Theresa May will shun the symbolism of either a summer break in the European Union or a UK staycation and fly to neutral ground on Friday for a 10-day break in Switzerland.
No 10 said: “The prime minister will be taking a holiday in Switzerland and will be returning to the UK on 24 August.”
Switzerland is a member of neither the EU nor the European Economic Area, though it does have access to the single market.
The neutral symbolism may appeal to May for her first summer break since the EU referendum, though the strenuous walks and Alpine scenery are likely to be the main pull for the prime minister, a keen hiker.
The Swiss Alps have been a regular holiday destination for May and her husband, Philip, for three decades, particularly Lucerne, a town also beloved by Queen Victoria, as well as the Bernese Oberland and the ski resort of Zermatt, for its views of the Matterhorn. The late Lady Thatcher also visited Switzerland for holidays during her premiership, staying with the retired Tory MP Sir Douglas Glover at his lakeside home in Schloss Freudenberg.
“My husband and I discovered the joys of walking in Switzerland quite by chance,” May told the Telegraph in 2007. “We first visited the country about 25 years ago. On a return trip, we decided to go walking, enjoyed it and gradually began doing more adventurous hikes.”
May said Switzerland was a wonderful summer destination – “the views are spectacular, the air is clear and you can get some peace and quiet” – and she was disappointed not to be able to visit in June, when parliament is still sitting, because it was the best time for wild flowers.
“The key thing is to go well prepared – and invest in a good pair of walking boots,” she said.
Mountain walks are a passion May shares with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who regularly takes walking holidays in Tyrol, in the Austrian Alps.
Like David Cameron, who took regular family holidays in the UK during his premiership, May is said to be keen on holidaying at home but prefers the Welsh mountains to the Cornish beaches patronised by her predecessor.
