Hi, this is based on our experiences from recent trip of 22 days in Europe and is not official guide.. Info is intended for friends and tourists who wish to travel to Switzerland from India.
Some important pointers:
- Largely people in Switzerland are very friendly and soft spoken; at times we are too loud for them :-)
- People have proper work life balance; most of the commercial establishments close at 5.30-6.00 pm.
- Swiss people speak French or German language but are comfortable with English
- Though Euro is acceptable, Swiss prefer Swiss Francs (so you must take Swiss francs with you)
- Trust is all the hallmark of society and hardly anyone checks your tickets in public transport. But pls don’t try to cheat the system !!
- Most of the information about public transport (which is too good to believe) is available on internet. Actually if you know the name /address of places (from/to) where you have to go then type them on google maps and click on the public transport icon on top left side and it will give you all details of trams/buses/trains etc.
- Vegetarian food is slightly difficult to find, however plenty of fruits, cheese and chocolates are available. Cheese is really very good. If you like cheese, you must eat something called “Fondue”.
- You can drink water from tap in your place of stay – its totally safe (may not from tap of public places – we did not explore though)
- If you can – try to plan your trip yourself and if you are lazy or don’t want to explore much then can go with tour operators!!
- Keep Luggage light and take strolleys as at many places in Europe, you will have to lift your luggage (in hotels also its self service and many do not have lift - it they are 2 floors only)
We started our journey from Zurich airport. So that’s why Zurich comes here 1st.
Zurich Airport: Once you land at airport, follow signs for passport control and exit. You will take a small train to reach the passport control. Passport stamping is very fast and they don’t ask any funny questions and actually welcome you. After that you can go to collect your luggage and move out. Outside lot of choice is available to reach your hotel/residence – taxies (which are expensive and should be avoided), buses, trams and train. Before starting from India, check which tram/bus can take you near the hotel. And then ask anyone at the airport (though there are plenty of signages too). People are very friendly everywhere, so you can ask anyone.
Important: Before starting, please buy Swiss pass in India for all of you. For 2 adults + 2 kids below 15 years, 2nd class costs Euro 414 for 8 days and 1st class Euro 636 (you pay for 2 adults and 2 kids are free). Don’t forget to take the “family card” if you are traveling with kids. Swiss Pass is a must for visiting Switzerland – as u can use it on trams, buses, trains, most of boats (there are only few places where Swiss pass is not applicable – but there too one gets good discount on fare – please check below for details). You can buy from Rail Europe Indiahttp://www.raileurope.co.in/rail-products/rail-passes/article/swiss-pass. The pass MUST be endorsed/ stamped on the 1st day of travel at any Railway station (you can go to information counter or ticket counter).
We stayed 1 night in Zurich in Novotel Airport (its just at a tram station which comes from Airport and has easy connection to city); you can choose as per your plans. However, Zurich is a business town so limited tourist attractions. (Check http://www.zuerich.com/en/welcome.cfmfor more details on Zurich)
We took Zurich city tour - trolley tour and enjoyed the 2 hour (sweet and short tour) – rest we explored on our own. You need not take the tour with boat tour as Boat tour is free with Swiss Pass (which you already have – refer above).
We went to Interlaken from Zurich by train and there are number of trains – mostly via Bern for Interlaken. Interlaken is a small and most beautiful part of Switzerland, connecting to many places of interest and is a good place to relax.
Please Note: Each train has 1st class and 2nd class compartments. At time in hurry if you board the train, with luggage, in 1st class and have to move to 2nd class – it will be really tough inside the train as train has 2 floors (so you will have to move up & down). We were caught in this maze :-)
You can go to info counters and ask for timetable from anywhere to anywhere (specify approx time) and they will happily give you a printout with couple of options.
In Interlaken we stayed at Hotel Neuhaus http://www.hotel-neuhaus.ch/startseite_deutsch1.html
It’s a hotel just next to Lake Thun. It’s just 8 mins by bus from Interlaken West bus station. Please note that it’s a wonderful resort (out of city; next to the lake; however the last bus leaves at 710 pm from Interlaken west towards the hotel- so in case u wish to stay late in Interlaken then you will have to take a cab.) Check our photos for Neuhaus. Most of the shops close by 6 pm, except few restaurants in Interlaken. In case you like to stay in city kind of environment and not quiet place then look for another hotel. The hotel’s hosts are very friendly and they have a nice family room for a family of 4 too. You can come out of your room and go for boating in Lake Thun which is probably one of the best in Switzerland. Even you can go by boat to Interlaken west from the hotel. It has a small and nice restaurant where you get basic breakfast (don't expect a lavish one)
People looking for a relaxing break – Interlaken is the place in Switzerland.
Zermatt & Gornergrat: It’s a day’s trip from Interlaken and a must. You can take a train from Interlaken West or Interlaken Ost station. You will require changing at 2 places – Spiez & Visp. From Visp to Zermatt is a cog wheel train; Beautiful scenery on the way. Zermatt is like a small hill station. From there you can go to top of a mountain by cable car or train. We took train to Gornergrat (Swiss pass is not valid in this train but you get 50% discount – buy to/fro ticket). Gornergrat is beautiful and if u are lucky as us – it might snow there. You can spend few hours in Zermatt and Gornergrat. To and fro journey is really picturesque.
Jungfraujoch – Its called top of Europe and is also a day’s trip from Interlaken – again a must. You take a train from Interlaken Ost (I think Ost is for East) and go to Kleine Scheidegg via Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald. You need to buy train tickets at Interlaken Ost (tell them you have Swiss pass and you will get discounted tickets). Its really out of the world with Snow all the time at Junfraujoch. You can spend some time at Grindelwald too – its really cool place. This region is called Jungfrau region. You can get more details at http://www.jungfrau.ch/en/sommer/time-navigation/summer/
You can actually spend almost 6-7 days at Interlaken but we spent only 4 days :-(. From here we went by train to Bern (capital of Switzerland). Bern also has limited tourist attractions – we went to clock tower (walk able from here is Einstein’s House)… Just boarded a tram – moved around- took any bus and explored bern. As we had Swiss pass we just discussed and boarded a train to Luzern (another beautiful place, where every tour operator will take you). We did not stay in Luzern but spent couple of hours exploring the city and moving around the boat. We took a train back to Bern from a different route (going thru the country-side) and it was again a wonderful experience.
We took a train from Bern to Paris for rest of our journey.
Probably Swiss was our best place to visit in this tour. Please email me if you need more specific info. Hope this blog is helpful for people travelling to Switzerland from India.
More about Paris, Scotland and UK in next blog….
