Beauty Queen

Not too far from Gimmelwald is Murren, a village that doesn8217;t permit cars and where long, shaded avenues invite you for leisurely walks. Drop in at the Alpenruh hotel, where you can sunbathe on the terrace downing golden beer or have hot tea and oven fresh apple cake.

Complete the rural trinity with a boat ride from the popular Interlaken to the laidback Brienz, located by a lake of the same name on whose blue waters are reflected snowy Alpine peaks. Brienz is a fairy tale like tableau, with red-tile roofed cottages and castle-like structures in pine forests. Stay at 8216;pensionnes8217; like that of the warm Rosemarie Fluhmann, who serves fresh bacon and eggs for breakfast and frees up the kitchen for whatever else you want to whip up.

Don8217;t Skip the City

You8217;d surely know of Geneva8217;s associations with the UN and the Red Cross. But this City of Peace, at the foot of the Jura mountains, on the banks of one of Central Europe8217;s largest lakes, is also one of the prettiest in the country.

Dotted with sun-dappled parks, Geneva is also filled with museums, over 30 of them, including one on watchmaking. It also makes for a convenient base to explore the Olympic city of Laussane and beyond it, Montreaux and its Chillon castle, made famous by Byron in The Prisoner of Chillon.

Then there is Lucerne in central Switzerland, a fascinating mix of the ultra-modern and the traditional, with its spanking new station and ancient town squares.

Stay at the 500-year-old Wildemann and go for guided walking tours through cobbled pathways, past churches and monuments, stopping to sip ice-cold water from stone fountains. Those with less of a historical appetite can spend time at the Transport Museum, flying up in a balloon or taking simulated train rides.

Have a Blast from the Past

A bus ride away from Brienz is Ballenberg and a fascinating journey into Switzerland8217;s rural past. Ninety rustic homes and farm buildings from across the country have been dismantled, transported to Ballenberg, and rebuilt exactly as they were all those years ago. Spread over 66 hectares, this open-air museum showcases scenes of daily rural Swiss life down the centuries. From the poor peasant8217;s home, in which the livestock also lived, to the prosperous, French-style farmhouses, Ballenberg provides an architectural as well as socio-economic history of Switzerland. A Swiss chalet, incidentally, is a Swiss peasant8217;s wooden cottage. You see the large copper pot in which cheese was made, the wooden butterfass in which butter was churned and taste delicious little biscuits called praetzeli that were served at weddings in the Berne region. Should you stop for lunch at one of the heritage structures, ask for hot pea soup and tender veal. To complete the day in true rustic style, it8217;s a good idea to take back bread, sausages and cheese from Ballenberg home for dinner.

Say Cheese

The Swiss may not be as fussy about their food as the French, but they are almost as particular about their cheese as their neighbours. Case in point is the cheese fondue served on an evening cruise in Lucerne. You sink your teeth into pieces of bread dipped in bubbling cheese fondue redolent with garlic and cherry brandy, while musicians regale you with Swiss yodelling and alphorn blowing8230; and the surrounding mountain peaks gently melt into the night. The Swiss take extra care with the cheese. The caquelon in which it simmers has to be rubbed with garlic before white wine is poured into it and the cheese added gradually thereafter. Stirring continuously, the cheese is brought to a boil. After that the cherry brandy is added with cornstarch dissolved in it, to end with a seasoning of pepper, nutmeg or paprika. The fondue has to be smooth, and Cheddar cheese just won8217;t do. The Swiss swear by Emmentaler and Gruyere.

Hop on the Local
There8217;s nothing quite like trains to take in Switzerland. The Panorama trains, with large windows that make you feel you are almost a part of the landscape, are a must. The Glacier Express from Zermatt to Davos/St Moritz, throws up 291 bridges, 91 tunnels and the 2,033-metre high Oberalp Pass, while the Mont Blanc Express from Martigny to Chamonix France via Chatelard Frontiere takes you past gigantic waterfalls crashing down and, of course, the grandiose Mont Blanc.

Besides these, there are quaint others like the Swiss Chocolate Train from Montreux to the medieval town of Gruyeres, known for its hard cheese. The train takes you past undulating acres of vineyards from whose grapes the Chasselas wine is produced.

Another wonderful journey is the one from Basel, near the French border perfect should you be entering from France, to Lucerne that makes its way past chequered green and yellow fields with church spires and rustic Swiss homes.