Even though it is a small country, there are things you should know before going on a vacation. Things like the currency, spoken languages, train ticket system, food, weird laws, and all in all, the real Swiss Army Knife haven't been red. Did you know that?
Of course, there are more things that are funny to know, but we focus on the facts that are good to know before exploring a country that has so many lakes that no matter where you are, within 10 miles / 16 km, you'll find one. Specially good for those among us who can't get enough of water.
10 THINGS BEFORE TRAVEL LIST
#1 SWITZERLAND IS QUITE EXPENSIVE
To whom that does not know, Switzerland is one of the most expensive countries and the 1000 Swiss Francs note is the most valuable in the entire world.
Just to give you some ideas of the expenses I want to write about going out for dinner.
A few times I went out with my friends for dinner. We only wanted to get something small, fast food like chips or a Döner Kebab, some Chinese noodles in a box, and we could not believe what we saw.
10 Euro / Francs for a single Döner Kebab. Almost a fiver for a small bag of chips, drinks extra. A beer, okay, many countries have the same price, costs 5 Euro in a glass or can.
Normally a Döner Kebab costs 3,50 or 4 Euro. That means, almost all the prices that you used to know are doubled. Therefore, check out with a currency converter how much worth is your money.
#2 CURRENCY IS NOT EURO
Swiss francs is the currency of Switzerland. Luckily you can change money when you arrived at the airport or any train station. Usually you only need to go to the Service Center and ask where to exchange money. Other than that you can go to your bank, shortly before leaving for your adventure in Switzerland to change some money.
I always bought a train or bus ticket (bilette), because I needed it anyways and used a bigger note. In the end I got my ticket and Swiss Francs back. Easy.
#3 LANGUAGES
A few more spoken languages than other countries and very surprising, because the population is currently 8,602,269 people which is just a bit more than New Your City / USA.
The national languages of Switzerland are German, Italian, French and Romansh. Zurich, Lausanne, Bern, Basel and Geneva are the biggest cities with a population between nearly 2 Million and 130.000.
The most populated city of the entire world is Tokyo with currently 38,001,000 million which is almost the half of Germany in only one big spot. #4 LEGAL SMOKING - CANNABIS
Yepp, allowed, legal, you can consume it. But only with buying the brands that are actually allowed in Switzerland. Other than that are not permitted.
Next to it, it is not allowed to own recreational marijuana or anything that has a higher THC than 1,00%. CBD Cannabis Flowers, CBD, Medical Marijuana or Hemp are allowed, but also with the restricted THC of 1,00% and a maximum of owning 10 mg.
You can buy hemp cigarettes in Coop (Supermarket) or Denner. Other than that you can buy weed in a can at kiosks, avec-shops, press & book stores in train stations as well and are called Black Widow.
#5 RECYCLING
Get familiar with the recycling system, because there is one which seems a little bit more complicated, but only in the beginning. It is about the Polluters Pay Principal that whoever creates waste and pollutes the environment has to take care that everything gets/or reminds clean. It is basically about being responsible not to harm the natural environment.
Sadly not a lot of countries follow that law, even though it is not complicated to follow certain rules of how to recycle. We are just not taught that way and it should be changed.
Creepy as it is, Europe and the US has it as a fundamental principle in their law, but why are there still so many people causing damage to the environment. Not only single households, but specially the companies that create plastic waste and single used plastics to unnecessary wrap food in it or other goods have to change the way they used to be and give regular people the chance to use less harmful objects that are currently more a curse than a blessing. A good step would be to finally ban all single used plastics and change to renewable and organic solutions such as shopping bags out of algae or potato starch, bamboo toothbrushes, cotton flosser and much more. We lived without plastic, we can do it again. An exception would be hard plastics like computers, televisions or products for hospitals.
So ya, don't pollute the nature that surrounds you and don't throw away anything except its organic like wood or the rest of your apple. Because plastic lasts several hundreds or thousands of years.
When I see rubbish in a forest, lake, river, ocean, no matter, I pick it up and recycle it the way it should have been in the first place.
Luckily, in Switzerland, they divide common materials such as aluminium and tin cans, old batteries, light bulbs, glass, paper, PET bottles, textiles, electrical and electronic equipment and much more. Next to it there are seven different recycle companies that are united in the so called umbrella organisation Swiss Recycling.
FERRO-Recycling - tin cans, IGORA - household aluminium, INOBAT - household batteries, PET-Recycling Switzerland - PET beverage bottles, SENS Foundation - electrical & electronic equipment, TEXAID - textiles, and last but not least, VetroSwiss - glass.
Thumbs up for Switzerland that is recycling over 70% of their rubbish.
That means take care of your trash and check out the bins that are all around the cities to recycle the way it should be in every country. But I know you are already doing it, because you are an awesome person!
#6 VISIT A FARM FOR FRESH ORGANIC PRODUCTS
One of my favourites. While exploring Switzerland you can check of one of the traditional farms has an extra room that can be entered at any time during the year to buy fresh, organic products such as milk, yoghurt, butter, eggs, fruits, vegetables, jam, juice and much more. Even though being lactose intolerant I had to get a yoghurt, because they taste so much better than the sweet stuff you get in the supermarkets. Next to it, everything comes in a jar, that will be given back to the farm after finished your snack.
Furthermore, it is not that expensive, high quality and every single day you get hand made products out of the region. Nothing can compare to that, you only can feel happy!
#7 PUNCTUALITY
Time. Always be a bit earlier than your meeting or appointment. It is highly appreciated not to be late. Even the busses or trains are in time, not every time, but most of it, and depart in time as well.
The same goes for meeting a friend for dinner or any other reason why you gonna meet. Try to be early, at least 5 minutes, because the meal will be served at the time they said and no minute late. It can be a bit strange in the beginning, but you learn a lot about you and time management, which is something to know. Other countries that value punctuality are Germany and Japan.
Don't be late!
#8 LESS THAN 2 HOURS
There is no difference where you are about to stay in Switzerland, it only takes two hours to drive to another country. Specially for someone who wants to stay a bit longer in Switzerland can enjoy Italy, Germany, France, Liechtenstein or Austria for a day or more.
#9 FONDUE AND CHOCOLATE
Imagine. You are in the Swiss Alps, all day have been an adventure of hiking, swimming, skiing or enjoying the beautiful mountains and forests, fields of flowers in spring time and in the evening you are visiting a small restaurant, only a few metres away of the accommodation, and the first thing that reaches your nostrils is a delicious smell of melted cheese in a pot. Next to it you see some fine bread, slices of sausages, maybe grapes and wine. The owner is greeting you, just directs to an empty table and you are getting ready for your traditional cheese fondue.
Get your tablets in case of being lactose intolerant, take one more just in case, and let's go!
It is the same with chocolate. Swiss are eating plenty of it, but who wonders when one of the finest and cutest cows are coming out of their own country? All summer long they are in the Alps, sun bathing, eating the best and freshest grass that you can get, drink water out of an ancient lake that has mountain filtered, icy cold water and when they get back to the farm, there are machines that give them a nice massage to lose the muscles.
Gimme that Swiss chocolate and leave me be!
#10 UNIVERSAL TRAVEL ADAPTER
You heard right, Switzerland has its own plugs and you should be prepared. In case you don't have a multi adapter you get one here.
There are USB ports as well and easy to use in total. Not big of a size and fits in every bag that you have. I used it for almost everything from dryer, laptop, charging my Nintendo Switch, phone and much more. Never had a problem with it like getting hot or strange smell.
I hope you enjoyed reading the article and that it has been helpful. Don't forget to share this post on Pinterest or visit me on any other Social Media pages.
Give me a shout, in case you need some more advice and leave a comment below to let me know! I am always happy to help out. :)
Thank you so much and see you in the future,
Sina
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