96 Best Places to Shop in Switzerland

At this classic Swiss Christmas shop, highly specialized handiwork comes from Johann Wanner, which sells handblown, hand-painted, and hand-molded Christmas ornaments, Victorian miniatures, tartan ribbons, cards, and calendars. Items can be shipped internationally.

Local designer Tanja Klein creates elegant, well-tailored basics for women and men along with leather bags and accessories.

The town's best cheese shop sells coveted double-crème from a dairy in Gruyéres that locals line up to purchase before the limited daily supply runs out.

The famous Läckerli Huus sells a variety of sweets, including wonderful Läckerli, and also has a café. A large selection of gift canisters and a shipping service make getting gifts home a cinch. There are also branches of Läckerli Huus on Greifengasse and Centralbahnplatz.

Founded in 1881 by four Bern brothers, Loeb features clothing for adults and children along with toys, craft supplies, and housewares. At ground level you'll find accessories, stationery, and cosmetics.

Whether you're in need of socks, toothpaste, or chocolate, head to Manor—the best midpriced department store in town. There's a second location in the St. Jakob Park shopping center.

A good bet for sporting goods, Manor has a cafeteria-style restaurant on the top floor that is popular with locals, a rooftop terrace with great views of Luzern, and free Wi-Fi.

Value-priced Manor stocks a full range of merchandise, including souvenirs. It has bountiful food offerings, too.

This colorful tapestry of a boutique stocks second-season pieces from independent designers, as well as Zürich labels such as Kazu Huggler, the Japanese-Swiss designer whose eponymous collections are influenced by the Japanese kimono and ancient textiles.

This boutique sells Swiss-theme embroidery samplers—hearts, flowers, chalets, cows—already framed or ready for you to sew yourself.

In the main train station, Migros is a great place to put together an impromptu picnic. It stays open until 10 pm seven days a week.

This store, specializing in groceries and inexpensive items, has branches across the city. The one in the main train station is open on Sunday.

This cozy store specializes in clothes, shoes, and bags from young and often sustainably minded designers, both local and international. The boutique shares space with the shoe shop, Schritt für Schritt.

Locarno's weekly market is held every Thursday on the Piazza Grande. You'll find typical market wares like pots and pans alongside artisan crafts and antiques.

A bit of history: Patek Philippe occupies the 1839 building where Antoine Norbert de Patek invented the winding mechanism inside all watches.

The popular chain Payot has an English-language section and English-speaking staff, who help you keep abreast of current trends.

This retailer wraps its ultraflat tourbillion watches in sleek white gold.

Arts-and-crafts vendors crowd Place de la Fusterie every Thursday.

Flea market stalls move into position around the Plaine de Plainpalais on Wednesday and Saturday, replacing the Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday morning fruit-and-vegetable stands.

Home goods boutique and gift store where curated elegance meets contemporary style.

The Bärenplatz is filled with fresh produce, herbs, and flowers every day except Sunday between May and October.

For high-quality vintage clothing, go to the place where Zürich's well-heeled ladies sell their "old" things.

Even though this kitchen models its smooth, rich signature truffles after old Geneva garbage cans, don't be fooled: Rohr stocks the best chocolate in town.

You can’t help but smile when walking into Rolf Blöchllinger’s wood sculpting studio, where a bevy of jolly hand-carved figures, some of them nearly life-sized, are having a good laugh. Appointments by phone or email are appreciated.

With an emphasis on wooden toys, Spielegge stocks chisel-carved puppets and whimsical watercolor puzzles of fairy-tale scenes.

This inviting concept store features a good range of products solely from young Swiss designers, including furniture, bed linens, jewelry, clothes, bags, housewares, and ceramics.

Teuscher is as famous for its extravagantly wrapped packages as it is for its amazing chocolates and candies. There are two other locations in town.

This awning-covered warren is the place for handmade soaps, antique copper pots, silver jewelry, handmade hammocks, tie-dyed scarves, and toys, including helium-filled balloons. Open on Tuesday and Saturday year-round, the market also opens on Thursday between April and October.