Svolvær on the Lofoten

31 May 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Svolvær Harbour © Ernmuhl

Svolvær Harbour © Ernmuhl

Svolvær is the administrative centre of Vågan Municipality (9,200 inhabitants) in the Nordland County in Lofoten. The town itself has a population of 4,000.   read more…

Theme Week Swiss – Basel, on the tri-border area of Switzerland, Germany and France

15 May 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

The Rhine river © Norbert Aepli

The Rhine river © Norbert Aepli

Basel or Basle is Switzerland’s third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany. With 830,000 inhabitants in the tri-national urban agglomeration as of 2004, Basel is Switzerland’s second-largest urban area.   read more…

Crans-Montana in the Valais Alps

26 April 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Lac Moubra © Johnw

Lac Moubra © Johnw

Crans-Montana is a ski resort in western Switzerland, in the heart of the Swiss Alps in the canton of Valais. It is located on a plateau above Sierre at an elevation of about 1500 m (4921 ft) above sea level, allowing good view over the Valais Alps and Weisshorn in particular. The resort is a fusion of the two centers of Crans and Montana and belongs to 6 municipalities (Chermignon, Icogne, Lens, Mollens, Montana and Randogne).   read more…

Genuine winter adventures in the Lillehammer region

19 April 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Lillehammer © Hasse A

Lillehammer © Hasse A

Lillehammer (literally “Little Hammer”) is a town and municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. As of May 2011, the population of the town of Lillehammer was 26,639 . The city centre is a late 19th century concentration of wooden houses, which enjoys a picturesque location overlooking the northern part of lake Mjøsa and the river Lågen, surrounded by mountains. Lillehammer hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics and will host the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics.   read more…

Samnaun, the holiday and shopping region

9 April 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Samnaun Village © Fiesch

Samnaun Village © Fiesch

The former smugglers’ paradise of Samnaun located in the Swiss, Austrian and Italian triangle has developed into a holiday resort for hiking enthusiasts and mountain bike riders. In winter the cross-border winter sports region of Samnaun and Ischgl (Austria) caters for the most discerning of visitors. All year round shrewd shoppers reap the benefits of the only tax-free resort in Switzerland.   read more…

Stavanger, the petroleum capital of Norway

23 March 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, European Capital of Culture Reading Time:  7 minutes

Aerial view of Stavanger's city center © Godztian

Aerial view of Stavanger’s city center © Godztian

Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland. Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,000. There are 198,000 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway. Stavanger is the centre of the Stavanger metropolitan area, which has a population of 297,569, and the administrative centre of Rogaland county. The city is commonly referred to as the Petroleum Capital of Norway.   read more…

The city of Lugano

12 March 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

View on Lake Lugano and Monte San Salvatore © Valser

View on Lake Lugano and Monte San Salvatore © Valser

Lugano is a city of 54,667 inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy. The city lies on Lake Lugano, and its warm summers and the fact that in recent years it has attracted an ever growing number of celebrities, entertainers and successful athletes have given it the nickname of the “Monte Carlo of Switzerland”. It is the 9th largest city of Switzerland by population.   read more…

Not only cheese: Appenzell

5 March 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Aerial View © Hansueli Krapf

Aerial View © Hansueli Krapf

Appenzell is the capital of the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden in Switzerland. Appenzell has no municipal government of its own; rather, the different parts of Appenzell belong to the districts Appenzell, Schwende and Rüte. Because of that, for firefighting, energy and water, the town Appenzell has a special-purpose municipality, the Feuerschaugemeinde.   read more…

Zermatt and the Matterhorn

27 February 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Zermatt and Matterhorn © Stan Shebs

Zermatt and Matterhorn © Stan Shebs

Zermatt is a municipality in the district of Visp in the German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a population of about 5,800 inhabitants. The village is situated at the end of Mattertal at an altitude of 1,620 m (5,310 ft), at the feet of Switzerland’s highest peaks. It lies about 10 km (6.2 mi) from the over 10,800 ft (3,291.84 m) high Theodul Pass bordering Italy.   read more…

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