Destinations

Spotlight on Switzerland

Switzerland-May30

The Swiss city of Basel has plenty of experience in the art of showcasing art.

Doris Schuermann, sales manager for Basel’s tourism board, told a Friday Toronto gathering that her city has more than 40 museums, with its fine arts museum housing the oldest public art collection in the world.

“World-class” museums are only one side to Basel, with Schuermann adding her city sees numerous festivals, among them celebrations of music.

Basel is also home too the “oldest and largest Christmas market in Switzerland,” she continued.

Basel is only 10 minutes from both the French and German borders, and is also a starting and ending point for Rhine cruises, she added.

The Friday event was co-hosted by Switzerland Tourism and Trafalgar, with Trafalgar’s Anita Emilio noting that the tour operator has numerous tours of Switzerland detailed in its Autumn, Winter & Spring brochure. Trafalgar itineraries include eight-day Contrasts of Switzerland, which explores Switzerland alone.

One itinerary explores Switzerland entirely by train, unusual for the tour operator, which usually relies on motorcoaches to carry its clients.

Emilio said those visiting Switzerland in December can see “beautiful Christmas markets” and find Trafalgar package rates are as much as 40% below what they are in the summer.

The gathering was also told by Rail Europe’s Rares Dumitru that “there’s no better way of experiencing Switzerland than by train” and he suggested those planning to tour Switzerland acquire a Swiss Travel Pass, which provides transportation on trains, motorcoaches, municipal transportation and boats, and also provides entrance to some 400 museums.

Switzerland Tourism’s Evelyn Lafone welcomed the imminent opening of the Gotthard tunnel, which will be the longest tunnel in the world and is expected to shave close to an hour off travel between Zurich and Milan, Italy.

The tunnel “will bring… Europe and Switzerland really close together,” she said.

Air Canada links Toronto with Zurich and Geneva, while SWISS connects Montreal with the two Swiss cities. Transat has service from Montreal and Toronto to Basel and Edelweiss links Vancouver and Calgary with Zurich in the summer.

Collette Richter labelled Lucerne “a beautiful city” in which visitors can enjoy folklore shows and go on lake cruises.

Richter said visitors will find Lucerne a walkable city that’s in “the heart of Switzerland.”

Matthias Butler pronounced his lofty destination of Jungfrau as “the top of Europe,” among other things being home to Europe’s highest train station.

Butler praised Jungfrau’s “really good mountains,” and added that Jungfrau has the oldest UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Alps, and that mountain range’s longest glacier.

Visitors will also find the likes of a chocolate factory, added Butler, saying Jungfrau resembles a Switzerland in miniature and visitors can see “the whole of Switzerland in one day.”

Pictured at the Toronto event are Dumitru, Emilio, Lafone, Schuermann, Butler and Richter.