Receiving gifts can be one of the most pleasurable and memorable moments. Yet giving gifts can be as enjoyable provided you find the right gift or souvenir! If you are traveling to, or living in Switzerland, there is a classic list of Swiss gifts you can pick from but for each of them there is a twist that can make the gift an exceptional memory. Here is our recommendation!
Chocolate: who doesn’t love to get some?
Switzerland is globally known for its high quality chocolate with several renowned labels. It’s in Switzerland where milk chocolate was invented more than 100 years ago. They say that Swiss Alpine cows live a much better life than factory cows! They are free to wander around the fields, eating grass and laying in the sun, and so they produce much better quality milk! On top of highly renowned brands such as “Cailler”, “Toblerone” or “Lindt”, going more local is highly advised. You can find top notch artisanal chocolate across several local boutiques. It can be one of unique Swiss gifts as these chocolates are quite diverse and not available abroad commercially. Want to give it an even taster twist? If your beloved one resides or is visiting Switzerland gift them a chocolate making workshop! And indulge with them in a more lasting experience!
Cheese and wine: Swiss gifts that gather people around the table!
Emmental? Gruyère? Switzerland is home to 450 varieties of cheese, ranging from soft to extra hard. Remember the free to wander cows? The Swiss make it even more distinctive by giving it hard-to-pronounce names like Sbrinz, Mutschli, Formaggini, and Tomme Vaudoise. They even can solidly prove how fantastic their cheese is: out of 2,615 cheese varieties from 22 countries in 89 categories, the Swiss captured the first prize in 2014 at the World Championship Cheese Contest and was a runner up in 2016 and 2018. If you want to give it a twist than consider a fondue packaged mix! Can’t go more Swiss than that as fondue is considered a national dish in Switzerland. Coupling the mix with a Swiss fondue making set (pot, forks, flame set, etc…), it can be a premium everlasting gift that can gather friends or family around the table for long!
What is the most obvious proof that you have been in Switzerland? The answer is simple – a bottle of Swiss wine! Only about 2% of Switzerland’s wine leaves the country as the locals consume the majority of it 🙂
The plus is that you can enjoy your Swiss gifts picking experience by visiting directly the wineries and enjoying fantastic scenery of the vineyards. A no-miss experience is visiting the Lavaux region vineyards – a UNESCO Heritage gem! Touring in between the villages and contemplating on a heavenly view of the vineyards covering the mountains and touching the lake! …And don’t forget to take a couple of bottles back home! Many of the wineries can pack them for you in nice wooden boxes.
Swiss watches: a gift to show-off with!
One of Switzerland’s most known and luxurious products are…as you know… watches! A product of Swiss love for precision, unmatchable handscraftmanship and ultimate luxury. It’s thanks to the Swiss that we have the handiness of clocks on our wrists. When Calvinists banned jewellery in 1541, goldsmiths and jewellers in Geneva brainstormed the invention of watches, as a functional timepiece was acceptable. Since then, it has proven to be one of the most successful industries of the country, and unmatchable Swiss gifts. To render your gift more personal you can make a Swiss watch yourself or gift such experience to your beloved ones so they learn how to produce their own masterpiece.
Swiss knives: a handful gift!
The legendary Swiss army knife is an icon of Swiss precision. It’s one if the most useful and handy tools you can gift!
Swiss adventures: if memory fades, pictures can maintain it forever!
You want to go unconventional? Then gift Swiss adventures! Switzerland is home to 208 mountains over 3,000 meters high and up to 3000 lakes. That’s plenty of adventures for activity lovers from hiking, to skiing and sailing.
In addition, Switzerland contains some of Europe’s best and biggest:
- largest Alpine lake: lac Leman
- highest railway station in Jungfrau (called Top of Europe for a reason)
- largest plain waterfall on the European continent: the Rhine Falls
- longest suspended pedestrian bridge (in the world!) in Randa.
- largest glacier in the Alps and all of Europe: the Great Aletsch Glacier
That’s on top of several iconic landmarks such as the infamous Matterhorn in Zermatt and the Schilthorn where James Bond shot one of his movies! If your beloved ones are into adventure and you just don’t want to be conventional then you can gift them a paragliding trip over the most beautiful Swiss valleys or a hot air balloon trip or even a helicopter ride. And if you are looking for Swiss gifts for Christmas, then we have another special blog post.
