Rick Steves Switzerland

by Rick Steves

Cross the Alps in a cable car, cruise Lake Geneva, and visit a medieval châ with Rick Steves on your side, Switzerland can be yours!
Inside Rick Steves Switzerland you'll Make the most of every day and every dollar with Rick Steves Switzerland.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Reference

440 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Rick Steves is an American travel writer, television personality, and activist known for encouraging meaningful travel that emphasizes cultural immersion and thoughtful global citizenship. Born in California and raised in Edmonds, Washington, he began traveling in his teens, inspired by a family trip to Europe. After graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in European history and business, Steves started teaching travel classes, which led to his first guidebook, Europe Through the Back Door, self-published in 1980.
Steves built his Edmonds-based travel company on the idea that travelers should explore less-touristy areas and engage with local cultures. He gained national prominence as host and producer of Rick Steves' Europe, which has aired on public television since 2000. He also hosts a weekly public radio show, Travel with Rick Steves, and has authored dozens of popular guidebooks, including bestselling titles on Italy and Europe at large.
Beyond travel, Steves is an outspoken advocate for drug policy reform, environmental sustainability, and social justice. He supports marijuana legalization and chairs the board of NORML. He has funded housing for homeless families and donates to anti-hunger and arts organizations. In 2019, he pledged $1 million annually to offset the carbon emissions of his tour groups.
Steves is a practicing Lutheran with Norwegian ancestry and continues to live in Edmonds. He has two adult children and is in a relationship with Reverend Shelley Bryan Wee. Despite health challenges, including a prostate cancer diagnosis in 2024, Steves remains committed to his mission of helping Americans travel with greater purpose, empathy, and understanding of the world. His work reflects a belief that travel, done right, can be both transformative and a force for peace.

Reviews

[Gab]

This is a really great guide book that takes you to some unexpected places like fortresses built inside mountains. I appreciate this author's idea of travelling like a temporary local. He's an American author and the book is pitched towards America travellers. Also has a great podcast and audio walking tours on his website

[Michael Huang]

Switzerland is not a country that I read about a lot. So when my planned travel brings me there, I needed some help. Comparing RS’s book to another one, it is far more useful and helpful. Instead of listing every city and cataloging services in each city, RS is not afraid to give you subjective opinions: you should see this and avoid that. This turns out to be very useful, at least for me. I did a few checkings along my way, for instance visiting a museum that should be skipped according to RS but is highly rated on some website (TripAdvisor). It easily was the most boring museum I’ve been to. So to me RS’s recommendation is far more reliable than some average of random people on the internet. Another case in point, our agent arranged that we stay in Interlacken (and doing some boating) while visiting Berner Oberland because they “can not honestly recommend other places”. I took the executive decision to follow RS’s recommendation and picked one of the places up the mountain (Murren) and arranged everything myself. In hind sight, I can not imagine how utterly unappealing it would be to come to Swiss Alps and stay by an not-so-special lake and boat!

It’s a fantastic pleasure to read widely about other cultures and decide where to go to see for yourself. But after you’ve decided where to go, RS’s books are really worth investing time reading. This one about Switzerland is particularly so.

[Lauren Bachman]

Rick Steves is the actual gem of European traveling! I used his guidebook for a trip to Iceland in mid-2024 and found it incredibly helpful, so now I'm preparing for a trip to Switzerland and figured there was no one better to turn to. Even being 500+ pages, I devoured this book in 3 days because it just made me so excited to travel and is genuinely interesting to read. I can't wait to let Rick guide me on my next adventure!

[Michelle Sauvageau]

I love Rick’s blunt and honest reviews. This was especially nice to read after Lonely Planet’s guidebook on Switzerland, as Steves’ tends to dive straight into the nitty-gritty details of various cities and regions with less high level explanation - I find this helpful, as his guides are more “how-to” do your trip vs. a standard guidebook of what to do on your trip.

[Colette]

We look forward to using his advice and recommendations soon! He always does a great job of educating readers on a balance of items including history, culture, politics, music, beautiful sights, hikes, attractions, lodging and food!

[Jonathan]

Helpful guide to planning a trip to Switzerland. It covers and hits most of the major highlights. However, it skips Basel for some reason, and complete ignored my favorite place, St. Gallen’s library.

[J.R. Dodson]

Great advice for finding less-touristy sweet spots in a very well-traveled area.

[Tanya]

I actually used a more recent edition of Rick Steves' Switzerland guide on my vacation, but I'm assuming there aren't that many changes. I generally give Rick's European guides 5 stars, but this one only gets 4 because it had absolutely nothing for Basel, a city in which I had a whole day to spend. It was frustrating to not have my usual great information for this destination, and what I found from other sources lacked Rick's humor, personality, and just great details.

Thankfully, I followed Rick's advice to visit the small medieval town of Murten (a half hour from Bern), which ended up being one of my favorite spots of the whole two-week trip! The sections on Murten and Bern, where we did his city walks, were great, and I hope to have opportunities to use the chapters for other Swiss cities in the future.

[Jack Hrkach]

Another intimate introduction to several cities/areas in a foreign country. While I grow increasingly irritated at the author's selectivism, I do appreciate the personal nature of the writing, his tips on the little things, and I continue to agree with his "backdoor" philosophy of travel.

I recently visited Switzerland (Basel, Bern, Lauterbrunnen, Luzern and Zurich, and the only one he didn't cover was Basel. I recommend it to just about anyone who travels, but it's a less than ringing endorsement.

[Amy]

I like to make fun of Rick Steves (with his goofy backpacks and over emphasis on marijuana culture), but this is a pretty good guidebook. Lots of details about getting up the mountain peaks and walking tours of towns, pretty good maps, and a Kindle edition, so I can just keep it on there. It is not as expansive as other guidebooks in its coverage, but hits the major areas. My one complaint is that it's a summer-centric book (which he acknowledges in the book).

[Leonard]

I have the 2012 edition checked out of the library. I didn't read all of it, but do appreciate the work Steves does to provide would be travelers with this information. A knowledgable friend told me that he like Rick Steves better than other guides like Lonely Planet because Steves seems to be more aware of and sensitive to local and national culture. I don't know enough about it to agree or disagree, but I value that information.

[Holly]

I didn't read this entire book because we didn't visit every town in Switzerland that he did, but we did read the parts that we visited quite thoroughly! If you are traveling to Europe, you NEED to read his books. He will give you down-to-earth advice and you can tell that he writes from personal experience...not just stating facts. Some of his tips were really life-savers!

[Sharon]

Per the suggestion of my daughter, I read this book prior to an uncoming trip to Europe.. Rick Steves' books on travel are THE BEST! He gives you the ins and outs, the cheap and the expensive, the must-sees and the can-be-passed-bys. Hours of various places to visit are listed, plus prices. A treasure trove of information for traveling in Europe!

[Anno Nomius]

Like all Rick Steve's books, Rick does a good job of weaving a tale as he talks about a place. Sometimes reading the book maybe better than visiting the place..:-). Switzerland is an interesting place where 4 languages are spoken and the president of the country elected for a year. Perhaps that is what needs to happen in countries around the world.

[Vanessa]

This one wasn't as in depth as his Italy book, but still definitely worth having. The walking tours for each city were fun and informative. Also, we saved $20 at one of the hotels just for mentioning the book.

[Anita Ledonne]

I'm reading 2012 edition. I give most of his travel books 5 stars. This one is 4.5 because he has a hard time figuring out this small country due to its great diversity. I look forward to finding out how to give him some first hand advice!

[Brandi Blue]

We were only in Switzerland for about 24 hours, so we only used a small bit of this book - but it was helpful as usual.

[Wandamarie]

I got the Kindle edition, and it was very useful, except for the maps. Maps were difficult to read and were not enlargeable.

[J2d]

I have only read about the places that I have actually visited and some general stuff. It's interesting and informative.

[Md Reza]

Rick Steves Switzerland is a wonderful companion for anyone planning to explore Switzerland. The guide is packed with practical information while still capturing the beauty, character, and variety of the country. I especially enjoyed the helpful advice on sightseeing, transportation, accommodations, food, and making the most of limited travel time.

The organization makes the book easy to use, whether you are carefully planning an itinerary at home or checking recommendations during your trip. The guidance on getting around Switzerland is particularly useful for travelers hoping to experience several destinations without unnecessary hassle.

I also appreciated the attention given to local experiences rather than simply listing famous attractions. The suggestions encourage travelers to slow down, explore thoughtfully, and enjoy the scenery and culture along the way.

Overall, this is an informative, approachable, and inspiring travel guide. It gave me plenty of ideas for places to visit and made planning a Swiss adventure feel much more manageable. A great resource for first-time visitors and returning travelers alike. Five stars!

[Shahdad Gi]

As always, he gives a lot of great information and advice about places that he traveled but some information about daily experiences this days are way up compared to before pandemic. Above all, personally I would like to have his guidance books in my hands to go to Europe!

[Angela]

As always, Rick Steve’s books on travel, never disappoint. Read this before planning my trip to Switzerland and helped me to know on where it was I wanted to visit in Switzerland. My family and I were not disappointed. Could not more highly recommend this book.

[Kristy]

Once again, plenty of useful information. He details everything: currency, customs, transportation, lodging, restaurants, etc. Where to go....I think you will find me in the Berner Oberland.

[Amy]

I’m so excited to plan this trip!

[Beth]

Informative, but a bit overwhelming. We'll be taking this one with us!