Geographic · the Alps
The Most Beautiful Places in the Alps
12 places · every one real, mapped, and worth the trip
The Alps arc for more than a thousand kilometres across the heart of Europe, through eight countries, throwing up the continent's greatest concentration of snow peaks, glaciers, and mirror lakes. No single trip could hold them all — this is our editors' pick of the most beautiful places in the range.
It isn't a strict ranking. Each is a real, mapped place with an honest note on how to reach it and the season that shows it best, from the pyramid of the Matterhorn to the pale towers of the Dolomites.
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The Matterhorn The perfect peak
Zermatt, Valais — Swiss/Italian border
The near-symmetrical pyramid above Zermatt — the most recognisable mountain in the Alps, and perhaps the world.
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Mont Blanc Roof of the Alps
French Alps (France–Italy border)
Western Europe's highest summit, a vast dome of ice and granite above Chamonix on the French–Italian border.
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Jungfrau
Bernese Alps, Switzerland
The great wall of the Bernese Oberland, reached by railway to the 'Top of Europe' saddle beside the Aletsch.
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The Dolomites Pale towers
South Tyrol / Trentino / Veneto, Northern Italy
Italy's UNESCO-listed limestone spires and plateaus, glowing rose at sunrise and sunset over green valleys.
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Lauterbrunnen Valley
Bernese Oberland, Switzerland
A Swiss valley of vertical walls streaming with dozens of waterfalls — the classic Alpine trough.
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Aletsch Glacier The great ice river
Valais, Switzerland
The largest glacier in the Alps, a slow river of ice curving through the Bernese peaks under UNESCO protection.
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Lake Como
Lombardy, northern Italy
A forked mountain lake in Italian Lombardy, its shores lined with villas and gardens beneath the pre-Alps.
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Lake Bled
Upper Carniola, Slovenia
Slovenia's island church on an emerald lake beneath the Julian Alps and a clifftop castle.
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Oeschinen Lake
Kandersteg, Bernese Oberland, Switzerland
A turquoise lake ringed by cliffs and waterfalls high above Kandersteg in the Bernese Alps.
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Königssee
Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany
A deep, still, emerald fjord-like lake walled by cliffs in Germany's Berchtesgaden Alps.
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Dachstein
Salzkammergut, Upper Austria / Styria / Salzburg, Austria
A glaciated Austrian massif of ice caves, sky-walks, and the peaks above the Salzkammergut lakes.
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The Verzasca River
Verzasca Valley, Ticino, Southern Switzerland
An emerald mountain river in the Swiss Alps of Ticino, so clear the riverbed seems within reach beneath a stone bridge.
The high Alps are best in summer (roughly June–September), when the passes, lifts, and trails are open; the lakes and lower valleys add spring blossom and autumn colour, and the peaks are at their most dramatic under fresh snow. Each guide notes the season and how to reach it.
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