The Best Honeymoon Photo Locations in Switzerland, Stop by Stop

A 90-minute honeymoon session usually takes one of these as its centrepiece and adds one or two contrasting settings within a short walk or ride.

Lucerne is the easiest honeymoon stop to photograph, because everything is close. For newlyweds, three spots stand out.

• The Nationalquai. The chestnut-lined promenade east of the centre, with the old grand hotels behind you and the lake, Pilatus and the Alps ahead. Walking shots here feel unhurried in a way the busy bridges never do, and in autumn and winter the sun sets roughly over the Pilatus side of the lake.
• A paddle steamer. The lake company runs five historic paddle steamers, built between 1901 and 1928, with an open upper deck, polished wood and brass. A photographer can travel with you to Weggis or Vitznau and work through the crossing; the timetable marks which departures are steamers.
• The Musegg meadow. Open grass below the medieval wall, looking over the rooftops to the lake, at its best in the late afternoon. Quiet, and it works in every season.

The Chapel Bridge is worth a few frames at sunrise, before the groups arrive at about 9:00. If you have a free afternoon, the Känzeli on Rigi adds a mountain with the lake below it. Our page on honeymoon photography in Lucerne covers the service there in full.

Interlaken sits between two lakes with the Jungfrau straight ahead to the south, and it gives honeymooners a classic Alpine backdrop without any climbing.

• The Höhematte. The open meadow in the centre of town, with the Jungfrau framed between the trees at its southern end. Early morning for an empty meadow; evening for warm light on the peak. Grand hotel façades line the Höheweg on the other side.
• The Aare quays and Unterseen. The green-turquoise river between the lakes and a small old-town square across the bridges, for quieter, closer portraits. Strongest on sunny summer afternoons.
• Harder Kulm. The funicular climbs about 10 minutes to a viewpoint looking over town to the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, with Lake Thun on one side and Lake Brienz on the other. The terrace is busy at sunset, so the photographs work better as part of an evening together than as a quiet portrait session.

On Lake Brienz, the Iseltwald pier is best in the first hours of the morning, before the queue at the turnstile builds. For turquoise water without the queue, the Bönigen lakeshore at the western tip of the lake is far quieter, and the boat between Interlaken Ost and Brienz makes a natural moving set in summer. For the service in this area, see honeymoon photography in Interlaken.

In Zermatt the whole session is organised around one mountain, and mornings are when it is most often clear.

• The Kirchbrücke. The small bridge over the Vispa next to the church, with the rooftops and the Matterhorn straight up the valley. At dawn the summit turns pink before the village gets any sun, so you are photographed in soft shade with a lit peak behind you. Five to ten minutes on foot from the station.
• Stellisee. The best-known reflection lake on the 5-Seenweg, reached by the Sunnegga funicular and the Blauherd gondola, then 15–20 minutes on foot. Usually calm until mid-morning, from mid-June to early October.
• Riffelsee. A small lake just below Rotenboden on the Gornergrat line, known for the full reflection of the Matterhorn, from about late June to October.
• Hinterdorf. The old quarter of dark larch-wood barns behind the church, a quiet fallback when the mountain has clouded over by midday.

Your hotel terrace can be a good opening setting too, if the hotel agrees. The Matterhorn creates its own cloud, so a second morning in reserve is worth more here than anywhere else in the country. See honeymoon photography in Zermatt for the service there, and the Matterhorn page for every viewpoint.

The eastern end of Lake Geneva gives you a promenade, a castle and a UNESCO vineyard within half an hour of each other.

• The Quai de Montreux. Palms, flowerbeds and benches with the lake and the Chablais mountains opposite. The stretch between the Casino and Territet is calmer than the centre. The last 90 minutes before sunset are the best, though in midsummer the sun sets behind the hills above Vevey and the promenade falls into shade before the sky does.
• Glion. A village on a balcony about 300 metres above the lake, 10 minutes by cogwheel train, with the whole eastern end of the lake below you. Height without a summit.
• Chillon Castle from outside. The classic view is from the public lakeside path on the Montreux side, in late afternoon and evening side light. The interior is ticketed and has its own rules on photography, so most honeymoon sessions stay outside.
• Lavaux. The terraced vineyards between Lausanne and Montreux. The Dézaley terraces are strongest in the last two hours before sunset, and Saint-Saphorin is a quiet village with its own station. Avoid midday in summer on the open terraces; the vines turn gold in October.

A session that starts in Lavaux and finishes on the Quai de Montreux at dusk is one of the most varied honeymoon evenings in the country. The Montreux page covers the trains and boats between them.

Lugano gives a Swiss honeymoon its southern, Italian-speaking chapter, and a gentler mood than the Alps.

• The Riva and Parco Ciani. The tree-lined lakefront with Monte San Salvatore to the south and Monte Brè to the east, and the lakeside park with lawns, old trees, and camellias and magnolias in spring. Early morning for calm water and an empty promenade.
• Monte Brè. The funicular from Cassarate takes about 14 minutes, and the summit looks west over the city and the bay: the classic Lugano sunset, in the last 90 minutes before the sun goes down. Below the summit, the old village of Brè has stone lanes that are calmer than the terrace.
• Via Nassa. The arcaded street parallel to the lake gives soft, even light even at midday, and before about 9:30 it is empty. The place for linen, sunglasses and an espresso.

On Lake Lugano, Gandria is a former fishing village built one house above another on the rock, reached by boat in summer or on foot along the Olive Trail in about an hour. Morcote, further south, pairs a lakefront with the long stairway to Santa Maria del Sasso, which takes warm light late in the afternoon. Lugano summers bring short afternoon thunderstorms, so morning and early evening are the safer slots.

St. Moritz suits honeymoons outside the summer peak as well as in it, and its light is clear enough that late morning works, which is unusual in the Alps.

• The Lake St. Moritz shore. A flat path around the lake, with the town stacked on its slope across the water from the southern shore. Calm water in the morning; light on the town in the late afternoon.
• Muottas Muragl. A terrace at 2,456 metres looking south-west over the whole chain of Upper Engadine lakes, with the sun setting down the valley. In summer 2026 the last funicular up is at 23:00, so a sunset session needs no hike.
• Lej da Staz. A small forest lake between St. Moritz, Celerina and Pontresina, about 20–30 minutes on foot from the lake shore, with still water in the morning. In mid to late October the larches around it turn gold.
• The frozen lake in winter. From January to March the lake becomes a white plain below the town; go on the ice only where it is officially open.

The lakes towards Sils and Silvaplana are a morning job: the Maloja wind usually ruffles the water in the afternoon. Bring a coat, even for a summer evening on Muottas Muragl.

Some of the most natural honeymoon photographs are taken on the way from one stop to the next, not at the stops themselves. A photographer can join you for part of a journey you were already making:

• Lake Lucerne by boat, from Lucerne to Weggis or Vitznau, in under 45 minutes or about an hour.
• The Lake Brienz boat between Interlaken Ost and Brienz, which calls at Iseltwald, in the summer season.
• The GoldenPass Express from Montreux to Gstaad, about an hour and 25 minutes, continuing towards Interlaken.
• The Glacier Express between Zermatt and St. Moritz, about eight hours with a seat reservation; note that it pauses from 11 October to 4 December 2026.

Photographing on board a public train or boat is usually fine as long as you do not block gangways or bother other passengers, and on the lake boats a first-class deck is often quieter. A longer day that follows you between places is priced as a Swiss photo tour.

If you can only book one session, choose by the kind of photographs you want to keep:

• One iconic mountain: Zermatt at sunrise.
• Classic Alps without any climbing: Interlaken’s Höhematte, with Harder Kulm for the evening.
• Lake, old town and variety within a walk: Lucerne.
• A southern, relaxed mood: Lugano’s lakefront and Monte Brè.
• Vineyards, a castle and a lake in one evening: Montreux with Lavaux and Chillon.
• Autumn gold or winter snow: St. Moritz.

A honeymoon session starts from CHF 650 for about 90 minutes, which is also the Alpine starting price for mountain stops such as Zermatt, Interlaken and St. Moritz. Two or more places on the same day start from CHF 850, and a day that follows your route from CHF 1,200. The honeymoon photography prices guide explains what moves the figure, and pricing lists every tier.

When your route is set, send a free availability request listing your stops and dates. We check which reviewed photographers are free at each one and reply personally with a proposal naming the photographer, the package and the price. If you would rather have a couple session outside a honeymoon, the couple photography page covers that.