Film and TV locations in Switzerland
70 places to shoot in Switzerland: 12 transport and infrastructure locations, 11 studios and backlots, 10 offices, schools and public buildings and 37 more. 49 have a photo and 10 carry practical details the location publishes itself. Search and put three side by side in the locations search.
What Switzerland pays back
Switzerland runs the Filmstandortförderung Schweiz (FiSS), worth 20% (40% for minority co-productions and technical costs) as a selective fund. Work out the net value on your own spend in the incentive comparison, and find a studio, service company or post house in the 24 companies we list in Switzerland.
Regions
And single locations in 8 more regions, all of them in the list below.
Transport and infrastructure in Switzerland 12
Stations, airports, ports, bridges, tunnels, metro lines and rolling stock, including disused stretches that can be closed off for a shoot. All 12 on their own page.
Blonay-Chamby Museum Railway
Transport & infrastructure
Preserved narrow gauge line on the slope above Montreux with period stations, a stone viaduct, a depot of historic steam and electric stock and views over Lake Geneva.
Furka Steam Railway
Transport & infrastructure
Volunteer run metre gauge steam line over the Furka pass between Realp and Oberwald, with a depot at Realp, timber station buildings, rack sections and high alpine bridges.
Geneva Airport
Transport & infrastructure
City airport on the French border with a single runway, a compact terminal and an east wing extension, ten minutes by rail from central Geneva.
Grande Dixence Dam
Transport & infrastructure
Concrete gravity dam of 285 metres at the head of the Val des Dix, with a crest walkway, inspection galleries inside the wall and a visitor centre at the foot.
Jungfrau Railway and Jungfraujoch station
Transport & infrastructure
Rack railway running inside the Eiger and Monch to Europe's highest railway station at 3,454 metres, with tunnel galleries, an ice tunnel system and terraces over the Aletsch glacier.
Lake Lucerne paddle steamers
Transport & infrastructure
Fleet of five historic paddle steamers and salon motor vessels working Lake Lucerne from the quays beside Lucerne station, with period saloons, open decks and visible engines.
Landwasser Viaduct
Transport & infrastructure
Curved limestone viaduct of 1902 on the Rhaetian Railway near Filisur, 65 metres high, running straight from the last pier into a tunnel mouth in the rock face.
Port of Switzerland, Basel
Transport & infrastructure
Rhine river ports at Kleinhuningen and Birsfelden, the country's only cargo harbour, with quays, cranes, silos, container terminals and barge traffic on the German border.
Tram-Museum Zurich
Transport & infrastructure
Working tram depot at Burgwies in Zurich holding around twenty historic trams and buses from 1897 onward, with inspection pits, overhead wire and a depot hall open for hire.
Zurich Airport
Transport & infrastructure
Switzerland's largest airport at Kloten, with three terminals, an airside dock, an underground people mover and the Circle office and hotel complex at the landside edge.
Zurich Hauptbahnhof
Transport & infrastructure
Main station of Zurich, a nineteenth century head house over a wide train hall with modern through platforms and a shopping level below, busy from early morning to late night.
Ponte via Interlenghi, Chiasso
Transport & infrastructure
Road bridge in the border town of Chiasso listed in the Ticino film commission location catalogue, close to the customs area and the railway yards on the Italian frontier.
Official siteFilm commissionCommission listingCompare this one
Film studios and backlots in Switzerland 11
Sound stages, backlots, water tanks and virtual production volumes you can hire, with the crew base and power that go with them. All 11 on their own page.
RTS Studios Geneva
Studio & backlot
Broadcast centre of French speaking Swiss public television on Quai Ernest-Ansermet in Geneva, with news and talk studios and 1970s broadcast architecture.
SRF Studio Zurich Leutschenbach
Studio & backlot
Headquarters and broadcast complex of Swiss German public television in north Zurich, with news, sport and talk studios, galleries, newsroom floors and a 1970s office block.
Seen in: Tagesschau, Arena
1291 Productions Studios
Studio & backlot
Two adjoining sound stages at Burglen in Thurgau that can be run as one space or divided by soundproof walls, hired by the hour, day or week.
Two connected soundstages, soundproof dividing walls, in-house production services
Content Park Operations
Studio & backlot
Private studio group in Schlieren west of Zurich, with sound stages up to about 400 square metres and 7.5 metres clear height plus a fully rigged TV studio.
Several rental sound stages and a TV studio across sites in Zurich and Schlieren, about 3,000 square metres in total
Fotohalle
Studio & backlot
Column free hall of about 420 square metres at Schlieren used as a photo, film and event studio, with a drive in entrance and blackout capability.
About 420 square metres of studio floor, blackout curtains, vehicle access
Nebel Studios
Studio & backlot
Production studio at Grancia south of Lugano, listed by the national film commission as one of the studio facilities available to visiting productions in Italian speaking Switzerland.
REDFOX Studio
Studio & backlot
Studio at Ursy in the Fribourg countryside between Lausanne and Bern, listed by the national film commission among the production studios open to hire.
RSI Studios Comano
Studio & backlot
Television and multimedia base of Italian speaking Swiss public broadcasting on the hill above Lugano, with production studios, control rooms and technical halls.
Soundville Media Studios
Studio & backlot
Combined sound and film studio complex in Lucerne, in operation since 1980, offering a film stage alongside recording and post production rooms.
Studio 13
Studio & backlot
Film and photo studio on Route de Riddes in Sion, the studio the Valais film commission and the national commission point productions to for interior work in the Rhone valley.
StudioGutenswil
Studio & backlot
Rental studio in the village of Gutenswil east of Zurich, in use since the 1960s and quiet enough for live sound recording during filming.
Offices, schools and public buildings in Switzerland 10
Offices, town halls, courtrooms, libraries, universities and schools: the interiors most contemporary drama actually needs. All 10 on their own page.
Abbey Library of Saint Gall
Office, school & public building
Rococo library hall of 1767 in the abbey district of St. Gallen, with inlaid wood floors, galleried book walls, ceiling paintings and adjoining baroque abbey rooms.
Academy of Architecture, Mendrisio
Office, school & public building
Architecture school in Mendrisio built around a nineteenth century villa and park with newer teaching pavilions, listed among the Ticino film commission locations.
CERN
Office, school & public building
Particle physics laboratory at Meyrin on the French border, with 1950s office blocks, control rooms, assembly halls and underground experiment caverns on the accelerator ring.
ETH Zurich main building
Office, school & public building
Semper's 1864 main building of the federal technical university above central Zurich, with a domed hall, stone stairs, lecture theatres, laboratories and a terrace over the city.
Federal Palace, Bern
Office, school & public building
Seat of the Swiss parliament and government on the Aare terrace in Bern, a domed sandstone building of 1902 with two chambers, a lobby hall and a public square in front.
Palais des Nations
Office, school & public building
United Nations European headquarters in the Ariana park above Geneva, a 1930s monumental complex of assembly halls, marble corridors, council chambers and a modern extension.
Rolex Learning Center, EPFL
Office, school & public building
Single storey library and study building by SANAA on the EPFL campus at Ecublens, a continuous undulating slab with circular patios and long glazed sightlines.
Swiss National Museum, Zurich
Office, school & public building
Historicist museum castle of 1898 beside Zurich main station, with courtyards, towers, vaulted galleries and a 2016 concrete extension by Christ and Gantenbein.
USI Lugano campus
Office, school & public building
University campus in the Lugano district of Besso, with lecture blocks, courtyards and modern teaching interiors, entered in the Ticino film commission location catalogue.
Swiss Museum of Transport
Office, school & public building
Transport museum on the lake shore in Lucerne with halls of locomotives, aircraft, cable cars and cars, a planetarium and a large format cinema.
Hotels and interiors in Switzerland 8
Hotels, spas and their lobbies, ballrooms, bars and corridors, including closed or seasonal properties that can take over a whole unit. All 8 on their own page.
Beau-Rivage Palace
Hotel & interiors
Belle epoque lakeside hotel at Ouchy in Lausanne, with a domed ballroom, marble halls, formal gardens and terraces facing Lake Geneva and the Savoy Alps.
Berghotel Schatzalp
Hotel & interiors
Former sanatorium of 1900 above Davos, reached by funicular, with long south balconies, art nouveau public rooms and corridors that read as a period clinic.
Grandhotel Giessbach
Hotel & interiors
Belle epoque hotel of 1875 above Lake Brienz beside the Giessbach falls, reached by a funicular, with a period dining room, salons, terraces and a wooded park.
Hotel Waldhaus Sils
Hotel & interiors
Family run grand hotel of 1908 on a wooded rise at Sils in the Upper Engadine, with a hall, panelled salons, a ballroom and largely unaltered early twentieth century interiors.
Monte Verita
Hotel & interiors
Hill above Ascona holding the Bauhaus style hotel of 1927 by Emil Fahrenkamp, the wooden Casa Anatta and a park, run as a conference and museum estate.
Burgenstock Resort
Hotel & interiors
Hotel estate on a ridge 500 metres above Lake Lucerne, with several hotels, a cliff walk, an outdoor rock lift and modern spa and conference interiors.
Grand Hotel Muralto
Hotel & interiors
Large belle epoque hotel of 1876 on the lake front at Muralto next to Locarno, long out of use, listed in the Ticino film commission location catalogue.
Official siteFilm commissionCommission listingCompare this one
Hotel Vezia
Hotel & interiors
Roadside hotel at Vezia just north of Lugano listed in the Ticino film commission location catalogue, with garden, pool and plain modern guest rooms.
Official siteFilm commissionCommission listingCompare this one
Industrial and derelict locations in Switzerland 7
Factories, warehouses, power stations, mines, depots and abandoned buildings: raw space, hard surfaces and the kind of decay that is impossible to build. Industrial and derelict locations across Europe.
Attisholz Areal
Industrial & derelict
Disused cellulose factory on the river Aare at Riedholz, with large production halls, silos, pipework and open yards used for events and temporary hire while the site is redeveloped.
Lagerplatz Winterthur
Industrial & derelict
Former Sulzer works yard in Winterthur, a block of brick halls, workshops and open yards let to craft and creative tenants, with raw industrial surfaces and gantry structures.
Lokremise St. Gallen
Industrial & derelict
Round locomotive shed of 1903 beside St. Gallen station, kept with its turntable and radial bays and used as a theatre, cinema and art space.
Papieri Cham
Industrial & derelict
Former paper mill on the Lorze in Cham, a walled riverside works of machine halls, chimneys and workers buildings being converted into a mixed quarter.
Salt Mines of Bex
Industrial & derelict
Working salt mine above Bex with kilometres of galleries, timber and rock chambers, a narrow gauge mine train and underground halls open to visitors.
Klybeck industrial site, Basel
Industrial & derelict
Former chemical works of Ciba and Novartis in north Basel, a closed quarter of laboratory blocks, production buildings and internal streets now in transformation.
Kraftwerk Zurich
Industrial & derelict
Former municipal power station on Selnaustrasse in central Zurich, now a work and event house keeping the turbine hall volume, steel windows and machine room detail.
Theatres, arenas and venues in Switzerland 5
Auditoriums, concert halls, opera houses, cinemas, arenas and event spaces, with the backstage, foyers and dressing rooms that come with them. Theatres, arenas and venues across Europe.
Grand Theatre de Geneve
Theatre, arena & venue
Opera house of 1876 on Place Neuve in Geneva, rebuilt after a 1951 fire, with a stone facade, a grand staircase, a 1,500 seat auditorium and modern stage machinery.
Hallenstadion
Theatre, arena & venue
Indoor arena of 1939 at Oerlikon in north Zurich, rebuilt in 2005, seating about 13,000 for concerts, ice hockey and six day track racing, with a wide flat floor.
Capacity: 13000
Zurich Opera House
Theatre, arena & venue
Neo baroque opera house of 1891 on Sechselautenplatz in Zurich, with a horseshoe auditorium of about 1,100 seats, gilded tiers, foyers and a studio stage.
Cinema Lux, Massagno
Theatre, arena & venue
Neighbourhood art house cinema at Massagno beside Lugano, listed in the Ticino film commission location catalogue and marked there as a green location.
Official siteFilm commissionCommission listingCompare this one
Ex Piscina Pompeiana, Arzo
Theatre, arena & venue
Disused open air swimming pool at Arzo near the marble quarries, laid out in a Pompeian style and listed in the Ticino film commission location catalogue.
Official siteFilm commissionCommission listingCompare this one
Bars, restaurants and shops in Switzerland 4
Cafes, bars, restaurants, markets, shops and shopping streets, the everyday interiors a schedule eats through quickly. Bars, restaurants and shops across Europe.
Cafe Odeon
Bar, restaurant & shop
Viennese style cafe and bar of 1911 on Limmatquai in Zurich, with marble tables, mirrors, chandeliers and a corner position on the river.
Confiserie Sprungli, Paradeplatz
Bar, restaurant & shop
Confectioner's shop and first floor cafe on Paradeplatz in Zurich, trading since 1859, with counters, a tram square outside and bank facades on all sides.
Kronenhalle
Bar, restaurant & shop
Restaurant and bar of 1924 near the Zurich opera, with dark panelling, brass lamps, leather banquettes and paintings by Chagall, Miro and Picasso on the walls.
Markthalle Basel
Bar, restaurant & shop
Domed market hall of 1929 beside Basel station, a 60 metre concrete rotunda now filled with food stalls, bars and event space under the ring of clerestory windows.
Houses and apartments in Switzerland 4
Private houses, villas, apartments and period interiors available for filming, from workers' housing to architect-designed homes. Houses and apartments across Europe.
Maison Blanche
House & apartment
First house Le Corbusier built on his own account, finished in 1912 above La Chaux-de-Fonds, with white rendered walls, period interiors and a hillside garden.
Siedlung Halen
House & apartment
Dense terraced housing estate of 1961 by Atelier 5 in woodland above the Aare near Bern, with concrete row houses, narrow lanes, private patios and a shared pool.
Villa Le Lac
House & apartment
Small lakeside house of 1923 built by Le Corbusier for his parents at Corseaux, a single storey plan of 64 square metres with a long horizontal window and a walled garden.
Villa Patumbah
House & apartment
Ornate 1885 merchant villa in the Zurich Seefeld quarter with painted salons, carved timber, a conservatory and a public park, run as a heritage centre with rooms for hire.
Hospitals, prisons and institutions in Switzerland 3
Working and disused hospitals, clinics, prisons, barracks and asylums: corridors, wards and cells that are close to impossible to fake convincingly. Hospitals, prisons and institutions across Europe.
Alte Kaserne Winterthur
Hospital, prison & institution
Nineteenth century barracks on Technikumstrasse in Winterthur, now a cultural centre with a parade yard, long corridors, drill halls and plain institutional rooms for hire.
Ancien Penitencier, Sion
Hospital, prison & institution
Former cantonal prison below the castles of Sion, run by the Valais cantonal museums as an exhibition building, keeping its cell block structure and vaulted corridors.
Kaserne Basel
Hospital, prison & institution
Former cavalry barracks on the Rhine in Kleinbasel, a long classical block around a large courtyard, now a performance house with halls, foyers and bare service rooms.
Villages and countryside in Switzerland 2
Villages, farmland, meadows and rural roads: open country with somewhere to put a unit base. Villages and countryside across Europe.
Ballenberg Open-Air Museum
Village & countryside
Open air museum near Brienz with more than a hundred rebuilt farmhouses, barns, workshops and gardens from across Switzerland, set over 66 hectares of meadow and woodland.
Lavaux Vineyard Terraces
Village & countryside
Terraced vineyards on the north shore of Lake Geneva between Lausanne and Montreux, with stone walls, wine villages, a lakeside railway and paths through the plots.
Castles and estates in Switzerland 2
Castles, fortresses, manor houses and country estates, usually with grounds, outbuildings and period interiors in one place. Castles and estates across Europe.
Castelgrande, Bellinzona
Castle & estate
Rock fortress in the centre of Bellinzona, part of a World Heritage group of three castles, with curtain walls, two towers, a lift through the rock and modern halls by Aurelio Galfetti.
Chillon Castle
Castle & estate
Island castle on Lake Geneva near Montreux, with vaulted cellars, a great hall, painted chambers, a keep and courtyards, run as a museum by a public foundation.
Forests and lakes in Switzerland 1
Woodland, forests, lakes and rivers, with the access tracks and permits that shooting in them needs. Forests and lakes across Europe.
Parco Villa Costanza, Viganello
Forest & lake
Public park around a nineteenth century villa at Viganello in Lugano, with mature trees, terraces and lawns, listed in the Ticino film commission location catalogue.
Official siteFilm commissionCommission listingCompare this one
Mountains and wilderness in Switzerland 1
Mountains, moors, volcanic ground, glaciers and empty terrain, where access and weather decide the schedule. Mountains and wilderness across Europe.
Schilthorn Piz Gloria
Mountains & wilderness
Summit station at 2,970 metres above Murren, reached by cable car, with a revolving restaurant, viewing terraces and a Bond themed exhibition inside the building.
Seen in: On Her Majesty's Secret Service