The travel destination poster is a by-product of the explosion of travel capabilities throughout the 20th Century. As railways and later aircraft made destinations more accessible and also affordable to a wider range of people. Unfamiliarity with the possibilities open to consumers was addressed the old-fashioned way - with advertising. Here's a small selection from central Switzerland - land of mountains, the odd lake and a slew of railways.

Click on any of the posters to load a high-quality version in a new window.

	The Vierwaldstättersee (literally the lake of the four wooded states) is better known to the English-speaker as Lake Lucerne and is one of the most picturesque areas of Switzerland.
	This poster was painted by Otto Baumberger for the Lake Lucerne Steamboat Company in 1928.
	The Rigi Mountain sits on one corner of Lake Lucerne and affords a panoramic vista of the Alps.  The development of a funicular railway in Victorian times meant that ladies too could take the airs while enjoying the view from the verandah of the summit hotel.
	Several competing companies promoted their own separate lines up the mountain, as this 1914 poster by Otto Landolt attests.
	Perhaps uniquely, the Swiss Post Office takes passengers by bus as well as mail on its service deliveries throughout the mountains to this day. This poster by Emile Cardinaux dates from 1923.
	Ernst Hodel designed this poster in 1920 on behalf of the Stanserhorn summit hotel and the Stanserhorn railway
	Likewise this railway-commissioned poster dates from 1914