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11 sure-fire ways you know it’s spring in Switzerland

From cleaning frenzies to leaping cows, here's how you know winter is definitively over in Switzerland.

Published: 29 March 2019 11:26 CET
Updated: 1 May 2022 10:14 CEST
Look past the bunny - it's the mower which tells you spring is here in Switzerland! Image: Viktorya Sergeeva/Pexels.
Look past the bunny - it's the mower which tells you spring is here in Switzerland! Image: Viktorya Sergeeva/Pexels.

Spring cleaning

With the arrival of warmer weather, the Swiss take the chance to clean their houses. But we’re not talking here about a light dusting down of a couple of shelves here. The Swiss version of spring cleaning is more akin to a military operation.

A proper ten-step programme begins with precision planning, some serious de-cluttering and the purchase of an arsenal of cleaning supplies – many of which are on sale to mark the high point of the domestic calendar.

Then it’s time to launch an assault on every possible surface in the house. Not for beginners.

Creepy robot lawn mowers

After their annual hibernation, spring is the time when Switzerland’s robot lawn mowers reemerge and begin the silent business of cutting grass that doesn’t quite need it yet.

Spooky.

Bring on the barbecues

With summer on the horizon (long may it live!), you can barely walk more than a few metres in Switzerland at the moment without tripping over a garden furniture catalogue.

This is the time when Swiss people traditionally spend big on lounge sets, deck chairs and barbecues to make sure they are ready for those days when it is actually warm enough to sit outside.

Those occasions also give men in Switzerland a chance to engage in two national pastimes – showing off their barbecues (the more space-age the better) and their ‘grill skills’. 

READ MORE: Can I have a barbecue on my balcony in Switzerland?

Smells like spring in Switzerland. Image: Aral Tasher on Unsplash.

Classic cars

If you are looking for a sure-fire sign that it is spring in Switzerland, all you need to do is wait for that magic day when the highways are suddenly full of classic cars (known as ‘oldtimers’ in Switzerland).

We haven’t yet worked out when it is, but it appears there is an official day at the end of winter when all of these cars are taken out of their secret garages and taken for their first spin of the season. Hot tip: a proper ‘oldtimer’ comes with its own separate vintage number plate which is also parked away during the colder months.

Leaping cows

You have to feel sorry for Swiss cows sometimes. They spend up to five months locked away in stalls. It’s no wonder they react like this when they are finally let out.

Traffic jams

While Pentecost, or Whitsunday, means little to people who don’t regularly attend church, the festival has a special meaning in Switzerland.

That’s when thousands of people jump in their cars and spend hours in traffic jams waiting to pass through the Gotthard road tunnel to the promised land – aka the southern, Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, where lakes, palm trees and ice creams await.

READ MORE: Ten strange Swiss road signs you need to know about

The great tyre changeover

Spring means changing the winter tyres on your car over to summer tyres. Or not, as the case may be. While this is a ritual for many people around Easter, there is actually no legal requirement to do so.

On the other hand, if you have summer tyres on your car and then cause an accident in winter, you are likely to run up against the wrath of the insurance companies. You have been warned.

Reader question: When must I change to winter tyres in Switzerland?

Spring decorations

Photo: The Local

The Swiss love to decorate: handicrafts are a national pastime and no café table is complete without an intricate object formed out of twigs, ribbons or even a bit of dried seaweed. And while winter is all about cute snowmen in the windows, spring is all about flowers, rabbits and chickens, or, even better, a combination of the three. 

Packing away winter clothes

Like spring cleaning, this is not a mission to be undertaken lightly.

While we don’t claim to be experts in this matter, a quick ask-around revealed the general idea to be that you wash your clothes first, pack the non-delicate stuff into plastic bins and hang your dresses up.

Hot tip: stick a large-denomination note in your winter jacket.

It will be a nice surprise when next winter arrives. Hot tip number two: don’t decide to donate your money-stuffed winter jacket to charity in the meantime.

Get on your bike (or walk)

Not surprisingly, the Swiss make the most of the better weather to get out into the country’s fabulous outdoors. Bicycles are serviced, huge bicycle markets and held, and Swiss trains are suddenly full of people in checked shirts and very sensible shoes (ie. hikers). Here are some travel tips on where to go this spring.

Asparagus time!

Spring heralds a special moment in the Swiss culinary calendar: asparagus time. The season for locally-produced white asparagus in Switzerland lasts from the middle of May to the middle of June.

During this time do not expect to eat anything else as entire days are given over to consumption of this delicacy. For tips on how to prepare asparagus, see here.

READ MORE: You are not Swiss until you try these seven weird foods

A version of this article originally appeared in April 2018.

For members

LIVING IN SWITZERLAND

Pigs, jobs and money: What the new data reveals about Switzerland

Even if you have been living in Switzerland for a while, there are still some interesting things to learn about the country.

Published: 19 April 2024 14:13 CEST
Pigs, jobs and money: What the new data reveals about Switzerland

Yes, there are chocolate, cheese, and cows, but they only partly represent what Switzerland is all about — not even if you throw watches, banks, and army knives into the mix.

But new data released by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on Friday completes that picture with some interesting facts and figures about the country.

Here are some of them.

Life expectancy at birth

Switzerland is known to have one of the world’s highest life expectancy rates, and the study confirms that: 85.4 years for women and 81.6 years for men.

Demographers attribute this longevity to factors like good access and quality of healthcare, along with generally high standard of living.

READ ALSO: The reasons why living in Switzerland can prolong your life 

Employment

Switzerland has been experiencing higher immigration, with the population expected to reach the 10-million mark within the next few years.

Out of the 5.2-million-strong workforce, 1.7 million are foreign nationals: 78.3 are permanent residents, and  the remaining 21.7 percent are cross-border commuters.
 
FSO also found that 45 percent work in or around just five cities: Zurich, Basel, Bern, Geneva, and Lausanne.

Economy

The country boasts one of the world’s strongest and most prosperous economies.

According to FSO’s latest findings, Switzerland’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — the total value of goods and services provided in a country during one year — amounts to 781,460 million francs.

This translates to 88,717 francs per inhabitant.

Cattle (yes, you heard it right, cattle)

Switzerland has just over 1.5 million head of cattle.

You might think that cows constitute the majority but no — the pigs do.

Roughly 1.3 million pigs live in Switzerland and ‘only’ 670,000 cows (no data is available for goats).

However, cows have an edge over pigs in at least one area: they have names, with Fiona, Diana, Bella, Bianca, and Nina being the most popular. (For pigs, we only know of Babe). 

READ ALSO : Why are cows so important in Switzerland? 

The happiness factor

Nearly 70 percent of Switzerland’s population say that are happy and satisfied with their lives, while 3 percent are not (27 percent remain neutral on this issue).

Just over 8 percent of residents are classified as poor (so probably not happy) — that is, earning  less than 2,284 francs per month for an individual, and 4,010 per month per month for a family.
 
Politics

Thanks of Switzerland’s unique system of direct democracy, 666 referendums have been held since 1848 — the year the country’s constitution was created.

Half of those were held in the last 40 years.

Of the political parties, the Swiss People’s Party has the highest representation in the parliament (47.9 percent) and the Greens the lowest (9.8 percent).

Public spending

The government is spending just over 82 million a year, with the bulk of this money earmarked to fiancé the social security scheme, followed by public transport and education.

The least is spent on environmental protection.

Social security

Just over quarter million people in Switzerland — 256, 800 to be exact — receive social security payments; 27 percent of the GDP goes toward social welfare.

Of that, most (42 percent) is spent on pensions,  followed by healthcare (33 percent).

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