Noelle Maritz on Swiss lakes, safaris and flat whites

Aston Villa and Switzerland defender Noelle Maritz on the Swiss lakes, her go-to coffee order and the three friends she’d take on holiday.

Noelle Maritz opened the scoring in Aston Villa’s win at Everton, and she played at a home Euros for Switzerland in 2025. Away from the pitch, she’s a keen traveller and an even keener coffee drinker. Here, she shares her favourite places, her packing essentials and her ultimate holiday squad.

What inspired your interest in travelling?

I like seeing new places, not even out of the country, but I’m from Switzerland so even just travelling round the country seeing new places, looking at nature. I love going on holiday, and going to the beach. It’s beautiful.

Where is your favourite place you have visited, is there anywhere that has exceeded expectations?

I was in Vancouver for a while and I didn’t expect it to be that nice, and so many different sides, like you have the city and then the lovely nature, and I really liked that. I like being in Europe too, there’s so many nice places like Spain and Greece. I like to roam around and see new things, I love coffee, so I like trying different coffee shops everywhere.

Any recommendations in Switzerland for first-time travellers?

Everywhere is quite nice, I would recommend going to the lakes because in summer it’s so nice, the scenery is lovely with the mountains. Even in the winter, going to the mountains again, it's got lovely snow, it’s great for skiing and snowboarding. Great parties, too.

Any holiday destinations you’re desperate to go, or somewhere you would visit again?

I would love to do a safari, that’s on the list. I would like to go to the Maldives or Hawaii, just a nice island, which would be nice, hopefully somewhere I can go to soon.

Do you like going somewhere you can relax with a view, or do you like going somewhere where you can explore?

It’s a bit of both, after a few days I would get bored of doing nothing, so I just need to roam around and see things. I think some cities are nice where you can go to explore, and then have a beach nearby too.

Where is the best place you’ve been for coffee?

There are some great coffee shops in London. Actually, they’re on every corner. I would probably say London for now, there’s so many different kinds. I like the atmosphere too, of course the coffee has to be good, but if it’s a nice setting, then a nice aesthetic is quite cool.

Go-to coffee order?

Flat white! In Summer, I’ll get an iced latte with oat milk, but usually I’d just get a flat white.

Is there anyone at the club who also loves coffee?

A few of the girls like coffee, so after a session there’s a good spot near the training ground, so three or four of us will go, and we will just have a chat and a coffee, and it’s nice.

Back to travel, Is there anything on your travel essentials list that needs packing first, have you ever forgotten anything?

My passport would be good. I like to just have a music box, I love listening to music, it’s quite relaxing, a few games, I like to play games at the beach, some card games. Bikini obviously, that’s the important stuff, and sunscreen.

What sort of music do you like listening to, or card games do you tend to play on the beach?

I like RnB music, maybe Afrobeats at the beach, nice chilled music to relax to. Card games wise, I don’t mind Uno, but I’ll get a bit bored, different variations of card games. I have a lot of friends from different countries so everyone has their own rules and I’m very competitive.

When you go on holiday, do you like to be the person planning, or is there somebody who will plan everything going on your trip with you?

It depends who I go with, if I go on a family holiday, I like things being planned that will suit everyone. If I go away with my friends, I’m usually more in the planning group. I think we are quite good at splitting the work, but I’m more of a planner.

Who is the best travelling companion? Is there someone you would go on a City trip with, but then someone else you would go on a beach trip with?

I went with my two closest friends to Spain in the summer and it was good because we did loads of things at the beach and then a few days in the City, it was great. I guess if they are your best friends you can do anything with them, no matter what.

What’s your most memorable trip, or funniest moment?

Last summer we went to Ibiza after the Euros with a few of the Swiss girls, and that was unforgettable. Good vibes, and straight after a tournament so it’s nice to relax after such an intense period of time. We had chill vibes, and we had a few parties, it was really nice.

If you could time travel, and go back to any trip previously, where would you want to go?

I always enjoyed going on family trips, like that was always wholesome. Now it’s quite difficult to schedule things to do, so I think that was always nice. The whole family, grandparents, parents and my brother, were all there having a nice time. It’s difficult now because everyone is everywhere doing loads of things and nobody is off at the same time.

If you could go on holiday right now with any three people, who would you go with?

I would say my friends, I think that would be the best thing. Maz Pacheco is a close friend of mine, so I would have to take her, and my two Swiss friends from West Ham, Nadine (Riesen) and Seraina (Piubel) for good vibes, that would be a lovely group to travel with. We would go to Ibiza, I think you can have nice and calm beach vibes, but also have fun, good times.