The Secret Spots in Switzerland

After living in Switzerland since 1993, I guess you could say I know this magical country pretty well. Switzerland is small enough to drive from one end to the furthest end in a maximum of 4 hours, so everything is either a day trip or a weekend away. Many people hear about the traditional Swiss tourist spots (like Lucerne, Zermatt, Interlaken), but I’ve discovered the secret spots in Switzerland I’d like to share with you in this blog post. So please keep these secrets to yourself 😉

Lac Blausee (Blue Lake)
Oeschinensee
Giessbach Falls
Lugano Mountain Tops

Lac Blausee (Blue Lake)

It was many years before I heard about this place even though it is only a 1.5 hr drive from where I live. Due to the recent explosion of Instagram and the stunning photos that people post, I happened to see a picture of this place posted there. I immediately said, “We have to go here!”.

The real secret about this secret spot is the time of day you need to get there to see it at its best. Because this small lake is surrounded by higher mountains, the sun only hits it directly around noon. What makes that water such a unique pristine blue is the overhead reflection of the sun rays.

The lake contains many rainbow and salmon trout fish (as it also serves as a trout farm). The first time I went there a few years ago, people were allowed to fish but that is no longer the case. There is a nice easy path that circles the lake (takes 30-40 minutes) and a small hotel and restaurant right on the lake. You can also take a boat ride out onto the small lake. I’ve often thought it would be nice to get a room there for a romantic weekend. It would be a great way to see how the lake view changes at different times of the day.

Since I discovered this special spot, I’ve taken a few of my visitors there. They loved it as much as me. Would you like to see Lac Blausee? Check it out here for more info!

Oeschinensee

Oddly enough, this secret spot is just down the road from the Blue Lake in a town called Kandersteg (in the Swiss-German region). I also saw this alpine lake advertised somewhere on Instagram or Facebook, and that’s how I learned about it. You have to know where it is because it can’t be seen from the road. In fact, you have to either hike up a steep hill or take a gondola to get to it. After that, it is just a leisurely 30-minute walk to see the turquoise-colored lake.

I’ve been to this area twice. The first time we did a nice long hike above the lake and back around to the starting point. It took us about 5 hours to do it, but we did find a nice hut halfway in to get some food and rest up a bit.

The second time I went with friends, we just walked down to the lake and along the path there to have a roundtrip from the starting point. This little hike didn’t take longer than 1 hour but was still very pretty.

Even if you’re not physically able to do a short hike, you can walk to one of two restaurants at the top that have lookout vistas. It truly was one of the most majestic areas I’ve seen in Switzerland.

Here is a link to summer hiking information and another link to the gondola ride to get to the lake.

Giessbach Falls

Have you heard of this place? I think it’s one of the less-visited tourist places, but it is very close to the beautiful Interlaken area and well-known places like Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, and the Jungfrau region. Don’t get me wrong, these are all great spots worth checking out, but I’m trying to turn you on to more ‘secret’ spots that maybe attract fewer crowds.

You can get to the hotel and restaurant (shown above) by car or ferry boat and funicular from different spots on Lake Brienz. It’s a beautiful building with amazing vistas from the terrace and gardens. If you want to eat there, be sure to reserve ahead of time as it gets pretty busy around lunchtime.

our lunchtime view from the restaurant terrace – splendid!

From the parking lot, there is a path that goes downhill initially and then upward to walk by the powerful waterfall. You even get to walk behind the plunging waterfall for some really cool pics. There is a nice bridge lower down for that classic selfie for Instagram!

looking back down at the hotel from under the waterfall

For more details, you can check out the Giessbach website here.

Lugano Mountain Tops

You may have heard of this resort town in the Italian part of Switzerland, but my ‘secret’ is to check out two special spots here. I would guess that the majority of tourists who come to Switzerland do not visit this southern Swiss region called Ticino. But it is definitely worth the detour and extra days to get a flavor of the Swiss-Italian architecture and gorgeous mountains and lakes. This place has a certain tropical feel about it that I just love.

View from the funicular that goes to the top of Monte San Salvatore

So, what are my secrets about this place? I have two spots that I believe are a must-do when in Lugano. The first is to take the 12-minute funicular up to the top of Monte San Salvatore to walk along the top and see the jaw-dropping views. We actually did the hike from the bottom for a good workout and escape the tourist crowds on the funicular.

along the hiking path looking back down at Lugano town

The second spot I recommend is to go to the top of Monte Brè. We actually took a boat ride over to the small village of Gandria and then hiked up to the top. If you’re not into uphill hiking, there is also a funicular that you can ride up the 933 meters to the top.

the boat we took to cross the lake to Gandria

At the top of the mountain, there is a pretty yellow building that has a restaurant and terrace to soak up the scenes. We decided to stay long enough to watch the nice sunset (see photo below), and we then took the 15-minute ride down on the funicular. This was a good idea to see the amazing end-of-day view and avoid all the crowds at peak times during the day.

So did you learn about any new secret spots? I hope so because there are many in Switzerland! You just need to seek them out and include them in your itinerary!

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If you are looking for other ideas on what to see in Switzerland, you will want to see my other posts below!

If you are looking for assistance to plan your next trip, I am here for YOU! I love to plan travel itineraries for myself and others. For more details on how I provide this service, please check out my Itinerary Planning page and drop me a quick email at jan@janadventures.com to get started!