Stereotype: <<The Swiss are cold and serious.>>

It is quite possible to spend two hours in a Swiss train in front of somebody your age and he or she will not dare strike up a conversation. It’s not that your traveling companion wouldn’t enjoy talking with you, but the idea of starting a conversation with a stranger seems unnatural. Regional variations are high. Take Geneva with its 37% of full-time foreigners, not to speak of visitors, and understandably you will need more than to say you are a tourist to trigger an outburst of warmth from a local. But head for the mountains and people may well invite you to come over to drink their homemade cellar wine (many Swiss make their own wine).