Budget food tips for Swiss lunches and dinners
Dan is excited about his upcoming 17-day trip to Switzerland, covering places like Lucerne, Interlaken, and Zermatt. He's on a tight food budget and asks for advice on affordable meal options, particularly ready-made sandwiches and traditional food spots. He also inquires about tipping and drinking tap water.
- Supermarkets like Migros and Coop sell ready-made meals including sandwiches for CHF3 to CHF7, which is a great budget option.
- It's acceptable to ask for tap water in restaurants, and you don't need to tip as service charges are included.
- Consider having lunch outdoors with packed sandwiches or snacks from the supermarket while exploring scenic areas.
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Hi everyone!
In 1 week I will be there for 17 days! Can’t wait. I was working out budget for food for the trip. My budget is tight as I am doing lots of days.
Breakfast normally I have it included with the hotel. Lunches I will be out and about and I was thinking to take sandwiches. Do they have meal deals there? As in sandwich + drink + side. How much are they? Where can you get these meals already made?
I am aware that restaurants are super expensive so I will avoid them. Are there any places like pubs with traditional food? How much could this be? If not, what other cheap options are there?
My trip implies: Lucerne, Interlaken, Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, Kandersteg, Zermatt. Any recommendations over there?
Many thanks,
Dan
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We are a family of four adults and just returned from a 10 day trip to the same area that you’re going to, plus Zermatt. We stayed in two Air BNB ‘s…we purchased a nice assortment of breads, jellies, cream cheese and other cheeses from the grocery…we also purchased lunch meats,chips, snacks etc…we ate a large and filling breakfast at our place and packed a lunch to take with us…we are an active family so we really didn’t know where we’d be at lunchtime …we each packed a plastic lunch container in our suitcase which fits perfectly in our packs when we were out exploring …I’ve got to say that we had some terrific lunch spots…I’ve attached a picture of one of them in Zermatt at Gornergrat…this saved a good bit of money…each night, we’d eat out, but restaurants in Grindelwald and Zermatt were expensive …be aware that most restaurants will charge you 5-6 CHF for a coke or bottled water…that being said, there is no sales tax and tipping in Switzerland is a great deal less than in the USA…we ate Italian food most nights and ate pizza at our place once or twice …this worked well for us
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Hi Dan,
I understand your concern. Eating out and dining at restaurants in Switzerland everyday can be expensive. When travelling I usually pack my own lunch or stick to takeaways. Most supermarkets such as Migros, Coop, Lidl and Aldi sell ready meals such as sandwiches, salad bowls, cold cuts, fruit salad and warm snacks ranging from CHF3 to CHF7 for small packs. You can get CHF1 bottled drinks from supermarkets.
You can find useful cost-saving tips here: http://www.myswissalps.com/plantrip/doityourself/savemoney
Hope this helps in some ways.
Regards,
Anna
thanks for your answers and great picture!
We will stay in hotels so we won’t be able to keep food in the room… so buying sandwiches from the supermarkets will be the best option.
We would like to have dinner at some traditional places, and takeaway places, any recommendations will be appreciated.
So no tipping is ok? or this is rude? Also, can you ask for tap water in the places?
Thanks,
Dan
Hi Dan,
Service charges are included in the bills so there’s no need to tip.
And just to share: when I travel with my family, I usually book hotels which provide a mini bar and coffee-making facility so I can store food in the room and also save on coffees and teas 🙂 As for drinking water, we refill our empty bottles at the water fountains (known as Brünnen). Tap water and water from water fountains are safe to drink.
Regards,
Anna
Picknicking:
AKWAYS buy lunch at a supermarket, or local shops.
Sandwiches (except cheap and nasty basic ones) are usually at least CHF5
Often the cheapest way is to buy bread rolls and a basic ‘filling’ item, such as cheese triangles, a tin of sardines, cheap meat slices eg Salami
My standard technique for circa 50 years is to buy a tube of pate (called Leberpains) and a couple of Wegli (small rolls)
Eating out:
I wouldn’t call Swiss restaurants ‘super expensive’ especially compared to modern day UK prices
Switzerland doesn’t have ‘pubs’. Like most European countries Switzerland has eateries ranging from ‘snack bars’ through ‘bistro/brasserie’ style places to posh restaurants. Avoid top end restaurants and you will usually find something affordable. Also bear in mind that in Switzerland, like Germany, red meats are expensive, and pork is the cheapest meat dish.
We found that dining at restaurants was very expensive in Switzerland and did not always guarantee a good meal. Best meal we had in Luzern was the Rathaus Brauerei, which was also reasonably priced. We also had a take-away meal from Mr. Pickwick pub there; it was British fare, but quite good. Similar to what has already been posted here, we would eat breakfast at the hotel we were staying at, then get sandwiches and fruit from the local Coop or Migros. Dinner was typically at a local restaurant. We often asked the locals for recommendations and found that most reliable for the best food.
As far as tipping, if the service was good, we asked the server to round up to the next CHF (or two) when they came out to tally the bill. And yes, we would ask for tap water and never had anyone look at us sideways for doing so. 🙂
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