What's on: Five things to do in Switzerland this weekend
The Local - [email protected]
Published: 19 Jul, 2019 CET.
Updated: Fri 19 Jul 2019 10:14 CET
With festivals, music, outdoor cinema and sport, this weekend in Switzerland is a busy one.
Fête des Vignerons
It’s the event of the summer, when the town of Vevey on Lake Geneva celebrates winegrowing with an enormous festival held only once every 20 years or so. With a daily spectacle, parades, music and lots of wine drinking, the festival takes over the whole town until 11 August. Some 40,000 people turned out on Thursday to see the opening parade, while six gold medal winning winegrowers were ‘crowned’ in the traditional ceremony during the first day’s show – among them Corinne Buttet, the first ever woman to receive the award. Check out our guide to the festival here.
Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP
Basel Tattoo
It’s not too late to catch Switzerland’s biggest military music show, which finishes on Saturday. Modelled on the famous Edinburgh Tattoo, it’s an eclectic show bringing together military bands from around the world, this year including troupes from China, the Netherlands and Greece. But of course, Scottish bagpipe players are the stars of the show. Read our rundown of the show here.
Photo: Basel Tattoo
Gurten festival
The annual Gurten music festival held atop Bern’s local mountain kicked off on Thursday. From now until the end in the early hours of Sunday morning you can catch Lauryn Hill, Editors, Sophie Hunger and electro collective Rudimental. If tickets are sold out, try the secondhand ticket exchange next to the Gurten funicular valley station.
Open Air cinema
This weekend’s set to be a hot one, so what better way to end the day than watching a film outside as the air cools into evening? There are pop-up outdoor cinemas all over Switzerland. This weekend, catch Rocketman in Fribourg, Anna in Geneva, Bohemian Rhapsody in Zug and A Star is Born in Lucerne.
Ironman Zurich
It’s too late to register to take part (and anyway, an Ironman isn’t exactly a spontaneous weekend activity), but it isn’t too late to go and watch the ultra-fit participants of this epic triathlon in and around Zurich on Sunday. They’ll tackle a 3.8km swim in Lake Zurich, followed by a 180km bike ride along the lakeside and a 42.2km run through the city’s streets. As a side event, kids of any ability can take part in the IronKids event at Zurich Landiwiese on Saturday. Visit the website here.
Photo: Depositphotos
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Fête des Vignerons
It’s the event of the summer, when the town of Vevey on Lake Geneva celebrates winegrowing with an enormous festival held only once every 20 years or so. With a daily spectacle, parades, music and lots of wine drinking, the festival takes over the whole town until 11 August. Some 40,000 people turned out on Thursday to see the opening parade, while six gold medal winning winegrowers were ‘crowned’ in the traditional ceremony during the first day’s show – among them Corinne Buttet, the first ever woman to receive the award. Check out our guide to the festival here.
Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP
Basel Tattoo
It’s not too late to catch Switzerland’s biggest military music show, which finishes on Saturday. Modelled on the famous Edinburgh Tattoo, it’s an eclectic show bringing together military bands from around the world, this year including troupes from China, the Netherlands and Greece. But of course, Scottish bagpipe players are the stars of the show. Read our rundown of the show here.
Photo: Basel Tattoo
Gurten festival
The annual Gurten music festival held atop Bern’s local mountain kicked off on Thursday. From now until the end in the early hours of Sunday morning you can catch Lauryn Hill, Editors, Sophie Hunger and electro collective Rudimental. If tickets are sold out, try the secondhand ticket exchange next to the Gurten funicular valley station.
Open Air cinema
This weekend’s set to be a hot one, so what better way to end the day than watching a film outside as the air cools into evening? There are pop-up outdoor cinemas all over Switzerland. This weekend, catch Rocketman in Fribourg, Anna in Geneva, Bohemian Rhapsody in Zug and A Star is Born in Lucerne.
Ironman Zurich
It’s too late to register to take part (and anyway, an Ironman isn’t exactly a spontaneous weekend activity), but it isn’t too late to go and watch the ultra-fit participants of this epic triathlon in and around Zurich on Sunday. They’ll tackle a 3.8km swim in Lake Zurich, followed by a 180km bike ride along the lakeside and a 42.2km run through the city’s streets. As a side event, kids of any ability can take part in the IronKids event at Zurich Landiwiese on Saturday. Visit the website here.
Photo: Depositphotos
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