Switzerland 2024

Planning

Two years ago, we traveled as a family to Portugal and the Netherlands for two weeks. That trip was great, but we learned a couple of things:

  • Moving between cities can take a whole day if going via airplane or if the trains aren’t close to where we were staying.
  • Prioritizing convenient public transit (as we saw in Amsterdam) really makes everything very smooth.

For this trip, we wanted to go back to Europe and had a few things we wanted to prioritize:

  • See mountains
  • Slower pace in cities
  • Make it really easy to get around.

After seeing a video about Switzerland’s awesome trains, it sealed the deal on where we wanted to go.

What we did

Zurich

Zurich:

FIFA Museum:

The Swiss aren’t known for their cuisine except for probably two things:

  • Fondue
  • … and chocolate

We enjoyed some fondue at one of the local fondue restaurants.

Then we visited the Lindt chocolate museum.

It was pretty awesome that most cities have these outdoor fountains with city water to refill water bottles. One of my kids had to use every one that we saw.

We took a quick visit to Lucerne for the better part of a day.

We visited the Swiss Transportation Museum.

Having never watched Star Trek, I don’t think my little dude knew that “live long and prosper” wasn’t intended as a gang sign.

Murren

One of the main ideas for the trip was to stay in a small mountain town, and I think we nailed it.

As a family of five, hotels would be really expensive since we would need multiple rooms. Most of the time, we stayed in AirBnBs since they have multiple rooms. This space had two floors in the middle of town.

The hikes were pretty amazing. Everything you see online about the views is real:

There is interactive stuff for kids to do EVERYWHERE, and it’s always a fun surprise.

Be it when you’re waiting for a gondola:

Or at the top of a mountain getting ready for a hike:

This was supposedly high tourist season. Yet lots of these places we visited barely had anyone around at all, it seemed:

Interlaken and Thun

Interlaken isn’t really a charming city, but since it’s on the main train line, it is a very good base to do day trips from.

We went to the Swiss Open Air Museum where they deconstructed and rebuilt old Swiss buildings from around the country and set them up here. The scale of this is immense. We would walk into a building and be greeted by someone making cheese, making a wood carving, or doing pottery.

The SBB operates a steamboat as part of their local transportation. Let’s be real though, this is straight up for tourists :D

Bern

The museums here are pretty awesome and all included with the SBB pass. We visited:

  • The Einstein Museum (since Albert Einstein completed his most groundbreaking ideas during his two years in Bern)
  • Bern Historical Museum
  • Communications Museum
  • Firearms Museum

Every museum was highly interactive and not busy at all. We had a blast everywhere we went!

Discovering a pneumatic tube transport system for the first time.

What we learned

It can get really hot

  1. We had assumed that Switzerland was a cooler, more mild weather country (because mountains!) and we didn’t do much research into the temperature. Turns out that 30°C - 35°C in July is “the new normal” in Switzerland.
  2. Air conditioning is not something that is normally provided in hostels/AirBNBs in the country. We had none. In fact, it’s illegal to reduce the temperature more than 5°C below the ambient temperature outside.

These two things combined created some sweltering nights. Most of the time we could get a breeze going; otherwise, the temperature went down to around 14°C at night to cool off the place.

Our last AirBnB in Bern, though, was a constant 29°C. It seemed insane that the owner wouldn’t install any AC to keep things at a reasonable temperature. When I messaged them about it, they told me: “well, there are two fans provided.”

While the family was able to get a little bit of rest the first night, my watch told me I got 31 minutes of sleep total. Just brutal.

Lesson learned: Check the temperatures everywhere we anticipate staying and ensure there is AC everywhere we book.

The Lauterbrunnen valley is like the pictures

There is a reason there is a subreddit called /r/switzerlandisfake. The pictures everywhere are surreal.

Seeing them in person is the real deal. While I’m not really an “outdoorsy” person, the hikes were breathtaking.

Food in Switzerland is incredibly expensive

While the accommodations, museums, and transit costs seem to be in line with other major North American or European cities, the food felt like it was double the cost of what we pay in Canada. We did 75% of our meals with stuff from grocery stores, and the items seem to cost double what they do in Canada.

I was really craving some Indian food and checked the menu of the local restaurant: A basic curry with rice was 38 CHF. That’s 61 CAD or 44 USD. Yeah, forget that noise, I’ll eat my croissant and be happy.

The Swiss Travel Pass is the way to go

There are a variety of passes and packages that can be purchased to get unlimited access to transit.

When we were researching it, the one most regularly recommended is the “Swiss Travel Pass.” This basically gives:

  • Unlimited travel between cities
  • Unlimited tram/bus travel within the cities
  • Most museums we went to were covered for free including: FIFA Museum, Communications Museum, National Historical/Einstein Museum, and more

If the adults have Swiss Travel Passes, the kids get equal passes for free.

The official SBB (transit) app is pretty amazing. Connecting up the inter-city trains with the local transit is pretty insane. Everything is on time. ALWAYS.

The convenience factor to hop on any train/tram/bus/gondola makes for a really seamless experience.

Thanks for reading!

As always, hit me up if you want to chat: jevin@quickjack.ca