26 Best Restaurants in Switzerland

This is a very special restaurant, so if you're traveling by car and can book well ahead, definitely stop by to see why it gets such high praise from top critics. The atmosphere is laid-back, staff are on the ball and friendly, and views of the lake and mountains from the terrace are divine. The à la carte fare at the ground-floor bistro looks simple at first—tuna tartare, bouillabaisse, even Wiener schnitzel—but in the hands of owner-chef Werner Rätz the results amaze. For the full experience, opt for the bistro's five-course prix-fixe Menu du Marché, which has whatever is fresh and available, for CHF130, or the Menu Gastronomique upstairs, with seven courses for CHF160 (different from the bistro). The Auberge is in Lugnorre, 5 km (3 miles) northwest of Murten.

In a grand, chandelier-bedecked dining room with sweeping views of the Rhine, chef Peter Knogl prepares sophisticated, beautifully presented French creations (with touches of Mediterranean and Asian flavors) using decadent ingredients. The intimate three-Michelin-star restaurant within the Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois—one of Switzerland's best—has only 10 tables, and a two-month waiting list. Service is impeccable and surprisingly relaxed, with charming servers ready to attend to guests' every need. Five- or six-course tasting menus are the best option, and for a special treat, opt for the wine pairings to experience some unusual, inspired choices perfectly matched to the exquisite cuisine.

f you have a penchant for French gastronomic cuisine that's superbly presented, try Chef Romain Paillereau's well-regarded restaurant just outside town. Enjoy your meal in the sunny bistro, the main dining room, or on the chestnut-tree-shaded terrace in summer. The focus is on gloriously fresh local products that balance vibrant flavors with culinary finesse. The decor is rather pared down but retains features of the original 19th-century patrician house. To reach the hamlet of Bourguillon (Bürglen in German) take a bus from Fribourg train station; a cab costs around CHF25. Either way, it's a 10-minute ride. When you call for reservations, get more transportation how-tos from the staff.

Whether dining in the bright, spacious restaurant, brasserie, or leafy terrace, Le Bocca is often the setting for the region's best food. Just north of Neuchâtel in St. Blaise, the restaurant has an array of menus in its two establishments and an excellent three-course lunch menu. Chef Alexandre Luquet serves up contemporary takes on traditional French dishes, which often include fresh fish and seafood. Hand in hand with the fine food is a great wine list with 25,000 bottles in stock. 

The elegant dining room of the Beau-Rivage is dressed in rich creams and browns with the occasional pop of apple green, but with majestic views of the Jet d'Eau and Mont Blanc the terrace steals the show. The menu puts a contemporary spin on classical French fare while highlighting local purveyors and produce. The vast wine cellar features 40,000 handpicked bottles, including many rare vintages.

The dimly lit haute cuisine French restaurant, the first L’Atelier Robuchon in Switzerland, features the legendary chef's dramatic decor—dark wood, red leather seating, a sleek black bar, and open kitchen concept—and a mix of his signature recipes and new dishes. Local, organic produce, an extensive wine list, and impeccable service round out the exquisitely decadent experience.

Just past Spreuerbrücke on Luzerne's largest historic square, with views of the river and the glitzy Chateau Gütsch, this brasserie-style café-bar-restaurant arranges seasonal ingredients into dishes such as pulled beef with rucola and burrata or pumpkin spaghetti with chestnuts and pesto. The menu changes regularly, but it’s always one of the best places in town for homemade cake.

Chef Franck Giovannini is winning hearts—and stomachs—with his fresh twist on haute cuisine. The three-Michelin-star restaurant has seen a string of legendary chefs at its helm, but Giovannini is propelling it to even higher accolades and upholding the restaurant's well-earned reputation as one of the best in Switzerland. It's a quick drive west from Lausanne to this understated manse. The service is spectacular, the staff is friendly, and the food is absolutely stellar. Giovannini creates imaginative combinations of flavors plus stunningly refined presentations. For these finely orchestrated prix-fixe menus the ingredients are key—lamb raised in the Pyrenees, cardoons (an artichokelike vegetable) grown in the village. Pace yourself, making sure to leave time and room for selections from the immense cheese cart or celestial desserts. Reserve as far ahead as possible—lunch may be your only option.

This Genevois institution serves up regional dishes—sausage and sauerkraut, roast venison and spätzli, and the namesake pigs' feet—in a traditional brasserie setting. The crowd can be noisy, and table service can occasionally be a tad gruff, but locals and tourists keep streaming in. The terrace is great for people-watching.

On the shores of Lake Geneva, this gourmet French restaurant is the epitome of elegance and refinement. The tasting menu features an array of artistically plated small dishes that is perfectly paired with the robust wine list. Be sure to save room for the selection of cheeses displayed in a rolling, table-side cart.

Tracing back to the 14th century, the brasserie started as a castle, then a brewery, and now a restaurant considered one of the city's best. Specializing in “Cuisine du Marché,” the menu focuses on French classics like baked goat cheese, beef tartare, steak frites, breaded veal, and mussels with fries. Vegetarians will be pleasantly surprised with plant-based burgers and pasta with truffles. White linens, hand-blown pendant lamps, and bistro chairs (recreated to model the originals) give the place an upscale look without feeling overly pretentious. At coat check there are original photos of the restaurant in the 1920s, a testament to the designer’s commitment to reflect the past.

A touch of Paris in the heart of Luzern—advertising posters from the 1920s and 1930s, simple wooden tables, and a green-and-yellow-checkered floor—is the setting for sumptuous dishes based on fresh market ingredients. The menu changes regularly, but typical offerings might include rack of lamb or Swiss shrimp—yes, Switzerland has its own sustainable shrimp farm. The darker, barlike entrance leads to the bright main room with a terrace overlooking the river.

The "Années Folles" decor—green-and-white tiles, mustard-yellow ceilings, warm wood—and busy waiters in ankle-length aprons channel Paris. Local diners of all stripes come to tuck into hearty portions tartares of beef or fish, filet de boeuf (steak), and heaping platters of seafood. The dining room expands onto a delightful summer terrace at the foot of the Vieille Ville.

A mix of traditional French café furniture and contemporary design, this upscale spot is popular, particularly during the summer months when the terrace allows diners to enjoy the highly picturesque streets of Carouge. The menu is either à la carte or prix fixe. Wine is taken seriously here, and there is a handsome cellar where the waitstaff is more than happy to help you make your selection—groups of up to 10 can even arrange ahead to eat at the cellar's refectory table.

Locals have been squeezing into this cozy, eccentric café for more than a decade. More than a dozen coffee drinks are served alongside buttery pastries and heartier breakfast options. This little "ladybug" is cute as can be: the decor is decidedly funky, with gravity-defying stacks of books glued to its colorful walls and oversize Warhol-esque portraits in the restrooms. An outdoor seating area on a main pedestrian street means it is prime people-watching territory.

Centrally located, this is one of the top Fribourg restaurants, thanks to owner-chef Frédérik Kondratowicz's superlative take on seasonal cuisine. The ambience in this one-floor-up spot is bourgeois bistro with artsy notes, and there are some great views of Fribourg from the windows. Fresher than fresh are such delights as lamb with an herb crust, vegetable moussaka with candied orange, and asparagus-and-spinach risotto. Swiss and French wines are the focal point of the thoughtful wine list.

Time moves a little more slowly here amid the civilized elegance of chandeliers and china teapots, gilt ceiling details, grapevine motifs, and striped banquettes, and the day's papers hang from lampposts at discreet intervals between tables. The menu changes seasonally, but the classic French theme is constant—expect tartares and minestrone in summer, cassoulet or veal liver in winter, and Jack's giant Wiener schnitzel year-round. There's an excellent selection of Swiss wines and expensive but top-flight French reds.

A cozy sense of home prevails at this unusual restaurant that bills itself as a relaxed adventure into gastronomy, which can be experienced through the menu du jour at lunchtime, or the six-course fixed menu (CHF130) in the evening. All ingredients are locally sourced and Chef Luis Zuzarte prides himself on having personal relationships with each of his suppliers. A series of small dining rooms each give off its own vibe, all centered around an open kitchen. 

At clubby, rustic-chic La Grange, you'll always find lots of grilled specialties, particularly beef and lamb, on the menu, as well as comforting choices such as foie gras with onion confit or turbot with spices and fresh herbs. Chef Thierry Corthay's cuisine is not only seasonal (read: frequent menu changes) but also of the terroir, which is to say he serves regional products with pride.

This charming brassiere adorned with stone walls, rustic wood tables, and dark green accents is an inviting and warm spot to tuck into. Traditional fare crafted from locally sourced produce includes chateaubriand, pork ribs, and risotto. The wine list features an array of Swiss, French, and Italian wines. In the warm weather, a terrace offers outdoor seating. 

Built in 1827, this sprawling lakeside chalet set amid magnificently manicured public parks comes dramatically into its own in summer. Although the wine list is good and the French-accented seasonal cuisine competent, if it's haute gastronomy you're after, don't come here; this place is about location, location, location. Pink tablecloths and hanging geraniums frame an unobstructed view of Mont Blanc, and the glassed-in Orangerie is a rainy-day alternative to the covered terrace. An excellent compromise on a nice day is to come for a coffee or a plat du jour at lunch on what they call the "brasserie terrace." The Mouettes Genevoises water taxis dock directly out front.

This elegant, intimate restaurant in a restored home in the wine village of Chardonne offers a view of the lake (from part of the dining room) that is worthy of a champagne toast. Traditional French and Swiss cuisines are combined in two fixed multicourse menus that change weekly. A well-composed wine list of Swiss and international selections offers breadth to match. Those who like a stroll before or after dinner can take the mostly flat five-minute walk to the funicular, an easy way to access these upper reaches.

The decor fits the name, with a tile floor, old French posters, dried flower bouquets hanging from the ceiling, and newspaper cuttings on the walls. The menu leans French, with sautéed duck liver and bouillabaisse, but there is relatively lighter fare, including salads and sashimi. The larger room is flooded with sunlight and bedecked in greenery with an immense view across the valley, but come sundown the call from the cozier warmth of the front parlor draws those looking for romantic lighting and convivial chatter.

Enjoy a perfect café crème or a whole meal along with the Neuchâtelois at one of the most authentic cafés in the Old Town. This place models itself on a traditional Parisian brasserie, and the striking art nouveau interior certainly helps: the molded ceiling, etched windows, and blue-and-green decorative tiles all date from 1905. Fish is a specialty, and large platters of fruits de mer (shellfish) in season are a delicious treat. A menu-of-the-day special is always reasonably priced.

On Fribourg's main street, this restaurant's clean lines are softened by gleaming gold fixtures, and, in nice weather, the leafy vistas from the sun-dappled balcony. One bite here, in the restaurant's second incarnation, reveals why chef-owner Pierrot Ayer has earned so much praise. His showstopping menus take guests on a culinary adventure, one in which he declares war on traditional flavors, while at Le Petit Pérolles upstairs, lighter (and less expensive) fare is served all day.

A deceptively simple local favorite and one of the most typically French bistros in Bern, this cultural transplant tucked away on a backstreet near the Rathaus has been serving classics like entrecôte Café de Paris (beef in butter sauce) with French fries, escargots in herb garlic butter, and calf's head since 1848. In a city that celebrates the onion, this is a good place to try onion soup. Lunch specials are good value; wines come from Switzerland, Italy, and France.