The 50 Most Instagrammable Places in Switzerland
The 50 most Instagrammable places in Switzerland, ranked by popularity — with photos, the best time to shoot each, and one-tap Google Maps directions from where you are.
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Switzerland might be the most photogenic country on earth — a place where turquoise lakes, glacier-hung peaks and storybook villages sit a short train ride apart. We ranked the 50 most Instagrammable places in Switzerland by popularity, from the Matterhorn down to a Bond-famous mountain pass, so you can build a photo trip around the very best.
Every spot below has a photo, the best time to shoot it, its region, and a one-tap Google Maps directions link that routes from wherever you are straight to the location. Most are reachable by public transport — see whether the Swiss Travel Pass is worth it and our 7-day Switzerland itinerary to string them together.
1. The Matterhorn from Zermatt
📍 Zermatt, Valais · Valais
Switzerland's most photographed mountain, the near-perfect 4,478 m pyramid of the Matterhorn towers over car-free Zermatt. The classic shot is from the Kirchbrücke bridge at dawn, when the peak glows pink.
2. Lauterbrunnen Valley & Staubbach Falls
📍 Lauterbrunnen, Bernese Oberland · Bern
The valley of 72 waterfalls, where sheer cliffs and the free-falling Staubbach Falls frame a storybook village. It is said to have inspired Tolkien’s Rivendell and is one of the most photographed spots in the Alps.
3. Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe
📍 Jungfrau region, Bernese Oberland · Bern
Europe's highest railway station at 3,454 m, ringed by glaciers and the Aletsch ice stream. The Sphinx observation deck delivers a surreal, brilliant-white panorama of the high Alps.
4. Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke), Lucerne
📍 Lucerne, Central Switzerland · Lucerne
Europe's oldest wooden covered bridge, strung with flowers and anchored by its octagonal water tower. Reflected in the Reuss at blue hour, it is Lucerne's signature frame.
5. Château de Chillon, Lake Geneva
📍 Veytaux near Montreux, Vaud · Vaud
An island castle rising straight from Lake Geneva with the Alps behind – Switzerland's most visited historic monument. The lakeside path gives the postcard angle.
6. Grindelwald & First
📍 Grindelwald, Bernese Oberland · Bern
Chalets scattered across a green bowl beneath the Eiger’s north face, with the First cliff walk hanging over the void above. One of the most dramatic village-and-mountain compositions in the country.
7. Harder Kulm, Interlaken
📍 Interlaken, Bernese Oberland · Bern
Interlaken's 'Top of Interlaken' viewpoint, where a railed platform juts out over both Lake Thun and Lake Brienz with the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau lined up behind.
8. Oeschinensee
📍 Kandersteg, Bernese Oberland · Bern
A UNESCO-listed mountain lake of impossibly blue water cupped by 3,000 m peaks. A short gondola and walk from Kandersteg reach one of the Alps’ most beautiful shorelines.
9. Rhine Falls (Rheinfall)
📍 Schaffhausen / Neuhausen · Schaffhausen
Europe's most powerful waterfall, 150 m wide and thundering around a central rock you can climb by boat. Best framed from the Schössli Wörth viewpoints and Laufen Castle.
10. Landwasser Viaduct, Bernina/Albula line
📍 Filisur, Graubünden · Graubünden
The curving six-arch limestone viaduct that plunges straight into a tunnel mouth in the cliff – the iconic shot of the UNESCO Albula railway, ideally with a red Rhaetian train crossing.
11. Lake Zurich & the Old Town
📍 Zurich · Zurich
Church spires and guild houses lining the Limmat where it meets Lake Zurich, with the Alps on the horizon on clear days. The Lindenhof and lakefront give the best angles.
12. Bern Old Town & the Aare
📍 Bern · Bern
A UNESCO medieval old town of sandstone arcades looping inside a bend of the emerald Aare, crowned by the Zytglogge clock tower. The Rosengarten viewpoint frames it all.
13. Schilthorn – Piz Gloria
📍 above Mürren, Bernese Oberland · Bern
A 2,970 m summit with a revolving restaurant and a 360° sweep taking in 200 peaks, from the Eiger to Mont Blanc – famous as a James Bond filming location.
14. Mürren
📍 Mürren, Bernese Oberland · Bern
A car-free cliff-edge village facing the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau head-on. Its lanes and chalet balconies frame the big three peaks from every corner.
15. Iseltwald jetty, Lake Brienz
📍 Iseltwald, Bernese Oberland · Bern
A tiny wooden jetty reaching into the turquoise water of Lake Brienz, made globally famous by a K-drama and now one of Switzerland’s viral photo spots.
16. Brienz & Lake Brienz
📍 Brienz, Bernese Oberland · Bern
A postcard lakeside village of wood-carved chalets on the greenest-blue water in the country, backed by the Brienzer Rothorn steam railway.
17. Aletsch Glacier
📍 Aletsch Arena, Valais · Valais
The largest glacier in the Alps, a 20 km river of ice curving between peaks and best seen from the Eggishorn, Bettmerhorn or Moosfluh viewpoints in the UNESCO Aletsch Arena.
18. St. Moritz & Lake St. Moritz
📍 St. Moritz, Engadin, Graubünden · Graubünden
The glamorous Engadin resort set above a mirror-calm lake, ringed by larch forest and high peaks that turn gold in autumn.
19. Gornergrat & Matterhorn railway
📍 above Zermatt, Valais · Valais
A 3,089 m ridge reached by cog railway, facing a head-on Matterhorn amid 29 peaks over 4,000 m and the Gorner Glacier – arguably the best mountain viewpoint in Europe.
20. Creux du Van
📍 Val-de-Travers, Neuchâtel · Neuchâtel
A vast natural rock amphitheatre – a 160 m-high, 1 km-wide horseshoe of cliffs in the Jura, often called the “Swiss Grand Canyon,” with ibex on the rim.
21. Lavaux Vineyard Terraces
📍 Lavaux, Lake Geneva, Vaud · Vaud
UNESCO-listed terraced vineyards tumbling down to Lake Geneva, with the Savoy Alps across the water – a golden, geometric landscape especially at harvest.
22. Aescher cliff & Ebenalp
📍 Ebenalp, Appenzell · Appenzell Innerrhoden
The gravity-defying Aescher guesthouse tucked under a 100 m overhanging cliff – an image that went around the world and defines Appenzell’s dramatic Alpstein.
23. Blausee
📍 Kandertal, Bernese Oberland · Bern
A small, spring-fed forest lake so clear and intensely blue the trout appear to float in mid-air – a jewel-like spot in a nature park.
24. Stoos & the Fronalpstock ridge
📍 Stoos, Schwyz · Schwyz
A knife-edge ridge walk with Lake Lucerne far below on both sides, reached by the world’s steepest funicular from the car-free village of Stoos.
25. Mount Pilatus
📍 above Lucerne · Obwalden
The dragon-legend mountain over Lucerne, reached by the world’s steepest cogwheel railway, with jagged ridges and a sea-of-fog panorama over Central Switzerland.
26. Mount Rigi
📍 above Lake Lucerne · Schwyz
The “Queen of the Mountains,” a broad grassy summit surrounded by lakes with Europe’s first mountain railway and sweeping views to the high Alps.
27. Mount Titlis & glacier
📍 Engelberg, Obwalden · Obwalden
A 3,238 m glacier summit with an ice cave, a cliff-walk suspension bridge and a rotating cable car, high above the Engelberg valley.
28. Engelberg
📍 Engelberg, Obwalden · Obwalden
A monastery resort village in a green bowl beneath Titlis, its baroque abbey and chalets framed by snow peaks in every direction.
29. Lugano & Lake Lugano
📍 Lugano, Ticino · Ticino
A Mediterranean-flavoured lakeside city of palm-lined promenades and pastel piazzas, framed by the sugarloaf peaks of Monte Brè and San Salvatore.
30. Bellinzona castles
📍 Bellinzona, Ticino · Ticino
Three UNESCO medieval castles and a fortified wall guarding the Ticino valley – ramparts and towers with the southern Alps as a backdrop.
31. Morcote
📍 Morcote, Ticino · Ticino
Once voted Switzerland’s most beautiful village – arcaded lakefront houses and a hillside church with a long stairway above shimmering Lake Lugano.
32. Verzasca Valley – Lavertezzo
📍 Valle Verzasca, Ticino · Ticino
Emerald-clear river pools under the double-arched Roman-style Ponte dei Salti, threading a valley of white stone and turquoise water.
33. Gruyères
📍 Gruyères, Fribourg · Fribourg
A perfectly preserved hilltop medieval town of a single cobbled street leading to a castle, surrounded by the green pre-Alps of cheese-and-cream country.
34. Chur Old Town
📍 Chur, Graubünden · Graubünden
Switzerland's oldest town, a maze of painted houses and cobbled lanes beneath the mountains, and the gateway to the Rhaetian railways.
35. Basel Old Town & the Rhine
📍 Basel · Basel-Stadt
The red-sandstone Münster and pastel houses above the Rhine, where locals swim the current in summer – a colourful, cultured riverside frame.
36. Zermatt village & Kirchbrücke
📍 Zermatt, Valais · Valais
The little Kirchbrücke bridge over the Vispa where the Matterhorn lines up perfectly behind the chalets – the classic Zermatt street-level shot.
37. Schynige Platte
📍 above Wilderswil, Bernese Oberland · Bern
A vintage cog railway climbs to a ridge-top alpine garden facing the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau across the valley – a hiker’s panorama balcony.
38. Bachalpsee
📍 Grindelwald-First, Bernese Oberland · Bern
A twin mountain lake that mirrors the Schreckhorn and Wetterhorn, an easy hike from the top of Grindelwald-First – the region’s signature reflection shot.
39. Trümmelbach Falls
📍 Lauterbrunnen, Bernese Oberland · Bern
Ten glacial waterfalls thundering inside the mountain, lit and reached by tunnel lifts – a rare, dramatic subject carved into the Lauterbrunnen cliffs.
40. Seealpsee
📍 Alpstein, Appenzell · Appenzell Innerrhoden
A serene alpine lake cradled by the Säntis massif, its shoreline farms and still water making it one of eastern Switzerland’s loveliest hikes.
41. Caumasee, Flims
📍 Flims, Graubünden · Graubünden
A turquoise forest-fringed swimming lake reached by a little funicular, with warm, astonishingly clear water in a pine-scented bowl.
42. Lake Zug
📍 Zug · Zug
A mellow lakeside old town whose sunsets over the Rigi and Pilatus, mirrored in the water, are among the most photographed in Central Switzerland.
43. Thun Castle & Lake Thun
📍 Thun, Bernese Oberland · Bern
A white four-towered medieval castle above a canal-laced old town, with Lake Thun and the Bernese Alps beyond – the gateway to the Oberland.
44. Spiez & Lake Thun
📍 Spiez, Bernese Oberland · Bern
A horseshoe bay with a castle and vineyards curving around Lake Thun – a serene, classic Oberland composition from the viewpoint above the station.
45. Montreux lakefront riviera
📍 Montreux, Vaud · Vaud
A flower-lined promenade of palms and belle-époque hotels on the Swiss Riviera, with the Alps across Lake Geneva and the Freddie Mercury statue on the quay.
46. Bettmeralp, Aletsch Arena
📍 Aletsch Arena, Valais · Valais
A car-free plateau village with a tiny chapel on the meadow and the Aletsch Glacier just over the ridge – an idyllic, high-altitude scene.
47. Saas-Fee
📍 Saas-Fee, Valais · Valais
The “Pearl of the Alps,” a car-free village ringed by a horseshoe of thirteen 4,000 m peaks and hanging glaciers that seem close enough to touch.
48. Leukerbad thermal valley
📍 Leukerbad, Valais · Valais
Europe’s largest thermal spa resort, where you soak in steaming open-air pools beneath a towering wall of cliffs and the Gemmi Pass.
49. Davos & Weissfluhjoch
📍 Davos, Graubünden · Graubünden
Europe’s highest town and its Weissfluhjoch ridge, a sweeping high-Alpine panorama of ski slopes and layered peaks in the heart of Graubünden.
50. Furka Pass Alpine road
📍 Furka Pass, Uri/Valais · Valais
The switchbacking pass road made famous by a James Bond car chase, winding past the Rhone Glacier and the Hotel Belvédère hairpin – a road-trip icon.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most Instagrammable place in Switzerland?
The Matterhorn seen from Zermatt is the most photographed and most Instagrammable place in Switzerland. The classic shot is from the Kirchbrücke bridge at sunrise, when the 4,478 m peak glows pink above the car-free village.
When is the best time of year to photograph Switzerland?
June to September gives green meadows, turquoise lakes and open mountain excursions; December to March delivers snow-covered villages and dramatic winter scenes. For any spot, the golden hour around sunrise and sunset gives the best light — and mountain shots depend heavily on clear weather, so check webcams before you travel up.
How do I get to these photo spots without a car?
Almost every place on this list is reachable by Switzerland’s train, bus and boat network, often more scenically than by car. A Swiss Travel Pass covers most of it — see our guide on whether the Swiss Travel Pass is worth it.
Can I fly a drone at these locations in Switzerland?
Switzerland follows EU drone rules. Small drones are allowed in many areas but there are restrictions near airports, nature reserves and crowds, and some cantons and sites have their own limits. Always check the current Swiss (FOCA) drone regulations and local signage before flying.
Which Swiss lake is the most photogenic?
Oeschinensee near Kandersteg and Lake Brienz (especially the Iseltwald jetty) are among the most photogenic, thanks to their intense turquoise water framed by steep peaks. Blausee and Caumasee are smaller but astonishingly clear alternatives.
Plan your Switzerland photo trip
Written by Christoph Burgdorfer
Swiss-based traveler writing first-hand, up-to-date guides to getting the most out of Switzerland — trains, mountains, and real prices in Swiss francs.
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