Swiss Shopping Snippets

A guide to supermarket shopping in Switzerland:

1. Lidl is great for everything from cheap Glühwein to random housewares to dairy to Suisse Garantie produce.

2. Migros has three types of markets available: the M is small with a limited selection, the MM is medium-sized, and the MMM is the largest with the widest selection of goods (clothes and groceries). Migros also offers the store-brand called "Budget." If you shop here enough, it's worth it to sign up for the club card because you can earn cash back in the form of vouchers.

3. Coop has everything Migros has and then some. There's stuff you can get at Coop that you can't at Migros, especially alcohol. They also have a good generic brand called "Prix Garantie," much like the Migros "Budget" brand.

4. Denner is a smaller store with a small selection of meats, frozen products, dairy and produce, but it's mostly good for picking up something you need urgently like TP or a bottle of wine.

5. Aldi Suisse is a good place to buy specials on clothing, coffee, cereals and other dry goods.

Tageskarte Gemeinde: Best Deal in Switzerland

If you're a frequent SBB traveler and hold a full-on GA card, then this is not the best deal in Switzerland for you. However, if you're like us, and you travel mostly by car and only occasionally by train, then do I have a deal for you. The Tageskarte Gemeinde is a GA-Flexi pass that allows you one full day of unrestricted travel on the entire SBB network as well as several local networks for one low price. The actual price varies from district to district, but throughout the Rhine Valley, the train pass costs just 35 CHF.

Each Gemeinde makes available a set number of train passes per calendar day, and many provide an online reservation system, so you can see if passes are available for your desired date. Say there are no more passes available on the date you would like to travel, check with a neighboring Gemeinde to see if they have passes available. I have picked up passes for friends who live outside of my Gemeinde, and they have picked up passes for me. I even picked up some for Mom and Jim to use on their solo trip from Au to Luzern. The passes are non-personal, so ticket controllers only check that your pass indicates the appropriate date. No need to show identification. Easy train travel with no questions asked.

Let's talk numbers, shall we? The figures I will share below are per person, one way, 2nd class, full price.

Here's how much point-to-point tickets from Au to Lugano with a stop at the Morteratsch Glacier would have cost:

Au to Morteratsch: 61.--

Morteratsch to Lugano: 76.--

Total: 137.--

What we paid: 35.-- CHF

Savings: 102.-- CHF! (33.50 CHF for half-fare cardholders)

Here's how much a trip on the Bernina Bus, Bernina Express, and back to Au would have cost:

Lugano to Tirano to Davos Platz: 69.--

Seat Reservations: 24.--

Davos Platz to Au: 39.--

Total: 132.--

What we paid (including 1 seat reservation for the bus and 1 seat reservation for the train): 59.-- CHF

Savings: 73.-- CHF (19.-- CHF for half-fare cardholders)

The best part about the day pass is FREEDOM. You can hop on and off as you wish and even change your destination mid-way through the trip! Have you traveled with such a day pass? Where did you go? How much money did you save? (Do tell!)

Note: Just in case you think this text reads like an advertisement, please know that this is not a sponsored post. I am only sharing this information because I'd like to spread the word about how to save some cash in Switzerland. I wish I would have known about this deal when I first arrived in CH...

Mini Road Trip: Innsbruck and Salzburg, Austria

Old Town -- Innsbruck

We spent the last full weekend of Mom and Jim's visit getting a taste of western Austria's most popular tourist destinations: Innsbruck and Salzburg. The drive from Au wasn't so bad -- just a couple of hours, mostly on the highway. (Ho hum, I will certainly miss our little town's proximity to such beautiful cities within and outside of Switzerland...)

Staying only one full day in each city, we forwent any sort of tourist itinerary and wandered around aimlessly instead. It was wonderful. I truly felt like I was on vacation. Stopping every couple of hours at an outdoor café for a coffee, Apfelstrüdel, or a beer, we focused on soaking in our surroundings and enjoying lovely conversations. However, the one tourist attraction we didn't want to miss out on was the Hohensalzburg Fortress. A quick funicular ride (or a steep hike -- no thanks) takes you to this step back in time. There are a couple of museums inside as well as a short walking tour of the state rooms. More time spent relaxing, this time in the fortress courtyards, and then it was back down to the city of Salzburg.

All in all, though we experienced only a sampling of what these two cities have to offer, we had a wonderful trip filled with quality family time, exploring new places together.

Innsbruck: One of the most noteworthy features of this small city is its setting, surrounded by the Alps.

Salzburg: This city has a fantastic old town. Lots of museums and shops built up against or into the rock.

View from the fortress

Fortress

Old Town Salzburg below and the fortress up on the hill

Mirabell Gardens in the foreground with the fortress in the background

Isaiah, Mom, and Jim in the Mirabell Gardens

Finally, for your entertainment -- a little "Do, re, mi"

Warning: I know I'm a terrible singer. Unfortunately, for those around me, I love to sing and I love the Sound of Music, so there you go. This is the exact spot in the Mirabell Gardens where Maria sang with the children and then jumped up and down the steps. This was a little tricky for me to execute for a couple of reasons: 1. I'm still nursing a bad ankle, so I had to jump around in bulky hiking boots (I know, not very fashionable, but I need my ankle to heal if I am ever going to wear heels again!) 2. I didn't spend hours rehearsing this scene, knowing the measurements of each step. I had to look before leaping, lest I sprain my ankle again. OK -- please feel free to laugh with me...

Around Zürich, Au, and Lindau

Mom and Jim at the Lindenhof

Mom and Jim left us the morning after our ride on the Bernina Express to go explore Luzern and Zürich on their own. I met up with them a few days later with the intent of doing the same "tour of Zürich" I gave Lauren and Max when they were here last November. We hit most of the spots that I had hoped to, but let's just say that things don't always work out as planned. (Cloudy weather meant that climbing the tower at Grossmünster would have been pretty pointless, no one wanted to eat sausages for lunch, and I was the only one in the mood for hot chocolate...)

Still, I never miss an opportunity to walk around the city and window-shop. Boy, did we window-shop. That afternoon, we got home just in time for Isaiah to make us a Rösti dinner from scratch. YUM!

We spent the next day leisurely exploring our area. Mom really wanted to check out our local Salvation Army (as a teenager she used to work at one in downtown San Diego), at which she found some unique trinkets to take back home. Next, we drove through the hills of the Rhine Valley where we chanced upon a small Weinbau company I had never seen before. There's always something new to discover around here. Around lunchtime, we drove to Lindau, Germany, for a waterfront meal along Lake Constance.

St. Peter's church

Walking down from the Lindenhof

Small Weinbau company in Rheintal

Lindau, Germany

Port of Lindau

Rathaus Lindau

The Magical Bernina Express

Mom and Jim in Tirano

Oh my, dear readers. It's our last month in Switzerland. There is so much left to do and so little time, but I am so glad that Mom and Jim's visit gave us a gentle push to make the most of our last weeks here. For anyone making a similar transition, I would recommend that you take the time to see those places you might regret not having had the chance to see. Remember, all that paperwork stuff and planning will eventually get done and over with, but the memories you create in a special place will last far beyond your move!

Back to the topic at hand... Riding the Bernina Express was one of those things on our list that we would have regretted not doing. Now that we have crossed it off our list, we realize that it's one of those things we would totally do again! There is so much to love about this train. For one thing, there isn't a bad seat in the house, even if you're not in a panorama car. (I assumed all cars were panorama, but it isn't so. Since we rode on a Monday, the carriages were pretty empty, so the ticket controller said we could move to open seats in the panorama section. However, we decided to stay put so we could open the windows and avoid capturing that pesky window glare in our photos.)

Furthermore, the trains are sparkling new, clean, and comfy - even in 2nd class. (Duh, this is Switzerland, after all.) Also, you can use the Tageskarte Gemeinde on this train, which means huge savings! (I'll write later about this best-deal-in-Switzerland-ever.) All you have to do is pay extra for seat reservations, which is obligatory even with regularly-priced tickets. Another great thing about the Rhaetian Railway in general is their customer service. I must have sent them about five different e-mails asking all kinds of questions about riding the Bernina Express, and they always wrote back within 24 hours (in perfect English).

By far my favorite thing about this train route was exploring the varied landscape of the Graubünden region from the comfort of my seat. This year the Bernina Express celebrates its 100-year anniversary, which means people have been enjoying the sights of this tourist route for a century, and now I'm one of them - so special! It's an UNESCO World Heritage route that's not to be missed!

As I mentioned previously, we rode the Bernina Express bus from Lugano to Tirano, Italy. From Tirano, we took the Bernina Express train route that ends in Davos (you can also take routes that end in St. Moritz or Chur). Here are some of the highlights of our trip:

Miralago - not far outside of Tirano

We went from forest...

to snow within a couple of hours.

Crossing a viaduct, one of many

Palü Glacier

See? Magical! Like a kid in a candy shop...

Highest-altitude railway station on the Rhaetian Railway

Mom and Jim

Almost-empty carriage

Ospizio Bernina

By the way, don't forget your passport, as you do travel across international lines!