Switzerland Trip Report
 

On our way. Connecting in SFO. Polaris lounge. Decent mimosa. Wines list pleasant. Inoffensive.
Restaurant food variable.Shrimp cake good. Miso cod dry and rather tasteless, Blackened chicken dry. Chocolate cookie skillet terrific

Yay! Look forward to hearing about your trip.

Arrived ZUR 1010 on time. Flight uneventful Zurich airport little confusing as you go downstairs to get to baggage and immigration but the signs point horizontally rather than down. Walk across to train station quite close and the SBB office efficient. Bought Swiss 50% discount card then First class Oberland pass for 6 days starting in three days. Also bought first class train tickets to Luzern. Cost 11 CHF more than second. Train tracks right downstairs. Large crowd for second class part of train near escalator. First class further down and much less crowded. 2 small areas large enough for five large suitcases at end of cabin for storage. Rain set up one seat on one side and two on the other side. Train from airport goes through main Zurich station to Luzern. Trains appear to run about every 20 minutes on this route and if you miss your train you can just take the next one with same ticket. Luzern about a 40 minute train. Raining.

Arrived in Lucerne. Radisson a 5 minute flat walk from train station. Typical class 4- hotel tourist style hotel. Decent size room overlooking lake. Clean and modern. Plenty of electrical/usb c ports. Don’t usually stay at Radisson, I think the only one I have ever stayed at was in Bergen. Decent acceptable hotel. breakfast 35 CHF an easy pass. Cloudy to partly cloudy. Walked around the town for the afternoon and had an early dinner sharing veal schnitzel with fries 32CHF with a beer. Costs here approximately double typical US. Early to bed.

Yeah, definitely not cheap, and the poor exchange rate doesn't help. I'm cringing thinking about what our four weeks in Switzerland is going to cost come September. Looks like 1 CHF is currently $1.26 - and that's the bank rate.

Look forward to hearing more about your trip.

Yes, the cost of food and meals is quite shocking. We were told it was because everyone involved is assured a "fair wage" which means a pricey meal. We rarely ate for less than $100 per meal for the two of us, even with a modest choice off the menu and before drinks. No tipping, however. Have fun!

I wonder ... if this is now a trip report, perhaps you should ask the moderators to flag it as one.

It's kind of a real time, as we go deal. Whatever it is I wish I was there.

I will try to write a little bit every day as I never have time when I return home. Slept 12 hours last night despite getting some decent sleep on the plane. Probably due to averaging less then 5 for the last several nights before our trip. Awoke to rain. Went to Bucherer and while they sell many second hand watches no Pateks. They did refer me to another store but they had none either. Had an early lunch at the nearby Italian restaurant with one shared pizza and a bottle of aqua pana. Decided on doing a boat tour and went to Vitznou. Rain then heavy rain. Returned to Lucerne for early dinner at Romantic hotel Wilden Mann. Pleasant meal. We had pike and a perch followed by a cheese course and blueberry cream brûlée along with a half bottle of Swiss Sauvignon Blanc. Pleasant meal 170CHF.
notable was an extremely clean bathroom worth of a good 5 star hotel. Back to Radisson to sleep. Decent hotel but skimpiest bath towels.

I’m enjoying the updates and apologize for putting that song in your head.

I've stayed at that Radisson for business reasons; it's ok. Its best feature is the proximity to the train station.

As for restaurant prices, we got used to them. Our dinner tonight at the Bohemia restaurant in Basel cost us 190 francs, which is actually a little less than dinner at a good restaurant usually costs. One lesson we learned pretty quickly after moving here was that the mediocre restaurants charge just as much as the good ones, so you might as well pick a good one. Sorry about the rain; Vitznau can be lovely. We've stayed at the Vitznauerhof and had a beautiful lake view room with breakfast and an excellent dinner. If you take the Vitznau train trip to Rigi one tip for those with wonky knees: when you get off the train at Rigi, you can walk down a hallway to an elevator that take you straight up to the restaurant with viewing platforms.

For Pateks, you could try this store: https://theswisscollector.com/en/49-patek-philippe or in Lugano, https://watchcenter.ch/categoria-pro...atek-philippe/ (their store is located on Via Nassa)

Posts pulled from the original planning thread to create this Trip Report.

Awoke and looked at weather report. Meteoswiss Ap and it appears cloudy to partly cloudy until 1500 so we head off to Mt Pilitis. Walk to train station to pick up some sandwiches at Bachman then on to a kiosk near Pier one to buy our golden round tickets. Bus to mountain then first class boat return 138 CHF for two with 50% off card.
Sun is out! Hope springs eternal. Bus 1 leaves A position across street and leaves every 10 minutes to base of mountain where the the cog wheel train starts.

Bus ride short. Less than 10 minutes but we arrive and there are no direction signs to the Gondola station. We wonder around a bit and a car stops at a stop light and the driver asks us if we were lost. We replied yes and that we were looking for the gondola station. He’s asks us to get in and drives us to the gondola station. Very nice! We then had to go to ticket office and use our pass to get tickets for the gondola up the mountain.

Mel - USD is worth .80frs right now. But the bank rate is about .78frs...

We do tip. Not at the rate in the US though. Around here (Valais) right now most people leave 5% or so tip. Or on a coffee which costs about 5frs - .50c

Here's hoping for a wonderful trip. We had thought about going ourselves this month, but the poor exchange rate put us off.

Trip up Mt Pitalus foggy and cloudy. No view whatsoever from the top. Cog wheel train down the mountain interesting. Unfortunately we are only here for a few days so no real chance to wait for good weather to do things. Lots of rain, sometimes quite heavy. Ferry back to Luzern during which we ate the sandwiches we picked up at Bachman. Dropped our stuff off at our hotel then took the 6 bus to the Swiss Transportation museum. Entry 24 CHF after 4pm. Interesting museum. It’s not the National Aerospace museum but still worth the visit. Bus back into town. Dinner at Cafe Fritschi. Bratwurst and a beer for 35CHF.
Ate better for a lot less in Berlin last year visiting the Christmas markets. The exchange rate vs the dollar is not good. The dollar is down over 11% last I looked vs a bucket of foreign currencies due to our new administration. Expect it to continue to get worse so waiting may not be helpful for those of us who travel with the dollar.

Yeah, glad we paid for most of our accommodation when we did. It's going to be an expensive (six week) trip. Thanks for nothing, you-know-who.

SIgh. You're probably right on the exchange rates between USD and CHF. Just have to put Switzerland off for a few more years I suppose. Hoping the weather improves for you.

We made out like bandits the past couple of years, with the Euro close to parity with the dollar and good rates in most other nations. This fall, it will be different. Yes, exchange rates are fluid! When I took the kids for our first trip the £ was $1.84. Correcting decades of deficit spending will not be easy for any nation that felt it could defy the laws of economics.

On the other hand the pound was $2.50 when I lived in England and the Japanese yen was 360 to a dollar when I lived in Japan. Before the Euro you could also pick where to go partially on exchange rates. Lots of tour groups here. Mostly it seems from China and to a lesser extent India and the Middle East. Wonder what their currencies are doing.

When we were young and lived in Geneva (60 years ago) the USD got 4.32CHF. America left the Gold Standard and in about 6 years the USD was at 1.91CHF. Similarly in 1972 the GBP was 10frs. Easy to calculate if you are Swiss. These days it is around 1.07frs. Not great if you are British!! The Swiss Franc is a strong currency for a lot of reasons - very stable government and economic policy. Almost full employment. (would like to add great chocolate too...but that is irrelevant!)

I am so sorry about this foul weather but I congratulate mjs for going to the Transport Museum! Another few things to try since the weather won't change for a couple of days - Bern - with all its arcaded streets. Rosengart Collection in Luzern. Maybe even Gletscher Garten ? or the Glasi (see and try blowing glass) in Hergiswil. Wonderful place and wonderful glass. www.glasi.ch

Made it to the Lion as well yesterday. Rain again today. Sometimes you get lucky sometimes you don’t. We were in Bergen two summers ago when the locals thought it was the best weather of the summer. Also lucked out in the Cotswolds last year. Hoping our luck will change.
On way to Wengen. First class compartment only has room for baggage above and none at the end of the compartment as typical. Maybe because half of this train section is first and half second?
Nice there are electrical outlets. First use of our Berner Oberland pass.
In the meantime at home we are having the nicest summer ever with temperatures 10-15 f degrees cooler than normal.

I think you are referring to the train Luzern/Interlaken Ost ? That is a different sort of rolling stock from the ones the SBB uses (and it has cogs as well...) Hopefully you found a place for your luggage anyway?
Should be a little sun in Wengen today and no more rain until later tomorrow...sun tomorrow morning as well.

Only two people in our compartment Lucerne to Interlaken OST so no problems with our luggage. Lakes and rivers appear to be more than full. Made our connections to Wengen without any problems. Car from Hotel Alpenrose to meet us at the station. Hotel about a 5 minute walk down the hill. Quaint hotel. Clean 3 star quality. Decent size room with balcony and view of the valley. No safe or mini bar or tea or coffee facilities. Bargain of a diner for 20 CHF with 4 courses! Decent food. Decent half bottles of wines for about 20-25 CHF.

The forecasts after four days of rain was for no rain Tuesday morning so we awoke early to take advantage of the weather. Hotel breakfast began at 0715 and was fine. We left laundry to be done as the hotel takes two days for this service and they only offer it on Monday's, Tuesdays and Thursday’s. Walked to the Coop and bought sandwiches and set off for Murren, which took a train ride to Lauterbrunnen, cable car to Grutschap and then train. They were all coordinated nicely, though, so it was easy. Decided to do the North Face walk, which was a pleasant 2 hour hike with some mud here and there. We followed this with the Allmendhubel funicular and about a half hour walk back down. The Schilthorn peak was next as it was free with our Berner Oberland pass and it was predictably snowing at the top. Lucky we didn’t have to pay 85 CHF. We decided to call it a day as it was raining when we returned to Murren. Apparently everyone else had the same idea as the entire tourist population appeared to head for the train at the same time. We nevertheless persisted and made our way down to Lauterbrunnen where we walked around abit before heading back to Wengen. I must say that this destination, with all its trains and gondolas, and cable cars and funiculars, is most confusing.
Maybe now a-little less confused.

Think of Mürren as have two "access routes" - one, from Lauterbrunnen to Grütschalp and connect to Mürren. The second from Stechelberg (higher up the Lauterbrunnen valley) to Mürren directly via cable car. (Cable car stops along the way...).

Lakes etc are high because of all the rain that fell this week. So high in fact that the sluices were opened two days ago in Thun to drop the level of the Thunersee with the result that the Aare river below Thun is very high and in Bern they have flood prevention measures in place. (If you are in Bern in the next couple of days you will see these in the Matte area which is down by the river.)

Whenever I'm in Bern on a rainy day, I always wonder whether the river could suddenly flood high enough for the bears to just swim away ... :wow: (although their digs now look pretty cushy)

Awoke today to blue skies and no ill effects of 25000 steps yesterday. Took the Gondola from Wengen to Mannlichen and hiked to Kleine Schneider. Pleasant fairly easy hike of about 1:45 long. We then took the train to Grindelwald and spent 30 minutes walking through the town. Lots of tour buses and crowds. Lots of places to eat. Decided to bus up to Grosse Scheidegg which took about 30 minutes. A fair number of people on bicycles but mostly people going down hill or on electric bicycles. Rental rates for electric bicycles seem to be about $100 a day. Hiked to Schreckfeld which was about another 2 hour walk on very level paths, much of it paved. Found that the gondolas back to Grindelwald were not 100% covered by the Berner Oberland pass. Seems like anything with Jungfrau on it is not entirely covered by the BO pass. We decided against going to the top of the Jungfrau because even with our discounts it would have cost almost $250 for both of us and no guarantee that the weather might not cloud up by the time we made it to the top.
took gondolas back to Wengen via Mannlichen. Made the last ride just in time as they close at 5:30pm.

Speaking bears, are there any still in the wild?

A bear was seen in the wild last summer - in the Grisons. The Garde Chasse (not sure what that would be in English - it's the people responsible for all the fauna in the wild) said it came from Italy. Perhaps it went back there because I haven't heard anything more about it. There are lots of bears in the Gran Paradiso Park near Aosta so I suppose some will come here soon.

This year the Berner Oberland Pass and the Jungfrau Pass changed significantly in their coverage. Now, if you are in the mountains, the best thing to have is the Jungfrau Pass (bought cheapest with the HFC). BO Pass works well once you are out of the Jungfrau region.

Hotel has terrible WiFi. Awoke early again to dry weather and sun. Looked like clearing on top Mt Schilthorn so we took the train down to Lauterbrunnen and bus to Stechelberg than walked to the gondolas for a ride up to the top of Schilthorn. Costs 125 CHF without pass. Top was much clearer today but still most of the valleys and mountains were obscured by clouds despite some sun. Had hot chocolate and some fries in the restaurant hoping for clearing but alas we were disappointed. Most expensive fries ever at 13 CHF. Took gondola back to the valley floor then hiked back to Lauterbrunnen and on to Zweilutschinen. Almost run over by a tourist on an electric bicycle. There are tons of tourists here but the great majority do not seem to come here for hiking or even mountain biking. Returned early to Wengen and our hotel by train to take a nap and pack for our departure tomorrow. As the weather looked good tomorrow morning we decided to leave Wengen later at 1407 instead of 0907. This would allow us another short hike, maybe Wengernalp before departure. Also since we could only get second class train seats at 0907, later departure got us first class and better chance of luggage space.

You are SO right! The majority of people who go to Lauterbrunnen are there to get Instagram photos of themselves and the Staubbach Falls. Not interested in hiking, nor really in the mountains. Just checking boxes!

We awoke early this morning again as weather forecasts remained good. We have had decent weather here for 4 days so consider ourselves lucky. Hiked up from Wengen towards Wengernalp then down to Lauterbrunnen. Very steep to Lauterbrunnen with lots of gravel— the type of trail that needs care going down for risk of falling— then train back up to hotel to shower and pack.
The Alpenrose has been a decent hotel for us. Room with nice view of the valley with balcony and decent size. Many places to sit other than the bed. Lighting good and enough outlets. Decent size closets. Bathroom decent size with two sinks and bathtub/shower but shower curtain was starting to fray. Towel warmer was nice. One small bar of soap and nondescript shampoo on bathtubs wall. No bath gel or lotion. No safe in the room and large wooden keys sit out in lobby so if you are leaving something expensive in the room you might want to see if front desk will hold it for you. Wi-Fi not great. No mini fridge, so we kept things on balcony to stay cool. Breakfast fine— choice of eggs or pancakes plus granolas, lots of breads, coffee machine for cappuccino etc. coffee and tea available all day in lobby, as well as comfortable seating and board games. Dinner a bargain at 20CHF for a decent four course meal. Portions modest and local produce featured. Location is good —down the hill about a 6 minute walk and 10 minutes up hill to town. Pickup and drop off to train station. Cost is about $500 per night.

We stayed four nights in Lauterbrunnen at the foot of the Staubbach Falls and found it to be a crowded, but convenient and scenic base for many day trips. A short ride to Interlaken gives you almost unlimited options to head for the mountains, catch a ferry to Brienz or just cruise on the lake. A year ago we had a major storm blow through with a power outage lasting several hours. This disrupted trains and travel, as you might imagine, and my final and lasting image of Lauterbrunnen was the sight of dozens of frail young women sitting forlornly on the platform with two suitcases, each one the size of a small refrigerator, as our train pulled out of the station. I hope you packed lightly.

Traveling with medium-sized check-in baggage and a carryon. Hiking shoes and outdoor apparel put us above minimum luggage but still manageable. The Golden express has reasonable luggage room but none above your head. I think same amount of luggage space in first class and second class but less people in first means easier storage. Lots of people seem to be confused by seating and multiple people around us were moved by others who had proper reservations. Scenic train, especially towards the end but not like the Bernina.
Majestic hotel in Montreux right in front of the train station which was very convenient. Promised a big room and went up to find a partial lake view room of modest size. My wife’s reaction was to comment that we were now in France. Nice balcony. Occitane bath products.
Going out for a walk along the promenade.
much warmer here then in Berner Oberland.

My takeaway from your report is that while it may be crowded on transport in the Bernese Oberland, it was not crowded on the hiking trails. Is this accurate?

We did seven 2 hour hikes during our Wengen visit. I would say that we saw less than 30 other people on each hike.

Thanks mjs. I've been put off by reports of crowds in the Oberland. Appreciate your first-hand insight. Seems like it's less of an issue away from the transport centers.