May 2019
Krithika (Kempy) updates her Instagram status with her amazing Switzerland experience and pics.Immediately we switched our trip plans from Greece to Switzerland.
We started collecting information from 'Kemp Couple' and from various sources (Instagram, google maps etc) about the locations to visit.
Our main and only requirement was driving a car as it gave us a lot of flexibility.
Switzerland allowed driving with valid original Indian Driver License (English Version).
Thanks to Kiran (Kulla) who had taught me how to drive on the right Lane in CA, USA.
With the help of Google Maps we were able to create a backbone plan/route.
We decided to explore Switzerland in clockwise direction, starting and finishing at Zurich.
Switzerland has Three Major languages:
German : North Central and East.
Italian : South.
French : West.
Following were some of the requirements considered while planning
- Identify point A and B along the route, which are within driving distance (<200kms).
- Book hotels at these points, for stop over during night.
- Identify all the places that can be visited between Point A and B.
- Book 50% of hotels in the city and rest 50% outside town (AirBnB)
Below was the excel sheet created as a result
May 29 2019
Booked Oman Air to Zurich via Muscat as transit.
Oman Air Flight 282/153, 31 Aug 2019
Oman Air Flight 154/283, 14 Sep 2019.
Oman Air Flight 154/283, 14 Sep 2019.
June 2 2019
Booked Mercedes A class with Hertz Rentals.
June 3 - 15 2019
Completed all the hotel bookings.
June 21-26 2019
Within 5 days our Visa got approved and got delivered.
Day0: August 31 2019 (✈7457 Kms, 🚕45 Kms, 🚊27Kms)
6:00 am
Hired a cab to KIAL.
6:45 am
Reached airport. Finished the baggage check-in process and completed the security.
With 2hrs left for takeoff, decided to head to the airport Lounge and have breakfast.
9:15 am
To our shock we were told that one of our checked in baggage was rejected due to restricted item (lighter!! which was part of my survival kit along with a swiss knife and a torch).
We requested the Oman air staff to remove the item and get the back, but to no avail.
As we were the last passengers to board the aircraft, we were walking dejectedly inside the aerobridge. When one of the Head staff noticed us and asked about our issue. We explainedour situation and he was happy to help us. He took few details from us and took the responsibility of delivering our bag in the next flight. We happily boarded the flight 😁
10:00 am
Took off from Bangalore.
12:10pm - 2:20pm (muscat time)
Layover at Muscat after 4 hrs of flight
8:00 pm (Swiss time)
Reached Zurich after 7:45 hrs of travel,, amazingly the sun was just setting
8:30 pm
After initial confusion of buying a ticket from automatic ticket vending machine, took a train from airport to the Zurich Main Train Station.
9:30 pm
Took a tram from the train station we checked into our hotel Ibis.
Day1 : 1 Sep 2019 (🚗123 Kms, 🚊3Kms, 🚶600mts)
9:30 am
Had Breakfast at the hotel we went around Zurich, by taking tram to the city center.
Visited the Fraumünster Church and Grossmünster church
Visited the Zürich's Town Hall (Zürich Rathaus)
Walked on the Wooden Lovelock Bridge
12:00 pm
Took the Rental car from Hertz and started our drive to Appenzell.
After initial hiccups (missed turns) was able to get a hang of driving.
Note to self: Use Google Maps or the in built Car Maps and not both .
2:30 pm
Appenzell was an heavenly place
Walked around the Appenzell District
4:30 pm
Checked into Guesthouse Forrenhüsli.
A small house in the grassland, owned by Clarie. She was very polite and welcoming.
She spoke German mostly and some basic English. She also went to the extent of using german-english dictionary to communicate with us.
Our Room was small and tidy. She also have a pet cat Moutee. There are many farm animals (Sheeps, cows etc around the property). We had a great time here.
A small house in the grassland, owned by Clarie. She was very polite and welcoming.
She spoke German mostly and some basic English. She also went to the extent of using german-english dictionary to communicate with us.
Our Room was small and tidy. She also have a pet cat Moutee. There are many farm animals (Sheeps, cows etc around the property). We had a great time here.
We rested the evening here as it rained heavily.
Day2 : 2 Sep 2019 (🚗485 Kms, 🚊0Kms, 🚶36mts)
This was one of the longest day of our trip.
We had got an email update that our bag was shipped to Oman.
We left our guest house and drove towards St Moritz.
8:00 am
The misty weather was amazing for photos.
8:30 am
We reached Valley station cable car Wasserauen-Ebenalp AG. But to our disappointment the weather up the mountain was cloudy and had to cancel our trek to Wildkirchli.
10:00 am
Visited the shopping mall 'Shopping Arena' to get ourselves a Sim card. We contacted the Oman airport baggage handling team and was asked to contact Zurich Airport. When contacted they politely told us that they will get back with details.
12:00 pm
Reached Chur. Bought the famous Cow Chocolate which Sadhvika savored throughout the entire trip.
Stopped at a random spot to get nice pics with good backdrop.
Stopped at a random spot to get nice pics with good backdrop.
Reached churwalden toboggan run
(THE LONGEST TOBOGGAN RUN IN SWITZERLAND)
(THE LONGEST TOBOGGAN RUN IN SWITZERLAND)
There was no one on the chairlift. It took us nearly 30mins to go up the mountain
The ride down was one of the greatest experience in our lifetime.
2:00 pm
Got a call from Zurich Airport that they have located our bag.
Drove back to the Zurich airport to collect it.
Drove back to the Zurich airport to collect it.
4:00pm
Collected the bag and left to St Moritz
6:00 pm
Reached Obersee after driving through the narrow mountain roads.
Sadhvika was very nervous as the roads were very narrow with deep gorge to the left and sharp mountain rocks to the right.
Sadhvika was very nervous as the roads were very narrow with deep gorge to the left and sharp mountain rocks to the right.
This would be the dream home i would like to live in😲
8:00 pm
It started to pour out there, with curvy hill roads ahead of us. The drive was very scary with low visibility and narrow roads. There were about 5 cars behind, none willing to overtake and take the pole position 😝. After 2 hours of epic drive we reached St Moritz.
9:30 pm
Checked into St Moritz Youth Hostel. Prepared dinner as the restaurant was closed.
Day3 : 3 Sep 2019 (🚗196 Kms, 🚊1.9 Kms, 🚶8.4 Kms)
9:00am
After having Breakfast (some Ham, chicken slices, different types of cheese) we left the Hostel.
Here we had to put our bed spreads and blankets to the laundry space ourselves.
This hostel was generally for the kids during their school/college break.
Here we had to put our bed spreads and blankets to the laundry space ourselves.
This hostel was generally for the kids during their school/college break.
9:30am
Took the St. Moritz Dorf train to Chantarella. (elevation 2005mts to 2486mts)
10:30 am
After exploring Chantarella, we took the Piz Nair cable car (elevation 2846mts to 3057mts).
It was so huge that it could fit more than 50pple with their bikes. The place was amazing.
We took the photo of the very famous picture of the bronze Goat sculpture.
Trekked the rocky slopes to reach the top.
1:30 pm
Reached Silvaplanersee, which takes its name from the village of Silvaplana.
3:30 pm
Reached Sufnersee, which is a reservoir between Splügen and Sufers on the Hinterrhein river in the Grisons
5:30 pm
Reached Montebello Castle, which was located around the town of Bellinzona.
(Italian Speaking part of Switzerland)
It was built before 1313 for the pro-Imperial Rusca family. It is surrounded by deep moats that protected the walls
7:00 pm
Checked in to the Hotel and had dinner.
Day4 : 4 Sep 2019 (🚗191 Kms, 🚊6.2 Kms, 🚶4.6 Kms)
9:00 am
Walked along the Lake Lugano for around an hour.
Saw small kids with their parents heading for school.
Saw small kids with their parents heading for school.
10:15 am
Experienced our first drive through at McDonalds, we ordered two chicken burgers and drove towards Zermatt.
11:30 am
We reached Quinto and decided to drive to Lake Rithom. Unfortunately the road was blocked midway and had to take a long deviation. The road was quite narrow and had many hairpin curves.
12:00 pm
We reached a small village Altanca midway and found that Cars were not allowed beyond this point.
We were almost 3-4 Kms from the lake and couldnt walk. Thanks to google, there was a Furnicular which took us straight to the Lake.
12:15 pm
The Ritom Funicular is one of the steepest funicular of the world with a 87.8% maximum gradient and 786 m of difference in altitude between the departure and arrival station.
12:30 pm
Reached the Lake Rithom station, with more than a KM walk to the Lake.
Lago Ritom is a lake in the Piora valley, Ticino, Switzerland. The natural lake is used as a reservoir by the Swiss Federal Railways to generate hydro-electric power for the Gotthard line. The first dam was built in 1918
2:00 pm
We saw a construction worker get off an helicopter on the edge of the cliff.
2:30 pm
While reversing in the narrow road, the front bumper brushed against the boulder.
Resulting in some small scratch
3:30 pm
Reached the Nufenenstock View Point. Could see amazing Glaciers
6:00 pm
Reached Tasch, where we had to park our car and carry limited luggage as Zermatt Muncipality was Car free. Parked at the train station and took a train to Zermatt.
It lies at the upper end of Mattertal at an elevation of 1,620 m (5,310 ft), at the foot of Switzerland's highest peak.
The roads were very beautiful and filled with flowers.
7:00 pm
Checked in to Le Petit CHARME-INN.
8:00 pm
We decided to have dinner at Ristorante Pizzeria Grampi's.
We tasted the original Italian Pizza.
Day5 : 5 Sep 2019 (🚗241 Kms, 🚊27.3 Kms, 🚶8.0 Kms)
9:00 am
We had Breakfast at the hotel. Again got to try different types of cheese, while Sadhvika settled for some fruit salad and juice.
9:30 am
We wanted to view the very famous Matterhorn peak. But the weather changed overnight and there were thick cloud cover everywhere. Still risked the 350 Swiss Franc for the onece in a lifetime view.
Took the Gornergratbahn Railway to Gornergrat mountain [3,089 mts], the highest open-air railway in Europe was the world’s first fully electrified cog railway.
We were lucky to find some Black Nose Sheep.
10:00 am
Reached the summit and the place was extremely cold. Luckily we had out snow jackets with us.
The mountain in the toblerone chocolate is Matterhorn [4,478mts] one of the highest mountains in Europe.
12:00 pm
With no sign of Sun we decided to trek around Riffelhorn peak.
It has excellent rock climbing facilities having several routes of a different Climbing grades.
We saw two climbers getting down the peak.
12:30 pm
We reached Riffelsee, which is an alpine lake at an elevation of 2757 mts.
1:30 pm
After trekking for about 1.5Hrs we reached the Riffelberg station. Took the train back to Zermatt.
2:00 pm
After having Lunch at McDonalds we left Zermatt
4:40 pm
Reached Sion and headed to Valère Basilica. As there was no parking available we parked at a random basement and risked getting towed. Luckily no one got to know😉
8:30 pm
Reached Geneva after getting stuck in traffic for 30+mins, Nothing new for me 😁
As the hotel parking was full, had to drive 2kms to find a parking spot for the night.
Checked in to our hotel and slept early as we had to catch 5:00 am Train to Paris.
Day6 : 6 Sep 2019 (🚄860 Kms, 🚊5.9 Kms, 🚶2.3 Kms)
4:45 am
Parked the car at hotel parking, as parking was available.
5:30 am
Walked to the Geneva Central station. There was no security check at the French Customs office, hence directly headed to the platform.
6:15 am
We boarded TGV Lyria, high-speed train. It started to move in no time.
9:30 am
Reached Paris in 3hrs (400+Kms)
10:00 am
We decided to walk along river Seine to Eiffel Tower.
10:30 am
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris: The cathedral was consecrated to the Virgin Mary and considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture.
On 15 April 2019 the cathedral caught fire, destroying the spire and the "forest" of oak roof beams supporting the lead roof
Pont au Double
Walked through the streets of paris
Finally a Glimpse of the Eiffel Tower
2:30 pm
Reached the Eiffel Tower after hrs of walking.
We saw lots of people queuing up to enter the tower, so decided to just walk around.
4:30 pm
Headed back to Paris Railway station.
Sadly Sadhvika's ankle got swollen due to all the walking and her new shoes.
8:30 pm
After waiting for the delayed train we finally boarded it.
Day7 : 7 Sep 2019 (🚗207 Kms, 🚊0 Kms, 🚶600 mts)
00:15 am
Reached Geneva and walked back along the lonely streets to the hotel.
10:00 am
Checked out of the hotel and went around Jardin Anglais Park, Geneva
Experienced The Jet d'Eau (Water-Jet) is a large fountain in Geneva. It on the official logo for Geneva's hosting of the 2006 UEFA Championships.
It is visible throughout the city and from the air, even when flying over Geneva at an altitude of 10 kilometres (33,000 ft)
Five hundred liters of water per second are jetted to an altitude of 140 meters by two 500 kW pumps, operating at 2,400 V, consuming one megawatt of electricity. The water leaves the 10 centimeters nozzle at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour. At any given moment, there are about 7,000 litres of water in the air
12:40 pm
The Cathedral of Notre Dame of Lausanne is a church located in the city of Lausanne.
Stained glass windows were very colorful
3:30 pm
Gruyères Castle in Canton of Bern
6:00 pm
Reached our First AirBnb at a farmhouse in Multen.Dans un écrin de verdure, Entire home/apt hosted by Mari.
An old Gentleman approached us and gave the keys to their Guest House.
Told us that her daughter Mari will meet us later.
The room was well equipped with a Kitchen and music system.
We prepared some snacks and sat out in the garden.
6:30 pm
Went around the house
8:00 pm
Cooked Dinner at our Kitchen in our stay.
Day8 : 8 Sep 2019 (🚗97 Kms, 🚊0 Kms, 🚶3.3 Kms)
11:00 am
Stopped on the way to Gstaad.
2:00 pm
Reached Mirage Gstaad.
3:00 pm
Finally reached the magical town of Gstaad.
4:00 pm
Reached our second AirBnb Stay.
Little Paradise in Lauenen, Hosted by Peter Boss.
It was a small room on the top of the house.
The scenery around the house was mesmerising
6:30 pm
As the sky was still bright we decided to trek to Lake Lauenensee.
7:30 pm
Came back to homestay and prepared dinner.
Day9 : 9 Sep 2019 (🚗70.1 Kms, 🚊30.8 Kms, 🚶2.9 Kms)
9:30 pm
Checked out and headed to Interlaken. As the sky was clear we decided to head to Jungfraujoch on the same day. Thanks to our flexible plan.
11:30 am
Reached Parkhaus Lauterbrunnen and rushed to catch the earliest train to Jungfraujoch.
The view of the Valley was extraordinary. It is set in a valley featuring rocky cliffs and the roaring, 300m-high Staubbach Falls
The train stopped midway at viewing platform to get a sneak peak of the snowy mountains.
1:00 pm
Reached the snowy Jungfraujoch peak.
We left the platform and decided to walk on the snow.
Ate pizza at Edelweiss
House with cow bells arranged in order.
Saw the same cat which i had met earlier, after petting for a while it bit my finger.
Stupid feline.
Walked around the much famed First Cliff Walk by Tissot.
The cows grazing there were very peaceful. Everyone were keeping their distance, but that didnt stop my from hugging one of them.
Found some shade to rest, as the journey was very tiring. We saw the local people driving their cars in and out of the village. Some said Hi and others were wondering who we are and what we were doing there.
Zimmer im Herzen von Zürich.
Private room hosted by Marcel
Limmatstrasse 163
Zurich 8005
Switzerland
We were a bit sad that this amazing journey in Switzerland was ending,
A bit tired with all the driving, trekking and walking around,
A bit excited to get back to our house in India.
This was Sadhvika's first snow experience and she was very excited to play in the snow.
3:45 pm
Headed inside the to view ice sculptures.
4:00 pm
Went to the other side of the observatory and clicked some more photos.
5:00 pm
Left back to Lauterbrunnen
7:00 pm
Went to our lodge at interlaken and had dinner outside.
Day10 : 10 Sep 2019 (🚗34.9 Kms, 🚠1.5 Kms, 🚊0 Kms, 🚶4 Kms)
10:00 am
Iseltwald is a village and municipality on the southern shore of Lake Brienz in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. The turquoise blue water was ideal for photos.
11:30 am
Reached Stechelberg LSMS and took the cable car to Gimmelwald. The drive between the mountains was amazing.
We decided to take the Cable car upto Gimmewald and then trek to and fro to Murren.
12:30pm
Gimmelwald is a small traffic free village in the Bernese Oberland in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland, and is located between Stechelberg and Mürren, at an elevation of 1363 meters.
The village is at the foot of the UNESCO World Heritage site, the Jungfrau-Aletsch Protected Area.
Met a friendly cat on our way up. It let me pet and was very friendly.
3:00pm
Reached Murren after couple of hours of trek.
Mürren is a Swiss mountain village at the foot of the Schilthorn peak.
Saw some wild goats on the cliff
3:30 pm
started the down trek back to Grindelwald
House with cow bells arranged in order.
Stupid feline.
5:30 pm
Reached hotel Hotelschützen
The view from the window was amazing. We could see Staubbach Waterfall
right from out window.
7:00 pm
Had pasta at the hotel restaurant only.
Day11 : 11 Sep 2019 (🚗115 Kms, 🚠8.1 Kms, 🚶19.5 Kms)
9:00 am
We headed towards staubbach falls and walked under it.
10:00 am
Walked around Lauterbrunnen
11:00 am
Headed towards Grindelwald. Parked our car and took the Grindelwald First cable car.
It was one of the longest cable car ride with 5.1Kms in distance and 30mins in duration.
We could see the Mettenberg Mountain.
12:30 pm
Reached Grindelwald
1:00 pm
We reached the end of the walk, where there was a platform which protrudes beyond the hill.
After waiting for 15mins we got our turn, luckily there was an English couple whom we offered to take their pics and they did the same in return.
1:15pm
Took some more photos at Berggasthaus First
1:30 pm
We went to the edge of the cliff, where there we pple cliff diving.
1:45 pm
Started our trek to Bachalpsee Lake.
2:30 pm
Finally Reached Bachalpsee Lake.
3:15 pm
Started to walk towards Grindelwald First
4:15 pm
Decided to trek further, beyond Grindelwald First.
5:00 pm
After nearly walking 20Kms during the day, we decided to take the CableCar to the Grindelwald town.
Our ankles were swollen, due to the steep decline and we had 2.5hrs of drive between us and a bed to sleep.
5:30 pm
Started our drive towards Engelberg.
The route had many tunnels and curvy roads. decided to follow a bus that helped me reduce my driving efforts.
7:30 pm
Reached our AirBnb at Engelberg.
Zentrales Privatzimmer mit Panoramablick
Acherrainstrasse 3
Engelberg, Obwalden 6390
Switzerland Hosted by Miriam Schöne
Our host had nicely wrapped the keys to her house inside an envelope, with a welcome smiley on it. We met her later and found out she was working as a skiing instructor. As it was summer now, she was studying and working as a part time waiter.
She had to leave early to work, so asked us to leave the keys in the mailbox after checking out.
Zentrales Privatzimmer mit Panoramablick
Acherrainstrasse 3
Engelberg, Obwalden 6390
Switzerland Hosted by Miriam Schöne
Our host had nicely wrapped the keys to her house inside an envelope, with a welcome smiley on it. We met her later and found out she was working as a skiing instructor. As it was summer now, she was studying and working as a part time waiter.
She had to leave early to work, so asked us to leave the keys in the mailbox after checking out.
Day12 : 12 Sep 2019 (🚗164 Kms, 🚶8.7 Kms)
10:00 am
Prepared Breakfast and decided against going to Titlis Mountain. As it again involved Cable car ride and then mountain walk. So we decided to explore Staublifall Waterfall in a remote village named Unterschächen.
12:00 pm
Reached Ribi, 3kms from the waterfall. The road was muddy and our car was very low. It lost traction at couple of places and didnt want to damage the under chassis. Thus parked the car here and decided to walk the rest of the path.
Found some shade to rest, as the journey was very tiring. We saw the local people driving their cars in and out of the village. Some said Hi and others were wondering who we are and what we were doing there.
1:00 pm
Reached the falls finally. The village was very peaceful and quite.
There was not even a single tourist around. Some villagers were surprised to see us!!
3:00 pm
Got back to our car and started our drive towards Zurich.
5:00 pm
There was heavy traffic to enter Zurich. After much waiting we reached our AirBnB stay
Private room hosted by Marcel
Limmatstrasse 163
Zurich 8005
Switzerland
7:30 pm
We went to return out Car and was worried about the scratch on the bumper. Luckily the attender didn't notice or noticed but was covered under our warranty. No one knows😅
8:00 pm
Had dinner at McDonald's8:30 pm
Bought hell a lot of chocolates and i bought a miniature version of Cow Bell.
Day13 : 13 Sep 2019 (✈ 5108 Kms, 🚶5.0 Kms, 🚅8.3Kms)
We had the entire day for ourselves, the flight was scheduled at 9:00pmWe were a bit sad that this amazing journey in Switzerland was ending,
A bit tired with all the driving, trekking and walking around,
A bit excited to get back to our house in India.
11:00 pm
We were strolling around the streets of Bahnhofstrasse.
As our Anniversary was approaching i decided to buy her a watch at Tissot.
She went through all the collections, while i sat in a corner 😝
Finally nearly after 30mins she chose her watch.
1:00 pm
We ate at Burger King.
2:00 pm
Walked inside the Park Platzspitz which is on the delta between rivers Sihl and Limmat.
4:00 pm
Collected out luggage from out AirBnB host and headed towards Airport.
Took a tram to the Zurich Main railway station and then High speed train to Airport.
7:00 pm
Checked in out luggage and finished out security. Submitted the tax receipt at the customs, for the watch we bought earlier .
9:00 pm
Boarded our flight to Oman.
Day14 : 14 Sep 2019 (✈ 7457Kms, 🚗33.8 Kms)
6:00 am
Reached Muscat International Airport.
8:30 am
Boarded the flight to Bangalore.
2:15 pm
Landed at Bangalore and hired a taxi home.
3:30 pm
Finally reached home after a successful trip
