What's our best
There are things that represent a country to the rest of the world like no other – and when it comes to Switzerland, if you look beyond the alpine ranges, glaciers, ski slopes and lakes, it’s the little things that loom large. Little things like chocolate, or the national dish of fondue – the fish and chips of the ski-loving set. There’s precision watchmaking, too, the results of which sit in the windows of the world’s most exclusive jewellers. Then there are the seasonal festivals such as Basel’s spectacular Fasnacht, the biggest festival in Switzerland, held each year as the last hurrah before the fasting period begins after Ash Wednesday. Whether you stir them, swallow them, wear them or revel in them, these are six of the best representations of Switzerland’s ineffable magic.
1. Heidi
The world is not short of classic orphan stories – Oliver Twist, Harry Potter and Mowgli all spring to mind – but Heidi tops them all. One of the world’s best-selling books, and Switzerland’s most famous literary character, her adventures with her grandfather, young Peter the goatherd and her friend Klara are as embedded in the global imagination as the Matterhorn is into the high Alps. Since its 1881 publication, there have been innumerable film, TV and stage adaptations, as well as computer games and even a Heidiland theme park in Maienfeld, an area also famed for the quality of its local wines. You may want to raise a toast. 
2. Fondue
Officially the Swiss national dish – and popularised by the Swiss Cheese Union since 1930 – the first recorded fondue recipe dates back to 1699. With powerful rustic associations – think of England’s ploughman’s lunch – the introduction of corn starch to its mix of gruyere and wine made fondue that much smoother and more popular, and as its popularity grew, so did the number of recipe variations. Even the fondue set has become something of a Swiss icon, and like many good things, the best bit of the dish is to be found at the bottom. Just don’t drop your bread while dunking – or you’ll be liable to pay a potentially embarrassing forfeit.
3. Chocolate
Possibly Switzerland’s second national dish, fine, melt-in-the-mouth chocolate has long been synonymous with the country, ever since the world’s first mechanised chocolate factory opened in Vevey, along with the innovations of messrs Rodolphe Lindt, Henry Nestle and Theodore Tobler – household names to this day. What they did was to smooth out the original gritty, chewy chocolate of the day, and add new ingredients such as milk, nougat and almonds. Lindt’s new Home of Chocolate museum in Kilchberg, just south of Zurich, is the world’s largest, complete with a 10m-high chocolate fountain. Willy Wonka would be in heaven.
4. Watches
Time is money, and time is a luxury, too – and both converge in Switzerland’s world-class reputation for high-end horology. As renowned for punctuality as it is for precision, luxury timepieces, Switzerland’s centre for all things horological is the town of La Chaux-de-Fonds, some 1,000m up in the Jura region, and a Unesco World Heritage site since 2009. Famous as the birthplace of the architect Le Corbusier, it’s even more renowned as world capital of the watchmaking industry. Its Musée International de l'Horlogerie houses more than 4,500 exhibits, including 2,700 watches and 700 wall clocks. It opens at 10am. Don’t be late.
