Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast Episode 115 Transcript

Don’t Forget to Add These 7 Essential Items to Your Switzerland Packing List!

You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.

Are you dreaming of visiting Switzerland? Planning a trip to Switzerland is very exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. How do you choose which are the many scenic cities, towns, and villages to visit? Which mountaintop excursions should you take? And what’s the best way to get around Switzerland? And of course, how much of the country can you realistically see within your time frame? If you’ve asked yourself off any of these questions, this is the podcast for you. This is the Holidays to Switzerland Travel podcast. And in each episode, your host, Carolyn Schönafinger, chats with Swiss travel experts to answer your most commonly asked questions provide practical tips and take you on a virtual visit to the most popular destinations, and of course, some hidden gems to help you plan your dream trip to Switzerland. And you’ll hear plenty of conversations about Swiss cheese and chocolate, too. Are you ready to plan your trip to Switzerland? Well, let’s get started.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Hello. Happy New Year, and welcome back to another year of the Holidays to Switzerland Travel podcast. This year, we’ve got some exciting news. The podcast is going to be coming to you weekly. So there’s even twice as much information and inspiration to help you plan your Swiss vacation. Some of the episodes will I take on the regular format that you’ve become used to, where I invite a special guest on to chat about their destination or something in which they have a passion. It might be transport or it might be a mountain excursion. So we’ll still be having those episodes. But there’ll also be some episodes where I will share some of the top travel tips that I have learned from many, many years of visiting Switzerland. So I really hope that you’ll enjoy the new weekly episodes and that you’ll get plenty of useful information from them.

Carolyn Schönafinger

To kick things off, I thought I would start by sharing my tips for some of the essential things that you should pack for your Swiss vacation. Now, this is not a list of every single item that you need to pack. It’s not a packing list as such because everyone’s different.

Carolyn Schönafinger

You know what you like to wear and what you feel comfortable in. You know electronic devices that you like to have with you when you’re travelling. So I’m not here to tell you how many pairs of jeans to pack or how many shirts you need. Instead, I’m going to share a few things that I think are essential items to pack for your Swiss vacation that perhaps you haven’t thought of. Now, the first one is a Swiss adapter, and this is different to a regular European or continental plug. Switzerland uses what’s called a type J plug. Now, in some cases, you can use a two pin type C, which is the regular European standard, a type of plug to put into the wall to charge your devices. But in some cases, you can’t use them. Most older hotels and accommodation, for instance, will have the sockets in the wall with three holes. So that’s the three pin type J-Plug. As I said, sometimes the two pin plug will fit into that. But oftentimes the power socket in the wall is recessed a little bit and it doesn’t sit flat against the wall. And it’s also shaped like a bit of a squashed rectangle.

Carolyn Schönafinger

So in those cases, a two pin plug won’t fit. Now, you can take a punt and just hope that you’ll be able to use a two pin plug wherever you stay. But just to be on the safe side, it never hurts, I think, just to have a type J three pin plug adapter with you. And you can pick these up quite cheaply from places like Amazon, and they don’t take up very much room in your luggage. So it’s quite easy to fit one in and take that with you.

Carolyn Schönafinger

The next item that is essential, in my opinion, is a pair of sturdy shoes with very good grip. If you’re going to do any hiking or any walking on an unpaved path when you’re in Switzerland, you really need shoes with a good grip. Now, you might be able to get away with your sneakers or tennis shoes or your runners, whatever you like to call them. When you’re walking through towns and along the cobblestone and on regular sidewalks, et cetera. But the unpaved paths, and particularly the hiking trails, can be quite gravelly and therefore very slippery. And you really notice this when you’re going uphill or downhill. So Having a sturdy pair of shoes is something that I think is essential. I know they can weigh a bit more, perhaps, than your regular sneakers. But if you’re concerned about weight or actually even fitting them in your suitcase, wear them on the flight. It’s something that you’ll really thank me for, I’m sure.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Now, another item that you might not consider packing, particularly if you’re going to Switzerland during the summer, is a rain jacket. And this, honestly, you really, you mustn’t pack anything until you’ve packed your rain jacket. The weather in Switzerland can change very, very suddenly. You’re in the mountains, so So new weather patterns can come in very quickly. So having a rain jacket is essential. I like to take a lightweight one that can fold up quite small and one with a hood because I have been caught out before. There was a time just a couple of years ago during the summer, we were in Switzerland the whole month of June. We had perfect weather every single day. We were just so, so lucky. But on this particular day, we had been to… We were in Grindelwald, we’d been up on one of the mountains.

Carolyn Schönafinger

I think we’d done a hike. Maybe it was the Eiger Glacier to Kleine Scheidegg hike. We had caught the train back down to Grindelewald and we were making our way back to Lauterbrunnen. Now, if you’ve been in this part of the world before, you might remember that to get from Grindelwald to Lauterbrunnen by train, you have to change trains at Zweilutschinen, which is a very tiny station. So we were waiting on the platform at Zweilutschinen for the next train to come along, and suddenly the heavens opened and we were getting drenched. We’d been in beautiful sunshine all day. For about 10 minutes, we had this ridiculously heavy rainstorm. And another 10 minutes later, the sun was back out again. So luckily, I had a rain jacket in my bag. I could quickly grab it out, put it on, and I managed to stay reasonably dry, but certainly much drier than I would have without it.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Now, another thing that is great to pack is a reusable water bottle. You may have heard me say before that there is a free water fountains all over Switzerland, 1,200 just in Zurich, and you can go and fill up your water bottle for free at these fountains as often as you like. Now, some people like to take a foldable water bottle. One of those that collapses down very flat, and that’s a great idea. But personally, I just like a lightweight bottle that’s insulated and keeps my water nice and cold. If you don’t want to take one with you from home, buying one as soon as you arrive is a great idea and makes a good souvenir, too. I’ve got water bottles from a few years ago which have Swiss flags on them, and It’s a great reminder. And I take that water bottle back over and over again each time I visit.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Another thing you might like to consider taking, and which is essential for me, is a backpack, or you might call it a rucksack or a day pack. Now, you might not typically take one of these with you. If you’re going to be on vacation, you think for the ladies, for instance, they might just use a regular purse or handbag. But a backpack is great for when you’re out siteseeing, even if you’re not hiking. You can quickly put it on your back. It keeps your hands free. And it’s great for putting in discarded clothing. If you get too hot and you have to take your sweater off or you can keep that rain jacket in there, for instance, your water bottle, any souvenirs you buy. And even when you go to the grocery store, having a backpack comes in very, very handy.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Another essential item for most of us these days is having access to Wi-Fi. And although I really like to disconnect as much as possible when I’m in Switzerland and not check those emails too often, having Wi-Fi access on the go is a necessity. I use Wi-Fi for things like checking the SBB mobile apps, the MeteoSwiss weather app, for looking up directions to accommodation and checking opening hours, all that thing. So being able to access Wi-Fi on the go for me is essential. Of course, you might be happy just to access your Wi-Fi when you’re at your accommodation each night. But if you’d like to be able to access it on the go, having a device or a phone plan with Wi-Fi or with data is very, very useful. Now, there are a few options when it comes to using WiFi on the go. You can check with your regular phone provider and see if they offer an international plan that you can activate for the time that you’re in Switzerland. You can buy an e-SIM, which has data on it to use whilst you’re in Switzerland. And you can even rent or buy portable Wi-Fi devices, which are very handy as well. For more information about all those options. I’ve got a detailed article on holidaystoswitzerland.com. So if you’re interested in learning more about the different ways that you can connect to WiFi in Switzerland, head on over and have a look at that.

Carolyn Schönafinger

One other item that you might like to consider taking on your Swiss vacation is an air tag for your suitcase. And since the pandemic, there seems to be a lot more instances that we’re hearing about people’s luggage getting lost or misplaced. Touch wood, it hasn’t happened to me yet, and I’m hoping it doesn’t. But the last couple of trips, we have taken air tags in our suitcases, and they really are great. You can check where your luggage is at any time. If it does happen to go astray or it gets delayed and you arrive ahead of it, at least you’ve got some way of tracking where your luggage is. So do consider perhaps getting an air tag and putting that into your luggage so you know where it is at all times.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Before I finish up, there’s just one other thing that you might like to consider packing, and it’s certainly not essential, and you may not even want to travel with one of these, but it’s a face washer or a washcloth or a flannel, as different people call them. So you will find in most accommodation in Switzerland that a face cloth is not a common item. Typically, there are towels provided, a hand towel, and a bath mat, but no face cloth or face washer. So if this is something that you’re used to, definitely pack one or two in your luggage so that you can use it on your travels. So there you have it. There are some of the essential items that you might like to pack when you’re visiting Switzerland. As I mentioned, you can head on over to the website to check out that article about staying connected to WiFi, and you’ll find plenty of other travel tips and useful information on the website as well. If you’d like to get regular updates on Swiss TravelTips, you can subscribe to our newsletter, and I will also send you a free guide, 21 useful things to know before you visit Switzerland.

Carolyn Schönafinger

The link to get the newsletter subscription and the link to the website you’ll find in the show notes for this episode. Thanks very much for joining me today. Until next week. Tschüss.

You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.