Travel Information for Switzerland
Time zone:GMT +1 (Central European time)
Daylight savings:GMT +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
Main languages:French, German, Italian Other languages:    Romansch
Currency: Swiss francs (CHF)

1 = CHF1.00, $1 = CHF0.98, £1 = CHF1.30

(rates as of Sep 2016)

Internet Domain:.chInternational Dialling Code:    41

For help planning your trip to Switzerland including visas, vaccinations, currency exchange, flights, accomodation and insurance, see our Switzerland trip planning page.



Further information on Switzerland

Discover more about Switzerland - the country's geogrpahy and natural features, an assessment of its status on freedom and rights and data on the country's population and economy.

Geography & Natural Features

Map of switzerland

Total area: 41,290 sq km (1,520 sq km under water)

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Neighbours (border lengths): Austria (164km), France (573km), Germany (334km), Italy (740km), Liechtenstein (41km)

Highest mountain: Dufourspitze (4,634m)

Freedom & Rights

Summary status and rankings for Switzerland from classifications of different organisations measuring political and economic freedom, democracy and civil rights. See more details of these rankings.

IndexStatusRank
Freedom in the WorldFree -
Democracy IndexFull democracy 6/167
Economic FreedomFree 5/179
Press FreedomSatisfactory situation 20/179
ILGA LGBT rightsBroad rights -
Corruption PerceptionsLow corruption 5/174
Overall Ranking:    8/195

Other Data & Links

Full name: Swiss Confederation     Status: Independent Country

Population: 8,061,516 (rank: 95/196)     Density: 195.2 people/sq km (rank: 47/196)

Ethnic groups: German 65%, French 18%, Italian 10%, Romansch 1%, other 6%

Religions: Roman Catholic 41.8%, Protestant 35.3%, Muslim 4.3%, Orthodox 1.8%, other Christian 0.4%, other 1%, unspecified 4.3%, none 11.1% (2000 census)

GDP (PPP): $371.2 billion       GDP per capita: $54,800 (rank: 7/195)

Information derived from the CIA World Factbook. Other country profiles: BBC News.