Gourmet tastes - beer budget (or close to it) in Switzerland; suggestions
 

Geneva -3 days
Chamonix
-1 day
Lausanne -1 day
Montreux 2 days
Interlaken - 3 days
Bern - 2 days
Lucerne -2 days
Chur - 1 day
Lugano -3 days
Basel - 2 days
Zurich - 2 days
Our itinerary based on mtns, scenery, art museums. We have Swiss Pass and lust for god food!

I would lump Lausanne, and Montreux together.
I would lump Interlaken and Bern together.

Where is Zermatt, Matterhorn? It should be seen if you are staying in Lausanne.

I wouldn't go to Chur with your itinerary.

The fewer one-night stops you have the happier you'll be -- I think -- fewer packing and unpacking and time spent moving.

Drop all one nite stands.
Go to Lake Como from Lugano
Why Basel?
Sub Lauterbrunnen for Interlaken.

Have fun !

Get yourself to the open air weekly farmers markets for some wonderful local food at bargain prices. You will find them on Tues & Sat AM in Vevey, Friday AM in Montreux (not sure Lausanne's days).

<i>God food?</i> Like the wafers they hand out at church? ;)

That's an awful lot of moving around. 11 hotels in 3 wks? I think 5 or 6 max would be better. Are you going to Chur just to take the Bernina Express to Tirano and then Lugano?

As far as moving so much... I see no reason for separate hotels in Geneva, Lausanne, and Montreux. They are barely 1 hour distance from each other on the train. Personally I'd stay in Vevey the first 5-6 nights and do the four cities using it as a base.

WAY to much moving around. Switzerland isn't really that big. You're much better off staying way fewer places and doing day trips than spending half your tie packing/unpacking and checking in/out of hotels.

Try to limit yourself to 4 hotels and figure day trips from there.

And what makes you think beer is cheap in Switzerland (NOTHING is cheap).

Not even the water is cheap .Beatiful country but not cheap.

In defense of Basel: It has interesting museums around the city, such as the Fondation Beyeler, the Vitra chair museum, an interesting music museum in its old jail, a fine arts museum, etc.

I would drop Chamonix. As for the rate of travel, nothing wrong with it depending on the age and energy of the traveler. I, for one, do not regret the fast traveling of my earlier days.

You can save money by making lunch your main meal. Look for
Tagesmenu, Tagesteller, Tageshit; plat/assiette du jour; piatto del giorno on restaurant menus. This is generally a set two or three course meal for a good price, served only at lunch.

You can also save money by picking up breakfast and picnic provisions at grocery stores, ready made sandwiches and fresh bread at bakeries and cheese from local cheese shops.

Many thanks for input - In reply - friend has said Mt. Blanc is a MUST to see - gondola across Alps to Helbronner - but will depend on weather. Lausanne and Montreux are together' Chur is only to make the connection TO the Bernina Express from Glacier Express- (Tirana - Lugano;) Basel is having a blockbuster art exhibition of Impressionists, post-impressionists, abstract, etc..(Fondation Beyeler)

Will do MANY picnics and lunches, thanks, Meinq8 -

"God food" is typo I did not catch - s.b. good food

Good food on a budget? In Switzerland? I would prepare to be shocked by the prices. This isn't even a place where you can go ethnic in a bid to get something fresh and cheap, as something like a plate of Chinese food may cost as much CHF 20.

The supermarkets are decent, but you are still looking at prices that average perhaps double what you would pay in the US. This is not a country for value-seekers.

It's really true about the cost of food. After returning from Switzerland, I compare everything to their prices, and pretty much everything is unbelievably cheaper in the USA. Makes it possible for me to pay more here than I used to knowing how much more it would be in Switzerland. LOL Isn't that the greatest excuse to spend more?

Funny, after living in Australia for a year, the prices in Switzerland didn't seem so bad anymore. It's all about what we're used to I guess.

Yes, right now Basel offers a lot for art lovers. If you're really strapped for cash in Basel, eat at one of the falafel/pita/gyro places--you can get a filling meal for under 20 Swiss francs, it will taste ok, but won't be gourmet cuisine.
You can get excellent fruit from that various farm stands in the suburbs around Basel (especially Ettingen). But of course, the selection will be limited to what's in season.
Also, wherever you are, check out the listings for community fairs, they usually have food stands offering meals at very good prices.
Re Chinese, there are Mister Wong's in Basel where you can get a meal for 12 francs, but the food is pretty lousy, IMO. Nooch is a much better choice, their filling, large bowl of duck ramen soup is about 20 francs.
FYI, fans of the British noodle bar chain Wagamama should know there are two branches in Switzerland (Zurich and Winterthur). The chicken ramen soup is 18.80 francs. Green tea is free, so if you have soup and tea, the total will be under 20 francs.
www.wagamama.ch

<i>If you're really strapped for cash in Basel, eat at one of the falafel/pita/gyro places--you can get a filling meal for under 20 Swiss francs, it will taste ok, but won't be gourmet cuisine.</i>

I eat a lot of doner for this reason. But paying CHF 10-20 every time is emblematic of how expensive Switzerland is.

I bought some ground beef the other day at the equivalent of $8 per pound. The chicken breasts I bought were the equivalent of $9 per pound. This was the basic stuff at the local supermarket, nothing fancy. Back in the US, I shopped at places like Whole Foods and the (expensive) gourmet butcher on the corner. I paid $6 per pound for Wagyu ground beef! Regular ground beef, like what you get in Switzerland was readily available for much less.

One word of warning is to avoid Swiss products. The Swiss are pretty jingoistic. They have it in their heads that anything Swiss-made is worthwhile, no matter the cost. This is usually ridiculous, such as the fact that Swiss chicken breasts are double the cost of imported chicken breasts. Sometimes, as with Swiss watches, they have managed to fool the rest of the world.

Other times, though, it is simply folks preying on the stupidity of the average Swissman. This is exemplified by something I saw yesterday - a CHF 85 undershirt. A plain white undershirt! Sure, it was labeled as the world's best, which is the usual Swiss excuse for overpriced garbage, but CHF 85 for an undershirt? Only a born-and-raised Swissman would fall for that.

Travelgourmet, I'll take issue with your last paragraph. you are comparing the Swiss standard of living, salaries ewtc with that of the US. I agree even to me in the UK the clothes are expensive in the prestigeous shops, in supermarkets such as Migros I have bought lovely little tops and coats for children and looked at the price of female adult clothing and found it comparable. I also find insulting to the Swiss to call clothing "over priced garbage" that is only your opinion. On a forum such as this i would suggest it is rude to be so blunt.
Having just converted the Swiss francs to pounds sterling I agree the garment is overpriced but I still would not refer to it as you have.

Only my opinion.

tipsygus - I live in Switzerland, just so you know. And I am fully aware of the Swiss standard of living, salaries, etc. I actually stopped paying attention to what most things cost. I am happy to pay the $45/lb that I do for a steak or tuna or whatever. But even I have to draw the line somewhere.

If you think that CHF 85 is a fair price for an undershirt, then more power to you. Personally, I find it galling that any company would price their product so far out of proportion to it's value. Even in Switzerland, you can find an undershirt for less than CHF 10, even if it doesn't come with the "Swiss-made" or "World's Best" tag. Were it half that price, then I would just laugh and call it overpriced. At CHF 85, it deserves scorn. And anyone that actually pays CHF 85 for an undershirt deserves scorn.