Find destinations and more in Switzerland
City-maps.ch: Sophisticated route planner with many extras
City-maps.ch is the easy way to find routes and journey times between given destinations, to have them displayed on an interactive map, and to access a wealth of information about journeys and travelling by train or car in Switzerland.
The City-maps.ch homepage welcomes its visitors with a general map of Switzerland and an input mask for central search functions. Firstly, to search for a given location in the address search, simply enter here the street name, postal code and town, click on “search” (“suchen”) and the required address is displayed on the map. The map section displayed can then be enlarged or reduced gradually using the zoom function and moved in any direction to help the user get his bearings within the surrounding area. The map shown has another special feature: its appearance can be switched from a normal road map to a photographic satellite view, or a “Hybrid” (“Hybrid”) combination of the two for the purpose of easy orientation within the real aerial view which can be zoomed in to individual buildings.
Input into the route planner works similarly – detailed directions and the markers for the start, destination and route appear here in the general map. Here too, it is possible to continue work with the result – clicking on the start or destination marker opens a map window with a detailed map of the immediate surroundings. At the same time, a list of the best hotel addresses in the destination appears in the right-hand section of the page. Here too, if the name of the required hotel is clicked on, it is immediately displayed on the map with a short yet clear description. But that’s not all – the immediate surroundings of the hotel can also be searched. Firstly, the most important addresses for holidaymakers – for instance banks – are listed, then an input window appears on the map in which more locations and search terms can be entered. The result is a map network that is tailored entirely to meet your personal requirements.
If the contents are still missing: The 30 largest and most important towns in Switzerland are listed at the top right of the page – internal links lead from this list to short and concise article reviews. Eight headings are arranged underneath, each containing valuable and specific information for travellers in Switzerland: “Towns and Metropolises” (“Städte und Metropolen”) lists the most important metropolises and the most beautiful Alpine towns with links that lead to them. “Train by Train” (“Zug um Zug”) links to probably the world’s most spectacular and best developed rail network and famous historic lines such as the Gornergrat mountain railway, which climbs up to 3,089 metres. A way to take one’s own car by train can also be found here. “Tips for Car Drivers” (“Tipps for Autofahrer”) gives insight into some of the particular aspects of driving in Switzerland, e.g. the motorway vignette or the car transporter. “Arrival by Air” (“Anreise durch die Luft”) presents the range of airports in Switzerland and provides links to their websites; “Huts and Palaces” (“Hütten and Paläste”) provides details of accommodation from select luxury hotels to earthy ski huts or a place in the straw on a mountain farm. “Visa and Customs” (“Visa and Zoll”) gives information on entry requirements – for citizens of the EU their ID card is sufficient. And for those who already feel like taking off, “Alpine Panoramas” (“Alpine Panoramen”) gives references to hundreds of web cams – most of them in the mountains – as well as offers for high-altitude flights by hot-air balloon or helicopter. Particular attention should be drawn to the “Car-free Travel” (“Autofreies Reisen”) section, where reductions are presented with the Swiss travel system for travel by bus, rail, boat and local transport networks, which Switzerland’s big neighbour can only dream of.
