Many of them go far beyond being a place to buy books and have become community hubs over the years, each with their own personality.

Vastela Books, Zurich

New to the scene is Wiedikon-based Vastela, a second-hand English bookstore which opened its first bricks-and-mortar location in 2023. With more than 2,000 fiction and non-fiction books across many genres, Vastela not only accepts donations but encourages it: if you donate up to 10 books, you get a 10 percent discount off your purchases – more than 10 and you’ll get 20 percent off. The team will even look to thrift books for you if you let them know what you’re after.

For 10CHF a month you can sign up for a year-long ‘book swap’ subscription and every Monday at 7pm, the store also hosts a book club where attendees can bring a book they’d like to discuss with the group, with no registration necessary. After the event, you can swap the book you brought with someone else or with the bookstore.

READ ALSO: How Switzerland’s English language bookshops have become a community haven

Books Books Books, Lausanne

Books Books Books is a friendly, independent bookshop stocking thousands of new and second-hand English publications – the latter are all priced at just 5CHF each and the team will also order books for you. This bookshop has become a bit of literary hub, welcoming authors and poets, and partners with schools throughout Switzerland. Having recently reached its 15th birthday, founder Matthew Wake, now joined by Rachel Bender, arranged an appropriately literary-themed treasure hunt and afternoon tea to celebrate.

Pages & Sips, Geneva

A beautiful little independent English bookstore and café in Geneva’s old town, Pages & Sips is clear about its offering from the get-go: books, scones, tea, coffee and wine. Over a hot beverage or something more substantial – there are quiches, soups, salads, pastries and a ‘cake of the day’ on the menu – this little green gem also hosts poetry readings and will give you a free coffee in exchange for a second-hand book donation.

Pile of Books, Zurich

If the extensive selection of new and second-hand books on offer wasn’t enough, its events roster will certainly impress; multiple book clubs, spoken word celebrations, craft events, live music acts, story time for children, and even a ‘tattoos and books’ day.

Stauffacher, Bern

A ‘bookshop within a bookshop’, the English floor of Stauffacher, part of the Orellfüssli group, more than warrants a mention for its extensive offering of English language books, American and British food, and friendly staff.

On the first Saturday of every month, there’s a free children’s hour with Joe Quinn, and on the first Wednesday of every month, after the front doors to the shop have closed, the floor hosts an English book club usually led by Swiss Watching author and former employee Diccon Bewes. Email [email protected] for more details and to be added to the mailing list so you know

what’s coming up.

The Library, Geneva

Not a bookshop but an English-language library, here you’ll find a wide range of fiction and non-fiction for adults and children, children’s story time on Saturday afternoons, a monthly writers’ workshop and twice-yearly second-hand book sales.

Open since 1930, it was originally known as the American Library. Staffed by volunteers and wheelchair accessible, it’s located in the Emmanuel Church building. Single membership is 135 francs for a year, with discounts for students, over-62s and family group options, and includes access to more than 10,000 English books, travel guides, and audio books.

Of notable mention:

There are also plenty of bookshops around Switzerland that aren’t dedicated English bookshops, but still have a selection of English-language writing available, such as Payot in Geneva, Bider & Tanner in Basel, and Kanisiusbuchhandlung and Librophoros in Fribourg. Buch am Platz in Winterthur and QueerBooks in Bern also have been known to stock English titles.

The basement of St Ursula’s Church in Bern is also definitely worth a visit during one of their quarterly fêtes with shelves housing hundreds of second-hand English-language paperbacks in need of a new home.