10 days in December 2022 in Switzerland

Hi all,

I found the information on this website so helpful when planning our trip, so I wanted to share our trip report for future users. This is a quite detailed report as I cut & pasted it from my own full report.

Our time in Switzerland came after 3 weeks in France and Germany, and I was more focussed on the practical aspects (prices, weather, steps walked) when writing the report – so not many descriptions of activities or food I’m afraid, also by this point we were trying to save a bit of money and eat some green veges (not much of that eating out in Bavaria), so we ate from Coop a lot. Here we go…

10 Dec – Saturday – 13k steps. Caught the 8.30am train from Stuttgart HBF to Schaffhausen in Switzerland 2hr15mins (Eur44 each). It was snowing hard in Schaffhausen and kept snowing the whole day. Stored our bags at the station and isited the Munot Fortress and had lunch in the old town. Took a bus out to see the Rhine Falls then headed back to the station. I still wasn’t feeling great from my cold so headed off early to Zurich 30mins on train using Swiss Travel Pass (1st class, 15 days CHF491/AUD$781 each discounted 25% on Klook). The hotel was quite a long way from the train station but I wasn’t feeling well enough to work out the trams on the app (SBB, so useful) so we walked, about 10 minutes. It was hard going with my new suitcase over cobbled streets in the snow. We checked into our hotel Boutique Hotel Wellenberg (CHF 266/AUD$426) including breakfast, about 4.30pm. The hotel is right in the centre of the old town and our room looked down on the cobbled street and market below. We walked down our street all the way to the main Christmas markets and on the way back picked up salads, bread, chocolate and beer from a Coop and went back to our room to eat.

11 Dec – Sunday – 19k steps. We started the day with a walk along the icy street to the lake and had a hot chocolate/coffee in a café. We had seen an historic tram running around the old town centre the night before and Google told us it was called Tram 21 and our STP would cover a ride in it so we went to the place we had seen them depart last night and jumped on the one sitting waiting. It seemed to take a very long time for anything to happen and people kept taking phots and getting on and off, talking to the conductor, but as Google had said it was right we stayed sitting and waited. After about half an hour we took off and the conductor came around asking us to pay. He didn’t accept our STP and wanted CHF10 each instead. The tram trundled out of the old town and started going up a hill. We were getting a bit concerned by now and asked one of our fellow passengers if he knew where the tram was going – to a tram museum at the end of the line, about a 50 minute train ride out of the city. It was a tram enthusiasts day out, not a city circle tour. It was due to reach the museum about 3pm as it was very slow and making numerous stops for photos. Thankfully right then the tram stopped for its first photo stop and we leapt off and caught a train back to the city. It was worth CHF20 for the laughs we had!

We headed to the main Xmas market for lunch – raclette – it was cold by the time we started eating so not the best experience, but the little potatoes were yum. After lunch we headed to the ferry dock to take a 2 hour lake cruise (STP) , we got a table up the top by a window and had a couple of beers while we cruised. It was a lovely day and lake Zurich is so beautiful.

After the lake cruise we wandered down the Bahnhoffstrasse – main fancy shopping street – for a look, but as it was Sunday everything was closed. We stopped in at Coop again for more salad and beer for dinner, which we ate back at our hotel. In the evening we headed to the National Museum to see a Christmas light show. A lot of it was really impressive but it were so cold after sitting outside for 2 hours, we were very pleased to get back to our room.

12 Dec – Monday – 10k steps. We left Zurich about 9am on the train to Wengen (STP). It took about 3 hours and we changed a couple of times. We saw Bern from the train window and it looked lovely, but we wouldn’t get a chance to visit. We arrived in Lauterbrunen about 12 and got lunch from the Coop, which we ate sitting on a doorstep looking up at the steep cliffs. This was the day with the best weather forecast during our trip so we wanted to get up Jungfrau today. We trained up to Wengen (STP) and checked into our hotel Arenas Resort Victoria (CHF408/AUD$650) including dinner & breakfast and a coffee machine in our room, corner balcony Jungfrau view room. The snow in Wengen was about a foot deep and only got deeper the higher up we went. We dropped our bags and bought a Jungfrau Travel Pass from the train station (CHF214/AUD$340 each discounted) then headed straight up to Kleine Scheidegg (JTP) and on to Eigletscher (JTP) where the train through the tunnel to Jungfrau (JTP) leaves from. We got to the top of Jungfrau about 2pm and the weather was lovely – super cold though -22!! We did all the activities (ice sculptures, different viewing areas) and ended with a beer in the café. We were about half-way through when they called last train so we dumped our leftovers and went back to the station to get the train down. The last train going back via Klein Scheidegg had already left so instead we took the big cable car the Eiger Express (JTP) down the hill to Grindelwald Terminal and then another couple of trains to Lauterbrunen (STP) and back up to Wengen (STP). We got back about 6pm and went for dinner in the restaurant. The half board was just a buffet each night, but the hot dishes were different every night. Nothing very exciting, and quite of bit of it strange – traditional maybe? – but it was adequate. Wine and water was extra and cost us another CHF50 for the few glasses we had. Generally we just drank beer on our balcony instead – which we kept cold by sitting it out on the balcony as there was no fridge in the room! The views from our room were incredible – mountains, snow, valleys, cliffs – just amazing!

13 Dec – Tuesday – 20k steps. Today the weather was the second best forecast for our stay, so we did the cable cars from Wengen through Mannlichen to Grindelwald Terminal (JTP). The views were just amazing. In Grindelwald we hit one of the MANY sports shops and bought some new gloves, scarves and foot warmers. We had been really suffering with cold feet but these warmers were a life saver and made our feet comfortable even when we were out in the snow all day. Someone had lost a crampon attachment for their shoe, so we tried it out and it made walking so much easier, so we bought a pair each before leaving the town.

The temperature was below freezing the whole time – sometimes down to -6 during the day, -13 overnight. All the other cable cars were closed from Grindelwald as the season didn’t start for another few days, so we walked around town and grabbed lunch from Coop (sandwich and beer) to eat in the cable car going back up to Mannlichen (JTP).

Back up at Mannlichen we walked up to the Royal Walk lookout (see pic) – our crampins were so good. A few other people were making the walk with just regular shoes and it seems very difficult and a bit dangerous. We were the only ones at the top for about half an hour and sat on the lookout and had a beer in the sun, looking at the views.

We headed back to Wengen and went for another walk up the hill to the next train stop Allmend. It was really hard work but so beautiful in the snow.

14 Dec – Wednesday – 17k steps. Headed down into Lauterbrunnen (STP) today and walked along the valley floor (see pic) to Stechelberg. It was a lovely walk and we saw lots of Nordic skiers and frozen waterfalls. Lots of barns with cows too. One farm house had a vending machine out front selling things they had produced – syrups, quail eggs, cheese. We bought some dried apple chips – they were delicious. We saw where the cable car up to Murrun leaves from and then bussed back to Lauterbrunnen (STP).

The weather looked pretty good so we thought we’d go up to the Schilthorn while we were over this way. We headed in the cable car up to Grutschalp (STP) and then the train to Murren (STP) for a look around. The town is cute but it was dead – nothing open yet for the season. We checked out where the cable car up to the Schilthorn leaves from but the weather was getting steadily worse. The forecast had a couple of hours of clear weather the next day so we headed back down to Lauterbrunnen (STP) and up to Wengen and relaxed in our room for the afternoon instead.

15 Dec – Thursday – 16k steps. Today we left early to catch the clear weather on top of Schilthorn. We trained and bused to Stechelberg (STP) and got the big cable car up to Murren. There was a fault on the cable car from Brig to Schilthorn so we hung out at the station in Murren and had a hot chocolate/coffee for half an hour until it was fixed. We bought our tickets for the Schilthorn cable car (CHF28/AUD$45 each discounted) and took the two cable cars up to the summit. The weather was quite clear and we got amazing views all around. We checked out the James Bond exhibit and all the views and bought way too many Swiss Army Knives then had lunch in the revolving restaurant – 007 burgers. We cable carred back down to Murren and decided to walk back to Grutschalp instead of taking the train. It was a lovely walk downhill in the snow. We cable carred back to Lauterbrunen and then headed to Interlaken (STP) on the train 40 mins to see the town.

Interlaken has very different architecture to the other towns we have been in, more grand Victorian hotel style than Swiss Chalet style. We walked down the main street and had a beer in a restaurant before hopping on a train back to Wengen (STP) for dinner.

16 Dec – Friday – 14k steps. We rented sleds for the day (see pic) and went up to Kleine Schedegg a couple of times to sled down to Wengenalp, then trained back to Allmend to sled back to Wengen a couple of times. It was lots of fun, but the weather was very snowy. We had cheese fondue for lunch and later in the afternoon walked down to Wengwald train stop in the snow (see pic), intending to get the train back, but we missed it by a couple of minutes, so walked back up. We handed our sleds back in and went for a spa on the deck at the hotel. It snowed while we were in the spa, looking at the snowy trees and mountains all around. We had beers on our balcony and dinner then packed ready to leave early tomorrow.

17 Dec – Saturday – 11k steps. Left on the 6.45am train to get to Zermatt (STP) early in the day. Train trip had about 6 connections as we opted to go over the mountains rather than through the base tunnel. In total the trip took about 4 hours and we arrived in Zermatt about 11am. We checked into our hotel Hotel Metropol & Spa (CHF310/AUD$495) Matterhorn view with balcony including breakfast (cold buffet and boiled eggs) and headed straight to the funicular station to go up to the top of the Rothorn. We bought a 2 day Peak Pass (CHF144/AUD$233 each discounted) which included a CHF5 refundable deposit for the card. This covered all our trips above the town for the 2 days.

We took the funicular and 2 cable cars (I think) up to the top and the view was incredible – the day was a perfect blue sky one. We had lunch at the restaurant on top, out in the snow. We had pizza and antipasto. It was OK – not delicious as I expected being this close to Italy. We headed back down into Zermatt in the afternoon and checked out the town a bit – went to the Matterhorn Museum (STP), it was really well done and interesting. We got some dinner and beer from the Coop and sat on our balcony (rugged up) watching the sun set. In the evening we went down to the pool area and had a spa and sauna.

18 Dec – Sunday – 8k steps. Another beautiful day. We watched the sun hot the Matterhorn from our bedroom window and then headed up a series of cables (maybe 3?) to the top of Kleine Matterhorn and checked out the incredible views. Looked at the ice sculptures and had a beer in the restaurant before heading down, checking out each stop on the cable car route as we went. Once back to Furi we took cable cars in a different direction and then a train to the top of the Gornergrat – more amazing views.

We bought a little bottle of wine each at the shop at Riffelberg and drank it once we were up the top and had lunch on the outdoor deck with amazing views (see pic), this time we had blankets so were nice & warm.

We headed back to Zermatt, taking the train the whole way this time. We walked the length of the town and looked at some historic buildings then went to Coop for dinner and beer. After dinner we used the spa and sauna again and then packed ready for our departure the next day.

19 Dec – Monday – 4k steps. We checked out and got taken in a little electric van to the train station to catch the 8.45am Glacier Express. We had paid the supplement for Excellence Class (CHF465/AUD$743 each discounted) so were very excited for the day.

The weather was very nice, but not as perfect as the previous 2 days. The carriage was full – 20 passengers. The staff were lovely and took our bags at the door and made sure we were happy the whole day. The food was lovely – 6 courses I think, with matched wines. We were so stuffed by the end of the 8 hour trip to St Moritz. The views were really nice – very scenic but not spectacular – the best part is going over the Landwasser Viaduct (see pic). It was a lovely treat to end our holiday with, but I don’t think it was worth the money. You are paying for the special treatment and the food, and the slightly more comfortable seats. The views are the same from any carriage.

We arrived in St Moritz at 5pm and got a lift to our hotel Crystal Hotel Superior (CHF484/AUD$774) for a junior suite including breakfast (hot & cold buffet). It was a nice, spacious room and had a lovely bathroom, but it was unattractively furnished in pink check fabric and wood. It didn’t feel particularly Swiss, or especially luxurious for the price. Many other places we stayed were nicer and cheaper – but this is St Moritz – you pay fo the location I guess. We headed out for a walk around town to see the Christmas Lights and get some dinner. The only store we found was at the train station and we ended up with a beer and a bag of chips for dinner as we were not hungry after eating all day on the train!

20 Dec – Tuesday – 14k steps. We got up early and took our bags down to the viewpoint over the lake bear the train station – once you know the shortcuts our hotel was actually just a couple of minutes walk from the station. We watched the sun hit the mountains around the frozen lake and took some lovely photos before heading to the station to catch the 8.40am Bernina Express (STP with CHF5 each reservation fee). This was not the full Bernina Express train as it started in Chur and ran much later in the day, it was just a 1st and a 2nd class panoramic Bernina Express carriage attached to a regular train. The trip to Tirano was only 2 hours but it was breathtaking – far more spectacular than the glacier Express the previous day. There was just one other couple in the 1st class carriage with us and we could move from side to side to catch the best views (see pic). Mark spent quite a bit of time standing in the front bit of the carriage where he could take photos out the opening window.

Once we arrived in Tirano we found a restaurant for an early lunch – pizza, much nicer than the one we had at Rothorn, then headed to Milan on the train ready to catch our flight home the next day.