Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast Episode 197 Transcript
Autumn in Switzerland | Best Fall Travel Tips and Experiences
You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Have you always assumed that summer is the best time to visit Switzerland? If so, this episode might just change your mind. Autumn is one of my favourite times of year in Switzerland. The summer crowds have thinned, the landscapes are painted in incredible shades of gold, orange, and red, the temperatures are milder, and the mountain views are absolutely spectacular. But there’s a lot more to planning an autumn trip than simply choosing different dates. Today I’m joined by Oliver Weibel from Switzerland Tourism to discuss everything you need to know before visiting Switzerland in autumn. From what the weather is really like and when the mountain colours are at their best, to seasonal events, mountain excursions, and a few things that can catch first-time visitors by surprise. So if you’re wondering whether autumn could be the perfect time for your Swiss adventure, You’ll find the answer in this episode. Welcome to the Holidays to Switzerland Podcast. I’m Carolyn Schönafinger, your Switzerland destination expert and the founder of holidaystoswitzerland.com. Each week, together with my expert guests, I introduce you to the Switzerland that I know and love. And share inspiration and practical tips to help you plan your dream Swiss vacation.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Before we dive in, a quick thank you to our podcast sponsors, Switzerland Tourism and Eco Rails. If you’re planning a trip to Switzerland, you’ll know just how much there is to consider. With so many incredible places to visit, figuring out your itinerary, booking accommodation, and choosing the right rail pass can quickly start to feel overwhelming. So that’s where Echo Rails comes in. Their small group rail tours are carefully curated so that everything is taken care of for you. From the moment you arrive at the airport, your accommodation, transport, daily breakfasts and dinners, scenic excursions, and a knowledgeable local English-speaking guide are all included, so you can simply relax and enjoy the journey. If travelling through Switzerland with a small group tour sounds like your ideal way to explore, you’ll find more details via the link in the show notes, along with an exclusive 5% discount code. Now let’s get into this week’s episode. Good evening, Oliver. Thank you very much for joining me on the podcast today. It’s lovely to have you here with us from North America. Would you please introduce yourself and tell everyone a little bit about your role with Switzerland Tourism?
Oliver Weibel: Absolutely. Hi, Caroline. Thank you so much for having me tonight. Really, and everybody listening as well. I’m, uh, looking forward to give you some inputs about Switzerland and what to travel about. I’m the head of, uh, trade for North America. So responsible for also like the collaboration that we have with the tour operators, travel agents. Also educational parts, and I’m also heading the market of Canada. So I’m often between Toronto and New York and also Switzerland and have been in that role now for more than a little bit over 3 years. Before, I have been at the headquarters of Switzerland Tourism in Zurich, and they’re responsible for accommodation and gastronomy. So I would say like a fair knowledge about Switzerland and then what to do there. And before that, I was working in hospitality, studying at the École d’Hôtelière de Lausanne, and have been 12, 15 years with, in hospitality around the world between Switzerland, Southeast Asia with Bangkok, and South Africa, Cape Town. So a few steps within.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Wow. That’s a very varied career taking you all over the world. Whereabouts in Switzerland were you actually born? What, what part are you from?
Oliver Weibel: I was born in, uh, Tübach, which is a very small little, uh, village up in the northeastern part. So it’s at the Lake of Constance. So the eastern part of Switzerland, probably for some of you better known, St. Gallen is, uh, the bigger city there. It’s about 1 hour northeast of, uh, Zurich reachable. And I was born there and, uh, yes, from there conquered the world and, but I still call it, uh, my hometown. My family still lives there. Uh, but that’s where I grew up actually in a village with 1,200 people.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Hmm. Okay. Well, I know you’re now in North America, so the population is a whole lot bigger where you’re living now. Now we’re here today to talk about visiting Switzerland during the autumn or fall for all our North American listeners. For someone who’s never considered visiting Switzerland during the autumn before, why do you think it’s a perfect time to visit?
Oliver Weibel: I think there’s a few reasons. Definitely one, it’s a season which lives also from the culture. I mean, for us, it is the season where we harvest everything. Like there was a lot of things growing. We have a lot of folklore, so a lot of festival going on in the autumn season. So also like availability on, on one hand, if it’s like not peak summer holiday season or winter season where a lot of people are in the mountains, so you have like an equal spread, I would say, like throughout the areas where you want to travel. If you want to combine a few things, I think overall also like the foliage and the lakes are still okay to swim in. Definitely cruises are still open. You can go up to the mountains you have on some, you might already see a little bit of snow, like kind of like a sugar-coated. So for me, it is a season which is very inspiring where you can really still take advantage of also the late summer. If you talk about September, October, then going into like an early November, thing like that. So where we say this is really also an extended area to, or extended timing to visit Switzerland and really for many many things that you want to visit, you definitely have availability.
Oliver Weibel: So those are some of the reasons why for me it is one of the perfect times to visit Switzerland in autumn.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah. And we’re recording this episode in July and the temperatures have been extremely hot this summer already. So I think perhaps if people do have the opportunity to, to put their trip off until September, or as you say, even into October, the temperatures are, are going to be much more, or much milder and, and perhaps more pleasant to be out and about doing things.
Oliver Weibel: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if you, if you do combine city trips and mountain trips especially, right? I mean, obviously like also in the summer, if you go up to the mountain, it is cooler for sure. But if you’re being in the city in the summertime, it can get quite hot. And autumn in that it really cools down on, on, on one hand. Absolutely. This is definitely like one point as well where if you want to be like outside, if you want to do hikes, walks, things like that, if you want to have an active holiday, also like on biking, it is really a perfect time to do like outdoors activities as well. So like September for us has historically seen one of the most stable when we look at in the historic data of like continuous like sunshine. So there’s not a lot of rain in September. So it’s also not a rainy season or anything. It’s just like definitely a little bit cooler.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Mm. Yeah. I must say last year was the first time I visited during autumn and we, we arrived, I think mid-September and were there till mid-October and we hardly had any rain whatsoever. And the temperatures were just incredible. A couple of times we were on a mountain and just in a t-shirt. The sun was out. It was so warm.
Oliver Weibel: Yeah.
Carolyn Schönafinger: I couldn’t believe it. I have to say. So it was, it was a perfect time to visit. How different would you say the temperatures are in the months of September, October, and November? Is, is November starting to get a little bit cool?
Oliver Weibel: Yeah, no, definitely. I would say like really then in November you do start to get into the more winter season, especially like, it’s like the mid of November. Generally like September still feels like an extension of the August. So there we are at It’s like on the 80s, uh, when we said it’s in Fahrenheit or like on a 25 degrees still, then October somewhere on the 17 to 20. But then November you can really get, definitely you have chilly nights and also chilly days. So it’s no surprise if you have in November 8, 7 degrees and up in the mountain, it can already start to snow. So definitely like November, you will feel that, uh, winter is around the corner. So that’s like the September, October, early November is like ideal. Or if you do want to go active and also like go up to the mountain areas.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay. Many of our listeners have probably seen images of the beautiful autumn foliage in Switzerland, those larch forests there. They’re just a mass of gold, aren’t they? Which month in autumn do they typically reach their peak?
Oliver Weibel: Peak, they do normally reach October, late October. It gets later every time. So we have actually a foliage map, or like we used to have it, who see If we do activate it again, so there is, uh, on myswitzerland.com, on our website, there is a map and you can actually see also shared images, uh, on social media, which are posted. But then there’s also kind of like a map where it is looking and what kind. I think really reaches the peak by the end of October. That’s like, uh, short before they go, but then it depends also a little bit on the region and also altitudes where you’re gonna be and then like how much still strength are within the forests, right? Mm-hmm. And, uh, what kind of, uh, um, trees we talking about. But definitely like October for that part.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Hmm. Okay. Good to know. So I’ll link to that map because yeah, hopefully it will be activated again this year. Last year it was very handy. Let’s talk about some of the practical things that visitors should know about when they’re planning their trip during autumn, because there are a few things that they need to know. For instance, mountain railways and cable cars. I know there are some closures. Over autumn. Can you tell everyone a little bit more about that?
Oliver Weibel: Yes, it depends really on the seasonality. I say like also because the Swiss holidays are normally reaching until roughly around the 20th of October. So that’s where we see most of the extension also from our side with the mountain destination. What you normally have as of end of October, like the end of the 20th of October, you have a closure of the Glacier Express. They’re doing their annual maintenance. This has been in the past years as well, that they’re from October until the early of December, they’re closing. But then when we look also at the other panoramic train, for example, you will have a full year round open for the Golden Pass, which is going from, I mean, to Laken down to Montreux. You do have also the Bernina Express, which is running all year round, which is combining when you go from St. Moritz down to Lugano. You have one that is also closing at the, at the October, which is the Gold, the Gotthard Panorama Express, which brings you from Lucerne over the Gotthard Pass down to Lugano. So this is also something that is just running during the summertime. And then it really depends by when we talk about the mountain railways to go up.
Oliver Weibel: So there is definitely things which are open all year round, like the Glacier 3000 or the Jungfraujoch and the Schilthorn. So there is ones which are continuing running. Which maybe have like a maintenance break, 1 to 2 weeks in between, but then normally are open. What happens after, and that’s when we say the, the early November, there we definitely have between roughly beginning of November, mid-November until the early of December, we have a few of the mountain resorts which are just getting ready for the winter season in the end, like for the ski season, having the staff break and so on after that season. So there we definitely see less availability within the hotel, but not that like there is no hotel open really. Like at the end of October, beginning of November, that’s like where we do see some less attractions within the city. The, the boats are running on the lakes, they have cruises open, so there’s plenty of things to do. And anything that is not involving any, say like funiculars or anything, definitely like on a, on a hike or just like wander around or biking. Those are exceptional days to do it.
Oliver Weibel: So, but there, just be aware, really look into which region you want to go to. I say, are my mountain excursions open at that time when we talk about late, late October and as it looks like beginning November, just be aware of that. Okay.
Carolyn Schönafinger: And of course, being Switzerland, the public transport system operates all year round, so there’s no worries about any closures there.
Oliver Weibel: No, no, absolutely no. I mean, this is like a commute for other people and it’s really panoramic trains, which we make especially aware of because it is obviously like for the North American market, but for other tourists, an attraction, and it’s one of the items they would want to do. So just that you are aware of that, make the seat reservations if they’re— and on the other hand, there is plenty of information that we share on where there would be closures or where you would have to be aware if there’s less availability.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay. I think another thing to remember also is that the daylight savings summertime extends right until the last Sunday in October. So that means that even though you’re not visiting in summer, you’re still getting extended daylight to get out and about.
Oliver Weibel: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that, uh, then afterward there is the change and, uh, then it’s going to be this one hour which you have to compensate, but this is absolutely correct. This is, uh, the October. Sometimes I forget about it because it becomes so natural when you have it. But yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So you will have the same time until the last week of October.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah. Right. Okay. Now I mentioned before that last year I visited, uh, during the autumn for the first time and it was really good to see all that. Well, we, we didn’t get the, you know, the, the peak autumn foliage, but we certainly did see lots and lots of beautiful trees. Which regions would you say are best for seeing that foliage? And again, you, you said probably towards the end of October, and every region is going to be a little bit different, but which regions are most well-known for the autumn foliage?
Oliver Weibel: Well, it is really hard to say. I mean, you have a lot of coverage with mountain and obviously like also forest around Switzerland. I would say that you definitely, you want to be outside. So really look into where you can access one of the mountain railways where you can go, that you can definitely like have from Lucerne going on a Pilatus or going up and on a Testa Grigia, where you can definitely have in the end the foliage that you see. You can also be like in the area of the Canton Bern with the Interlaken area. Definitely also on the, on the Graubünden side when you go towards from Chur, like up to Laax, Davos. So I say really look into that where you are not in the city centre and really can like within an hour reach some of the mountain regions. There you will see it. But in the end, also when you’re down in the valley, when you’re from, from a Grömmenthaler, from a Zermatt, from a Saas-Fee, there where you are like really getting into this foresty area where you have this beautiful foliage going to be happening. And I said, it really depends a little bit.
Oliver Weibel: Like you have the Italian part with, for example, Lugano and Locarno in the Ticino, where it is like more Mediterranean. So it’ll be happening later. You have also different kind of trees. For example, the Ticino is very famous for its chestnuts. So it really becomes a little bit different in which region you are. If you’re now in the French region or in the Italian part or the German part, and I, the link that you will share, you will see kind of like also there is a map point on, on what are those beautiful locations. And you will see there are more than, than 300, 400 points which are being, or have been monitored as well and which are documented. So you will see that there is really like, if you are looking for this and really want to see this colour changes, you would be right with Switzerland.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah. Okay. Well, there’ll be somewhere not too far away that you can go and have a, have a look at that. Beautiful scenery. Are there any destinations that you particularly like visiting during the autumn? It may be not necessarily for the foliage, but are there any regions that really draw you back in, in the autumn?
Oliver Weibel: I say for me, definitely like the wine regions. So because Switzerland produces quite, well, not big, big, big quantities, but in the end, it’s also very rare to enjoy Swiss wine outside of Switzerland. We only export about 1% of our production. So in the end, like those wine main regions for me are very special. So this is like the Lavaux as well, like UNESCO World Heritage Site. When you go down on the near Lausanne, that is definitely a region just because you, you can, you can really feel what they’re doing, what the autumn is bringing, what the harvest is bringing. You have the same and then the Schaffhausen, for example, which is big also with the Rhine falls, which is also a big producer. You have also the Rhine Valley on the, on the eastern part of Switzerland. So those are things that I, I love to just do like, you know, low-level hikes, not going up to the mountain. And then when you are, it really depends a little bit on your itinerary. You, you can really go up, for example, uh, up to, to St. Moritz area, to the Engadine, or to, uh, to a Lachswehr, to a Davos where you are really like reaching in the end between like the really high peaks.
Oliver Weibel: And that’s also super nice because you will see already the mountain coverage, the same, uh, for, for Bern and Interlaken area. So those are definitely some which I also, when you do plan the trip, right, you have to see a little bit on what is open, what you want to do, that you do have definitely some attractions to do, even if it would be raining one time that you maybe want to do something indoors. So for me, it is still, when I personally do holidays, I always go back in October, like end of September, October, and I will enjoy it. So I think there is some hidden spots, but also on the link I will share. You will see some of the recommendations. But those are trips that I do personally where I will definitely combine it, unlike the vineyards, and in the end go at least for one hike. I have to say last time, and that was very surprising, I went back for Christmas and I did like a hike on the 15th of December in a t-shirt. It was still like one of those days where it was like really, really warm and you would go up and it was like crystal clear, like the sky and then everything.
Oliver Weibel: I think like this crisp air. Makes a difference. And then, and there we went into the, the Alpstein area, which is like in the northeastern part, like close where I was living, but beautiful. So yeah, we’ll find some hidden spots and then, and obviously like the, the hikes in the end, really according to your activity level, right? How, how fast-paced, how high you want to go up.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, sure. Okay. So aside from hiking and visiting the wine areas and seeing the, the harvest there, What are other activities that people can do during the autumn?
Oliver Weibel: I have to say one thing which I really like, but you have to pay attention, which is not, not attention in a bad way, but you have to see like where it is happening. It’s the, it’s the descent, the Alpine descent of ours. This is normally happening between 15th September into mid-October. So it really depends a little bit like how long-lasting the grass is and how the weather conditions are. But you will see in different areas where they bring down the cows from the meadows and it’s like really a festival for the whole village. And then they’re walking down and bringing the cows in and really like they’re welcoming them back. And then some of them really make that they’re taking the part of what their cow is producing and then you get traded in for cheese. So it’s really like kind of a tradition they do. It’s also the, the season of like mushroom and the harvest in general. I think like culinary is really big in that seasonality. I mean, not just talking about wine, but there’s game season. There is, as I said, like different vegetable and fruits which are harvested in that time and being from chestnuts to other things which are really changing in the end.
Oliver Weibel: Also on the culinary side, which I love during that period, reminds me of, yeah, you have those seasonalities in Switzerland which are changing and you’re slowly preparing for winter. I think like one definitely like still the, the cheese because for Swiss, and I’m not saying that this is, is a faux pas or whatever, you can enjoy your fondue whatever time you want of the year. But for Swiss traditionally, like you will have probably your first fondue somewhere in the, in the autumn season. The, the nights are getting cold, definitely during night. So you feel like, okay, you know, I want to have the warmth of a fondue. And that’s like where it becomes definitely also more valid with the restaurants to be in those small little chalets. Where you look out and you feel like, okay, you know, the changes of the seasonality. So those are definitely some things that you, that you can do. Otherwise, 100%, I mean, the cities are great spots. You can go shopping around if you’re gonna be on one of the hubs for those which still want to do, or which are doing a, a river cruise coming down, for example, from Basel or into Basel, going to Amsterdam, vice versa, and then want to extend with the, with an excursion.
Oliver Weibel: I think those are all great moments to do in, in that particular time, which are not all like outdoors activities. So, culture. And on the other hand, it’s also those times of if there’s rainy days of museums. So there’s plenty of things to do during the autumn season, which not only involves like outdoors activities.
Carolyn Schönafinger: And thermal spas too. Shouldn’t forget those. That’s always a great way to spend some time, particularly if the weather outside is bad.
Oliver Weibel: Absolutely. Yeah. The wellness is big in Switzerland and that’s not only with the hotels. So we have a lot of 4 or 5-star hotels, but also 3-star hotels which feature small wellness. But then you have obviously like also public accessible, uh, which you can buy in. And it’s really a culture for us in, in Switzerland, especially like we do have a long winter and you definitely wanna keep warm when it is the start of the season where you will see many looking into getting into this warm thermal, which is from natural springs. So that’s a beautiful thing. Thank you for adding that one colour.
Carolyn Schönafinger: That’s something I always try and indulge in, in Switzerland. You talked there about the different foods that are seasonal for autumn and the festivals and things that take place. The festivals, are they something that visitors can attend and how do they find out where, what festivals are taking place?
Oliver Weibel: Yeah, it’s not always that easy, right? As I said, like the descent of the cows, for example, I mean, there is like a window where they, where there are, and there are happening. So we do have an event calendar on myswitzerland.com where you can filter according to tradition, to food, to other things, which you will be sharing afterwards as well, where you can see kind of like what events are happening in which areas, but then you just can also click on them. So we do feature there some of them. So there are features from the destination and they give us the information and say, hey, this is happening so that you know. Some of them, I said, like they are really depending a little bit on the weather. So it can be saying, hey, it’s going to happen next week just because there has been rain or there is other things happening, so it will not be on the day. So they have a fuse. But on the other hand, the MySwitzerland calendar really gives you a good overview and between festival and culture, special evenings that are happening. We will not put them into itineraries as to make it because we cannot guarantee that they’re happening to that time.
Oliver Weibel: But this is like literally when you in the end have this period which you choose, please have a look into it and say like, you know, this would be Maybe the middle of the trip, I want to enjoy somewhere an Alpine descent, or I wanna enjoy one of the restaurants of the season opening and other things. So, uh, it really is a helpful tool.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Mm-hmm. Okay. And with those seasonal foods, like, uh, the game that, that you mentioned, I guess, um, restaurants then design a lot of their menus around the seasonal foods.
Oliver Weibel: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. It’s not only the game, it’s also like different vegetables which are in, in season to that time. I have to say in Switzerland it’s very regional, so meaning that a lot of restaurants really take their produce from within the next 10, 20 miles or like 50 kilometres, I would say, and produce it. So they change according to that, and then they have like a 4-week special menu. They will announce it 100% because game season is something that is very specific for that period. And yeah, so you will see that throughout the gastronomy that they either like add it on or they have like really a separate menu between the à la carte, which you can already choose, or like set menus that they will give you a second card and say, hey, you know, those are our seasonal specialties. But this is often done like within the city, but also up to the mountain areas. Yes, this is very common. And I would say like really try it and also ask for a good recommendation for wine. I, I think that pairing makes it just like exquisite.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Hmm. Okay. Well, for someone who has a hospitality background, I think that’s That’s a very good tip. Thank you. Now, if you were advising a friend who was planning to visit Switzerland for their first time in autumn, what would you tell them were the not-to-be-missed experiences?
Oliver Weibel: As I said, probably like prior, I would definitely try to make kind of like a combination, uh, either or so that you do have a city part in it that you would definitely do. Somewhere in, in the wine regions where you, where you have this exceptional experiences also like during the September, October time and add a mountain excursion into it or like even sleep up in a mountain and really enjoy this, this experience that you can do still hiking up there. I say it does not matter by, by destination, say this is better or this is different than the other one. I would say look onto the itinerary as well, where if you’re gonna combine it with something, if you’re like going into Switzerland to Europe. On your travels. On the other hand, really look into, in the end, also like availability. And if you have like a specific thing in mind where you say, you know, I want to take, for example, this panoramic train into it, then definitely put it around those that you actually really can plan this. But I would say if you, if you do like something 5 days, 5, 6 days with 3 destinations on, on that town, on that part, and then combine it definitely to the cities, like a little bit of outside in less area known, and then one of the known.
Oliver Weibel: So that’s how I normally start. And then I will ask definitely, what, what do you wanna, is there anything like in particular that you wanna do? Like, you know, I wanna go above 3,000 or I wanna do, I wanna have a lake in between. And then it gets really specific on what you wanna do. Do you wanna combine it with a lake cruise? And then we getting into the specifics. So I would, I would listen, but you have plenty of opportunities with it.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Mm-hmm. And I think too, the, the great thing about Switzerland being quite a compact country is that if someone’s combining Switzerland with a visit to Italy, for instance, and they arrive in Lugano, they’ve still got, without travelling too far, they’ve still got the opportunity to do a city stay, visit mountains. They’ve got the lake there. Same if they come into Basel from a river cruise, or if they’re flying into Zurich, wherever they come from. They can have that whole experience within quite a short distance.
Oliver Weibel: And you, you said it very well, and I think like that’s the beauty. That’s why I’m not saying it really depends like a little bit of your itinerary and the timing you’re coming in. If you’re arriving in Geneva, you, you getting there into the international airport, you go over the Lavaux, like into Lausanne, and then you’ll be there into the Alps, like crossing over. So, and if you go into the valley, So you can cross whole Switzerland from east to west in 6 hours if you take the fastest way, and from north to south in 3 hours. So in that perspective, if you are in a city, in most of the city, you can reach in 1 hour to 1.5 hours a mountain peak. So that’s why I’m saying, or like very well put from your side, that you can really see where you want to do it in Switzerland. There’s like great opportunities, like with the Grand Train Tour of Switzerland, for example, which is like an itinerary, uh, which you can also customise on your own a little bit and say like what you want to do. So if you have the original, for example, that’s, uh, like 8 days.
Oliver Weibel: There is shorter ones which are in 3 to 4 days where you see different, um, where you have, uh, an inclusion in like one of the panoramic trains. You go to different cities and mountain areas, right? So in the end, you, you can really combine it very good and even see the different language regions, right? It is a compact little country and in the end offers almost endless possibilities. Yes.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So do you have any other tips for our listeners who perhaps weren’t thinking about visiting in autumn, but now we’ve got them considering it?
Oliver Weibel: Yeah, I will just say like, as a travel tip, I would say really look into the Swiss Travel Pass as really a tool to use because it is In the end, when you’re travelling with also like families, kids are included up to 16. It also functions as a museum pass, so you have 500 museums included. You can use all the public transport, like from the boats, from the buses, from the trains. And in the end, it’s like an added, uh, point where you make seat reservation for one of the Panamerica trains. So for me, it’s an easy way to go around, I think, especially like in that period of time when you sometimes have uncertainty of weathers and you just want to like, you know, what should we do? Oh, this museum is included and I can go with tickets on that, you know, I think like those are really big benefits and it also makes you think, hey, what, what can I use with it? And then otherwise, if there’s others, there’s discounted rates on it. So it makes the travel just easy and like your itinerary, you’re not really bounded on just one train or one thing that you want to do.
Oliver Weibel: You can really flexibly use the whole network of public transport. So I think this is really a great tip in, in especially like the autumn season where you say, hey, I’m not quite sure, I’m not, I’m not 100% certain about the weather. And then you will be ending up in a museum and the next time you sleep in a hotel where you can enjoy the spa. So those are definitely for me the, the things that I would give you as a little travel advice when planning. And yeah, if I said like, if you’re looking really for something special that you wanna do with one of the traditional or cultural events, make sure that you cheque out when they’re happening, like you can plan your itinerary around it.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Excellent. Okay. So we’ve mentioned the website before, but please tell us again, and I will, as we said, put the link in the show notes. Where is all this information available?
Oliver Weibel: It’s in two, three links. So everything is on myswitzerland.com, which is the website of us, of Switzerland Tourism, which in the end combines more than 17,000 pages. So there’s a lot of information from the destination, but then there is definitely like the event calendar, which is one that features in the end events which is also included in different destinations. So if you are on a destination site, they will be automatically featured. So I think that is definitely one where you can start off and look into a destination website and be like, oh, you know, those events are happening. You will see also some restaurant recommendations, but this is really in the end what we work together with the destination regional tourism offices and like event organisers to really have those things on one point accessible. So look into that.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay. myswitzerland.com. Thank you very much, Oliver, for giving up your time to chat to us about autumn in Switzerland.
Oliver Weibel: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Caroline. It was a pleasure to talk to you, and I hope all of you, the audience, you got some tips out of it. And otherwise, you can always reach out also to us and to our teams in the different markets. We’re here to help if there is anything.
Carolyn Schönafinger: As you’ve just heard, autumn is a wonderful time to experience Switzerland, particularly if you prefer fewer crowds, colourful landscapes, and a slightly slower pace. The key is knowing what to expect and planning your itinerary around the season. My free Autumn in Switzerland checklist has lots of great information to help with your trip planning. The link to get your copy is in the show notes along with all the links Oliver mentioned, including that handy foliage map, details about the Grand Train Tour, and of course the Swiss Travel Pass. Thanks for joining me today. I hope today’s episode has helped you decide whether an autumn visit to Switzerland is right for you. And I’d love to hear if it has. Send me an email to podcast@holidaystoswitzerland.com and let me know if you’re planning to visit Switzerland in autumn. Until next week, when I’ll be back with more Swiss travel tips and inspiration. Tschüss!
You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.
