peterson5589

My friend and I are planning a trip to Europe in July 2014 to celebrate our 25th birthdays. We did a European tour the summer before our senior year in high school and always talked about going back to spend more time actually experiencing the culture rather than rushing from place to place. At this time, we're leaning towards going back to Switzerland, with a base in Lucerne. We've been exploring travel deals for flights and hotels, but haven't yet figured out what we'd like to do when we get there. We're open to day trips, and may invest in a Swiss Pass to explore the rest of the country. Right now, we're thinking the trip will be around 10 days (2 of which will be traveling to and from the US).
Any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated!

bilboburgler

swiss culture.. mmms thinks...ah yes $$$$$$$$$

seriously though, of all the countries to visit for its culture and you are aiming at such an interesting continent how can you chose this place?

Pegontheroad

I'm also interested in why you'd choose Switzerland. Of all the countries of Europe, it seems to me the least interesting. Beautiful scenery, of course, but not as much in the way of architecture, distinctive culture, art, night life, etc., as many other countries, Germany and Austria, for instance.

However, the first thing I'd suggest you do is to get a guidebook and read it.

PalenQ

may invest in a Swiss Pass to explore the rest of the country. Right now, we're thinking the trip will be around 10 days (2 of which will be traveling to and from the US).>

look strongly at the 8-consecutive-day Swiss Youthpass - for folks under 26 - $334 for ride at will for 8 whole days - between your arrival and departure cities or about $40/day - valid on not only trains but postal buses (they go where trains don't!), city trams and buses, free entry to 400+ Swiss museums, lake boats and giving 50% off many cable cars to mountain tops - no waiting in line just hop on just about any train, bus, boat - now if you are traveling around Switzerland much - if just staying in Lucerne then look at a regional pass.

anyway to get a good fix on Swiss trains, boats, etc check out these IMO superb sources: swisstravelsystem.com; http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id3.html; www.seat61.com and www.ricksteves.com.

the only other pass you would consider IMO is a 3-day Swiss Flexi Youthpass - and you can investigate the Half-Fare Card (costs about $140 to buy then you get half off all transports - can be good if you know exactly what you will and will not be doing - Swiss Card or Swiss Transfer ticket or regional passes like the Jungfraubahn Pass; Berner Oberland Pass, etc.

msteacher

Switzerland is an excellent choice if you are hikers. Less of a good choice if by culture you mean art, music, architecture, etc. if, though, you are interested on hiking, or just beautiful scenery, go to the Berner Oberland. There are lots of choices for places to stay and things to do in the Lauterbrunnen/ Interlaken area.

greg

Switzerland is a significantly more expensive place to spend time than neighbouring countries once you are on the ground. If finding a "deal" is an essetial part of your decision process, recommend you also look at alternate itineraries if you cannot find satisfactory deals to Switzerland.

Ingo

It seems to my that the previous posters totally missed the fascinating culture, art, architecture and history of Switzerland while gawking at the gorgeous scenery. Switzerland combines the Germanic, French, Italian and Rumansch cultures.

Lucerne is an excellent base if you don't mind getting up a bit earlier than usual and doing somewhat longer day trips. Calculate two days for Lucerne and one of the nearby mountains - either Pilatus or Rigi, including a lake cruise for a couple of hours. My recommendation for the really high mountains/glacier would be Mt. Titlis above Engelberg, about an hour from Lucerne. Or invest more time and money and go to Jungfraujoch in the Bernese Oberland.

For diversity, head to Locarno and Ascona in the Ticino to soak up Italian ambience. Easy day trip.

For French ambience you could go to Lausanne (interested in the Olympic museum?), check out the French Gothic cathedral there, maybe do a wine tasting.

Another highlight could be Baroque monastery Einsiedeln, another easy (half) day trip. Along the way is Schwyz where you could check out the museum on Swiss history.

The only problem I see could be money - Switzerland is extremely expensive.

kja

I agree with Ingo -- I found the diversity of cultures and styles of art and architecture and the range of travel experiences within Switzerland among the most wonderful aspects of my recent 30-day trip there. I also agree that it is expensive.

Without knowing more about the OP's interests, and why they are thinking of returning to Switzerland, I would be hesitant to offer more specific suggestions.

PalenQ

switzerland is great but yes just about the most expensive country I have been in - bring whatever you can in with you from other countries or home - things like toiletries, OTC medicines, etc to avoid sticker shock once there.

peterson5589

I am aware that Switzerland is probably the most expensive place we could pick - but we're willing to treat ourselves a bit. The scenery is certainly a draw as well as the diversity that comes with the mixture of cultures.

I appreciate the warnings on price and the suggestions.

indy_dad

We went for the scenery and it's one of our favorite trips:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...e-oberland.cfm

Here's a shorter trip from colleagues closer to your age:

http://schetzelsintheuk.wordpress.co...7/switzerland/

PalenQ

I appreciate the warnings on price and the suggestions.>

try to get a self-catering room so you can buy supermarket stuff and dine at home for a fraction of what restaurants do

Or seek out Migros or Coop superstores for cheap, for Switzerland, cafeterias - there is one of each in Interlaken - one Coop[ huge store right by the Interlaken-Ost train station so before heading to the hills stock up - there are small Coops, etc in the mountain towns but with much less selection and higher prices.

PalenQ

Another way to beat the price of meals in Switzerland is to take advantage of many hotels demi-pension or pension plans - where for an extra reasonable fee you can get one meal or two meals plus the breakfast that is usually included in the price.

And if you do like rick Steves once suggested load up from the breakfast buffet whatever you can steal away (I do not endorse that though may do it occasionally on a minor level!)

michelhuebeli

To say Switzerland lacks culture is tantamount to ignorance.

There’s plenty of culture in Switzerland, if by culture we understand things like

~ great collections of works of arts

~ outstanding examples of architecture styles old and new

~ rich regional variances in food and drink

~ a long history of a productive coexistence of three languages and the temperaments that come with them (plus the interesting but moribund Rumantsch as a fourth)

~ world-class classical music

...and on and on.

This website only just begins to describe it: www.swissworld.org/en/culture/

And that's before we consider the fabulous infrastructure of public transportation at its most sophisticated and efficient, from trains (www.sbb.ch) to postal coaches (www.postbus.ch) to all manner of funiculars and gondolas and chairlifts and cograils that take you where trains can't go.

And if you trust your legs to carry you, then you're in the right place: The Wanderwege system (www.wandern.ch) of well-marked and mapped hiking trails all over the country, starting and ending near public transportation hubs, and more adventurous routes through the alps (www.wandersite.ch/Alpenpassroute.html and http://wanderland.myswitzerland.com/en/wanderland.html) or even high-elevation routes with alpinist huts (www.sac-cas.ch) will keep you enthralled.

Sure it's an expensive country, but you get your money's worth if you do it right.

bilboburgler

Don't get me wrong I like visiting Switzerland,where I have family, and I've worked there, enjoyed museums (go see the false lace museum) but at the end of the day, the German bit is like somewhere else (germany) the Italian bit is like somewhere else (italy) you get the picture, while the small amount of Romansh areas are pretty but it turns out that here, since it is a small community they tend to be a bit back biting so joe does not stack his wood pile correctly or fred does not speak our version of Romansh.. Part of this is because the local laws and customs makes everyone his neighbour's policeman (in a slightly nice way). At times I have been overwhelmed by the pleasant if correct behaviour of the Swiss while similarly upset by the couldn't care less attitude.

So while the hills are pleasant I'd prefer the slightly dirtier environment of the countries around it

PalenQ

a small community they tend to be a bit back biting so joe does not stack his wood pile correctly or fred does not speak our version of Romansh>

Weird thing about woodpiles in Switzerland - in the German areas woodpiles are stacked meticulously straight - every log cut exactly the same and stacked look like boxes - but when the Golden Pass train I was on crossed into French-speaking Switzerland the woodpiles immediately became more haphazzard - rather weird but kind of telling. French Swiss cities also look a little bit less spiffy - which I like more than the spic-and-span cities in Deutscher Switzerland.

michelhuebeli

The Romands, as the Swiss in the French-speaking cantons call themselves and are called by others (collectively those cantons are known as a region as La Romandie), pride themselves for (or at least shamefully admit) being a bit more relaxed than the more straight-laced Swiss who live in the Swiss-German (a misnomer...) dialects-speaking cantons.

There is really no such thing as Swiss-German - if you listen while there, you'll hear a multitude of local/regional dialects, all remotely related to Germany's German but all different, so much so that someone from, say, Bern has trouble understanding somebody from, say, the valleys around Davos, or from above Brig etc.

You will hear them, but you won't get to read any dialects, for all written and all officially spoken communications the imported "real" German is used - everybody learns it in school from Day One - and nobody uses it when speaking among themselves.

If you have an ear for languages, listen to the official news bulletin on the radio (hey - you can do it right now on the internet), it is spoken in "real" German (albeit sometimes with an accent), and as soon as it's over and the banter starts about sports or whatever, it's in the local dialect, and every Swiss immediately knows where the speaker is from.

PalenQ

Ticino seems to be a cross between rigid Germanics and laissez-faire Italians.

PalenQ

I am always surprised to find that it seems at least to me and my encounters that relatively few German-speaking Swiss know French or Italian and v.v. and use English to communicate with each other.

Is this true - seems when I try in German-speaking Switzerland to speak French they do not know it much and respond in English.

michelhuebeli

Everybody learns it in school, but not everybody gets to speak it all that often in normal life, so there's a rustiness and reluctance - most probably can still read French well enough long after school to get by, and understand it on the radio to a point, but being fluent at speaking is a different matter, while English is becoming prevalent everywhere (and is even taught now at a very early age at the same time as French and German in some school districts).

Not many elect to take Italian north of the alps, and then only in the final years of school.

Besides - how good is your French? Could it be that you are hard to understand, and that's the reason why some switch to English? Just wondering...