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DISCOVER SWITZERLAND

Where are the ‘best’ restaurants in Switzerland?

Switzerland is home to some top restaurants, many of which have earned the prestigious Michelin stars. But where are they all and does this mean they are the best? Share your own recommendations below.

Published: 17 October 2023 12:30 CEST
Updated: 20 April 2024 07:26 CEST
Where are the 'best' restaurants in Switzerland?
Switzerland is home to some of the world's best restaurants. Photo by Pixabay.

In October, Michelin presented this year’s renowned restaurant selection of the Michelin Guide Switzerland 2023 at the EHL Hospitality Business School in Lausanne.

The guide introduced five two-star restaurant newcomers (three of which are based in French-speaking Switzerland), while Michelin handed out a total of nine MICHELIN Green Stars for environmentally conscious gastronomy.

In addition to the newly crowned restaurants, Michelin also announced that a further 15 Swiss restaurants had been awarded the Bib Gourmand – which highlights good-value-for-money restaurants – prior to the award ceremony.

Overall, Switzerland’s local gastronomy includes 138 starred restaurants as well as 33 MICHELIN Green Stars-eateries.

So, where can you find the crème de la crème of Swiss restaurants?

Top of the list

The gourmet restaurant Memories, located in the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz (St. Gallen), is among Michelin’s four three-star restaurants this year and a great start for indecisive eaters with an appetite for Swiss alpine cuisine.

Under the kitchen management of Sven Wassmer, Memories’ offers customers seasonal menus consisting of several surprise taste experiences in place of an à la carte menu.

Schloss Schauenstein in neighbouring Graubünden – where Andreas Caminada and Marcel Skibba run the kitchen – is also among Switzerland’s three-star Michelin restaurants, alongside the Cheval Blanc by Peter Knogl in the city of Basel with Peter Knogl as head chef and the Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville in Crissier (Vaud) with Franck Giovannini at the helm of the kitchen.

Two-star newcomers

This year also saw five Swiss restaurants snag two Michelin stars for the first time, of which The Japanese Restaurant at the luxurious The Chedi Hotel (Uri) is particularly noteworthy. Swiss twin chef duo Dominik Sato and Fabio Toffolon took the reins of the Andermatt-based restaurant in the spring where they serve up an exciting blend of Japanese cuisine and timeless European influences.

While in the Deutschschweiz, you may also want to check out the region’s second two-starred newcomer: Mammertsberg.

Diners at this exclusive boutique hotel and restaurant, with Silvio Germann as head chef, get to enjoy elaborate meals with deep flavour while overlooking Freidorf (Thurgau) with views reaching all the way to Lake Constance. A three-course meal at the restaurant will set you back 184 Swiss francs per person and needs to be prebooked.

Those looking to enjoy fine dining in French-speaking Switzerland will find themselves spoiled for choice as three new restaurants have joined Michelin’s two-star ranks.

L’Atelier Robuchon in the city of Geneva, which is housed in the basement of the luxury hotel The Woodward, offers diners a cuisine inspired by regional and seasonal products cooked up by executive chef Olivier Jean.

In neighbouring Vaud, the menu at La Table du Lausanne Palace – with an unmatched panorama overlooking the rooftops of Lausanne, the mountains and the lake – includes anything from delicious frog legs to salmon from Graubünden and wood-fired venison, while La Table du Valrose in Rougemont (Vaud) wows diners with its modern French-influenced menu.

19 new one-star restaurants

2023 also saw a total of 19 Swiss restaurants added to the country’s list of one star Michelin-rated eateries, bringing the total number of one-star restaurants to 108.

Among them is the Wiesner Mysterion – Zauber in Romoos (Lucerne) with its unique alchemical natural cuisine – as chef Stefan Wiesner puts it, for which the restaurant was awarded one star on its first try. The restaurant’s exceptional nine course menu – which is introduced with a short story by Wiesner and tailored to reflect each season – costs 225 Swiss francs per person.

The restaurant ZOE in Switzerland’s capital Bern – which also received the green star for its sustainable concept – is renowned for its modern and creative vegetarian dishes prepared by operational duo Fabian Raffeiner (kitchen) and Mark Hayoz (service).

Restaurants with sustainability at heart

With sustainability gaining importance worldwide, many on the lookout for their next perfect night out also choose to consider a restaurant’s sense of responsibility.

This year, nine Swiss restaurants were newly granted a MICHELIN Green Star for their commitment to the environment and resources and acting as role-models within sustainable gastronomy.

Among them is the modern Zurich-based elmira. Based in the basement of a former silo on the Löwenbräu brewery site, elmira’s cuisine places importance on choosing seasonal products – meat, fish or vegetarian – as well as ingredients sourced from the immediate vicinity where available.

Meanwhile, the La Tapis Rouge in Brienz (Bern) relies on its 2-hectare vegetable garden for fresh produce which is supplemented by local farms and small-scale producers. The produce the restaurant does not manage to use up for either its vegetable-focused or completely vegetarian menu is not wasted, but rather fermented or marinated.

READ MORE: Swiss government wants residents to eat less meat to protect the climate

15 affordable restaurants

In this year’s edition of the MICHELIN Guide Switzerland, 15 new restaurants have received Bib Gourmand award, which highlights restaurants that stand out for the particularly good value for money they offer.

Not surprisingly, most of them are located in rural areas and offer a good assortment of Swiss and international – particularly Asian – delicacies.

If you’re looking for inventive cuisine on a (Swiss) dime in a cosy setting, then you may want to visit the Le Mont-Rouge in Haute-Nendaz (Valais). At the restaurant, guests can order local, authentically homemade dishes paired with a selection of fine wines from the Valais region.

In German-speaking Switzerland, the rustic Schüpbärg-Beizli may be in the middle of nowhere, but it is well worth the trip to Schüpfen (Bern) if it’s Swiss specialties you have your eye on.

The restaurant – or Beizli (tavern) as it’s called in Swiss German – aims to delight guests with a range of traditional Swiss dishes with a modern twist. Its current menu includes cheese ravioli, Swiss salmon, and beef fillet to be followed by a pumpkin pie, plum compote and a variety of ice creams.

You can find a comprehensive list of the remaining restaurants featured on the MICHELIN Guide Switzerland 2023 here.

READ MORE: How many of these must-try Swiss regional delicacies have you tasted?

Is your favourite restaurant in Switzerland in this list? If not where would you recommend for readers?

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DISCOVER SWITZERLAND

Five things foreign tourists may find surprising about Switzerland

Summer vacation is in full swing, with scores of foreign tourists visiting Switzerland — many for the first time. What are they likely to be astonished by most, other than the prices?

Published: 18 July 2024 14:14 CEST
Updated: 20 July 2024 09:25 CEST
Five things foreign tourists may find surprising about Switzerland

Despite being quite a bit more expensive than other European countries, Switzerland remains a popular destination for international visitors.

This year is no different — in fact, the number of US tourists has reached its highest level in 2023, with numbers expected to be even higher when figures for 2024 are counted.

READ ALSO: Why a record number of American tourists are visiting Switzerland 

The learning curve about Switzerland is particularly high for people who visit the country for the first time

Once they realise that many of their pre-conceived beliefs  have no basis in reality — for instance, that Switzerland is not Sweden (and vice-versa), and that not all Swiss people are yodellers, Alphorn players, and bankers — there are still a number of things that are likely to surprise them.

Some are pleasant surprises and others less so.

Let’s look at some of them.

Languages

A huge shock awaits all those who believed that ‘Swiss’ is the official language here.

They will no doubt be astonished to discover that there are, in fact, four different languages — German, French, Italian, and Romansh — and ‘Swiss’ is not one of them.

Another mind-boggling moment may come when they realise how seamlessly one linguistic region transitions into another: you can drive for half an hour and see road signs morph into another language.

Fountains

Not only is Switzerland dotted with many lakes and rivers for swimming, but fountains are also a great source of refreshing water — not just for dipping into, but also for drinking (though not for washing your clothes).

It is a common sight to see people filling their bottles with waters directly from the fountain — for free (which is a huge plus, as some restaurants will charge for a carafe of tap water).

READ ALSO: Where is bathing in fountains allowed in Switzerland? 

PostBus

In general, all kinds of public transport (including trains, buses, trams, and cross-lake ferries) are plentiful and efficient in all Swiss regions.

But yellow PostBuses, with their distinct horns (which celebrate their 100 anniversary this year), are true icons. 

The 2,400 PostBus vehicles currently in service cover a network of 936 lines that span almost 17,000 kilometres of picturesque country and mountain roads — so you might say they travel the widths, lengths and heights of the country.

They actually are the best and least expensive way to sightsee in Switzerland.

READ ALSO: How and where can you travel on an iconic Swiss PostBus? 

Now for the less pleasant aspects of being a tourist in Switzerland…

Don’t expect people to queue up

The Swiss may be very orderly and organised in all aspects of their lives, but yet they have never mastered the art of waiting patiently in line.

This is most evident at long queues that typically form at ski lifts, but can also occur anywhere and at any time.

One theory to explain this uncharacteristic behaviour is that the Swiss, who are accustomed to a certain order of things, are awful at handling ‘unusual’ situations like chaos.

READ ALSO: Why don’t the Swiss like to queue? 

Trash

No, we don’t mean that there is garbage strewn in the streets; that would be so unlike Switzerland.

However, you need to be mindful of what you throw out, and where.

Depending on what kind of waste you want to dispose of, you have to find a proper container for that particular object — for instance, you can’t throw out cardboard into a ‘regular’ trash can, as one clueless American found out the hard way:
 
READ ALSO: Zurich to fine American resident for throwing carton into trash

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