9 guides, each rated 1 to 5 with the reason — and two lists per place, where you are comfortable and where to pay attention. Nowhere is called dangerous; the specific thing is what helps.
As safe as anywhere on earth from crime. The mountains are the entire risk and they are serious: weather that turns in an hour, marked trails that are still exposed, and via ferrata and canyoning operators whose record here has not been perfect. Check the trail status and the forecast every morning, which is what the locals do.
Comfortable: Interlaken · Lauterbrunnen · Grindelwald · Mürren · Wengen
- Mountain weather, which turns in an hour and closes the cable cars with you above them
- Marked trails that are still exposed — a white-red-white blaze means mountain path, not a walk
- Adventure operators for canyoning, rafting and paragliding, whose record here has not been perfect — check the licence
- Altitude on the Jungfraujoch, which is 3,454m reached in two hours from 570m
Extremely safe as a village and a serious mountain environment outside it. Altitude is the thing visitors underestimate: the Klein Matterhorn station is at 3,883m and people come off the cable car and feel it within minutes. Off-piste avalanche risk is real and the bulletins are published daily. Glacier travel needs a guide, always. Weather can close every lift at short notice.
Comfortable: the whole village · the Bahnhofstrasse · the marked pistes · the Gornergrat railway
- off-piste snow at any time — the avalanche risk here is real and people who know the mountain still die in it; go with a guide or stay on the marked runs
- the glacier without a rope and someone who knows it — crevasses are covered and the cover is not load-bearing
- altitude on the first day — the Klein Matterhorn is 3,883m and you can be there within an hour of arriving
As safe as anywhere in Europe, and comfortable at any hour. The practical cautions are the lake and the mountains: the water is cold enough year-round to cause trouble quickly, and Pilatus and Rigi have real weather at the top even when the town is warm. Take a layer on the cable car.
Comfortable: the Altstadt · the lake promenade · the Chapel Bridge · Tribschen
- the station underpass late at night — nothing more than the usual late-night drinking
- Pilatus and Rigi in cloud — the trains run in weather that leaves you with no view and a cold wait at the top
Very comfortable. The mountain weather is the thing to plan around rather than fear: Jungfraujoch is often in cloud when the village is clear, and the ticket is expensive enough that going up blind is a waste. The cliff walk at First has railings, and the exposure is still real.
Comfortable: the village · the railway stations · Grund
- buying a Jungfraujoch ticket without checking the cloud — it is among the most expensive tickets in Europe and the view is the product
- the marked walks in early summer — high paths hold snow into June and the maps do not say so
Extremely safe, very clean, and quiet after nine on weeknights. The one genuine caution is the river: the Limmat looks placid and moves fast, and the Badi swims run with the current for a reason. Langstrasse is the nightlife and red-light street and is noisy rather than threatening.
Comfortable: the Altstadt · Enge · Seefeld · Zürich West · the lake shore
- Langstrasse in the small hours — the city’s one nightlife strip, and where the drinking and the soliciting are
- the Platzspitz and the river paths late — quiet and unlit rather than anything else
- the main station concourse in rush hour — the one reliable place for pickpockets in the city
Very comfortable and quiet. The altitude matters more here than the crime does — the village sits at 1,800 metres in dry cold air and people underestimate both the sun and the dehydration. The lake events are safe but the ice is only walked on where it is marked.
Comfortable: St. Moritz Dorf · St. Moritz Bad · the lakeside path
- the lake ice away from the marked events — the surface is only checked where the crowds are meant to be
- the sun at 1,800 metres in dry air — it burns and dehydrates far faster than the temperature suggests
Very comfortable in the village. The mountain is a different matter and the resort is honest about it: Verbier’s reputation is built on steep off-piste, the Tortin face and the Mont-Fort bowls are avalanche terrain, and the people hurt here are usually good skiers who went one run further.
Comfortable: the village centre · Le Châble · the lift stations
- the Tortin and Mont-Fort off-piste — avalanche terrain that the lifts deliver you straight into
- the village roads in ice — the whole resort sits on a gradient and the roads are steep
Very comfortable, and the car-free village makes it easy with children. Altitude is the consideration: the village is at 1,800 metres and the Metro Alpin takes you to 3,500 in minutes, which is enough to make people ill on their first day. The glacier off-piste is crevassed.
Comfortable: the whole village · the lift stations · the valley path
- going to 3,500 metres on the first day — the funicular takes minutes and the body needs longer than that
- the glacier away from the pisted runs — crevassed, with the crevasses hidden under snow
Very comfortable and genuinely a working town. Altitude is the real consideration: 1,560 metres is enough to affect sleep on the first night and enough for the sun to burn through cloud. The five mountains are separate, and getting to the wrong one wastes a morning.
Comfortable: Davos Platz · Davos Dorf · the lake path
- the first night at 1,560 metres — high enough to break sleep, which surprises people who expected mountains to help
- the sun through cloud — thin dry air at this altitude burns on an overcast day
The ratings are this site's own, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in; they are not an index. Read the general advice in travel safety tips.
