Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast Episode 55 Transcript

What to expect when you visit Switzerland in winter

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

Intro  

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

Welcome to episode 55. For many folks, visiting Switzerland during the winter months would be a dream come true. Whether it’s visiting the Christmas markets, skiing at one of Switzerland’s famous Alpine resorts, or just taking in the fairy tale scenes of a Swiss Christmas that appeals, visiting at this time of year is a very special experience. But planning a trip during winter can also be quite daunting You might be unsure if public transport operates all year round. Perhaps you’re wondering if there will be snow in the cities, or maybe you’re just worried about what clothes you should pack. These are all very typical and perfectly understandable questions that many visitors have. So today, I’ve invited someone who has all the answers onto the podcast. Seraina Engert was born and raised in Switzerland, and she loves exploring her country. She’s an avid skier and regularly take ski vacations in the winter, especially around Pontresina in Grisons, or Graubunden, as it’s also known. Seraina is going to share all her tips for visiting Switzerland during the winter months. But before I welcome her onto the show, I’d like to say a huge thank you to Switzerland Tourism for sponsoring the podcast.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Their website, myswitzerland.com, is the place to go for information and inspiration about Swiss winter vacations. So be sure to check it out, because if you need a wintery vacation, you need Switzerland. Now, let’s hear all these great tips from Seraina. Hello, Seraina.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Thank you very much for coming onto the podcast. I’m looking forward to hearing all your great advice about travelling in Switzerland during the wintertime. But would you like to start by introducing yourself and just sharing a little bit about yourself with us.

Seraina Engert

Hi, thank you for being here. My name is Seraina, as you already said. I’m born and raised in Switzerland, close to Zurich. Still living there, working as well in Zurich. Since I was a child, I was travelling through Switzerland because my mum is coming from the canton of Grison in Engadin. So the region around, most of you probably know the region from St. Moritz. And well, she’s living in, we’re in a part where not that many people are, but cute villages. I spent most of my childhood there. During, I would say, one of my biggest hobbies is travelling. And normally before Corona, I travelled a lot abroad, mainly Europe, Asia, and a bit in the US. And thanks to Corona, in the end, I started to focus on Switzerland because the borders were closed. And me and my husband and my dad were travelling through Switzerland by bike and also doing some hikes, discovering different regions. And that’s somehow when I started to be a bit more active and help tourists or interested people who want to discover Switzerland.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Yeah, fantastic. Well, I’m sure you’ve seen some wonderful places when you’ve been out on your bike. So maybe that’s a chat we’ll have to have another day. A lot of people have the idea that they would like to visit Switzerland during the winter time, but they’re not sure what to expect in terms of weather and what the temperatures are going to be like. So can you give us a bit of an idea about that? And although winter is not officially from November all the way through to March, I think we’ll cover those months when we’re talking today because they’re the off peak months and the But generally, the temperatures are much cooler then. So what can people expect when they visit Switzerland at that time of year?

Seraina Engert

Well, one thing it’s also quite often asked in the group regarding weather. Predictions, it’s always hard to predict the weather, always. In Switzerland, especially because of the Alps. And I always recommend to check MeteoSwiss.ch. I would say it’s a great homepage to check the weather, if you go. And well, regarding the weather in winter, I would say it can be really different, but in average, I would say it can be really cold, especially in the mountains. It can be to minus 10, minus 15 degrees during night, even in the lower region like Zurich and Basel, normally we have around zero degrees and no snow. Normally, we don’t have a lot of snow in the in the lower region. It’s foggy, it’s rainy, and it’s not really nice weather for Zurich and Basel. But if you go to the Alps, to the mountains, it can be really sunny up on the top. It can be really nice. Then it’s also quite warm.

Carolyn Schönafinger

You mentioned there that there’s rarely snow in Zurich and Basel. Is that pretty much the same for all the lowlands across Switzerland?

Seraina Engert

It really depends on the year. I mean, two years ago, we have 2 metres of snow in Zurich, which was crazy. But I would say that’s not the norm. Normally, we have in all the lower lands at the moment, unfortunately, due to the climate changes, not really snow.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Yeah. But on the other hand, then, I know a lot of people are keen to, when they come to Switzerland, to see the green hills. They’re probably not going to see that so much, though, in winter, are they? Even though there’s not a lot of snow down there.

Seraina Engert

There are green hills, but the ones you see on the postcards or on the pictures on Instagram, on Facebook, they’re more from coming from the spring, summer season, and the grass is growing again and it’s fully green. In winter, I mean, everything, all the plants are just falling asleep, and it’s… Yeah, Yeah, somehow it’s not really… I mean, you see the nice hills and you see the greenery, but it’s not the same. It’s not the full green you normally… You expect.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, So during winter, how easy is it to get around Switzerland? With the trains, do they run every day or are they affected by weather? Or do you have any tips about getting around during the wintertime?

Seraina Engert

The public transport works great. I mean, except you have such an event like two metres of snow within one day, which can happen in the mountains. But normally it works great because the Swiss public transport system, they are used to have this weather during winter. And also if you have such a special event, if you are somehow somewhere in a mountain village and you have a special event, I always recommend to check the SBB app, the Swiss Public Transportation app. where you see all the delays. Also, if there is an issue, you will see it in the app. You can go to the train station and they will explain how they’re going to solve it. You normally are not stranded somewhere.

Carolyn Schönafinger

I remember when I was in Switzerland in winter quite a few years ago, we travelled by train. We were We were staying in Bern and overnight there was this massive snow dump, snow everywhere. We couldn’t believe it when we woke up in the morning and looked out the window. But the trains, nothing was affected. Probably the only difficult we had was trying to wheel our suitcases along the platform, which was covered in slush. That was a bit trying, but the trains definitely ran perfectly. So like you say, unless there’s a major event, there’s probably not going to be any disruption. But what about those people that prefer to drive? Is this something that you would recommend during winter? And are there any special precautions they need to be aware of?

Seraina Engert

Honestly, if someone is asking me if they should drive in winter in Switzerland, I don’t recommend that, except you’re used to drive on snowy roads. As we already discussed, it can happen that, especially in the mountains, that overnight you will have a lot of snow. And then sometimes not even the forecasts are correct because I was once close to Saint Moritz. Three years ago. We stayed there and there was in the forecast, they said, yes, something snow is expected. Okay, great. Yeah. We woke up the next day, we had within 24 hours, two and a half metres of snow. The whole village was completely under the snow, and we had to drive to drive back because we have to work on the next day. That was not that funny. If you’re not used to that, it can be really dangerous. The streets are icy, slippery. It’s hard to control your car in the end. And also the streets, especially in the mountain areas, they are steep and narrow. And together with the snow on the street, it’s really hard to drive.

Carolyn Schönafinger

And do you need any special tyres on your car?

Seraina Engert

It depends where you are driving to. There are some smaller mountains which have no tunnel. They require the snow chains. But most of the time, the normally winter tyres are required. But I think if you get the rental car, the winter tyres are anyhow included.

Carolyn Schönafinger

If someone’s thinking of going to Switzerland during the winter, we definitely recommend that they use the public transport rather than renting a car. All right. So are there any closures during the winter months that people need to be aware of when they’re planning their trip?

Seraina Engert

Yes. I would say the end of October until end of November, it’s the off-season in Switzerland, because then all the mountain resorts, areas are preparing. It’s the season that you’re using to prepare themselves, doing some maintenance work to get ready for the whole ski tourism. I would say the smaller cable cars, gondolas, they are closed because of the maintenance work. The big ones like the Jungfraujoch or Pilatus, and I think also Titlis, they are always working. But I always recommend if someone’s coming during November to Switzerland, check the places you want to see if everything is operating. Happened to us also already. We somehow weren’t aware that November is the off-season month. We went also to the region around St. Moritz, and everything was closed. We were okay, now what can we do? No skiing? Okay. Then we do some cross country skiing because there you don’t need any lifts or whatever. But yeah, if you come to Switzerland to see something and it’s your only vacation, then it’s a bit sad if you miss on the things because of the operation.

Carolyn Schönafinger

As well as some of the cable cars and gondolas, what about hotels or restaurants? Do any of those close down for a period of time?

Seraina Engert

As far as I know, no, not really. I mean, it can be that during October till November, I think yes. But then after November, because then it’s really the high season for them. Everything is open and available. But I have never an issue to find a hotel or something during November. So there’s always an option.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Right. Okay. So one might be closed, but there’s sure to be another one in the town that is open. Okay. That’s good to know. So we’ve just started to touch there on skiing. What are some of the best things that you like to do in in winter in Switzerland? Are you an avid skier yourself?

Seraina Engert

Yeah, I’m a Swiss, I would say you grow up with skiing. I think my dad started skiing with me when I was two and a half years old. So Yeah, skiing, definitely. Then later snowboarding. I started snowboarding. Then what else you can do? I mean, it’s sledging. Cross country skiing, like I said, or or ice skating, which is also pretty cool in Switzerland because in some mountain areas, you have the ice. Ice rinks outside means in the forest. And you can do some ice skating through the forest on an ice rink, which is pretty cool.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Yeah, that sounds a lot of fun. What about things like hiking? Is it possible to do any hiking in winter?

Seraina Engert

It is. There are two options. You have snow shoeing. That’s a hiking. The other thing is you can really do with some warm boots. You can go hiking or it’s more walking for me, but depending on how you’re used to that. There are some valleys. I know the ones in Grison where you have some valleys. You can go there, you can do a hike in the valley, and then you can feed the birds because the birds are waiting for you that you are feeding them, which is really cute, or the squirrels, they’re pretty cute.

Carolyn Schönafinger

They know where to wait to get some food. All right. So what about for people that aren’t really into the snow sports? Are there some other activities and things that they can do during the wintertime?

Seraina Engert

Yeah, definitely. I mean, you can walk around the village. The villages are really cute during the winter. If there is snow, for instance, Zermatt. It’s a really cute village with a lot of snow and all the nice lights. During Christmas time, you have all the Christmas markets you can discover. You can also do some nice wellness in the snow, which is also pretty cool. In the end, you can go to some museums or do things in the cities. There’s always something to do, I would say.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Okay. Just getting back to skiing there and snow equipment, I’m guessing a lot of people won’t want to bring that with them from home. So is it very easy to rent all the ski gear and snow gear once they get to Switzerland?

Seraina Engert

Yes, it is. Being honest, I mean, I’m skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing, but I don’t have the equipment for all of that. It’s just too expensive, being honest, because you are maybe using it once or twice per season. So I’m also someone who is going to the stores. Normally, in the village, you have one sport store somehow per village, and they are renting all the equipment.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Okay. Would people need to contact the store ahead of time to make sure that the size they need is there, or do they usually have a very big supply?

Seraina Engert

As far as I know, usually they have a very big supply. But I would say if you go to a really touristic place like Jungfrau region or also Zermatt in high season, in the peak season. I mean, you’re on the safe side if you contact the store owner before.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Yeah. Just to be sure. Good. Okay, so let’s talk a bit more about Christmas and New Year, because I’m sure many of our listeners will be thinking of travelling at this time of year, and hopefully will be visiting a Christmas market or two. You mentioned there that that’s one of the great things to do. But when do the regular shops close over the Christmas period? Are there days when no shops will be open?

Seraina Engert

Yes, they are. Well, normally they close on the 24th of December in the evening, and then they reopen again on the 27th. So 25th and 26th, normally the stores are closed. If you’re really in need of buying something, like food, because you forgot something, there are stores at the train station. Zurich train station, for instance, the stores are always open, except during the night and at the airport. Also in Zurich, these stores are always open. But yeah, in the smaller village, I guess you will have the closure from 24th evening until 27.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Okay. What’s a typical Christmas meal in Switzerland, and when is that enjoyed?

Seraina Engert

In Switzerland, we celebrate the Christmas at home with the family. I would say a typical Christmas meal at least for the German part, because in the French part, they enjoy the goose, Christmas goose. And in the German part, we normally have the meat fondue. Then when you sit at home and everyone is sitting around the table and you have your meat fondue. I think some also enjoy the cheese fondue, but the traditional one is really the meat fondue called fondue chinoise. I would say that’s the traditional Swiss Christmas dish on the 24th.

Carolyn Schönafinger

If someone from America or from Australia, the UK, for instance, is visiting over Christmas time and they were wanting to have a Christmas meal on Christmas Day on the 25th. Is that going to be difficult for them or will the restaurants at some of the hotels still be open?

Seraina Engert

Some of the restaurants will be open, especially in the touristy areas, because it’s clear for them that they need to have open because the tourists need to eat somewhere. As far as I know, they’re also offering Christmas dinners. You will also find some restaurants in Zurich which are open, but then you also always have to check. During this time, I always recommend to check on the homepage. Normally, it’s clearly written there if they’re open or not. But I guess you will not have a big issue to find something.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Yeah, but you probably shouldn’t go there expecting to have the same Christmas meal that you have at home.

Seraina Engert

Well, there are some restaurants, at least in the region of Zurich, I know that they were offering meat fondue. They are the normal fondue, I mean. Also, there are yeah, but probably not the traditional English Christmas lunch.

Carolyn Schönafinger

If you’re going to be in Switzerland, you might as well have a Swiss Christmas meal. What about, are there any special festivities to welcome in the new year?

Seraina Engert

I know there are a lot of fireworks going on. Well, I hope this year, then. I think it was last year, still cancelled because of the whole Corona pandemic. But this year, the firework should be there again. We have normally a nice firework in Zurich. I know also in the Italian part, Lugano, Locarno, there you also have a nice firework over the lake. I think also Lucerne, I think it’s a common thing that the new year gets welcomed by having a firework over the lakes.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Okay. Is January the first a public holiday in Switzerland?

Seraina Engert

Yes, it is. And in some cantons, in some regions, also the second.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Okay. So again, good to check in advance and make sure you know what’s going to be open and what’s going to be closed. What about other major events or festivals that take place over those winter months between November and March? Are there any that you particularly like you would recommend that our listeners try and visit?

Seraina Engert

As I said all the Christmas markets. I’m a huge fan of Christmas markets. There are some nice ones. I know the one in Montreux. The Einsiedeln, which is close to Zurich, and Zurich has several ones. Lucerne has a cute one. I think Bern as well. Yeah, definitely the Christmas markets. And then you also have some… When spring is coming closer, then you have in several regions in Switzerland, in the mountain regions, the tradition to scare away somehow the winter, the ghost of the winter. I know one tradition from and one from where you have the huge cowbells, the one in Engadine I participated now as a child. You get as a child, you get the really huge cowbells and then you walk through the village and make a lot of noise. And you wear like typical dresses. Yeah. It’s nice to see, I think. And then in Valaiss, I think they it’s like masks. It scares the people and also the winter away.

Carolyn Schönafinger

That sounds like fun, and I’m sure all the community gets involved with that. So it’s really being part of the village if you’re there at one of those festivals. Now, one of the questions that we frequently get asked in the Facebook group, and I know you’ve been very kind in the past to answer this question a number of times, is about bringing the right clothing when you’re visiting Switzerland? So people are always asking, how cold is it going to be at the top of the mountain? Do I need the full snow jackets and boots and things? And that’s not such an issue if they’re travelling in summer. But if they’re travelling in winter, what are the essential items that you recommend people visit when they’ve come?

Seraina Engert

If you travel in winter to Switzerland. I mean, in Switzerland, I always recommend layers. It doesn’t matter if it’s winter or summer. Layers is the key because we have really low areas and then the higher areas, so layers. During winter, I recommend waterproof boots. They don’t need to be very warm, but they need to be waterproof because if it’s rainy, if the snow starts melting, it’s just wet everywhere. If you plan, you visit some mountain peaks, bring a really warm jacket because normally it’s cold, it’s really cold and it’s windy. Me personally, I always wear a scarf during winter. Also in the cities, if it’s zero degrees, you need a warm jacket.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Yeah, definitely. And something to keep your fingers nice and warm, some gloves and probably a woollen hat as well.

Seraina Engert

Yeah, definitely. How should I say that? In the end, it depends on your preference. That’s one thing. And the other thing is, if I go skiing, gloves are anyhow mandatory, and helmet and whatever. But if I just walk around in the city, me personally, I don’t use the gloves. But if you’re not used to it, probably it’s recommended, yes.

Carolyn Schönafinger

I think your point there about layers are the key. I think that’s so important because if you are just walking around in the city and you go into a museum or you go into a shop, it’s usually so warm inside that you’ll soon be too hot. So you need to take your jacket off or your your coat so that you’re not too hot whilst you’re inside, but then you’ll need to put it on again as soon as you’re outside.

Seraina Engert

Yeah, and especially if you plan to visit the Christmas markets, don’t underestimate the time you’re standing outside at night, in winter, which can be… I mean, for one hour, that’s completely fine, but after two or three hours, you just start freezing. So, yeah. Layers. It’s important.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Yeah, great. What are some of your favourite things to do in winter time?

Seraina Engert

Well, during winter, normally, I go definitely to the mountains, spending there at least one or two weeks per winter doing different sports like snowboarding, like cross-country skiing, always walk around the village, having some nice fondue as well, or Raclette, because there you have the fresh cheese from the mountains, which is always worth a try. Also, you have the little shops normally. I mean, not only during winter, also during summer. You have these little shops where you can buy all the fresh cheese and all the fresh products. I normally do that. And besides that, yeah. I also go. Normally, I also go for two or four days is to the Italian part of Switzerland to escape a bit the cold.

Carolyn Schönafinger

So you have your time in the snow and then you have a little escape from the cold as well. Is there a ski area that you particularly like that you’d say is your favourite? Do you go back to the same one every year or do you like to go to different places?

Seraina Engert

Well, it depends. Normally, we go back to the same one. Every year, yeah, we try to. And as I said, Pontresina close to Saint-Moritz. It’s a really nice area. I think there are not many international tourists because most of them are staying in Saint-Moritz. And besides that area, I also try to figure out really the small places just because I don’t like big crowds. But yeah, I also do some day trips or weekend trips to the Jungfrau area, which is also really nice during winter, like Hasliberg or Wengen, Lauterbrumen. It’s amazing during winter.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Do you have any tips before we go? Anything else that you think that anyone planning to visit Switzerland during winter should know about?

Seraina Engert

I forgot to mention before something when you ask what to do if you are not a sport lover during winter. I mean, one thing which is definitely recommendable is doing a beautiful train ride.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Oh, yes, of course. Yeah.

Seraina Engert

Taking the Glacier Express or the Bernina Express and crossing all these snowy mountains with the train. It’s really, really beautiful. That’s definitely something I would recommend. That’s also one of the reasons why you should use the public transport.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Yeah, absolutely. You can get from A to B, but you can also enjoy the beautiful scenery, and that’s a real experience by itself, isn’t it? Going on on one of the scenic trains. Thank you very much, Seraina, for sharing all that info with us today. It’s been really helpful, and I’m sure that all your tips and advice there will be very helpful to all our listeners. And before I do let you go, if you were coming to Switzerland for the very first time and you were coming in winter, you could can you tell me, visit a couple of places. Where would you choose?

Seraina Engert

If you would come to Switzerland for the first time, I would really choose one of the region which is known and which is beautiful. Really, I would stick I would stay either in Zermatt, close to the Matterhorn, or the Jungfrau area. The regions are well-developed and they are beautiful. If it wouldn’t be my first time, I would probably go then to different regions in, as I said, close to St. Moritz, these regions. But I think it’s more then you’re coming more often.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Yes. Great point. All right. Well, thank you very much for sharing that with us today.

Seraina Engert

Thank you.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Well, Seraina certainly had some great tips. I totally agree with her about layering clothes and using public transport. Her advice about using the Meteo Swiss app for weather forecasts is spot on, too. I used it on her recommendation on my recent trip, and it was excellent. I’ve only visited Switzerland once during the winter. We spent about a week in Geneva, Bern, and Lucerne about 10 years ago, and it was wonderful. We were fortunate to wake up one December morning to find a lot of snow had fallen during the night. And whilst this created a real fairytale setting, it did come with a couple of challenges. The biggest takeaways I learnt from visiting Switzerland during the winter are to allow more time to get from A to B than you expect to need. If it is wet or slushy underfoot, walking or wheeling suitcases or even boarding trains can take a little more time than normal. And it’s also important to book accommodation close to public transport. My husband and sons still haven’t forgotten the day we had to pull our suitcases about two kilometres through melting slush to reach our hotel. And my final takeaway is that visiting Switzerland in the winter, especially during the festive season, is a wonderful experience.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Yes, you do have to pack more clothing and heavier shoes, and you don’t get as many hours of daylight for sightseeing, but the magical atmosphere that permeates the air more than makes up for it. If you’re ready to start planning your winter trip and are interested in visiting Switzerland’s Christmas markets, make sure you listen to episode episode 34 of the podcast. There are also lots of other resources on the Holidays to Switzerland website about the Christmas markets and things to do in Switzerland during winter. I’ll include links to them in the show notes for this episode, which you can find at holidaystoswitzerland.com/episode55. Thanks so much for listening to this episode. If you’ve enjoyed it and found it helpful, I’d really love it if you would leave a rating or review on your favourite podcast app. Until next time. Tschüss.

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