How expensive is Switzerland dining?
 

Is $100 a day reasonable to expect to pay for meals in Switzerland?

Thanks for your input!

I live in Switzerland and find it very expensive, and this after 5 years living in Hong Kong which is considered an expensive city. By way of comparison to US prices, a cheeseburger, large fries and large coke at McDonald’s here costs about $12. Fondue for one typically costs between $18 - 24. At some mountain tourist places like Zermatt and the Jungfrau, a basic lunch in the mountain cafeterias can easily cost US$25, and more if you eat in the restaurants rather than the cafeterias.

That being said, you should be able to eat well on $100 per day per person; however this will rule out dinner at many of the better restaurants, and will limit your wine choices. Most hotels include breakfast in their rate, which may or may not be a good deal. You might ask about rates without breakfast, and if they offer a rate that is even CHF10 less, take it without breakfast and you can get a croissant and coffee at a nearby bakery for less. (Exception here would be small mountain villages like Murren, where you may not find anything open, but generally there is a condotorei/backerei in the neighbourhood.) Also, many hotels offer full or half board (all meals, or just breakfast and dinner or lunch and dinner.) These are usually a good value, as long as you don’t mind eating at your hotel each night (there are some great hotel restaurants in Switzerland, so don’t rule this out.) Some hotels offer a “dine around” full or half board option that allows you to eat at a set selection of restaurants in the town. Check with your hotel.

In the cities and larger villages, you can find reasonable places for lunch, also the Coop supermarkets usually have pre-made sandwiches and you can also buy cheese, bread, etc at a market and make your own lunch, esp if you are hiking in mountain areas.

I would suggest getting the Lonely Planet guide to Switzerland. Their "top end" and middle end restaurant suggestions are generally excellent value for money and good food.

Living in Switzerland, I recently went to Italy, and the restaurant prices are always of a mayor interest to me. For the same/comparable quality of food, I expect to pay 30 to 40 % more in Switzerland.
Cicerone's suggestion of checking supermarkets for a restaurant is a good thing to do for the normal everyday meal.
A 100$ will help you through the day, but there will be no 'splurge' included in that price.

Or for lunches, you could stick to kebabs and sandwiches (CHF5-10). There are some asian food places where you can get rice/noodles + 1 dish for about CHF15-25.

This is "cheap" in switzerland.

I guess it depends where you go. I ate at numerous restaurants when I spent several weeks in Basel and didn't find them any more expensive than restaurants in Brussels. I could easily eat on $100 a day, even with the strong Swiss franc. OTOH, I don't think $100 would take you that far in Geneva or Zurich. Lugano didn't strike me as that expensive either.
Some Co-op restaurants are quite good...there is one behind the Basel Bahnhof on Guterstrasse that surpassed my expectations. Very tasty. Filled with office workers at lunchtime (one other thing that totally surpassed my expectations was how everyone left their purses at the table while they went and picked out their food--they would just pull out a 20 or whatever franc note and leave everything else at their seat. I could never bring myself to be THAT trusting!).

The assumption has been made above that you mean $100 per person a day. Is that what you meant? Often people here seem to quote a figure and automatically assume people know they mean for two.
If it is for one, you can do quite well.

Even for two, it's feasible, unless the OP is planning to visit the most expensive spots in Switzerland. I ate on $50 a day in Basel, usually less; although my husband has a bigger appetite, we could still have managed on $100.
Now that we live in the UK, not too far from London, Swiss prices don't seem so scary.