Your autumn experience in Switzerland

Your next autumn experience

Autumn is full of mag­ic: the land­scape glows with colour and the cosy sea­son begins. Bore­dom doesn’t stand a chance. Switzer­land offers an abun­dance of autumn expe­ri­ences both in the cities and in the great out­doors. Here are our favourites (includ­ing pro tips 😉):

Immerse yourself in a world of pumpkins near Rapperswil-Jona

It’s hard to believe that these works of art are made of pump­kins. This autumn favourite shines on the table and as a dec­o­ra­tion. At Bäch­li­hof Jona, close to Lake Zurich, a diverse pump­kin exhi­bi­tion awaits you from Sep­tem­ber to ear­ly Novem­ber 2025, focussed on the theme: LET’S PLAY. In addi­tion to dec­o­ra­tive pump­kins, there are numer­ous vari­eties that can be used to con­jure up deli­cious dish­es. The farm also offers a goat park, a straw boun­cy cas­tle, a nature play­ground and a farm shop restau­rant. And it’s just a nine-minute walk from Rap­per­swil-Jona Youth Hos­tel.

Pro tip for your autumn expe­ri­ence: Join the Swiss Pump­kin Weigh­ing Cham­pi­onship on 4 Novem­ber 2025 and find out which is the heav­i­est pump­kin.

High-alpine Indian summer in Saas-Fee

When autumn sets over the Saas Val­ley, the high-alpine land­scape is trans­formed into a true spec­ta­cle of colours. The larch forests in Saas-Fee shine gold­en yel­low in con­trast to the snow-cov­ered four-thou­sand-metre peaks – a nat­ur­al expe­ri­ence rem­i­nis­cent of an Indi­an sum­mer that you sim­ply can­not miss.

Pro tip for your autumn expe­ri­ence: Hike up Son­nen­berg Han­nig and look for­ward to the amaz­ing view (one out of ten). Halfway along the way, you will pass the Café Alpen­blick. Take in the glac­i­er world in all its glo­ry while enjoy­ing home­made cake in the midst of the fra­grant larch forests.

Enjoy the most magnificent view in Lausanne

The hip city of Lau­sanne with its many cafés and muse­ums is always worth a vis­it. Autumn is the sea­son to slow down and unwind. Where can you do that in the uni­ver­si­ty town? Just a ten-minute walk from the city cen­tre is the won­der­ful Her­mitage Park, also known as the home of the Fon­da­tion de l’Hermitage. Sit in the mead­ow between the giant trees and enjoy the views of the Alps and Lake Gene­va or immerse your­self in worlds of art while strolling through the inter­na­tion­al­ly renowned exhi­bi­tions.

Pro tip for your autumn expe­ri­ence: Treat your­self to a serv­ing of Eggs Bene­dict in the asso­ci­at­ed Restau­rant L’esquisse.

From Art to Zoo: Zurich in all its facets

In autumn, Switzerland’s largest city awaits with all kinds of cul­tur­al high­lights. Atten­tion cin­e­ma fans: from 25 Sep­tem­ber to 5 Octo­ber 2025 you will meet stars on the green car­pet of the Zurich Film Fes­ti­val. On 27 and 28 Sep­tem­ber 2025 archi­tec­ture lovers will be in their ele­ment at the Open House Zurich. Once a year, Zurich insti­tu­tions and pri­vate homes open the doors that would oth­er­wise be tight­ly closed to the pub­lic. Read­ers are in good hands at the Zürich liest inter­na­tion­al book and lit­er­a­ture fes­ti­val from 21 to 26 Octo­ber. If you’re already miss­ing the hot tem­per­a­tures, make a detour to the exot­ic Masoala Hall at Zurich Zoo – you’re guar­an­teed to break a sweat!

Pro tip for your autumn expe­ri­ence: Noth­ing beats choco­late! A vis­it to the Lindt Home of Choco­late is a must in the autumn – as a Mem­ber, you even receive a 20% dis­count on admis­sion.

Crossing borders in Kreuzlingen

The overnight stay in the old manor house, where Kreu­zlin­gen Youth Hos­tel is locat­ed in the mid­dle of the colour­ful See­burg Park, is a high­light in itself. But it gets even bet­ter: stroll along Lake Con­stance and admire the colour­ful land­scape on the oth­er bank from afar. The charm­ing old town of Con­stance also bus­tles with life. It’s easy to cross the nation­al bor­der on foot. The city is always worth a vis­it. Cosy cafes, afford­able restau­rants and plen­ty of shops invite you to linger.

Pro tip for your autumn expe­ri­ence: Pano serves fresh sour­dough bread with a vari­ety of spread cre­ations – every bite is a treat. And it’s the per­fect place to watch the peo­ple on the prom­e­nade.

Lavaux golden vineyard terraces

When the vine­yards of Lavaux change colour in autumn, the UNESCO World Her­itage Site is trans­formed into a gold­en stage. The ter­raced slopes above Lake Gene­va glow in rich shades of yel­low and orange, pro­vid­ing a breath­tak­ing back­drop for hikes and tast­ings. A glass of Chas­se­las with a view of the lake? Oui, s’il vous plaît !

Pro tip for your autumn expe­ri­ence: Stop in one of the many wine-grow­ing vil­lages and treat your­self to a tast­ing ses­sion in the wine cel­lar. It couldn’t be more authen­tic. San­té !

Autumn chestnut festival in Ascona & Locarno

Autumn on Lake Mag­giore smells of fresh­ly roast­ed chest­nuts. At the chest­nut fes­ti­val in Ascona on 4 Octo­ber 2025 and in Locarno on 12 Octo­ber 2025, every­thing revolves around these brown del­i­ca­cies. Whether as soup, cake, polen­ta or sim­ply roast­ed over the fire – the vari­ety of chest­nuts nev­er ceas­es to amaze, year after year. In addi­tion to culi­nary high­lights, mar­ket stalls and the Tici­no zest for life cre­ate a unique atmos­phere between palm trees and the lake.
Pro tip for your autumn expe­ri­ence: Com­bine your vis­it with an overnight stay at Locarno Youth Hos­tel. Per­fect for relax­ing after enjoy­ing a treat for the palate.

Off to the squirrel forest in Valbella-Lenzerheide

Feel the earthy ground, breathe in the fresh autumn air and walk through the woods as the sun’s rays wind through the trees. And then: nim­ble squir­rels edge clos­er with curios­i­ty, look­ing for­ward to a few hazel­nuts. An autumn expe­ri­ence that should def­i­nite­ly be on your buck­et list. From Val­bel­la-Lenz­er­hei­de Youth Hos­tel, you can reach the Squir­rel For­est in just six min­utes by car. If you wish, you can extend your walk through the woods and walk along Lake Hei­d­see.

Pro tip for your autumn expe­ri­ence: After about 15 min­utes along the lake, you’ll reach the Kiosk Lido. It serves drinks and snacks like creamy Älpler­ma­gro­nen pas­ta and home­made Graubün­den nut cake.

Bathing in Baden

The charm­ing small town of Baden shows what it has to offer in autumn. And it’s some­thing very spe­cial: The town is home to the old­est known ther­mal springs in Switzer­land. The nat­ur­al springs bub­ble right at a strik­ing bend of the Lim­mat, feed­ing into the hot foun­tains. The best part is that the bathing expe­ri­ence in the ther­mal water, which is around 46.6 degrees Cel­sius, is free of charge.

Pro tip for your autumn expe­ri­ence: Pep­pino has excel­lent take-away piz­zas that you can enjoy at home on the sofa after a relax­ing bath.

Through the Alps on the GoldenPass Express panoramic train

One of the best ways to expe­ri­ence Switzer­land in autumn is by tak­ing a trip on the Gold­en­Pass Express. The panoram­ic train con­nects Inter­lak­en in the Bernese Ober­land with Mon­treux on Lake Gene­va, or vice ver­sa. The jour­ney winds its way from the lake past vine­yards, moun­tains, forests and typ­i­cal vil­lages. «Iis­chtige bitte» as they say.

Pro tip for your autumn expe­ri­ence: Three of our youth hos­tels are locat­ed right on the route: Mon­treux, Saa­nen-Gstaad and Inter­lak­en. Enjoy the jour­ney in stages, and be sur­prised by the diver­si­ty of the dif­fer­ent towns.