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Hello,
Can I exchange Canadian Dollars cash for CHF at Zurich airport? Is it cheaper to buy CHF from bank or ATM or currency exchange at Zurich airport?
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Hi Radha,
You can certainly exchange CAD for CHF once you are hear. You migt find the rates better at a Canadian bank though. Usually what I do is simply withdraw Swiss Francs from an ATM on my bank card though.
Thanks Lucas,
Appreciate your help as always.
Radha
Lucas,
We will have a US bank card and will be arriving in Zurich airport. Can we just go to any ATM in the airport to exchange for CHF or would a bank be better? Thanks.
Gail
Hi Gail,
I don’t know exact exchange rates, but typically the ATM rates are ok and are my favourite option when traveling anywhere. I’d avoid the kiosks at most airports as well – usually a bad exchange and banks are better if the ATM doesn’t work.
Thank Lucas! It feels strange not bringing CHF money with us, but having our ATM card will be all we need and credit card.
Yes, I might be tempted to change a little money before you leave for Switzerland just to have it on you upon arrival and not have to find an ATM before getting to your first hotel.
Switzerland is very pro “cash” so you’ll end up using it for sure.
Hi Gail-
The exchange booths at the airports, if run by banks, are OK.
The booths run by Travelex, at any airport, have awful exchange rates.
Highway robbery. Or, airport robbery.
ATM’s are usually the best bet.
Bring more than one credit card, preferably of different brands.
Carry a few hundred CHF.
Slowpoke
Thanks Slowpoke! We have one PNC debit card that we will use to get CHF in the Zurich airport (find ATM in airport when we land). We have one Visa credit card that we will use in restaurants/stores that has no transaction fee.
We also need to buy Travelerswifi in the airport when we land. Do you have a map of Zurich airport so I can look these up on map? Also, would I need to order the travelers wifi in advance?
Thanks! Gail
Hi Gail,
We have information on Zurich airport, including terminal maps on our website. 🙂 https://www.myswissalp s.com/airports/zurich
I would order the Travelers WiFi ahead of time. That way you can just give your details at the pick up location and you are off – very fast! A link to their site and the pick up locations are noted here: https://www.myswissalp s.com/simcard
As Lucas notes, the Traveler’s WiFi is easily picked up at the airport. Their are signs for “Service Center” which is in the Train Terminal building on a upper floor near the passenger walkway bridge between the terminal building and the Railroad/Food court building.
When you pick it up you give your name and you need an id.
When you buy it in advance – good idea – on the internet, you’ll have to upload an image of your ID…passport, for example…so they can confirm it is you when you pick up.
It comes in a small cardboard box which you will use to mail it back in postage free on the day you leave. Or, your hotel can mail it for you.
Be careful when you open the box. It is hard to open without ripping it. Don’t. It tears easily. You have to re-fasten it when you send back the unit at the end of the trip. If it is ripped enough to be a problem, do your reassembly at your hotel reception, where they can let you have a bit of tape to fasten it together. I always do it that way, because when I get to the airport, I tend to forget that kind of stuff an am likely to arrive at security and discover it in my pocket. Ooops. So, I mail it in.
I have used it on several trips. Although not cheap, it works well. I have used it in small inns in te country side with no wifi or slow wifi. Works great.
It comes with a small cookie in the box, made by Kambly, in Trubschachen, which is in the Emmental.
http://www.kambly.com/en/676/ Products.htm
I’ve attached a picture of an old inn built in characteristic Emmental style (die Bären), in Trubschachen not far from Kambly. The inn dates from the 1400’s.
Slowpoke
PS – I’m overly cautious, but I carry more than two kinds of cards. However, your debit card should stand you in good stead. Glad to hear that you have one that does not charge a fee per transaction. Those are big hit if you use a card with a $3.00 fee even for small purchases.
I recall a few bank ATM’s inside or just outside the arrivals hall. I’ll repeat- avoid Travelex except to ask what their rates are.
An acceptable “cost” is about 3% above the bank rate in the newspapers. Travelex likes 8-10%.
Amex adds 3% or a bit lower…maybe 2.7% …as does Chase Bank, for their exchange rate on their credit cards. The banks below are similar.
If you stop in Zürich airport, on the lower level several banks have banks of ATMs. I use them. UBS, Credit Suisse, Zürich Kantonal Bank, Raiffeisen Bank. Raiiffeisen is common all over German -speaking Switzerland. Possibly elsewhere; I just have not looked for it. Valiant Bank is common in Luzern and the Emmental. I had an acount ther for a while, before Swiss Banks stopped accepting accounts from non-Swiss resident US citizens. Unless you have a lot of money to park with them.
Attachments:Good information about opening the box carefully!! When you use the traveller’s wifi then you are not using data on your cell phone, correct? This will also be good because I know a lot of the hotels WIFI is not that great. I’d rather not give my passport information over the internet but if there is a chance that they may not be available, I guess it makes sense to order wifi in advance.
Our son is coming with us and he has a different credit card than we have so that will be our back up!
Thanks!! We will be arriving in a few weeks.
Gail
Hi Gail –
<<“When you use the traveller’s wifi then you are not using data on your cell phone, correct? “>> Exactly. It’s a wifi connection that piggybacks on on the 4G LTE phone network, with excellent coverage throughout Switzerland.
Travelers WiFi company pays for the data transfer via the phone network, and you pay them for doing it. You device sees a Wi-Fi conection with no additional charges.
<<” I’d rather not give my passport information over the internet but if there is a chance that they may not be available, I guess it makes sense to order wifi in advance.”>>
I understand. Drop them a note and ask what kind of ID they’ll want. The pickup location is just a transfer point, a multiple purpose service desk, not specifically an outlet for the Traveler’s WiFi.. Travelers Wi-Fi, IIRC, is located in Aarau or Aarberg. At the pickup point, they only have the phones that are reserved in advance and are associated with customer’s names.
Maybe they can send one to your hotel, but I’m not sure about their procedures or your itinerary..
If you are going to be in Zürich for a couple of days at the beginning of the trip, there might be some way to do it without internet Since the picture does not have to be very good, maybe you can do it by FAX…..?
Slowpoke
With the Traveler’s WiFi you can use your drivers license and not your passport to upload. I just did mine and it worked fine. They send you all the info you need in your email confirmation.
Thanks Slowpoke and Cedarbrook- We did submit our passport to purchase wifi and I see it was charged on our credit card but we didn’t get email confirmation yet. Maybe because we did it Friday night or should it have come immediately?
Mine came immediately. I submitted mine on a friday morning.
Hi Gail –
If you did the transaction at 7 PM US time it was 1 AM Saturday in Switzerland. I’d not be worried until Monday.
Slowpoke
Hi Cedarbrook –
Remember the 6 hours time difference
Slowpoke
Thank you for the reminder! I completely forgot about that!
Hi Gail-
In case you have not found the maps, there are links on the page that Lucas referred to.
http://www.zurich-airport.com/
This one leads you to maps of the various buildings:
http://www.zurich-airport.com/passengers -and-visitors/airport-services-en/site-plans
The train station is at the lowest level of the so-called Airport Center. The street level of the Airport Center has a big food court. Useful when waiting for a train. Good for a cup of coffee or tea after you arrive to help clear the jet-lag fog. Lower levels have the train ticket counters, the SBB Travel Office for detailed travel instructions and complicated rail tickets( take a ticket to get in line when you enter, then have a seat and watch the board to see when your number is called) , ticket machines with four languages, and shops. The trains are all the way at the bottom (L02) . I think of the building as the Rail Station, with accessories.
For the “Service Center” to get your Wi-Fi gimmick, open the PDF that pops up when you click on the second map from the left on the first line in that link. At the upper right, on the top level, at location number 3 on L1 there is a big label “Info.” That’s the place. If you ride the escalators up to the top level, for the pedestrian bridge between the actual airport terminal , it will be on your right as you reach that level.
By the way, in the arrivals hall near the luggage carousels, there are rows of free luggage carts available. Press down on the handles to release the brakes. The reason that they look a bit complex is that the undercarriage is designed to let them ride the escalators……all the way to the trains, if you wish. ( There are elevators, too.). When they enter an escalator, and you relax your grip on the handle to set the brake, they take on the angle of climb. If you over load them, be prepared to catch your bags as they fall off. That is hard to do when they nose over to go down, since you’re behind, at the handle end of the cart. ;-). And, be prepared to give the handle a bit of room as it swings up or down with the carts tilting process.
The third map from the left on the page of maps called “Check in 1, 2 and Arival 1, 2,” shows the arrival hall. You will almost certainly arrive in Arrival Hall #1, for intercontinental flights.
Open the *.PDF called Overview Check in 1 and 2, file name “Check-in-12. pdf”.
At the bottom is the guide to the map.
ATMs are at location #73 at the lower right, actually inside the arrivals hall before you go out through Customs.. I recall that sometimes they have been are accessible from outside the arrivals hall as well as inside. However, they get rearranged periodically.
There is now a large Travelex booth near there, too. If you have to use them, change only a small amount, because their rates are excessive….have been for years. Maybe they have reformed…..but I doubt it. Bank ATM’s are the best choice.
If there are crowds, after you exit the arrivals hall, you can ride up one level to location #37 where UBS has a location.
Also, there are four ATM (Bancomat) locations in the Airport Center, on levels L0 and L01, at locations numbered 48,56,74, 84.
And, you can buy tickets from THE SBB ticket counter or the ticket machines with a credit card.
Hi Gail,
Any luck getting the confirmation now? Have you otherwise checked spam folders etc.?
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