Travel to Switzerland in The Hearth of Europe

When you travel to Switzerland you will notice that it is just a short trip from most European locations.

Switzerland is located right in the center of Europe. For this reason, many European airlines arrive directly to one of our International airports. Visitors from northern or eastern European countries or from overseas head first through one of the European hub airports. Those are usually London Heathrow, Amsterdam Shiphol, Frankfurt or Paris Charles Degaulle airports before connecting to a Swiss airport.

Swiss Airlines is the national carrier of Switzerland serving 73 worldwide destinations from its home hub in Zurich, and from Basel and Geneva International airports. So unless you decide to travel to Switzerland with a private jet or by train, consider Swiss International Airlines.

Geneva International Airport
Geneva airport is located to the west of Switzerland right on the French border. It is serving mostly the French speaking destinations in the cantons of Vaud, Valais, the cities of Bern, the capital of Switzerland, and Geneva Switzerland. You have excellent transportation possibilities by car or train to anywhere in the western part of Switzerland. Inside the train and airport terminals are restaurants and bars and a supermarket.

Zurich International Airport
Zurich airport is modern and efficient and located to the north. It serves more the towns and resorts in central, north-eastern and south-eastern Switzerland. There are many restaurants and bars and a supermarket in the terminal. I recommend you spend a day or two in the beautiful city of Zurich from where you also take some interesting Zurich Tours before starting your resort holidays.

Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg
Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg is the only completely bi-national airport in the world and located in the north-east. It is more of a cargo airport but can be used when visiting the area close to Basel or Schaffhausen.

Lugano Airport
Lugano Airport is located to the south close to the Italian border. It is a tiny airport but still has a supermarket, a bar and a few restaurants in case you arrive or depart near lunchtime. It serves the city of Lugano and the towns and resorts of the canton of Ticino. However, air travel to the towns and resorts in Italy and France is soon possible.

Bern/Belp Airport
Bern/Belp airport is only 9 km (5.5 miles) from the capital of Bern. It is a small airport with daily flights within our country and other European cities like London and Munich. It is the gateway to get to the resorts of Grindelwald, Wengen, Mürren and Gstaad. This small airport is getting discovered by English and Russian guests who travel to Switzerland with their private or business jets directly to this small airport.

The airports from Geneva and Zurich are integrated into the Swiss railroad network and have their own train stations.

From both airports, you can take Intercity or direct trains and connect to the cities or towns. From Basel you will have a bus service from the airport to the downtown area. This buses are leaving every 20 - 30 minutes and depending on traffic take about 15 minutes.

You can of course look into a car rental in Switzerland, if you prefer or take a taxi. The taxi transfer costs from the airports to the city centers are between 40 to 50 CHF - approximately 31 to 38 USD.

Travel to Switzerland by Private or Business Jet

You have a choice to travel to Switzerland with your private or business jet or use a private jet charter, which is the fastest and most convenient. You can land to the nearest airport which is often only a few kilometers from any of your prefered Swiss Ski Resorts. The runways are long enough to land on even at high elevation. Fuel is available for turbo prop as well as jet airplanes.

The Swiss high-end destinations that are visited most by famous people are Gstaad, Mürren, Grindelwald, Wengen, St. Moritz, Davos, Klosters, Arosa, Zermatt, Verbier, Villars and Crans-Montana. Especially many wealthy Russians air travel by private jet directly to the luxury ski resorts.

How do you get to those resorts in your private or business jet? If you plan to take a vacation at a resort in the Bernese Oberland in Mürren, Grindelwald and Wengen use the airport in Bern/Belp. From Bern/Belp it takes only about one hour and 10 minutes by car to get to those two resorts. Of course you can rent a car at the airport and take the autobahn A6 Bern to Spiez. Or take the train from the town center of Belp to Interlaken and then connect to the resorts by bus - not very convenient..

If you prefer visiting Gstaad, air travel directly to the small airport of Saanen. This small airport is at 3000 ft and can not be used for IFR approaches. The resort of Gstaad is only 6 km (4 miles) from the airport. You can arrange with the hotel to pick you up in a limousine or you can rent a car at the airport or in town.

Please be adviced that the runway at Saanen airport is very short for jets. I recommend you to use the airport in Bern/Belp and than charter a helicopter or rent a luxury car. For safety reasons, it could well be that the Saanen airport may be closed soon for private jets.

You may want to travel to Switzerland and on to St. Moritz, which is quite simple because the airport of Samedan is only 5 kilometers (3 miles) away.

It is however a high altitude airport at 1,822 meters above sea level - in fact it is the highest airport in Europe.

As in Gstaad, you can't fly in IFR conditions for your approaches. So be very careful in bad weather and especially in windy conditions. Also remember that your landing and take-off is at altitude.

If you are planing a holiday in Davos, Klosters or Arosa, it is best to travel to Altenrhein airport located close on Lake Constance. It is a tiny but modern airport and has the facilities for Instrument approaches ILS / DME Cat. 1. From the airport, it is about 70 miles to Davos or Klosters and a bit closer to Arosa. There are quite a few car rental companies and a limousine service operating from the airport.

Please take note of a few basic air regulation rules regarding air travel to Switzerland by private- or business jet:

* If your aircraft is registered in a Member State of ICAO you do not need prior permission to overfly Swiss territory or to land at Swiss airports for non-commercial purposes. Your private flights to travel to Switzerland are not subject to prior permission provided the aircraft is registered in a Member State of ICAO.

* When you are landing on or departing from Swiss territory you must first land at or finally take-off from a customs aerodrome.

* Should you have more than 8 passengers on board, a list of passengers shall be transmitted in advance.

* Radio contact becomes compulsory for approaches and departures.

* For the approach and the subsequent landing of an aircraft, a landing charge is levied.

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