Artificial boundaries
Taking the topography of Switzerland into account, the national boundary passes through cities (Geneva, Basel, Constance, Chiasso), over solid terrain (717 km), through lakes, rivers and streams (436 km) as well as across mountains and alpine areas (746 km). The segments along the terrain are monumented by 7132 boundary markers – mostly artfully carved stones – connected through straight lines. These are known as artificially defined boundaries.
Natural boundaries
Lakes, flowing waters and mountains are natural boundaries without particular markers in the terrain. In lakes and flowing waters the boundary usually runs through the middle of these bodies of water. The Lake of Geneva constitutes the boundary with France, the Rhine River with Germany, and the Inn River with Austria. An exception is the Doubs River in the Canton of Jura, where the boundary is defined by the Swiss river bank. The same is true for the Morge River in St-Gingolph, where the upper edge of the Swiss river bank defines the boundary. There is still no definite description of the boundary in the Lake of Constance.
In the mountains the water divide (or the mountain ridge) is defined as a natural boundary and is not marked in the terrain. On glaciers and firns the boundary moves and follows the course of the morphological changes.
Municipality boundaries
