With its diverse landscapes and climates and marked cultural diversity, Swiss cuisine is a wide range of recipes and gastronomic traditions that mix influences from German, French and Italian cuisine.

While there are famous and popular dishes all over the country, there are different specialties at the regional level, so depending on which part of Switzerland you plan to visit you can enjoy discovering the unique products and dishes of that region.

There are of course ingredients that recur in numerous dishes as Switzerland has historically been a country of farmers and breeders, so the cuisine is based on healthy and simple raw materials such as potatoes, meat, and cheeses. Let’s not forget that Switzerland is also the kingdom of chocolate and is very renowned for its pastry tradition, so if you have a sweet tooth, don’t miss a taste of the typical sweets.

10 typical dishes not to miss in Switzerland

Raclette

Gilled Raclette cheese served with potatoes, vegetables, and pickles.

Fondue

The cheese melted (usually a combination of Gruyere and Vacherin) in a pot. Varies from region to region: fondue Neuchatel uses Gruyére and Emmental, fondue Vandois adds a lot of garlic, while fondue Fribourg is prepared with ripe Vacherin cheese. Pieces of bread are placed on traditional, long-handled fondue forks used for swirling the bread in cheese.

Tartiflette

A combination of potatoes, bacon, caramelized onions, and lashings of sauce made with that tasty local cheese.

Cordon Bleu

A meat cutlet that is filled with cheese, breaded, and either deep-fried in hot oil, fried in a pan, or baked in an oven.

Capuns

A dish made with a combination of dried meat and spätzle dough wrapped in chard leaves, cooked in butter, then slowly simmered in stock and cream. Typically topped with fried bacon pieces and grated cheese.

Zürcher Geschnetzeltes

A dish consisting of sliced veal strips, cream, beef stock, white wine, and often with the addition of mushrooms.

Cervelat

Cured and smoked sausage, typically mildly seasoned with mustard, garlic, and selected herbs and spices.

Rösti

A crispy crusted potato pancake with appetizing golden color. It is a great side dish to traditional Swiss delicacies such as leberspiesschen (grilled calves’ livers wrapped in bacon and sage) or émincé de veau.

Basler Läckerli

A hard, spiced Swiss biscuit consisting of hazelnuts, almonds, candied peel, honey, and Kirsch.

Swiss Chocolate

Absinthe

An alcoholic beverage produced infusing a blend of botanicals, primarily the leaves of Artemisia absinthium, an ancient medicinal plant that is also known as wormwood or simply absinthe.