Switzerland

[Anonymous]

I've never been to Italy, but loved Switzerland many years ago. I have relatives there so we spent about a month and traveled all around the country, mostly by train. It's great that you can find so many languages and cultures in one small country (German, French, Italian, and Romansch).

When we were there we stayed in St. Gallen and visited Zurich, Geneva, Bern, Basel, Lugano, Luzerne, Appenzell, Interlaken, and Lausanne, just to name a few. We rented an apartment, so I don't have recommendations for hotels, but I could share information on any of the above cities. I can't wait to go back someday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I decided to go to Switzerland, looked at itinerary, etc. Once I saw the prices of everything, I realized they have beautiful mountains and lakes and better food in Italy for a fraction of the cost so we're going there instead.

Yes, Switzerland is crazy expensive. First hint is at the Zurich airport where a poster for McDonald's burger boasts the price is only about 20 Swiss Francs.

Yep, we had McDonald's while driving from Switzerland to France (before someone harps on me, there weren't any other options except for a random sit down Indian restaurant, and DH doesn't eat Indian food). It was around 36-38 francs for the two of us to eat McDonald's.

[Anonymous]

We went to Montreux this summer and loved it. Stayed at the Fairmont Montreux Palace - amazing! Definitely stop in Gruyere and if with kids, go to the Cailler chocolate factory for the tour.

The French side of the alps is really nice too and about 45 minutes away. We stayed in Evian and went to small towns from there.

I've also been to Lucerne and Lausanne before - also very nice.

[Anonymous]

Having been to the Italian Alps, Swiss Alps, the French Alps, the Swiss Alps are really in a league of their own. They are much higher, the valleys are deeper and narrower, overall much more spectacular (although I still loved the Dolomites and the French Alps). The Austrian Alps come closest.

But travelling in Switzerland is like having a vacuum cleaner permanently attached to your wallet. Whoosh! There goes another $200 without thinking about it.

FYI food was quite good, if you know where to look and what to order. Which is the same as in Germany. Love their rostis and cheese and speck and sausages. And spatzle. And wonderful pastries. And yes, chocolate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having been to the Italian Alps, Swiss Alps, the French Alps, the Swiss Alps are really in a league of their own. They are much higher, the valleys are deeper and narrower, overall much more spectacular (although I still loved the Dolomites and the French Alps). The Austrian Alps come closest.

But travelling in Switzerland is like having a vacuum cleaner permanently attached to your wallet. Whoosh! There goes another $200 without thinking about it.

FYI food was quite good, if you know where to look and what to order. Which is the same as in Germany. Love their rostis and cheese and speck and sausages. And spatzle. And wonderful pastries. And yes, chocolate.

PP Here. As a vegetarian on a budget, Italy/Dolomites/Lake Garda still sounds like the best choice.

[Anonymous]

The Swiss have only one kind of food - starch (bread or potatoes) with melted cheese. They are very clever though and have convinced the world that there is actually a "cuisine" behind this.

Basically, you can have fondue - melt the cheese, stick the starch in yourself. Or Raclette - melt the cheese and pour it over the starch. Or croute au fromage: melt the cheese on top of the starch in the oven. Finally, if you manage to get near to Savvoy, you can have tartiflette - cheese and starch in a dish, baked-melted in the oven. The origins of all these dishes is in Switzerland frugal mountainous rural poverty, long gone but some of the habits have stayed.

Unless you drink fruit juice or wine with these "delicacies", you will be immensely constipated. Also, you must eat the cold sausages and hams and the green salad with MSG-loaded white dressing that are served alongside to assist your digestion (basically to make your bowels irritated and slippery). If you avoid all this and just drink cold water with the cheese dish, you are setting yourself up for a hospital visit where you will make intimate friends with a rubber hose.

$40 for 2 at McDonalds sounds about right. Also, ethnic food in Switzerland (Indian, Chinese, etc.) is an exotic specialty, usually bad, and very expensive.

As the old joke goes: "Q:Where is the best restaurant in Switzerland? A:In France."

There are exceptions and locals and expats know where these are and do post on trip advisor. But keep your expectations really low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Swiss have only one kind of food - starch (bread or potatoes) with melted cheese. They are very clever though and have convinced the world that there is actually a "cuisine" behind this.

Basically, you can have fondue - melt the cheese, stick the starch in yourself. Or Raclette - melt the cheese and pour it over the starch. Or croute au fromage: melt the cheese on top of the starch in the oven. Finally, if you manage to get near to Savvoy, you can have tartiflette - cheese and starch in a dish, baked-melted in the oven. The origins of all these dishes is in Switzerland frugal mountainous rural poverty, long gone but some of the habits have stayed.

Unless you drink fruit juice or wine with these "delicacies", you will be immensely constipated. Also, you must eat the cold sausages and hams and the green salad with MSG-loaded white dressing that are served alongside to assist your digestion (basically to make your bowels irritated and slippery). If you avoid all this and just drink cold water with the cheese dish, you are setting yourself up for a hospital visit where you will make intimate friends with a rubber hose.

$40 for 2 at McDonalds sounds about right. Also, ethnic food in Switzerland (Indian, Chinese, etc.) is an exotic specialty, usually bad, and very expensive.

As the old joke goes: "Q:Where is the best restaurant in Switzerland? A:In France."

There are exceptions and locals and expats know where these are and do post on trip advisor. But keep your expectations really low.

I'm in Switzerland 6-8x per year for work and this is all very, very true

That said, the Swiss have amazing beef. Some of the best in world. You'd be a fool to not eat a grilled steak, a fancy cheeseburger, or steak tartare at a nice restaurant. Cattle farming is Swizterland's most prized and protected industry, even above banking.

Fortunately, I'm often in Basel where they have more German and French influences in cooking. Plus the FR-CH-DE border runs right through town, so the lower prices bleed across the border.

[Anonymous]

We did Switzerland at the same time of the year with tweens a couple of years ago. They loved Zurich and Geneva.

On a separate trip, I went to Gruyere- highly Recommend it. One of my fave travel memories ever. Have fondue.

Love love love cafe du soleil in Geneva-my kids did too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Swiss have only one kind of food - starch (bread or potatoes) with melted cheese. They are very clever though and have convinced the world that there is actually a "cuisine" behind this.

Basically, you can have fondue - melt the cheese, stick the starch in yourself. Or Raclette - melt the cheese and pour it over the starch. Or croute au fromage: melt the cheese on top of the starch in the oven. Finally, if you manage to get near to Savvoy, you can have tartiflette - cheese and starch in a dish, baked-melted in the oven. The origins of all these dishes is in Switzerland frugal mountainous rural poverty, long gone but some of the habits have stayed.

Unless you drink fruit juice or wine with these "delicacies", you will be immensely constipated. Also, you must eat the cold sausages and hams and the green salad with MSG-loaded white dressing that are served alongside to assist your digestion (basically to make your bowels irritated and slippery). If you avoid all this and just drink cold water with the cheese dish, you are setting yourself up for a hospital visit where you will make intimate friends with a rubber hose.

$40 for 2 at McDonalds sounds about right. Also, ethnic food in Switzerland (Indian, Chinese, etc.) is an exotic specialty, usually bad, and very expensive.

As the old joke goes: "Q:Where is the best restaurant in Switzerland? A:In France."

There are exceptions and locals and expats know where these are and do post on trip advisor. But keep your expectations really low.

I'm in Switzerland 6-8x per year for work and this is all very, very true

That said, the Swiss have amazing beef. Some of the best in world. You'd be a fool to not eat a grilled steak, a fancy cheeseburger, or steak tartare at a nice restaurant. Cattle farming is Swizterland's most prized and protected industry, even above banking.

Fortunately, I'm often in Basel where they have more German and French influences in cooking. Plus the FR-CH-DE border runs right through town, so the lower prices bleed across the border.

My sister lives in Geneva and I visit her frequently. The French side is very different than the German side. Locals don't eat Fondue or Raclette except in the winter - and even then, not that often. Only tourists eat it off season. But true that food choices are very limited - and the vegetarian who is on a tight budget would do much better in Italy (I'm Italian so have I know both countries well). Salads border on $25.00 each in Switzerland. Food is just super expensive in Switzerland.

But yes, beef eaters will be very happy in Geneva eating entrecote - the ubiquitous steaks served everywhere. Very good quality and well-prepared.

That said, I agree with pp who said ethnic restaurants are bad and overpriced (have had Thai and Indian on many occasions), but Italian food is very good in Switzerland. Pizza and pastas are our usual go-to food when we want to eat out.

[Anonymous]

I love tartiflette.