Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast Episode 166 Transcript

Your Dream Trip to Switzerland Starts Here: Step 1 of Four Steps to Planning Your Swiss Vacation

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

Welcome to the Holidays to Switzerland podcast. If you’re planning a trip to Switzerland, this is the podcast for you. I’m your host, Carolyn Schönafinger, the founder of holidaystoswitzerland.com, and in each episode, my expert guests and I share practical tips to help you plan your dream trip to Switzerland. You’ll get helpful advice about traveling around Switzerland and hear about the most popular destinations as well as some hidden gems, and we’ll introduce you to plenty of wonderful experiences that you can enjoy as part of your Swiss vacation. Each episode is packed with expert tips, itinerary ideas, and inspiration to help make your Swiss vacation planning easy. So let’s dive in.

Hello and welcome back to the Holidays to Switzerland podcast. I’m so excited to kick off this brand new four-week series with you: four steps to planning your Swiss vacation. Over the next four weeks, I’m going to break down the planning process into simple, manageable pieces. So, whether you’re just dreaming about Switzerland or you’ve already started organizing your trip, this series will guide you through each step with confidence. Today, we’re starting right at the beginning, the absolute foundation of your entire trip: choosing when to travel, booking your flights, and getting your travel insurance sorted. These three things set the structure for everything else you’ll plan. So, let’s get started.

The very first step is deciding when to travel. It sounds simple, but choosing your dates carefully can have a huge impact on your experience in Switzerland. It can affect everything from availability of hotels to the weather you encounter, the size of the crowds, and even what activities you can do. So, let’s start by having a look at the seasons. Switzerland really is a year-round destination, but each season offers something quite different.

Winter, from December through February, is magical. Think of Christmas markets, snowy landscapes, skiing and cozy chalet vibes, and warm mugs of hot chocolate. The days are short and it is cold, but if you love winter, it’s a fantastic time to be in Switzerland. Spring, from March to May, is a lovely shoulder season. The snow starts to melt, the flowers pop up, the waterfalls are real in full flow, and the crowds are still pretty low. It can be cool, and in the mountains, some cable cars and mountain railways shut for maintenance, but it’s a beautiful, quieter time.

Summer, from June to August, is peak season. This is when you get the warmest weather and the best conditions for hiking and outdoor activities. But of course, it’s also the busiest time of year, so you can expect lots of other tourists. And then we have autumn or fall in September and October and into early November, which I think is one of Switzerland’s most underrated seasons. I was recently in Switzerland during autumn and it was just absolutely beautiful. The weather is cooler, the crowds are thinning out, and the landscapes are stunning as the colors change and the leaves have a golden glow.

The key thing to think about is what you want to get out of your holiday. Are you looking to go hiking, skiing? Do you want to visit Christmas markets or do you simply just want mild weather and fewer crowds? Once you’ve got an idea of the season that you prefer to travel in, the next step is to check for any major events that might make accommodation harder to find. Switzerland hosts some pretty big festivals and international events throughout the year, and during those times, hotels can book out quickly or become very expensive.

Some of the events that do take place every year are the Art Basel in June, the Locarno Film Festival in August, and the Lauberhorn ski races in the Jungfrau region in January. These are just a few events that happen annually and attract big crowds, so if you’re planning on traveling in one of those months, maybe check around those dates to see how you’re going to be affected. Even smaller regional events can have an impact on availability in, say, mountain villages, because some towns are quite small and the number of hotels and lodging options is very limited. It’s always worth checking a local events calendar if you can before locking in your dates, and generally most of the tourist office websites – so the regional tourist offices – have a calendar of events on their websites that you can check.

If your schedule is quite flexible, I highly recommend considering off-season or shoulder season travel. Why? Well, because as I said previously, you’ll enjoy sharing the sites with fewer tourists. You’ll have better availability when it comes to finding accommodation to suit your budget and your requirements, and you might even be able to snag cheaper flights and those cheaper hotel prices. If crowds overwhelm you or you’re just looking to get the best value for your money, those shoulder periods like May, early June, and September and October are perfect. Just remember that some of the mountain transport routes do close for maintenance, particularly in April, May, and late October into November. It is something to be aware of, particularly if there’s one mountain summit that you especially want to visit. You can check when Switzerland’s most popular cable cars and mountain railways are closed for maintenance on holidaystoswitzerland.com. I’ll link to that article in the show notes and we keep those dates as up-to-date as possible.

The next thing to consider when choosing your dates is weather. Switzerland’s weather varies a lot by altitude and it can change quickly, especially in the mountains. Even in summer, you’ll want layers and a lightweight rain jacket. And in spring or autumn, you might have warm, sunny days or cool, rainy ones – it really depends. Of course, no one can guarantee the weather conditions that you’re going to experience, but just make sure that the weather you’re likely to encounter matches your expectations and fits in with the activities that you want to do. A lot of those mountain railways may be closed, meaning you can’t get to the mountain summits, and some of the trails may still be closed due to snow cover. So, keep the weather conditions in mind when you’re choosing the dates for your trip.

On the flip side, you might want to seek out certain events when deciding on your dates. For instance, if you wanted to visit the Christmas markets, December is a great time to be in Switzerland. If you want to see one of the Alpine cattle descents, September and sometimes into early October is the perfect time to witness these. There are other fantastic events that you might want to include in your itinerary, like the Swiss National Day festivities on the first of August. So, if there’s a cultural experience or a festival that’s on your wishlist, it can be really rewarding to build your travel dates around it.

Once you’ve looked at the seasons and checked for any major events and thought about the kind of weather and experiences that you’re likely to get, you’ll usually find that the right travel window becomes much clearer. And from there, it’s time to move on to the next step: booking your flights. Booking your flight is where your trip planning really starts to take shape, and here are a few things to consider before you go ahead and hit buy on that booking site. Flying into Switzerland, typically Zurich or Geneva, is the most convenient option if you’re coming from abroad.

But many travelers don’t realize that you don’t necessarily have to fly into Switzerland to start your Swiss holiday. Nearby major airports like Milan Malpensa, Munich, and Paris, for example, are all really well connected to Switzerland by train. And sometimes fares to those airports can be significantly cheaper. For instance, you might book a flight to Milan and save a few hundred dollars, and from there you can take a fast, comfortable train up to Lugano or even through to Lucerne or Bern. Paris is also an excellent option because the high-speed TGV trains get you into Switzerland very, very quickly.

I always recommend starting your flight search early and setting up some price alerts through Google Flights or your favorite booking site. Prices tend to rise during the peak European holiday periods and school holidays, and shoulder seasons can offer great value. So, having a bit of flexibility when it comes to where you’re flying into and out of, and being flexible maybe with a few dates either side of your original preferred travel dates, can help you to save some money as well. Another tip is to look at arrival times that work well with train connections. Switzerland’s trains are fantastic, but if you’re arriving late at night, you may not want to continue straight on to a mountain village. It might be better to spend a night near the airport where you arrive into before heading into the Alps the next day, especially if you’re tired after a long-haul flight. And this is particularly important to keep in mind if you plan to rent a car and drive around Switzerland. You definitely don’t want to be setting off driving in a new country when you’re jet-lagged and feeling very tired from a flight.

And finally, one more tip about booking your flights and things to keep in mind: double-check the baggage and seating policies, particularly if you’re using low-cost carriers. It’s definitely better to know in advance what’s included so you don’t get any surprises at the airport. Now, once you’ve booked your flights, or even before that, you absolutely should organize your travel insurance. This is a step people sometimes put off, but it’s so important. And over the years, I’ve had to claim on my travel insurance numerous times, and I can tell you it’s a godsend knowing that you have or that I’ve had travel insurance that I can rely on to get my money back.

So, ideally, you want to buy insurance as soon as you spend any money on your trip. That way, if something unexpected happens, whether that be illness, injury, family emergency, etc., you’re covered for those pre-paid flights or deposits that you’ve already forked out for. When you’re comparing insurance policies, some of the things to look out for: that they cover you for cancellation and interruptions to your trip, emergency medical cover, protection for lost or delayed baggage, and coverage for travel delays or missed connections.

Even the simplest thing can cause your trip to be interrupted and cause a lot of upset. Imagine if you were out hiking and you tripped and you sprained your ankle or you broke your ankle and you had to be carried out or airlifted out and hospitalized. It’s going to cause a lot of distress and a lot of expense. So, make sure you’ve got travel insurance that covers you for incidents like that. Switzerland is a safe country, but it’s also an expensive one, so good insurance provides peace of mind. And one last note: if you have any pre-existing medical conditions, make sure you understand how your policy handles them. You may need to declare them in advance.

So, let’s recap today’s step in your Swiss holiday planning journey. Number one: choose your dates. Look at seasons, check for major events, consider traveling in shoulder periods, think about what weather you’re likely to encounter, and see if there are any festivals or experiences that you’d like to include in your trip. Step number two: book your flights. Compare fares, including to nearby European airports; Milan, Munich, and Paris can all be great alternatives. Monitor prices early and choose flight times that work well with your onward travel. And step three: buy travel insurance. Do it as soon as you’ve paid for flights or accommodation, and make sure the coverage suits your needs.

Getting these three things organized forms a really, really strong foundation for your entire trip. Now next week, we’ll move on to step two in the planning phase, and this is all about building a well-paced, realistic itinerary. Make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast so you don’t miss that episode. And as always, you’ll find helpful planning resources, itineraries, and destination guides at holidaystoswitzerland.com. And check the show notes for a link to download my free Switzerland travel planning starter kit and guide. Thanks so much for listening. I’ll chat with you.

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