The Perfect Recipe For A Couple Holiday In Thun, Switzerland

Anurag Mallick & Priya Ganapathy explore Thun, one of the most beautiful medieval towns in Switzerland and the gateway to the scenic Bernese Oberland.

- Anurag Mallick & Priya Ganapathy

Switzerland… the very name invokes images of a romantic holiday in cosy wooden chalets and ski resorts, wild flowers bobbing in alpine meadows, warm fondue and raclette on wintry evenings, and cows grazing in idyllic pastures—their bells tinkling softly—as farm-fresh milk is crafted into fine chocolate and 450 varieties of cheese. For years, Switzerland has been the gold standard for what a mountain destination should be, with hill stations around the world claiming the epithet, ‘The Switzerland of ....’ Only when you visit Switzerland do you realise that every cliché—picture postcard homes, snowy peaks, and placid lakes the colour of copper sulphate—is actually true.

It’s not hard to see why artists, poets, and writers have always been enchanted by Switzerland. Johanna Spyri set the tales of Heidi in the Swiss countryside. The glaciers, lakes, and mountains inspired Swiss painters like Caspar Wolf, Ferdinanad Hodler, and Giovanni Giacometti, poet Lord Byron, and writers like Mark Twain. Composer Goethe wrote his poem Song of the Spirits over the Waters after seeing the Staubbach Falls in 1779, while JRR Tolkein based his Lord of the Rings saga of ‘Rivendell’ after a trip to Lauterbrunnen Valley.

India’s love affair with Switzerland is largely credited to director Yash Chopra, who spent his honeymoon there in 1970. Captivated by the heavenly natural beauty, he featured the Swiss meadows and mountains for the first time in his 1985 film Faasle. The saga continued with his 1989 film Chandni and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge in 1995. Millions were captivated by the landscapes, cobbled streets, and pretty bridges of the Swiss countryside. So much so that Lauenensee, a lake in Canton Bern that served as a prominent locale in the films, was dubbed ‘Yash Chopra Lake’.