Holiday apartments and holiday homes in Switzerland

Switzerland is far more than a single Alpine image: in a small area, alpine mountain ranges, lakes and rivers, rural landscapes, urban spaces, and the southern character of Ticino come together. For families and groups with different interests, this creates a particularly flexible travel idea: one day can be shaped by mountain panoramas, the next by water, city life, and culture. The key is therefore not just choosing a holiday apartment, but first deciding on the travel profile that suits your shared plans.

At a glance

• Alpine mountain ranges, lakes and rivers lie alongside rural and urban landscapes in Switzerland.
• In the Lucerne–Lake Lucerne area, mountain panoramas, lakes and the city of Lucerne come together.
• The Vaud region stretches from lakes and alpine glaciers to Lausanne, Lavaux and Chillon Castle.
• Jura & Three-Lakes Land presents a different picture from the High Alps, with gentle hills, wooded pastures and lakes.
• Fribourg combines alpine landscapes and lakes with villages, historic towns and culture.
• Ticino sets a southern-leaning contrast with mountains, palm trees, lakes, as well as towns and villages.

Mountain panorama, lake and city in the Lucerne area

Anyone wanting to combine nature and culture will find a particularly vivid travel setting in the Lucerne–Lake Lucerne area. Mountain scenery, panoramas, Lake Lucerne and the city of Lucerne stand together here for Switzerland’s blend of landscape and culture. For a family or group, this can create a varied rhythm: countryside and activity can be paired with a day in the city or a cultural outing.

A holiday apartment in Lucerne is therefore especially appealing when mountain, lake and city interests all feature on the travel plan. The exact location then determines which of these priorities is most present in everyday life at the accommodation.

Vaud: a cultural landscape between lake and Alps

The Vaud region combines lakes and alpine glaciers with Lausanne, the UNESCO World Heritage site of Lavaux, and Chillon Castle. This creates a travel profile in which waterside scenery, city life, cultural heritage and the Alps do not have to be viewed separately. The vineyards of Lavaux on Lake Geneva make this transition between cultural landscape, lake and mountains especially easy to grasp.

Chillon Castle also shows how closely landscape and culture are connected in Vaud. Anyone planning historic places as a fixed part of shared days will find a clearly different travel setting here than in a stay focused purely on the mountains.

The Ticino region adds its own accent: mountains, palm trees, lakes, and towns and villages create a southern-style travel picture within Switzerland. It is therefore a plausible alternative between classic Alpine scenery and a programme that is more strongly centred on lakes and places.

Compare travel profiles before choosing a region

For mountain-oriented days, alpine landscapes and panoramas can serve as the guiding theme. If water takes centre stage, lake and river landscapes may determine the choice. Anyone wanting to combine nature with culture will find different combinations of landscape, city, history and regional character in Vaud, Lucerne or Fribourg. Jura & Three-Lakes Land, with the Jura arc, gentle hills, wooded pastures, Lakes Biel, Neuchâtel and Morat, as well as historic towns, provides a calmer contrast to the high-Alpine backdrop.

A group with different preferences can turn these Swiss contrasts into shared day plans: active landscape days, more relaxed hours by the water, and a cultural or city visit can all be planned as different components of the same trip. So first decide which share of mountains, water, city and rural surroundings should shape your stay. You can then choose the holiday apartment more specifically according to a mountain-oriented, water-based, rural or city-adjacent location.

The official overview Discover Switzerland’s regions at Switzerland Tourism provides additional orientation on the different Swiss travel settings.

Swiss regions as your next choice

For your further search, you can compare the following direct regions:

Aargau, Appenzell, Basel-Land, Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Glarus, Graubünden, Jura, Neuchâtel, Nidwalden, Obwalden, St. Gallen, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Solothurn, Thurgau, Uri, Valais, Zug and Zürich complement the more detailed examples. This keeps Switzerland visible as a whole while you choose the next region to match your preferred mix of nature, water, culture and tranquillity.