Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Switzerland

2 weeks driving around Europe at Christmas - what not to miss?

allkindsoftime — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:12:48 -0800

European road-trip for the holidays (filter). Meeting up with a friend in Paris on the evening of the 19th - both of us traveling there from different continents and wrapping up on Jan 2nd back in Paris. Here's the current plan:

Week 1 (Road Trip!):
12/19 - Arrive Paris, stay overnight.
12/20 - Drive to Munich, staying with friends.
12/21 - Explore Munich, Christmas markets, etc.
12/22 - Drive to Vienna with a stop in Steyr, Austria*.
12/23 - Explore Vienna, Christmass markets, etc.
12/24 - More Vienna, Christmas Eve Mass at St. Stephansdom*.
12/25 - Drive to Venice.
12/26 - Explore Venice.

Week 2 (based out of Geneva, where we have a free apartment):
12/27 - Drive to Geneva.
12/28 - Ski Chamonix, stay in Geneva
12/29 - More skiing, still in Geneva.
12/30 - More skiing, last night in Geneva.
12/31 - Drive to Paris for New Years.
1/1 - Explore Paris
1/2 - Friend flies out, I'm off to London for a day then flying out myself on the 3rd.

*Both of these were "local recommendations" given by friends - cool things to see and do. I am particularly interested on these around our route.

My questions:

1. Cheap / decent hotel near the airport in Paris - any suggestions?

2. Driving - we're both pretty set on it because a) we both love driving / road trips, and b) we crave the flexibility of being able to stop off in this or that place along the way, stay at a B&B outside the city rather than a hotel in it, etc.. We realize trains are good around here but would really need a strong argument against driving to sway us at this point. Any tips on tolls / etc. appreciated, as well as things along our routes not to miss.

3. Hotel in Vienna - same as above, we are looking for something more local / small, preferably on the city outskirts. From what I understand most of Europe will shut down on the 25/26th, so I figure on spending Christmas day on the road.

4. Hotel in Venice - see above.

5. Best skiing recommendations within reasonable driving distance of Geneva? I'm pretty set on Chamonix as I've been reading about skiing there my entire life, and extreme skiing is my "thing," although not my friend's, so I'm only pushing for one day there - the other 2 days we're looking for something more enjoyable to ride together.

6. New Years Eve in Paris - where to go? What to do? Where to stay?

Any input on the above or anything I'm not thinking of is appreciated in advance. I've only been to the UK and Greece before so if parts of (hopefully not all!) my plans are idiotic, please hope me. We're pretty much going off of the Lonely Planet guide and the AskMe tags (i.e. Vienna, Venice, etc.) for things to do in the cities we are at, but any other suggestions on stops along the way that are don't-miss are appreciated.

Seen lots of old stuff, want some modern culture

little e — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:35:43 -0800

How can I find good live music in Switzerland (or maybe Vienna or Prague or somewhere else) during the next few days? Or other interesting evening events? Smaller venues, indie or whatever else the cool kids are listening to here these days. I've been searching for English language music blogs or alt-weekly type things, spent awhile checking individual band sites, totally striking out. I'm probably going to Zurich, but I would go somewhere else for a good show. I would also welcome other event suggestions...I've seen lots of cool old stuff, but now I am in the mood for some modern culture, and I'd like to spend some evenings doing something other than hanging out in hostel bars. (fighting with sketchy hostel wifi on my phone is making this really difficult to figure out on my own.)

Swiss passport holder trying to do seasonal work in france

Raff — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 01:39:50 -0800

Australian holding a swiss passport and looking to do some seasonal work (less than 2 weeks) in france while travelling. I know france and switzerland have an agreement to streamline work permits but have not been able to find where to get the permit and how long it will take as my french is rusty. Also how easy the process is and if it is worth it for a 2 week stint. I have the job lined up just need the permit!

Another Question about moving to London. Likely more to follow.

ElmerFishpaw — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:53:24 -0800

I'm moving to the UK. I love snowboarding. What are my options? Switzerland is right there! Or is it? Relatively cheap airfare and stellar mountains will be calling me. Can I take off from London and shred the Alps in a weekend? If so, where exactly? If not, could I make it in a 3-day weekend? Have you done this?

Living in Oakland, I am accustomed to leaving for Tahoe at 5pm friday and boarding all day sat and sun and returning late sunday night. Can I recrate this weekend in the UK? (Im not interested in indoor mountains of any kind) Thank you!

Happy birthday, eh!

Nathanial Hörnblowér — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:31:36 -0800

I want to put together a Canada-themed birthday package for my friend in Switzerland. What should I include and where can I find it? My friend is on sabbatical in Switzerland for a year from her teaching job in Waterloo, ON. I want to send her some things to remind her of home, but am in the US and not sure what would be appropriate that she can't get in Switzerland. Other than maple syrup, what should I include? And where can I find it? Online shopping is fine but bonus points for stores in the DC area. She doesn't follow hockey so Maple Leaf-related items are out.

Best weekend ever, Switzerland edition.

halogen — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:08:19 -0800

Boyfriend and I are spending a weekend in Zürich in a couple of weeks. What are the things we mustn't miss there? Also, what would be the best way to travel to other places in Switzerland for a day? Boyfriend and I, two American residents in their mid-twenties, just booked tickets to spend the weekend of Valentine's in Zürich (he'll be working there the following week). I'll be there for three full days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and I've been charged with planning an itinerary for the trip. Neither of us has ever been to Zürich, so I have a ton of questions.

Which neighborhood should we stay in? We like to be close to everything, but don't mind walking or taking public transport to save a few bucks, as long as there are good pubs and restaurants walking distance the hotel. Can you recommend attractions in the city, or a good travel guide? I'm a huge Lonely Planet fan, but it didn't look particularly comprehensive when I paged through it at the bookstore the other day.

Boyfriend loves driving, and I love riding in cars (as an under-25 driver, I'm stuck in the passenger seat in a rental anyway). How feasible would it be to rent a car for a day and drive to Bern and Geneva? What else should we check out on the way there, or should we head in a totally different direction? Should we take the train instead (will there be snow on the roads)?

Finally, do you know any places in the city for taking amazing pictures? I just bought a travel tripod, and after losing all of the pictures from our previous vacation (long story), I'd love to have some good photos to send to family back home.

Switzerland vacation ideas

bucksox — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:18:23 -0800

I just decided to take a winter vacation to Switzerland for the week before Christmas with my friend. I have never been to Switzerland (or outside North America for that matter) and I was wondering if anyone had been to Switzerland and had suggestions about what to do/where to go? I am up for anything! I am flying in and out of Zurich so it would be preferable to go places easily accessible from there. Also, I prefer to be "thrifty" on the trip but I don't want to be too cheap. I love skiing and I am a very good skiier so I definitely want to ski there (which obviously makes the "thrifty" trip difficult)

Screw Chevy Chase

Christ, what an asshole — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:03:51 -0800

I'm looking for underrated, obscure European vacation stops. A couple friends and I are going to Europe for a month (Nov/Dec), and we plan on doing the whole Eurorail/hostel thing across several countries. 1/3rd of the destination stops are for my choosing, and while I know they'll be making the saturated, obvious choices like Rome, Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, etc., I'd like to spice things up with places that don't automatically spring to mind but offer the same level (if not more) of awe. Ideally, cities that aren't automatic tourist stops where most everyone speaks English and there's a McDonald's on every corner (but also not so far out of the way from mid-Europe like some hole-in-the-wall, Eastern-European Caspian city).

What sort of places have you visited that you would recommend?

Zürich ist zu reich...

stvspl — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:24:23 -0800

What do I do in Zürich for five months, and which websites can eliminate the need for this question? (Especially if I'm on a relative budget) I'm moving to Zürich for a study-abroad program for a few months, starting in two weeks. I'm very excited, but realize that I will have a bunch of free time with little idea of what to do. All websites I've found have focused on tourist locations and things, but I assume there have to be some websites focused on locals. Right? (Think Not For Tourists in New York.) Auch spreche ich Deutsch (so German websites are OK). Considering the USD/CHF exchange rate and the fact that I'm fairly poor to begin with, things that take into account money would be great.

If there isn't, I'd love some suggestions of fun places to go, things to see, bars, restaurants, museums, whatever.

If it matters, I'm a college junior, enjoys your typical cultural phenomena, etc etc blah blah blah.

(previously but the internet has changed in 2 years)

Switzerland in 1817

Zarkonnen — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:12:43 -0800

ObscureHistoryFilter: Any pointers to resources about how Switzerland was like in 1817? What was life like? What was the political and economic situation? What technology was around? I'm trying to create a Call of Cthulhu campaign based in that place and time, and I'm trying to be as realistic as possible (aside from the cosmic horrors). What I know so far: the year before was the year without a summer, which led to mass starvation. The year before that, Switzerland was formally recognised as an independent country again, after some years of French occupation.

Basically, I've read the Wikipedia articles on Swiss history, which, while reasonably good, aren't detailed enough. And they don't tell me how people would have dressed or thought or spoken in that place and era, what their worries and goal were, how easy it was to travel, how open they were to strangers, etc.

I'm particularly interested in the situation in Berne and in Appenzell and the surrounding area.

(Why yes, this is thoroughly obscure.)

Help me plan a European relocation?

dance — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:29:23 -0800

European relocation: I've been asked to help plan a friend's relocation from Switzerland to Norway. She wanted to do this herself by taking the seats out of a VW Caravelle and packing it up with her bicycle and personal effects (no large pieces of furniture are involved). I can't help but thinking that it would be cheaper and easier to have a company move her effects for her. It would save her driving nearly 3000km (that figure is for both ways) and is a safer option than having all the goods in the back of a car ready to fly forward in the event of an accident.

But has anybody made such a move? Was it easy? Was it a long time before the goods arrived? Was it expensive? Does it become more or less cost effective if you have loads of stuff vs. a lesser amount of personal effects?

And perhaps most importantly - can anyone recommend a firm we can use??

THANKS!

Where should we go and what should we see in Germany and Switzerland?

odayoday — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:40:31 -0800

My boyfriend and I will be meeting my dad in Berlin in mid-September. I've never been to Germany and my boyfriend has never been to Switzerland, and we'll be there a total of 10 days. How should we split up our time, and what should we see? My dad will be renting a car, so we're planning on driving between cities. Any suggestions are appreciated!

Switzerland for foodies?

AceRock — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 06:03:41 -0800

Switzerland for foodies? Taking a trip out to Switzerland for about 10 days with the SO (after the Euro tournament is over). Going to be hitting up Luzern, Basel and surrounding areas including the Alsace region, and possibly Berlin as well.

Any suggestions, recommendations, or other general advice for two avid foodies for our trip? Specific restaurants, wine shops, cheese shops, and food destinations, or dishes, etc.?

Help me find a post-grad program in applied statistics

lord_yo — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 04:54:15 -0800

Can you recommend me post-grad / continuing studies in Applied Statistics? Either at Swiss universities, or via good e-unversities. I love statistics; my MS in psychology gave me a solid statistics base, and I'm applying a lot of it during my work (business analyses in HR). However, it's not enough; I want to get a formal education and degree in applied statistics.

I live in Switzerland, and would be open for studies at a local university (I've found one program at Uni Bern, and one at ETH Zurich). Alternatively, there might be good e-university programs out there.

Any recommendations?

Where to go from Lyon?

flibbertigibbet — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 22:25:31 -0800

I'm thinking of taking a day/weekend trip from Lyon (Rhône-Alpes) to... somewhere. I'd like the destination city to be pretty close. Any suggestions? (I've managed to scrounge up some additional cash since my last question. Yay!).

I'm trying to figure out what to do with a long weekend during a trip to Lyon. I'd love to go to Paris, seeing as this will be my first trip to Europe, period. Problem: the tickets are so expensive (80 Euros, 130CAD/USD) that I'm thinking of trying to find something closer, and, err, cheaper. (Just as a quick comparison: the cheapest trip to Milan costs about the same as the average trip to Paris, both via train.)

I'm really open to suggestions. I'm into art, architecture, religious studies, and history, so anything along those lines would be awesome. Tiny town known for its beautiful churches? Sure!

Thanks in advance.

Does anyone know a good French Language School in Geneva

pkuras — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:24:51 -0800

I'm staying with friends on the border between Switzerland and France for about six weeks this summer and would like to find a school that offers intensive French lessons. Ideally I would leave for France sometime in the beginning of June and stay until mid-July, though my dates are flexible. I speak intermediate level French now and would be willing to come into a course a little late, if necessary. Thanks!

Info about Berne Switzerland circa 1900?

ryansara — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 16:05:30 -0800

I'm researching Berne, Switzerland, from approximately 1900 (although I could go as far back as 1880-90) to the First World War. I know that because of Switzerland's neutrality, a lot of international politics, diplomacy, activism and espionage was happening there. I have a few good general sources about Switzerland in about that era; a travel guide first published in 1919 by Frank Fox, John Addington Symonds' "Our Life in the Swiss Highlands," and I've just started tracking down information about the socialist International and the Berne International Women's Conference that took place in 1915. But I need to learn a lot more -- -- the flavor of daily life, the ethnic and cultural mix within the city, how rich people acquired their wealth, how poor people survived. The status of women and minorities. What people ate and drank. Cultural events. Festivals. Clothing. Technology. (I know, for instance, that the International List of Radiotelegraph Stations was maintained in Berne.) What it was like to be a diplomat and/or spy. Etc. Memoirs of diplomats might be especially useful, but I'd be grateful for any leads.

How to order a book for a friend in Switzerland

ManInSuit — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 10:23:55 -0800

How to order a book for a friend in Switzerland I want to order a book online to send to a friend in Switzerland as a gift. It's not a particularly hard-to-find book or anything. She's in Geneva, I'm in Toronto.

Rather than buy the book here and ship it, it seems to make sense to order it do somewhere that ships from Switzerland (or nearby). Is that right? Can anyone recommend a good site?

(I looked at amazon.de, which seems possibly a good choice, but apparently the Germans have their own language, which made the site hard to understand...)

Anyone have suggestions?

Travelling to Switzerland for New Year 08

long haired lover from liverpool — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 02:28:17 -0800

We're planning a trip to Switzerland for New Year 2008, but have little clue about the country. Advice welcomed! I'm British, by the way.

The party will include myself, my sister + brother-in-law, and my parents (65 and 70). I include ages because my parents have limited mobility and use walking sticks -- walking anything over around 100 metres is a long distance for them. They also haven't travelled outside the UK before.

I hear the best way of visiting expensive Switzerland is to stay on the German border and travel in by train when you want to, but I don't know where or how. We intend to travel by first-class Eurostar and then use various continental railways, which my sister + brother-in-law have done many times before. Flying is out of the question for various reasons.

So advice is welcomed on the best places to stay, plus things to do, and the best and most comfortable way to travel with two elderly people who have limited mobility, especially bearing in mind all this is taking place across New Year (for example, what are buses like over there? What about car hire?).

Note that it really is a trip for them more than us, so we wouldn't be adverse to spending time in places created and geared-around pensioners.

The IRS ain't gonna get my money! My wife's, however...

slater — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 01:22:06 -0800

Tax~~dodge~~Filter: My wife is a US citizen, I'm a british citizen, and we both live in Switzerland. I pay my taxes here in Switzerland (and nothing to the UK), but what will she have to pay to the IRS? Some background info: My wife and I got married end of May 2007. She entered Switzerland on a tourist visa mid-May 2007, and got a semi-permanent residency visa (valid for one year, but that just gets rubber-stamped as long as she's not nabbed for criminal activity or somesuch). The visa can be changed into a permanent residency visa after 5 years & no criminal activity.

From what we've been researching online, there's a flurry of different forms & regulations, under which she has to declare ALL her income for 2007 (both money earned while she was still in the US, as well as money earned here in Switzerland), or just the US income, or BOTH of our incomes (under which *I* will get taxed by the IRS as well... wtf!?), etc. etc.

Can anyone help us out of this beaurocratic maze?

Let's Go rough or go lonely, just bring a guide zum Schweiz?

Goofyy — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 11:31:23 -0800

Swissfilter: Moving to Switzerland. Looking for book recommendations. Travel guides? We've found they vary in quality between countries. Mostly used to using Let's Go and Lonely Planet. Also looking at books for expats, and will be getting the Culture Shock! Switzerland book, and one someone recommended "Living in Switzerland". Any more suggestions? Thanks!

Glacier Express Shortcut?

commander_cool — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 10:10:42 -0800

I want to take the Glacier Express when I'm in Switzerland. Is Zermatt to Chur sufficient to get the full fledged experience, or is the best part between Chur and St. Moritz?

How far out of my depth will I be?

twirlypen — Wed, 23 May 2007 06:55:50 -0800

So has anyone here attended or been involved with the St Gallen Symposium? I'll be a student participant in this year's one, and I'm hoping to find some advice and anecdotes from people who've been there before. I'm beginning to realise that it's a bit bigger than the low-key conference I first thought it was. I'm pretty sure I'll be a little out of my depth, so if anyone can give me an insider's view of what to expect and how to get the most out of it, that'd be great.

Staying in France while visiting Geneva?

thatgirl — Thu, 03 May 2007 15:01:31 -0800

For a visit to Geneva, would it be advisable and convenient to stay in a nearby town in France? Which town? Which hotel? Convenience is key! My boss is going to Geneva for a conference and then staying afterward for a week's vacation. We're having a hotel emergency, in that it turns out the hotel hosting the conference does not have a room for her from May 22 - 27 (this is once the conference is over). Apparently it's some sort of holiday that week (?), and I cannot find a room for her. She's going to be sleeping on the street!

So my question is, how big a deal would it be for her to stay in one of the neighboring towns in France -- Annemasse comes up in hotel results a lot, for example, and also Ferney-Voltaire. Because the EU is so open, she can just take the train back and forth with no problem, right? There wouldn't be any border crossings or customs to deal with? (She won't have a car.) I'm assuming that as long as I get her a hotel that's near a train station, it would be painless -- is that correct?

How long would the journey be from Annemasse into Geneva? Are there other towns I should check out, also? Does anyone have any specific hotel suggestions? It would have to be very convenient to Geneva and very hassle-free - a very short train ride, and a very short walk to the train station.

What's the Lake Geneva-area expat experience like?

arimathea — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 10:39:30 -0800

I'm about to move to Switzerland and need some advice and guidance. The likely location for my move will be Lausanne. How is it, and the Lake Geneva in general in terms of climate/weather, friendliness, attitudes, etc? Is quality of life as good as advertised in terms of things to do, food and medical care, schooling and knowledge? Can English-language bookstores and shopping be found? How does it compare to Zurich, which was my first choice? Am I going to be forced to live in the canton of Vaud if i'm working in Lausanne as an American citizen on a Swiss visa/work permit, and for how long? What did you have to come to terms with as an American moving there?