Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast Episode 35 Transcript
15 ways to make your Swiss vacation budget go further
You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.
Announcer
Welcome to the Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast. Your host is the founder of holidaystoswitzerland.com and the Switzerland Travel Planning Facebook group, Carolyn Schönafinger. On this podcast, Carolyn will be joined by a variety of guests who share their knowledge and love of the country to help you plan your dream trip to Switzerland.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Gruezi and welcome to episode 35. If you’ve started researching your trip to Switzerland, you’re probably aware that it is an expensive country to visit. There’s no avoiding the fact that in most cases you’re going to pay more for things in Switzerland than you would at home. But with the high prices comes high quality. In Switzerland, that old saying “you get what you pay for” certainly rings true. So how can you get the best value from your valuable vacation dollars without missing out on all the excursions and once in a lifetime activities that you’d love to do? After many, many trips to Switzerland, I have a few tried and tested ways to make my vacation dollars stretch further while still enjoying all the experiences that make a trip so special. In this episode, I’m going to share my 15 top tips with you. Before I get started, one general tip I have for you is to book as far ahead as possible to try and secure the best deals. When we aren’t in the middle of a pandemic and travel restrictions are changing frequently, I tend to book the major components of my trip six to nine months ahead.
Carolyn Schönafinger
My thinking is if I’ve prepaid for all the big ticket items, I won’t be in for any rude shocks due to currency fluctuations or accommodation in my price range being unavailable as my trip gets closer. By purchasing things like airfare, transport and accommodation well in advance it also means that the major costs have already been paid for well ahead of time, giving me plenty of time until my trip to put aside funds for the incidentals like food and any additional sightseeing. One downside to booking and prepaying during a pandemic is that often the early booking rates that are available are non refundable. So if you are considering prepaying, do so with caution. OK, so let me share my 15 top ways to stretch your Swiss travel budget further. Tip number one is to be flexible when booking your airfare. Although Zurich is Switzerland’s largest airport, you might find it considerably cheaper to fly into Geneva, for instance. As Switzerland is a relatively small country, it’s less than three hours by train between those two cities, so your point of entry is not really going to add too much additional travel time onto your arrangements. If you can save a couple of hundred dollars just by flying into Geneva rather than Zurich, hey, I’m sure that’s worth it.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Now, tip number two is all about travel insurance. I’ve always been a huge advocate of travel insurance and I’ve never travelled overseas without it and unfortunately there have been numerous occasions when I’ve had to make a claim. Once for hospitalisation overseas, also due to damage of my laptop and once we had to cancel a trip. So it definitely is a must have in my book. These days travel insurance is even more important than ever and if you are able to purchase a policy that includes cover for COVID 19, you’re probably going to pay more. But one way that you might be able to save a few dollars is to opt for a higher excess on your policy. In the past when I’ve been looking at insurance policies to purchase, there have been times or policies that allow me to nominate whether I want nil excess, a $100 excess or a $250 excess. The price of the policy reduces slightly with the higher excess I am prepared to accept, so see if this is an option available to you. And just a quick note on travel insurance, always read the fine print and know what the policy will and won’t cover you for. Covid cover, for instance, may not include coverage if borders are closed and you are unable to return home.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Tip number three is all about accommodation and why not try booking direct when you’ve found the accommodation that you’d like to stay at? Check on the hotel’s own website to see if they offer cheaper rates by booking direct. The lower rates may mean full payment upfront and or stricter cancellation fees, but it’s always worth comparing the nightly rate from the hotel and the booking conditions between the hotel itself and those big booking platforms. It can be a little harder to find the individual websites for holiday apartments though, as they they often don’t have specific names. You might see them listed on larger booking websites under the title of “Lovely apartment with balcony views” for instance, but it can be worth spending half an hour or so doing some googling just to see if you can find the apartment owner’s website and comparing their rates for booking direct.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Now still on the topic of accommodation, tip number four is to stay outside the hotspot. So another way that you can save money sometimes is by staying outside the main destination. For example, if you stay in Täsch instead of Zermatt, you may find that hotel rates are considerably cheaper. The same goes for Interlaken and the main villages of the Jungfrau region. If you are prepared to stay around, say Lake Brienz or Lake Thun, you might be able to save yourself some money as long as there are good transport connections, and in Switzerland this is almost always the case. It shouldn’t be too much of an inconvenience to stay outside the main centre and you’ll have the added benefit of saving a few bucks.
Carolyn Schönafinger
And tip number five is also about accommodation. Why not look for somewhere that you can make your own meals? Staying in hotels can be a real luxury when you’re on vacation. After all, who doesn’t love the daily housekeeping service? But eating out at least twice a day can become expensive. So if I’m staying in one location for more than a couple of nights, I always see what self catering options are available. Apartments not only provide the option to prepare my own meals, they also often include laundry facilities and more space. Now, sometimes the nightly rate for apartments might seem more expensive initially, but when you take into consideration the amount that you’ll save by not eating out so often, you’ll probably find that they are much more cost effective overall.
Carolyn Schönafinger
When you’ve got your flights, your insurance and your accommodation sorted, then it’s time to work out how you’re going to get around. Do you love a road trip? Well, if you plan to rent a car in Switzerland, opt for a manual or stick shift vehicle instead of an automatic. Manual cars are much more common, much more readily available and much cheaper than automatics. So if you’re keen to hit the road, go for a manual. If driving a manual car sounds a bit too difficult, maybe you’d better stick to the train.
Carolyn Schönafinger
And tip number seven is to purchase a transport pass. If you’re going to be using the excellent Swiss rail network to get around, I always recommend that you consider a transport pass such as the Swiss Travel Pass or one of the regional passes. The Jungfrau Travel Pass and the Regional Pass Berner Oberland are just two examples. Now, they are a significant investment, but they can be a very economical way to get around, with the added bonus of offering free entry to museums and discounted or free mountain excursions, depending on which pass you choose. A big advantage of having a transport pass is the convenience that it provides. There’s no need to queue up to buy tickets for each journey you want to take. You simply hop on board the train and show your pass to the conductor on request. As well as the convenience that it offers the Swiss Travel Pass can also be a big money saver as it includes trips on the premium panoramic trains such as the Bernina Express and the Glacier Express, so you don’t have to purchase separate tickets for these journeys. And with passes like the Jungfrau Travel Pass and the Regional Pass Berner Oberland, there’s really great discounts on the very popular Jungfraujoch Top of Europe excursion. So even though the pass up front might seem like a big cost, when you work out exactly what it covers, it can be exceptional value.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Tip number eight is all about city cards Another way you can save money in Switzerland is by utilising the local city cards that many destinations provide to overnight guests. So if you check in advance with each destination that you’re planning to visit, you can find out if there is a free city card on offer. In the canton of Ticino, all overnight guests receive the Ticino ticket which includes free bus travel within the canton as well as discounted entry fees to some attractions and discounted tickets on cable cars and boat trips. In St Moritz, many hotels and apartments provide a guest card which includes free travel on the mountain railways and cable cars as well as travel on the local bus network. So it’s really great value. It may be worth staying a little longer in these destinations to take full advantage of the free travel and discounts that are available.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Tip number nine relates to food and it’s don’t always eat at restaurants because the price of food is one thing that shocks many first time visitors to Switzerland. There have been times when I’ve paid more than 6 Swiss franc for a cappuccino at an airport hotel and 36 Swiss franc for a main meal at a restaurant. That’s okay if it’s only happening occasionally, but when you are tripping around for a week or more, the cost of eating adds up pretty quickly. Luckily, there are lots of ways that you can save on food and drink in Switzerland. Firstly, you don’t need to eat at restaurants all the time. Supermarkets have a great selection of high quality packaged salads and sandwiches, and the salads even come with plastic cutlery. There have been many times when my husband and I have purchased a salad and some deli items from the supermarket and eaten dinner in our hotel room. And bakeries too are a great place to buy low cost but delicious food. So when it comes to dinner time, don’t automatically think which restaurant am I going to go to? If you plan in advance and grab something from the supermarket, you can have a hearty, delicious meal without it costing a fortune. If you are craving a cooked meal during the day, the local supermarket might have you covered there too.
Carolyn Schönafinger
So tip number 10 is to look out for the major supermarkets and department stores and see if they have their own restaurants. Many of them do, such as Coop, Migros and Manor, and they have a restaurant with a huge selection of meals on offer. This is where a lot of the locals eat, so you can be assured of quality. And as an added bonus, many of these restaurants, such as those at the Manor department store in Lucerne’s Old Town and Migros in Spiez, have superb views. So not only do you get a great selection of food at really affordable prices, but you get fantastic views thrown in for free.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Tip number 11 also relates to food and supermarkets and bagging a bargain. In Switzerland, shops and supermarkets aren’t open on Sundays, with the exception of the small supermarkets that you’ll find at main train stations in the major cities. So shopping after 4pm on a Saturday is a great way to pick up some heavily discounted produce and perishable items. You’ll often find these specials late in the day during the week as well, an hour or so before the supermarket is due to close. But from 4pm ish onwards on a Saturday, everything that won’t last until Monday is going to be reduced heavily and you can pick up some fantastic bargains.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Drink water is my tip number 12 when it comes to beverages. If you stick to drinking water in Switzerland, you won’t need to pay a cent. Well, a centime. Actually there are thousands of fountains all over the country. In fact there are 1200 in Zurich alone and they all provide free water. It’s straight from the mountains, crystal clear and perfectly safe to drink. So pack a water bottle in your luggage and fill up for free whenever you are out and about.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Tip number 13 does require a little bit of effort on your part, but going to be so worth it. So if you don’t have a transport pass or you’d like to visit a mountain summit that your pass doesn’t cover, but you’re not keen on forking out for a pricey return ticket on the cable car or train, why not just buy a one way ticket? Return ticket prices in Switzerland are almost always double the price of a single ticket. So you can save half price by going up on the cable car or train and then walking down. There are over 65,000 kilometres of marked hiking trails in Switzerland, and many of these are from mountain summits to the valley floor or the town below. A great example is Gornergrat above Zermatt. You can catch the cogwheel train to Gornergrat, spend a bit of time looking around, have something to eat in the restaurant and then walk back to Zermatt or part of the way down. And the same from Mürren, there’s a lovely trail back down to Lauterbrunnen. As I mentioned, if you’re not keen to walk the whole way back, often the cable car or train will make intermediate stops. So just walk part of the way, you’ll still save some money and you’ll get some wonderful outdoor views and you’ll get to breathe in that awesome Swiss alpine air.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Speaking of walking, a great way to get familiar with the city is to take a walking tour with a local guide. So tip number 14 is to look out for free city walking tours. There are ones available in Interlaken, Zurich, Lucerne and Geneva, so checkwith the local tourist office for details when they operate. Although the tours are free, you will be invited to tip your guide after the tour, but it’s a small price to pay for an informative look around the city with someone who knows it intimately.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Before you head home from Switzerland, you will probably want to buy a few mementos as a reminder of your trip, as well as a big stash of Swiss chocolate. Tip number 15 don’t wait until you get to the airport to buy these. The major supermarkets and department stores have a great selection of souvenirs, including things like calendars, key rings, fridge magnets, T shirts and the like. You may even find a Swiss army knife and stock up on chocolate at the supermarket too. And don’t be afraid to buy the supermarket’s own brand of chocolate. It’s as good a quality as you could imagine it would be in Switzerland. You definitely won’t be disappointed.
Carolyn Schönafinger
I hope you found my 15 tips useful and you can now confidently plan your trip to Switzerland knowing that there are ways to have a wonderful experience without blowing the budget. If you’re starting to plan your trip and are struggling with working out how much it’s going to cost, you might find my Switzerland Travel Budget Calculator helpful. It’s a free, downloadable guide that includes details on average nightly costs for hotels and apartments, the prices for some of Switzerland most popular mountain excursions, and the cost of the various transport passes, including the Swiss Travel Pass and Jungfrau Travel Pass. Plus there’s space for you to jot down what each component of your trip is going to cost. To make sure your vacation budget stays on track, I’ll include a link to the budget calculator in the show notes for this episode which you can find at holidaystoswitzerland.com/episode 35 and I’ll also include a list of these 15 top tips so you can easily refer back to them as required. Thanks again for your company. Until next time, tschüss.
Announcer
Thank you so much for listening. For more great resources on planning a trip to Switzerland, make sure you visit holidaystoswitzerland.com where you’ll find trip planning tips, destination guides, information on transport, including Swiss rail passes, and much more. You’re also encouraged to join the Switzerland Travel Planning Group on Facebook, where you can ask questions and chat to other past and future travellers to Switzerland. You’ll find show notes from today’s episode at holidaystoswitzerland.com podcast and be sure to subscribe to the Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast so you never miss an episode.
You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.
