awarded the games for 2030, with […]
Places in Switzerland where the sun doesn’t shine (in winter)
Mountains are beautiful. But they can also leave you in the shade. Several corners of Switzerland are so well tucked away in Alpine valleys the sun does not shine on them for several months, reported SRF. In the municipality of Oberterzen in the canton of St. Gallen the sun made its final appearance on Tuesday […]
Gotthard train tunnel not fully open until September next year
The damage in the Gotthard Base train tunnel is greater than previously assumed and it will not reopen until September 2024, reported SRF. Swiss Rail boss Vincent Ducrot announced the news at a media conference this week where he presented the extent of damage and repair work in Switzerland’s most important rail tunnel. We knew […]
Serious sporting accidents on the rise in Switzerland
The number of serious sporting accidents in Switzerland continues to rise, according to BPA an accident prevention agency. Over the last 10 years the numbers of accidents from hiking and mountain biking have risen by close to 50%. Every year around 430,000 people are injured while engaging in leisure and sporting activities. Among these injuries […]
Stockholm launches campaign against the confusion between Switzerland and Sweden
Switzerland and Sweden are sometimes confused for reasons unknown to many. This week, Visit Sweden, the tourist office of the more northerly of the two European nations with names starting with “Sw”, launched a marketing campaign/negotiation off the back of this confusion. Switzerland gets to promote LSD (it was invented there) but Sweden gets to […]
Swiss still travelling less than before pandemic
In 2022, 88% of Switzerland’s population made at least one trip abroad which included an overnight stay of one night or more, reported the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) this week. Last year, Swiss residents made an average of 8 day trips and 2.6 trips with overnight stays, an increase of nearly 30% compared to the […]
Broken wheel caused derailment in the Gotthard tunnel
The Swiss Safety Investigation Board (SUST) confirmed its findings this week, confirming its initial suspicion that a broken wheel had led to the derailment of a train in the Gotthard Base Tunnel in mid-August 2023. The wheel failed due to metal fatigue caused by vibrations and started with the cracks in the rim. The defective […]
Swiss parliament votes in favour of new law banning face covering
It will soon be illegal to cover faces in public in Switzerland after the federal parliament voted in favour of a ban, reported RTS. With 151 versus 29 votes, parliament accepted new laws drafted in response to a successful vote known as the anti-burka referendum. On 7 March 2021, a vote to ban face covering was accepted […]
