Zurich

Zürich is the new Berlin. No hesitation, no competition. This formerly staid banking capital has experienced such a creative explosion in recent years, and such a mushrooming of innovative bars, restaurants and shops that it resembles Berlin’s salad days of the mid-eighties and early nineties.

The city straddles the Limmat River as it leaves Lake Zürich. The pedestrian streets of the old town contain most of the major sights, including winding alleyways, 16th and 17th century houses, guildhalls and courtyards, and rather a lot of fountains (1030 if you’re taking notes).

Ascona

The relatively low-lying canton of Ticino, situated south of the Alps, enjoys a Mediterranean climate and imports a distinctive Italian flavour to Switzerland. The village of Ascona on the shore of Lake Maggiore is a regional centre for the arts and its backstreets are filled with art galleries and craft shops. The community of artists and intellectuals living here at the beginning of the century embraced the ‘back to nature’ movement and welcomed the exiled Lenin for a time. The Museo Comunale D’Arte Moderna includes paintings by artists connected with the town, among them Paul Klee, Hans Arp, Ben Nicholson and Alexej Jawlensky.

Estavayer-le-Lac

This small resort on the shores of Lake Neuchâtel has a perfectly preserved medieval centre, but the real allure is its collection of 130-year-old frogs in the Regional Museum. The stuffed slimeys are the work of 19th-century eccentric, François Perrier, who spent much of his leisure time killing frogs, preserving their skins, and filling them with sand.

He then arranged the frogs in parodies of human situations - courting, studying, playing games, etc - and ornamented them with props. Go figure.

Franches Montagnes

Overlooked by most visitors, this pretty woodlands area in the Jura mountain chain has hiking trails and cross-country ski trails. Horse-riding is also popular, and the horses in the area are supposedly renowned for their gentleness and calm disposition. The main town in the region is Saignelégier, which hosts the national horse show in August.

Château de Chillon

Chillon Castle receives more visitors than any other historical building in Switzerland. Occupying a stunning position right on Lake Geneva, the fortress caught the public imagination when Lord Byron wrote about the fate of Bonivard, a follower of the Reformation who was chained to the fifth pillar in the dungeons for four years in the 16th century.

The castle, still in excellent condition, dates from the 11th century and has been much modified and enlarged since then. It’s worth spending an afternoon viewing the tower, courtyards and dungeons.