Switzerland has no ocean; it is a land-locked country. However, it has plenty of water.
The perpetual snow of the high Alps and the glaciers are Switzerland’s water reservoir. Wild, foaming mountain streams bubble down from the steep slopes of the Alps. They become impressive waterfalls, flow into the rivers and at the end of their journeys feed Europe’s seas.
The Rhine comes out of Grisons’ Alps and flows at first to Lake Constance. After it has taken a rest there, it shows its youthful strength again at Schaffhausen. Here are the Rhine Falls, one of Europe’s biggest waterfalls. Then on its way along Switzerland’s northern border it joins the Aare at Koblenz, and leaves Switzerland at Basel on its way to the North Sea.
Like the Rhine, the Rhone springs from the Gotthard massif, the continental watershed in the middle of the Alps, and flows from there to the south of Europe. Over millions of years, on its way to Lake Geneva it has made the deep and wide Valais valley its bed. The Rhone also takes a rest, in Lake Geneva, before leaving Switzerland at Geneva on its way to the western Mediterranean.
Still almost a mountain stream, the Inn hurries from Engadine to the Danube and the Black See. The Ticino River flows from the south side of the Alps down into Lake Maggiore, and from there to the Po and the Italian Adriatic.
Three lakes have already been mentioned: Lake Constance, Lake Geneva and Lake Maggiore. They are three of the many lakes that you can see by boat with the Swiss Travel System.
Three further lakes are close together in the west of the Central Plateau, at the foot of the blue-green forested Jura range. Therefore, they are also called the Jura lakes: Lake Neuchâtel, Lake Bienne and Lake Morat. They are connected by navigable canals. The Three Lake Trip is one of the special attractions of the Swiss Travel System.
At the entrance to the Bernese Oberland, with the summits of Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau and Blüemlisalp covered in snow all year in the background, Lakes Thun and Brienz are inviting for a boat journey or a swim in summer.
However, the most Swiss of all lakes is Lake Lucerne. It is in the historical heart of Central Switzerland, where the country was founded in the 13th century. From Lucerne you can discover the branching arms of this body of water, steeped in history, by boat, and with the Swiss Travel System of course.
Zurich, Switzerland’s biggest city, obviously also has a lake: Lake Zurich. Here just a few metres from the shore you can easily forget that the lake shares its name with one of the more economically important European metropolises. You could well say the same, if on a smaller scale, of Lake Zug. Switzerland is a pleasant place to live, even in the places where economy is booming. However, it is especially enjoyable near the lakes.
Here are only some of the highlights. With the Swiss Travel System, however, you can discover all of them, and many other things. Click here >
