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The essential guide to Switzerland

Here’s everything you need to know about exploring the “Playground of Europe”—when to go, where to stay, what to do, and how to get around.

Why you should visit Switzerland

Skiing in the   Alps.   Swimming in crystal clear lakes. Modern cities with medieval old towns. All that chocolate and cheese.

Best time to visit Switzerland

Spring: Hike along low-elevation trails through forests, past gorges, waterfalls, and lakes. Take the Glacier Express panoramic train across the Alps. Basel is a party city during its three-day carnival, Basler Fasnacht .

Summer: Most mountain areas are open from July. (Many resorts close between the skiing and summer seasons, usually April-June.) Europe’s largest jazz festival, Montreux Jazz Festival , takes place on the banks of Lake Geneva . Swiss National Day (August 1) is celebrated nationwide with bonfires and fireworks.  

Autumn: Try regional Swiss cheeses at Lucerne’s Cheese Festival . Celebrate the start of the grape harvest in Neuchâtel at the lively Grape Harvest Festival (Fête des Vendanges). The Food Zurich festival   features food tours, markets, and culinary events.

Winter: Switzerland’s mountain resorts are a magnet for winter sports enthusiasts. Watch international artists carving huge blocks of snow at the Grindelwald Snow Festival . Enjoy mulled wine and twinkling lights at Christmas markets .

Lay of the land

Cities: Bern’s old town has nearly four miles of medieval shopping arcades. Stylish Zurich offers a flourishing food scene and vibrant nightlife. Cultural hotspot Basel is the gateway for Alpine skiing. Geneva is the cosmopolitan capital of high-end watchmaking. Head to Lugano   for Mediterranean-style squares and sub-tropical gardens. Charming car-free Chur is Switzerland’s oldest city.

Central: Surrounded by mountains, lakeside Lucerne is famous for its 14th-century wooden bridge. Lake Zug is a picturesque spot for swimming and watersports in summer. Come winter, Engelberg-TITLIS ski resort offers some of the country’s best slopes—and the world’s first revolving cable car .

( Ice melt and a new cableway are reshaping the Eiger experience .)

Northeast: Head to family-friendly Thurgau to camp on the shores of Lake Constance and cycle or hike through its meadows, orchards, and forests. The magnificent Carolingian Abbey of St. Gall is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

East: Spot ibexes, marmots, and golden eagles in the Swiss National Park (Parc Naziunal Svizzer). Grisons ’ Alpine resorts offer abundant snow-filled fun, from snowboarding to horse-drawn sleigh rides. The exclusive St. Moritz is renowned for its world-class pistes, luxury shopping, and high-end restaurants.

South: For Mediterranean-style architecture and delicious gelato, head to Italian-speaking Ascona on Lake Maggiore. Hike through Valais’ vineyards and learn about local wines at the Musée du Vin . Take the cable car to the Eggishorn viewpoint for magnificent views of the Great Aletsch Glacier . High-altitude Alpine resorts, including Zermatt and Verbier , offer guaranteed snow.

West: Lausanne’s Olympic Museum houses the world’s largest archive of modern Olympic artifacts. The Vaud wine region is known for its diverse range of wines. Visit the peaceful town of Gruyères for its medieval hilltop castle—and its Gruyère cheese. The subalpine Jura Mountains straddle the Swiss-French border.

North: Use Zurich or Winterthur as a base to visit Europe’s largest waterfall. Art Basel, the prestigious contemporary art fair, features artists from five continents. The idyllic Aargau-Solothurn region is off the radar for international tourists: indulge in some me time at one of its numerous thermal baths.

Getting around

By train:   Switzerland’s train network is as safe, clean, and efficient as you’d imagine. Mainline trains are primarily run by Swiss Federal Railways (SBB in German, CFF in French, and FFS in Italian), with local and regional routes covered by private operators. Tickets can be bought at bahn.com, but domestic journeys don’t need to be booked ahead, and most trains don’t require a reservation. Good-value rail passes can be purchased from the Switzerland Travel Centre .

By car: Switzerland’s motorway network includes the A1, which runs east-west from St. Margrethen to Geneva, and the north-south A2, which connects Basel with Chiasso. A vignette   (road tax) is required to drive on the motorway. Winter tires are advisable during winter; snow chains may be necessary in Alpine regions. Driving in Switzerland is on the right.

By plane: Domestic flights are quick but expensive. Switzerland’s so small there’s no need to fly.  

By bus: Low-cost Flixbus offers several domestic routes.

Know before you go

Hours: Except at airports and train and gas stations, most stores are closed on Sundays. Some stores, restaurants, and attractions also close on public holidays, but unlike other parts of Europe, Switzerland doesn’t shut down in August.

Languages:   Switzerland has four national languages: German is the most widely spoken, followed by French, which is spoken in the west of the country. Italian is predominantly spoken in the southeast. Rumantsch is a Gallo-Romance language indigenous to Grisons in Switzerland’s east.  

LGBTQ+: Same-sex marriage is legal in Switzerland. As of 2020, transgender and intersex Swiss citizens over 16 can adjust their legal name and gender marker by self-declaration at the civil registry office. Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Bern, and Lausanne are known for their LGBTQ+ scenes. Pride (known as Christopher Street Day, or CSD) events are held in major cities and some smaller towns. Popular queer-friendly ski destinations include Zermatt, Lenzerheide , and Arosa .

Tipping: It is customary—though not obligatory—to round the bill up or tip approximately 10 percent.

How to visit sustainably  

Outdoors: Explore natural landscapes outside peak season and enjoy spring flowers or colorful fall foliage. Stick to hiking and cycling trails, keep noise to a minimum, and take your trash with you. Use designated campsites or check with local authorities before wild camping. Use SwitzerlandMobility   to select hiking trails coordinated with public transport.

Shopping: Browse flea markets in Zurich, Basel, and Geneva for vintage clothing and jewelry, books, and antiques. Stores such as the Schweizer Heimatwerk in Bern and Kolorit in St. Gallen sell Swiss-made souvenirs. Visit small-scale cheese dairies and wineries, and purchase chocolate from independent makers such as Garçoa and Taucherli , who produce fully traceable, organic, fair-trade bars.

Dining: There are vegetarian and vegan restaurants aplenty—supposedly the world’s oldest vegetarian restaurant is in Zurich—and the Swisstainable logo highlights restaurants committed to sustainable practices. Regional, seasonal produce is standard. Switzerland’s drinking water is very safe and clean—bring a reusable bottle and refill it at any tap.

( Here’s how to spend a meat-free culinary weekend in Zurich .)

What to read  

Swiss History in a Nutshell, by Grégoire Nappey. A concise summary of the most important historical events in Swiss history.

Heidi , by Johanna Spyri. This story of an orphan sent to live with her grandfather in the Alps is responsible for the romantic image of Switzerland held around the world today.

Swiss Watching: Inside the Land of Milk and Honey , by Diccon Bewes. This exploration of Switzerland goes beyond its stereotypes to prove there’s far more to the country than banking, skiing, chocolate, and cheese.

( For more tips on what to do in Switzerland, see our   Switzerland Explorer’s Guide .)

Related Topics

• FAMILY TRAVEL
• TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE
• TRAIN TRIPS

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• About Switzerland
• Discover All
• Mountain Excursions
• Panoramic Journey

Visit Switzerland

Take a scenic train ride, experience a quaint village, hike to a mountain glacier, craft your own chocolate, visit a museum and eat like the locals. Discover unique Switzerland experiences you won't want to miss.

Discover experiences in switzerland

Things to do in Switzerland

What Are You Looking For

For a perfect holiday, choose from affordable accommodation all the way through to exclusive 5 star hotels. Pick a suitable Swiss Travel pass that gives you the benefit of exploring the country by all modes of public transport. Indulge in the many activities and experiences that Switzerland has to offer - from mountain excursions, sunset cruises to paragliding.

Watch the Video

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Suggested Itinerary

• 8 Days / 7 Nights
• 7 nights in Lucerne
• Jet Boat in Interlaken
• Harder Kulm
• 4 nights in Lucerne
• 2 nights in Zermatt
• 1 night in Zurich
• Stanserhorn
• 7 Days / 6 Nights
• City tour of Geneva
• Chillion Castle
• Chocolate Factory
• Aareschlucht Gorge Funicular: Cable Car to Grindelwald
• Botanical garden in Mainau
• 1 night Zurich
• Rhine Waterfalls
• Boat ride in Leman Lake

Planning Your Trip

Information to help you plan your visit

Helpful Tips

Know about the special offers you can benefit from and add value to your holiday.

Find Expert

Our Specialists, who are well travelled and have in-depth knowledge of Switzerland can help you plan and book your holiday.

Touropia Travel Experts

Discover the World

Switzerland Travel Guide

Destinations

Introduction.

Undoubtedly one of the most beautiful countries in the world, Switzerland boasts sweeping valleys and soaring mountains with sparkling alpine lakes. Although its lovely scenery and exciting outdoor activities are understandably what attracts visitors, its cities and towns are very culturally diverse with four national languages being spoken around the country.

Set right in the heart of Europe, it is dominated and defined by its massive mountain ranges; the Swiss Alps rising in the south and the Jura Mountains in the west. Bordered by France , Germany , Austria , Liechtenstein and Italy , Switzerland is a very prosperous and peaceful place with most of its population residing amidst the rolling hills and wide-open pastures of the Swiss Plateau. Dotted about you can find over 1,500 scenic lakes with the largest being Geneva, Constance and Neuchatel.

As each region has its own look, feel and identity depending on whether it is French and German or Italian and Romansch that is spoken, it can be hard to know where to begin. While its capital Bern , for instance, has a magnificent medieval old town to wander around, Lausanne, Lucerne and Lugano all lie along lovely lakes with majestic mountains rising up around them.

The international city of Geneva also attracts lots of visitors with its famous Jet d’Eau and striking Saint Peter’s Cathedral, as does Zurich due to its attractive architecture and world-class museums. In addition, Basel’s beautiful old town is also well worth visiting while Interlaken acts as the country’s adventure sports capital with whitewater rafting, bungee jumping and skydiving all being on offer.

To top it all off, visitors can always take a cable car to the top of Mont Saleve and bask in fantastic views of Mont Blanc, go skiing at the glitzy resorts of Davos and St Moritz or scale the steep sides of the mighty Matterhorn – Switzerland’s standout symbol and sight.

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Destinations

Your swiss holiday time.

Holiday destinations

• Summer holiday destinations
• Winter sports & ski resorts
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Attractions

• Top attractions

UNESCO World Heritage sites / biospheres

Travel by train, bus or boat, top museums, swiss parks.

• Scenic nature

Experiences

Additional content about subnavigation experiences.

• Family excursions
• Food & Wine
• Group excursions
• Guided tours

Summer & Autumn

• Bicycle & Mountain bike
• Adventure & Sports Summer
• Zoo & animal experiences
• Ski and snowboard
• Cross-country skiing
• Snowshoe and winter hiking
• Tobogganing
• Winter excursions
• Christmas in Switzerland

Cities & culture

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Experience Tour

• Car, motorcycle - Grand Tour
• Train, bus, boat – Grand Train Tour
• Mountain excursions

Accommodation

• Typically Swiss Hotels
• Wellness & Spa
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• Inspiring Meeting Hotels
• Swiss Historic Hotels
• Luxury hotels
• Winter sports hotels

Other types of accommodation

• On the farm
• Bed and Breakfast
• Mountains huts
• Group accommodation

Transport & Stay

• Travel to Switzerland
• Barrier-free travel
• Tickets public transport
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About Switzerland

• General facts
• Custom and tradition
• History of Switzerland
• The Swiss Art and Culture Scene
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Weather & Climate

• Climate in Switzerland
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Where are you from?

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They are numerous and unforgettable: Pay a quick visit to an enchanted castle or a first-class museum, gaze at breathtaking glaciers and stunning mountains, pass palm trees and grotti and so much more... The passion for discovery seems unstoppable, as countless other Swiss attractions offer unique experiences.

Top Attractions

Pay a quick visit to an enchanted castle or a first-class museum, gaze at breathtaking glaciers and stunning mountains, pass palm trees and grotti and so much more... The passion for discovery seems unstoppable, as countless other Swiss attractions offer unique experiences.

Matterhorn (4,478 a.s.l.) - Symbol for Switzerland

The rhine falls, aletsch - the largest alpine glacier, creux du van, jungfraujoch.

UNESCO World Heritage sites are witnesses to the history of earth and mankind. They tell the story of the country’s formation and are part of the Swiss identity. Each one of these places stands for authenticity, quality and diversity across generations.

The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier

Prehistoric pile dwellings around the alps, biosfera val müstair, la chaux-de-fonds / le locle, watchmaking town planning, tectonic arena sardona.

Switzerland is proud of its diversity of museums: Thematically they range from art and culture, to history, customs and crafts, and to many other peculiarities which will amaze and amuse visitors.

Swiss Museum of Transportation

Swiss science center technorama, maison cailler, fondation beyeler, zentrum paul klee, advertisement.

Switzerland is a country rich in cultural gems. Some of these cultural assets are centuries old, such as many of the churches, sights and traditional customs. Others, including paradigms of modern architecture and urban design, symbolise the progressive nature of our country.

Medieval town Gruyères

Zürich west - from industrial to trend-setting district, abbey of st. gall, chapel bridge and water tower, maienfeld – heidi's world.

The most comfortable and relaxing way of discovering Switzerland is by train, boat or bus. A panoramic rail trip through the Alpine scenery, a romantic boat trip on a river or an excursion with a nostalgic paddle steamer on one of the famous Swiss lakes can be an unforgettable experience.

Glacier Express

Goldenpass panoramic, gotthard panorama express, luzern–interlaken express, bernina express, grand tour of switzerland.

From palm-lined lakeshores to sparkling glaciers, from medieval villages to buzzing cities – the Grand Tour of Switzerland packs in an incredible number of sights. The concentration of attractions is unrivalled worldwide.

Eastern Route

From CHF 470 for 5 nights

Western Route

From CHF 550 for 5 nights

Northern Route

From CHF 540 for 5 nights

Original Grand Tour

From CHF 870 for 8 nights

Chosen for you

Chase attractions in the towns and cities, treats for the taste buds guaranteed, travel for less, surrounded by fragrant scents, spectacular views with minimal effort, on the trail of historic treasures, all aboard, more topics.

The Swiss Parks are exceptional places, where local people are dedicated to maintaining their glorious landscapes, lively traditions and sustainable regional economies. Genuine natural experiences, fascinating stories and delicious regional specialities are just waiting to be discovered.

Historic Switzerland

Switzerland’s castles and palaces are a delight with flower-filled gardens, lofty battlements and awe-inspiring medieval halls. Take a journey back in time and immerse yourself in a bygone age.

Train, Bus, Boat – Panoramic journeys

Feel the magic - from glaciers to vineyards. Get aboard and start marvelling.

City Breaks

Swiss cities never fail to impress visitors by their scope. Nowhere are attractions, cultural centres, innovative gastronomy, insider's tips and new favourite places in such close proximity as in Switzerland. Explore our cities like Zurich, Basel and Geneva on foot and discover their charm and authenticity.

Art Museums of Switzerland

A visit to one of the Art Museums of Switzerland pledges a unique experience with amazing art, design and photography.

The magic of beautiful places

Discover hidden gems Visit 50 selected villages that represent the cultural and architectural diversity of our country and are included in the Federal Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites (ISOS). These exceptional villages can be found in all cantons and parts of the country and wonderfully explored along the Grand Tour of Switzerland.

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Is CERN activating the world’s most powerful particle accelerator for the April 8 eclipse? No

Cern restarted its large hadron collider after a regular winter stop for maintenance. it is unrelated to the eclipse. .

As people around the country await the April 8 total eclipse, conspiracy theories about a Switzerland-based nuclear research facility have some social media users on edge. In their view is CERN, also known as the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

“Why is CERN being reactivated on April 8, the same day as the infamous eclipse?” asked a  March 29 Facebook post , referencing what it called the group’s plan to activate “the large hadron collider” on the day of the eclipse. “My gut instinct is that something really big is being planned for that day… perhaps a total takedown of both the grid and society in general worldwide.” In  another post  April 1, a man in a baseball cap speculated that CERN is deliberately starting back up April 8 to “open up a gateway, a portal.”

(Screenshot/Facebook)

These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our  partnership with Meta , which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

It is not unusual for scientists to conduct research during an eclipse, when the sun’s corona becomes visible and areas in totality go briefly dark in the moon’s shadow.  Total solar eclipses   allow researchers “to study Earth’s atmosphere under uncommon conditions.” NASA, for example, is launching three sounding rockets on the day of the eclipse to study its effects on the ionosphere (a mission that also became a  subject of   misinformation ).

But CERN’s research is different. The primary research focus of CERN — an acronym derived from the French name “Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire” — is  particle physics , or “the study of the fundamental constituents of matter and the forces acting between them.” The organization seeks to find answers about the  universe’s fundamental structure .

CERN houses the Large Hadron Collider, the  most powerful particle accelerator in the world , which measures around 16.8 miles (27 kilometers) in circumference. The collider’s aim, as  Britannica explains , is to “understand the fundamental structure of matter by re-creating the extreme conditions that occurred in the first few moments of the universe according to the big-bang model.”

CERN spokesperson Sophie Tesauri told PolitiFact in an email that the collider’s activities have nothing to do with the April 8 eclipse.

“What we do at CERN is doing particle physics with accelerators such as the LHC, and this has little to do with astrophysics in a direct way,”  Tesauri said. “So there is no link between the solar eclipse on Monday 8th April, and what we do at CERN.”

CERN has an  accelerator complex  composed of machines with “increasingly higher energies.” A beam of particles is injected by one machine to the next one, bringing the beam to a higher energy — and the Large Hadron Collider is the last element in this complex.

“Hadrons” are a group of particles that include protons and ions. In the Large Hadron Collider,  two beams  travel in opposite directions at nearly light speed and are made to collide. In 2012, Large Hadron Collider experiments led to the discovery of the  Higgs boson particle , a particle named for British physicist Peter Higgs, who in the 1960s postulated about the existence of a particle that interacted with other particles at the beginning of time to provide them with their mass.

Tesauri told PolitiFact that the accelerator complex is restarted every year after a brief winter technical stop, when beam production ceases so that the accelerators can undergo maintenance. Restarting an accelerator like the Large Hadron Collider “requires a full commissioning process in order to check that all equipment works properly.”

“Now that all the checks have been performed, the LHC is ready to provide particle collisions to the LHC experiments, and first collisions for this year should actually happen today 5th April,” Tesauri said in her email. “This will mark the beginning of the physics run for 2024.”

The beams were initially expected to enter collision April 8, according to a  March 14 report . It said, “Depending on how work progresses, this milestone may shift forwards or backwards by a few days.”

On April 5, CERN  announced  that the Large Hadron Collider achieved its first stable beams in 2024, “marking the official start of the 2024 physics data-taking season.” The statement said that from March 8 to April 5, the Large Hadron Collider was set up to handle the beam and tested for any issues.

“Although the solar eclipse on 8 April will not affect the beams in the LHC, the gravitational pull of the moon, like the tides, changes the shape of the LHC because the machine is so big,” CERN’s announcement said. This phenomenon is not unique to an eclipse; a  2012 news release  discussed distortions in the machine brought about by a full moon.

According to CERN’s frequently asked questions page, the Large Hadron Collider is  expected to run over 20 years , “with several stops scheduled for upgrades and maintenance work.”

Conspiracy theories surrounding CERN’s work have been circulating for  years . In a statement to  Verify  fact-checkers, CERN said that its research “captures the imagination of lots of people, which is why CERN has been featured in a lot of science fiction books / even movies, around the world.” CERN said works inspired by its research are fictional and “should not be confused with the actual scientific research.”

False claims about the group’s work are so common that the organization addresses some common theories on its  FAQ page : No, it won’t “open a door to another dimension,” and no, it won’t “generate black holes in the cosmological sense.”

We rate the claim that CERN is activating its Large Hadron Collider in connection with the April 8 solar eclipse False.

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European court ruling puts cautious Swiss in climate bind

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• European court ruling cannot be appealed
• Orders Switzerland to act to curb climate change
• Academics say reform likely to be slow

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Financial muscle and tons of carbon.

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Reporting by Dave Graham and John Revill in Zurich, Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Cécile Mantovani in Geneva; Editing by Barbara Lewis

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Johnson Controls said on Friday its subsidiary Tyco Fire Products had agreed to a $750 million settlement with some U.S. public water systems that claimed toxic "forever chemicals" in firefighting foam made by the company had contaminated their water supplies.

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Iberians hit the beaches as temperatures rise 10c above normal.

People in Bilbao in northwestern Spain normally spend April dodging the showers but on Saturday many hit the beach as temperatures were up to 10 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal.

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Trump, at Fund-Raiser, Says He Wants Immigrants From ‘Nice’ Countries

At rallies, Donald Trump frequently laments migrants from a list of countries from Africa, Asia and the Middle East as he stokes fears around the surge at the border.

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By Maggie Haberman and Michael Gold

Maggie Haberman reported from New York, and Michael Gold from Palm Beach, Fla.

• April 7, 2024

Former President Donald J. Trump, speaking at a multimillion-dollar fund-raiser on Saturday night, lamented that people were not immigrating to the United States from “nice” countries “like Denmark” and suggested that his well-heeled dinner companions were temporarily safe from undocumented immigrants nearby, according to an attendee.

Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, made the comments during a roughly 45-minute presentation at a dinner at a mansion owned by the billionaire financier John Paulson in Palm Beach, Fla., a rarefied island community.

Guests were seated outdoors at white-clothed tables under a white tent, looking out on the waterway that divides the moneyed town from the more diverse West Palm Beach, a mainland city, according to the attendee, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the private event but provided an extensive readout of Mr. Trump’s remarks.

Dozens of wealthy donors helped write checks that the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee claim totaled more than $50 million, an amount that would set a record but had not been verified. Campaign finance reports encompassing the date of the event won’t be available for months.

Some of Mr. Trump’s comments were standard fare from his stump speeches, while other parts of the speech were tailored to his wealthy audience.

About midway through his remarks, the attendee said, Mr. Trump began an extensive rant about migrants entering the United States, at a time when President Biden has been struggling with an intensified crisis at the Southern border.

“These are people coming in from prisons and jails. They’re coming in from just unbelievable places and countries, countries that are a disaster,” Mr. Trump told his guests, according to the attendee. The former president has made a similar claim the heart of his campaign speeches.

He then appeared to refer to an episode during his presidency when he drew significant criticism after an Oval Office meeting with federal lawmakers about immigration during which he described Haiti and some nations in Africa as “shithole countries,” compared with places like Norway.

“And when I said, you know, Why can’t we allow people to come in from nice countries, I’m trying to be nice,” Mr. Trump said at the dinner, to chuckles from the crowd. “Nice countries, you know like Denmark, Switzerland? Do we have any people coming in from Denmark? How about Switzerland? How about Norway?”

He continued, “And you know, they took that as a very terrible comment, but I felt it was fine.”

Mr. Trump went on to say that there were people coming from Yemen, “where they’re blowing each other up all over the place.”

During his rallies, Mr. Trump frequently laments migrants from a list of countries from Africa, Asia and the Middle East as he stokes fears around the surge at the border, which he blames for a spike in crime, blame that has not been supported by available data.

At the dinner, Mr. Trump also lamented the surge of migrants, particularly from Latin America, saying that gang members “make the Hells Angels look like extremely nice people.”

“They’ve been shipped in, brought in, deposited in our country, and they’re with us tonight,” Mr. Trump said.

“In fact, I don’t think they’re on this island, but I know they’re on that island right there. That’s West Palm,” Mr. Trump said, gesturing across the water, according to the attendee. “Congratulations over there. But they’ll be here. Eventually, they’ll be here.”

Asked to comment, a Trump campaign official pointed to an official readout of the former president’s event, including that he had discussed the border crisis and the tax cuts that he enacted while in office. The official did not address the specific quotes and did not respond to a question about whether the campaign was disputing them.

Mr. Paulson’s estate sits along the waterway that separates the town of Palm Beach — a wealthy community on a barrier island that, according to the Census Bureau, is 93.8 percent white — from West Palm Beach, where nearly a third of residents are Black and a quarter are Hispanic.

Mr. Trump blamed his successor, Mr. Biden, for the influx of migrants and mocked him and aides for what Mr. Trump said were bad decisions made around the Resolute Desk, which has been used by two dozen presidents.

“The Resolute Desk is beautiful,” Mr. Trump said. “Ronald Reagan used it, others used it.”

He then denigrated Mr. Biden, sounding disgusted, according to the attendee: “And he’s using it. I might not use it the next time. It’s been soiled. And I mean that literally, which is sad.”

The attendee who witnessed the moment said that dinner guests laughed and that Mr. Trump’s remark was interpreted as the former president saying that Mr. Biden had defecated on the desk.

Mr. Trump also sought to point to parts of his record that could appeal to the wealthy donors in attendance. He highlighted the tax cuts under his administration and asked attendees about whether they had a preference for that measure or his regulations that allowed them to take advantage of specific write-offs, according to the attendee.

“The most successful people in the whole country are in this room,” Mr. Trump said.

He ended his remarks with a grave assessment of America’s future that has characterized his campaigns for the presidency, but with a more apocalyptic tenor in 2024.

“This could very well be the last election this country ever has,” Mr. Trump said, using a line that has become standard at his rallies. “July 4 is not as important as this as far as I’m concerned.”

Maggie Haberman is a senior political correspondent reporting on the 2024 presidential campaign, down ballot races across the country and the investigations into former President Donald J. Trump. More about Maggie Haberman

Michael Gold is a political correspondent for The Times covering the campaigns of Donald J. Trump and other candidates in the 2024 presidential elections. More about Michael Gold

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Steady progress in Key Bridge salvage and recovery operations, 'significant increase' in travel times for trucks through Baltimore

By Mike Hellgren

Updated on: April 12, 2024 / 6:30 PM EDT / CBS Baltimore

BALTIMORE -- New video shows crushed gravel from the pavement of what was the Key Bridge being removed from the Patapsco River, a painstaking process.

Over the past week, teams have removed a little more than 20 percent of the 178 containers they must take off the Dali to refloat the massive cargo ship. 

More new video from the Unified Command shows steel from the bridge on a barge. 

 A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers animation explains the plan, which is still on track, to open a third, deeper channel to allow more access to the Port of Baltimore.

At least 68 vessels have passed through the two shallower alternate channels that opened in the days after the collapse.

Take a more detailed look at our Salvage Operations Plan (including efforts to establish a limited access channel) in this updated animation. 🏗 The Unified Command is undertaking this work with care and precision to restore full service to the @portofbalt . #FSKBridge pic.twitter.com/riU84bkYAc — USACE Baltimore (@USACEBaltimore) April 11, 2024

Data from the University of Maryland shows the bridge's collapse has in some cases doubled and tripled travel times for trucks detouring around the Beltway or through the tunnels.

"We can see that I-95 I-895 and I-695 around the western side of the Beltway are experiencing significant impacts as shown by an increase in red and purple on the roadway is where they used to be green," a representative of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said in a webinar this week.

Friday, Governor Wes Moore announced more assistance for those businesses and workers who rely on the Port of Baltimore including grants of up to $200,000.

Governor Moore announced a new one-stop website with updated resources on the disaster. 

Yesterday. Maryland's Congressional delegation introduced legislation that would mandate the federal government pay for all of the costs of a replacement bridge. 

"This bill is a step toward accomplishing everything we said we would do one hundred percent of the way plain and simple," Rep. Kweisi Mfume said on the House floor. 

Representatives also remembered the victims. Three bodies have yet to be recovered from the water. 

"They were just out there doing their job," Representative John Sarbanes said . "They were husbands, dads, brothers and friends. Our deepest condolences go out to their families who are feeling that incredibly profound loss."

WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren came to WJZ in the spring of 2004. Solid reporting credentials and a reputation for breaking important news stories have characterized Mike's work. Mike holds a B.S. degree in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and grew up partly in both Chicago and Louisiana.

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