Currency
American Express has offices all over the United States and used to offer better exchange rates than airports or other places that service such requests after you have arrived at your destination. Check with them and with your local bank. UPDATE: As of 2008, I couldn’t find any bank or credit card that offered competitive exchange rates. Using an ATM card to get cash once in the country seemed the best bet.

For this trip, 1999, we did take travelers checks – in the currency of the country (so for example, we had travelers checks in francs), but travelers checks were not readily recognized and we did have some delays cashing them. Smaller towns presented more problems than larger ones.

Do plan on using some cash though; Europe is not quite as accepting of credit cards as America.

In almost all of my travels, I generally try to pick an area and see everything possible rather than run from location to location. If you’re looking to see all of Europe in one trip, these tips won’t necessarily be best for you. Hiking is also something I spend a lot of time doing. Most of the books or web sites I recommend have a hiking slant.

Electrical appliances/Internet connection
You’ll need electrical adapters in order to use items such as hair dryers, shavers, etc. The cheaper travel adapters handle the voltage differences; however if you have expensive equipment such as a computer, in order to protect it against possible damage, you may want to get the highest quality adapter available (you want an adapter that has a transformer in it.) Some of the cheaper adapters can be sloppy in the conversions. If you intend to hook up to the internet, you’ll need phone adapters for your phone cable. The phone jacks in Europe don’t use the same connectors–and each country may have a different connector. Try an electronics store or a store that sells baggage for these equipment needs.

Getting to Switzerland
After flying into Nice, France, we traveled by train to Switzerland. I thought we would be able to see lots of the countryside. We did see some, although there were several lowered train track areas where all we saw was walls. The occasional castle could be seen from the train, as well as olive gardens, wineries, and hills.

Since I’m a get-out-and-do type of person, I would have preferred to get there faster and start hiking. On the plus side—it beat driving. The train did all the work and all we had to do was relax.

A friend recommended taking a sleeper train next time—that would have saved the lost day and cost about the same. I’m not a very sound sleeper however so I wasn’t comfortable with this idea.

There is food on the train, but for cost savings and selection, bring your own!

Switzerland – Sept 1999

Switzerland was a very special trip. Oh, what a magical place. We arrived in Geneva and took a train to the Bernese/Oberland area. When traveling here, it is imperative that you plan ahead and get reservations for a place to stay before you leave. Here are a few things we learned.

From Geneva (I can’t remember if we had to get this special train ticket at the main train station associated with the airport or a different one—ask before you leave the airport area!) it is possible to purchase “The Swiss Card”–a discount train ticket that allows you one round trip journey to an area within Switzerland.

So for example, since we were going to the Bernese/Oblerland area and spending the week there, this ticket was perfect—it saved us having to buy individual train tickets and also meant we got a discount on the Bernese/Oberland area three or five day pass (Jungfrau pass).

We learned about the Jungfrau pass through our hotel (often hotels will combine rooms with the pass). You can also ask at the train station in Interlaken about which passes are available for the region. I think the “Swiss Pass” is similar to the “Swiss Card,” but is used more for long distance trips in Switzerland rather than covering a single area.

Contact the tourism office of the main town you will be in—for example, at the time we went, mail@InterlakenTourism.ch was the email address for the Interlaken tourism area.

Check the www.raileurope.com website for information on other various pass cards. I had trouble finding out what was available from the U.S. side. It wasn’t until we got to Switzerland that I was able to figure out all the nuances so ask questions frequently once you arrive. It is my understanding that the more common Eurorail passes don’t work on most of the localized train systems within Switzerland so study what will and won’t work before you go.

The train passes appear expensive at first, but getting passes that allow you to go to and from any town (or within a region) come in handy and end up being money well spent.

Many of the Swiss passes can only be purchased at particular locations—ie you cannot purchase them ahead of time. We learned about the passes by reading a book, “Daytrips Switzerland” by Norm P.T. Renouf. This book was an excellent guide for worthwhile hikes and other information. I highly recommend it.

Take advantage of SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) check-in service when using the trains for long distances (such as to and from the Geneva train station). This service forwards your bags to your final destination. We used it and we loved it.

Don’t be intimidated by the complexity of the train passes; if things get out of hand, you can always just buy the ticket you need. We had no problem finding English speaking people to help us. Always show any pass you have when purchasing other tickets or passes. Most of them get you discounts on subsequent purchases.

When making your reservations to stay in Switzerland, get “half-board” at your hotel. This means your breakfast and dinner is included with accommodations. Food is very expensive in Switzerland and there are far more restaurants in larger towns than in smaller ones—hours of operation can also be confusing, so you’re much better off setting it up with the hotel ahead of time—it will save you both time and money. Every place we ate (whether our hotel or at other hotels for lunch) had quality food so I doubt you will be disappointed. If you don’t do half-board, plan eating excursions early.

We stayed at Hotel Silberhorn in Lauterbrunnen. The food was fabulous and the accommodations wonderful.

Telephone systems in Switzerland have different charges—get a prepaid phone card before you leave and make sure it works in the countries you are visiting. In Switzerland be prepared to still pay a reasonable usage fee anyway. There is often a local toll that must be paid to the hotel so don’t be surprised if it shows on your bill. The same applies for “toll free.” There is still a local fee for phone use.

Our phone from the room didn’t allow for international or toll free calls until the fees were explained to us because the hotel had had problems with American’s arguing over their bills due to the fact that toll free here means “free” for the person placing the call.

Another book I found useful: “Walking Easy Swiss and Austrian Alps” by Chet and Carolee Lipton.

We didn’t get to take nearly enough hikes while we were there! Never enough time! The great thing about hiking in Switzerland is that you can take gondolas or ski lifts to the top of several areas and hike down—cutting your hiking time and allowing you to see more. Of course we did do Jungfraujoch (the highest mountain in Europe) and it comes complete with glaciers and Alpine Vistas. Fabulous.

We also walked to the Trummelbach waterfalls—worth a walk.

We rode to the top of Schilthorn and then on the way down got off in Brig and walked down to Murren and took the train back to Lauterbrunnen (where Hotel Silberhorn is located.) This hike is ALL downhill and took about four hours. Don’t do this hike unless you are in good shape! The first part of the hike was covered in a few inches of show and ice, but the hike was glorious. Absolutely stunning.

Another excellent hike if you have it in you is the trip up the Grindelwald chair lift, to Firstbahn, hike to the Bachalpsee lake, and on to Faulhorn. We ate at Faulhorn—all food is brought in by helicopter—and if you walk up there, you’ll know why. We returned via some rather adventuresome footing to end back at Schynige Platte where we caught a train to Lauterbrunnen. Warning: This is an all day hike and strenuous. Don’t do this hike unless you are used to hiking up to ten or more miles in a stretch. Take food and plenty of water.

Shopping
For shopping, Interlaken seemed to be the place to go, although all the smaller towns had various shops with watches, Swiss army knives, clocks, chocolate and embroidery. The “Daytrips Switzerland” mentioned above recommended some of the shops, highlighting quality and reputation. Since it rains often in Switzerland, take an umbrella and shop on one of the rainy days!

We could have easily spent a month here and never run out of things to see and do. Switzerland was clean, friendly and beautiful. It is also probably a tad more expensive (including food, lodging and transportation) than some other places in Europe so be prepared. Was it worth it? You bet. Would I save my money and do it again? Absolutely!