SWITZERLAND
SWITZERLAND TRAVEL GUIDE | I had the opportunity to join family in Switzerland for twelve days in May-June 2019. Switzerland had always been one of the top destinations on my bucket list, so it wasn’t hard to say yes to the last minute invitation. My dream has been to explore this beautiful country in both the summer and the winter, and a visit in the spring meant I was able to experience a bit of both; going from wildflowers and green trees one minute to hip deep snow the next just by hopping on a train. It was magical.
We rented a car, and while it may be very American, it is my favorite way to see a county, because you have freedom. You can jump out anywhere to see something up close or take a photograph, which, as a photographer, I really appreciate.
MONTREUX
We flew into Geneva and spent two nights at the Hotel Fairmont Le Montreux Palace, in Montreux, a beautiful city right on the lake, overlooking the Alps beyond. While there we we spent our time walking along Promenade Fleuri, a lakeside pathway that took us right from out hotel to the other side of town, where we visited Chillon Castle. We also drove to the enchanting town of Gruyères to catch the sunset from Château de Gruyères and stroll along the Rue du Château, a charming village located atop a hill.
HELPFUL LINKS:
TIPS:
- Be sure to visit Gruyeres before sunset, when all the shops and cafes on the Rue du Château are open!
- Walk to Chillon Castle, it is a beautiful stroll for about a mile and a half from downtown, and well worth it!
ZERMATT
Our next stop was my personal favorite: Zermatt. Zermatt is a car free town because there are no roads to access it, so we parked out car in Täsch, and took the train into town.
I was looking for the quintessential Swiss Alps experience, and I was able to find it here. We stayed at the beautiful Hotel Chesa Valese, with one of our rooms overlooking the town, and the other overlooking the Matterhorn, which was visible for the three of our four days there.
While in Zermatt we took the Gornergrat Bahn up to Gornergrat for even better Matterhorn views.
We enjoyed a hike up the Matterhorn trail to Zmuttgletscher, and a hike down into Gorner Gorge to see the beautiful raging river and waterfalls.
Since we were right next to the Italian border, we ate Italian food at Grampi’s in the village, and another day enjoyed a Swiss fondue at The Swiss Chalet. I loved the hot chocolate that they served at Petit Royal, and we couldn’t get enough of the chocolate at Läderach…I believe I went back four times…
HELPFUL LINKS:
TIPS:
- There are tiny electric shuttles that zip around town, but otherwise it is completely car free. It your hotel does not have its own shuttle, there are also mini taxis at the station.
- I recommend grabbing a few different pretzels at the vendor in the train station…delicious.
- Things/food is expensive, and you are rather stuck in town once you are there, so budget accordingly.
THE JUNGFRAU REGION
Our next stop of the trip was rumored to be the most beautiful part of Switzerland: the Jungfrau Region.
We stayed at the Dorint Blüemlisalp in Beatenberg, overlooking the snowy mountains and beautiful lakes on either side of the town of Interlaken.
One day we drove to the quaint town of Grindelwald, which was surrounded by the most beautiful mountains. Here you can take the gondola up First, a mountain that has a bunch of fun outdoor activities, and a beautiful restaurant at the top. When you purchase your lift ticket, you can pick out how many activities you want to do while you are up on the mountain. They have mountain carts, a zipline, a cliff walk (which was free), an air bag jump, and more! We opted for the First Flyer (the zipline), and the cliff walk.
The next day we headed to Lauterbrunnen, a town surrounded by waterfalls. Everywhere you looked, we could see a waterfall! We decided to get up close to one, and went up a tunnel funicular to see the beautiful Trümmelbach Falls, a waterfall that has carved its way into the rock. We spent about an hour curving through caves and across cliff walks, enjoying the power of the water.
We also took the gondola up to Mürren, a sleepy little town above Lauterbrunnen with amazing views of the surrounding peaks, including Eiger. We tried to take the shortcut down via paragliding, but the weather rolled in, and they had to cancel on us…next time…
HELPFUL LINKS:
TIPS:
- When purchasing a lift ticket and activity at First, you can also pay for activities as you go, if you aren’t sure what you want to do…however, this can mean a bit more running around to the different stops on the gondola to purchase tickets at different places, so I recommend at getting there early and purchasing at least two activities, and then seeing what time you have left, and what more you want to do.
- In Mürren, you can continue up the gondola to Schilthorn, and to the Piz Gloria, where the Bond film Her Majesty’s Secret Service was filmed. We didn’t do this, but I am putting it on the list for next time, because it looks really beautiful!
BERN
On our way to Zürich, we stopped by Bern. Our intention was to see the chiming of the Bern clock tower, which has a beautifully detailed display of characters moving and making music…but as we soon found out, this exciting performance only happens once every day, at noon, and not every hour. We had taken our time and arrived around 3, so we missed the whole thing.
But we didn’t let it put a damper on the day, as we walked around the old part of the city, passing by beautiful flag lined streets, a soaring cathedral, and ending up in the Münsterplattform, a garden where we enjoyed a cool fruit drink and watched the river flow by. Bern has quickly made it close to the top of my favorite cities list. It was the quintessential European city, I just loved it.
HELPFUL LINK:
Zytglogge (the clock tower)
TIPS:
- If you are just visiting the city for a day, be sure to get there well before noon so you can get a good viewing spot of the clock tower when it chimes at noon!
RHINE FALLS and EBENALP
Our last day of the trip was spent zipping around the north/northeastern part of the country.
We made a stop at Rhine Falls, the largest waterfall in all of Europe! It was amazing how close they let you get to the waterfall, you could reach out and touch it! They also have boat ride options, some of which will take out out to the island in the middle of the waterfalls…pretty neat!
Out last stop of the trip was to the east side of the country, to Ebenalp. We took the gondola up to the top, and then hiked down the side of the cliff, through some caves, to one of my favorite stops of the trip.... Over 150 years ago Berggasthaus Ebenalp, a hotel/restaurant was built into the side of the cliff, and it is still there, and fully operational! It was amazing to see this beautiful structure hanging onto the cliff, overlooking the valley below. And to top it off, there were absolutely no lines for dinner…none! I enjoyed a slice of cheese tart, with a salad, and a elderflower soda.
It was such a beautiful, bucket list-y way to end the trip.
HELPFUL LINKS:
TIPS:
- You can also hike up Ebenalp, if you so choose, right up to the restaurant!
