#1 summer activity in Switzerland

Switzerland – July 2022

I bet you are now thinking about hiking on mountain paths between cows and finishing the day with a cheese platter overlooking lush green rolling hills or a picturesque historic town. That surely is one magnificent summer day in Switzerland. But for me, a Swiss summer consists of jumping into as many crystal clear lakes and rivers as I can. So it won‘t be surprising that the following list of places I like to swim is very similar to my top 10 favourite places in Switzerland. Disclaimer: swimming in open bodies of water is always risky. Only swim in lakes and rivers if you are a strong swimmer and bring adequate safety gear. Don‘t drink alcohol before swimming.

Growing up in and around Lucerne, Lake Lucerne (or Vierwaldstättersee in German) and the river Reuss are my preferred swimming places. The water is clear and the scenery is incredible wherever you jump into the refreshing water. Plus: there are never too many people. In the city of Lucerne alone, there are several great bathing spots. If you are willing to pay an entrance fee, I recommend Seebad Luzern for a very central and more upscale experience. Other easily reachable places with a small fee are Lido and Winkel. For those on a budget, the lawns along Carl-Spitteler-Quai and Ufschötti are great options too (entertaining people watching included). Additionally, river Reuss accommodates the more adventurous swimmers. Grab your dry bag and jump into the swell after the needle dam. From there, the current easily brings you to the shallow exit at Nordpol (North Pole). Don‘t worry about polar bears, though. The only thing awaiting you is a riverside bar and a short walk back to town.

Swimming in regular, bigger lakes in the lowlands is pretty straight forward, and I won‘t cover many other places you can do that. But I do think that swimming in rivers is a quite interesting activity, worth explaining a bit further. The biggest rivers are Reuss (as mentioned before), Aare (crossing Bern), Limmat in Zurich and Rhine in Basel. All of these rivers are obviously hundreds of kilometres long, and offer just as many entry/exit spots and ways of drifting downstream. Especially in the countryside, gathering friends and family in an inflatable boat, dragging a barrel full of cold drinks behind it, is one of the preferred activities. In Bern, you can even raft in the city, but in other places, the rivers might be too narrow or busy with ships. The other popular option is to swim weightlessly in the currents, supported by a colourful dry-bag of your city‘s very own brand. Be it a Wickelfisch in Basel, an Aare-Bag in Bern or a Limmat Schwumm Dry Bag in Zurich. They will all help bring you safely to where you need to be – and keep your clothes and valuables dry at the same time. Almost always there are small bars scattered along the riversides too where you can grab a drink or snacks to keep you energized.

Other, very refreshing, bodies of water are the numerous mountain lakes. The sources of these incredibly blue lakes are the glaciers in the alps. Therefore, their water temperature doesn‘t rise above 5 °C (even in summer). But after a demanding hike, that might just be what you need. As they are most of the time located in very remote areas, and you might not even have thought about bringing swimwear on a hike – don’t hesitate to jump into the blue in your birthday suit. There are also several hiking routes all around Switzerland leading to different mountain lakes: e.g. 4-Lakes-Trail, Lake Cauma, Lake Silvaplana, and many more. Also look out for water reservoir lakes like the Klöntalersee, Gelmersee or Lungernsee. All of them are safe to swim in too.

Check out the links in the paragraphs above for more detailed information about swimming the corresponding lakes and rivers. And don’t forget to stay safe, check weather and currents, listen to recommendations of other swimmers and local authorities.