24 Heures. In 2015, “La Liste” published a list of the world’s best restaurants. The Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville, in Crissier, near Lausanne, in Switzerland, grabbed the number one spot. A remarkable achievement. The restaurant still ranked number one. Then in early 2016, tragedy struck. The restaurant’s star chef, Benoît Violier, was found dead. He was supposed […]
Montreux to Gruyères on the chocolate train. Switzerland’s most delicious trip.
By Bill Harby Sorry Willy Wonka, but you won’t want to eat your mode of transportation on The Chocolate Train tour. However, yes, before the day is out, you will taste delicious Swiss chocolate and cheese, and still have time to explore one of the country’s most interesting medieval towns. The Chocolate Train is one […]
Swiss trains the most expensive in Europe
A study by GoEuro, compares the cost of travelling 100km by train. Switzerland led the ranking with the most costly train trips in Europe. Travelling 100km in Switzerland cost CHF 52. The study is based on the prices of 300 million domestic train journeys across Europe between April 2015 and April 2016. The price differences are significant. […]
Switzerland’s new Gotthard train tunnel might be too small
20 Minutes. The new Gotthard train tunnel, which opened on 1 June 2016, might have a serious design flaw. Next December, Swiss Rail plans to start running high speed trains through the tunnel. The planned speed of these trains is 200 km/h. There are now fears that the tunnel is too tight to run trains this fast. As […]
Swiss say they underestimated Easyjet in Geneva
Tribune de Genève. The managing director of french-speaking Switzerland for the airline Swiss, Lorenzo Stoll, admits to errors in their strategy to win back Geneva. “We should not hide it, we attempted to move too fast” he said. Adding “We clearly underestimated the challenges of taking on Easyjet”. Easyjet is by far the largest operator at […]
Crossing Switzerland by train – Tony’s quest to test Swiss Rail’s punctuality reveals something more.
I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for years. A chance to finally test the Swiss Rail network’s world famous reputation for being on time. To see if reality matches reputation. My great rail journey will transport me from Vevey, on the shores of Lake Geneva, in Western Switzerland, across the country to the alpine vistas […]
Geneva’s Jet d’eau turns 125
Geneva’s famous icon turns 125 this year. Inaugurated in 1891 for the federal gymnastics festival, it was illuminated a few days later for the 600th anniversary of the Swiss confederation. When it first opened it reached a height of 90 metres. In 1951, Services Industriels de Genève (SIG) opened an electrically powered pump system that pushes […]
Could Swiss pull out of Geneva airport?
Tribune de Genève. According to the Tribune de Genève, the airline has confirmed that its German owner, Lufthansa Group, is looking into the possibility. Aircraft carrying the Swiss logo could be replaced by planes from Lufthansa’s low cost airline, Eurowings. Le Matin Dimanche, reportedly heard of a meeting of employees of Swiss in French-speaking Switzerland, […]
Lucerne celebrates female talent with an orchestral event featuring only women conductors
Historically, only men conducted orchestras. In the last few years women have started to become more prominent. Symbolic turning points were the appointments of JoAnn Faletta as the principal conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic in 1999, followed by american violinist Marin Alsop as principal conductor of the UK’s Bournemouth Symphony in 2003 and the Baltimore Symphony […]
Swiss wants to add direct flights from London to Sion, near Verbier and Zermatt in Switzerland
24 Heures. According to information in the French language newspaper Le Nouvelliste, Swiss will run a series of test flights between Sion, near the mountain resorts of Crans-Montana, Verbier and Zermatt, to London, next February. Sion, the capital of the Swiss canton of Valais, with a population of around 33,000, lies at the heart of […]
