Culture

Switzerland does not have a strong artistic heritage, even though many foreign writers and artists (such as Voltaire, Byron, Shelley, James Joyce and Charlie Chaplin) have sojourned there. Conversely, many creative Swiss such as Charles Le Corbusier, Paul Klee, Albert Giacometti and Jean-Luc Godard left the country to make their name abroad.

Swiss folk culture includes yodelling, playing the alp horn and Swiss wrestling. We suggest you don't indulge in any of these after a night in a Swiss tavern. Do, however, take on some hearty traditional cooking - try rosti or the famed fondue.

The naturalised Swiss writer Hermann Hesse is the most famous 'local' author. A copy of his novel Siddartha used to be found in the backpack of every questing Westerner heading on the hippy trail to India. German-Swiss dramatist and novelist Max Frisch was one of Europe's most respected authors in the 1950s. His best-selling 1957 novel Homo Faber was filmed in 1991 by Volker Schlondorff and released under the title Voyager. The 18th-century writings of Rousseau, who lived in Geneva, played an important part in the development of democracy, and Carl Jung, based in Zürich, was instrumental in developing modern psychoanalysis.

Switzerland doesn't have a great indigenous gastronomic tradition - instead, Swiss dishes borrow from the best of German and French cuisine. Cheeses form an important part of the Swiss diet. Emmenthaler and Gruyère are combined with white wine to create fondue, which is served up in a vast pot and eaten with bread cubes. Rosti (crispy, fried, shredded potatoes) is German Switzerland's national dish. Fresh fish from the numerous lakes frequently crop up on menus, especially perch and trout. Swiss chocolate, excellent by itself, is often used in desserts and cakes.