10-day Swiss trip - credit card, cash, expenses

Hello Moderators,

We will be spending 10 days in Switzerland in early May and will buy the STP (once the promotion begins). Just wondering how prevalent are credit cards accepted? Other than major stores and restaurants, do coffee shops and bakeries accept them as well? How much cash would you suggest I bring? Are most toilets around the major cities like Zurich, Bern, Luzern and Interlaken region free, or do they require a fee? Cash and credit an option? I don't want to exchange too much cash, since our Canadian dollar is so weak at the moment.

If we were to do a currency exchange when we are in Switzerland, what places would give a more favorable exchange rate?

Regards,

Louise

Debit/credit cards are accepted as widely in Switzerland as in any other developed country. It is now rare for places, even bakeries etc in rural villages, to require only cash. However I would normally pay cash in a village bakery or small shop. In the next door mini supermarket I would probably use a card, although the more you use a card the more bank charges will go on your account at home, so it can be more economical to use a card to get a wad of cash in one go (thus only one home bank charge)).

Most public toilets are not free. For many years the fee was CHF 0.5 (I still have a collection of half franc coin collected over the years for this purpose!

Won't be needed this coming summer though - we're going the other way - to Canada...

Hi Louise,

Credit and debit card payment is common in Switzerland. Mobile payment is increasingly becoming more widespread too (Apple Pay, Google Pay etc). But it might be a good idea to bring some cash along if you're travelling to small villages or mountain destinations. Regarding toilets - toilets at major train stations are usually not free ( CHF1 - 2). Most restaurants or F&B outlets will let guests use their restrooms for free.

You can find more practical information here: www.myswissalps.com/swissfranc

Regards,

Anna

Louise, I hope you enjoy Switzerland as much as I always have! I want to add one idea that has been helpful for me. If there is a downside to it there are savvy travelers out there reading this and they can point out the flaws as I don’t travel as much as I used to. I look at the map of the airport in which I am landing and find out were the ATM is located and go there first with my home ATM card. I didn’t have a credit card that waived foreign currency fees (I certainly have one now!) so I would get as much cash as the machine would let me take and operate on it exclusively if I could. My bank would charge a small fee for the withdrawal and that would be it. Most bank ATM cards have symbols on them that tell you were they will work and I found that there was (always in my case) one that worked in Europe. I fly into Zurich in June for a long awaited trip and will still stop at the ATM for enough money, maybe 100CHF, for small things. The real savings is simply having a credit card with no foreign currency fees. In the past I have found their exchange rate to be fair. I hope this is helpful. K. Burkley

Hi K. Burley,

Thanks for your insights. I agree, it might be sensible to withdraw just enough cash to save on withdrawal charges and just use a credit card for all other payments and purchases.

Regards,

Anna

Thanks to all. I think I will just bring a couple hundred francs for washrooms and village/rural purchases.

Regards,

Louise

Welcome to Canada!! You will find it is a beautiful country.

Regards,

Louise

Hi Louise,

When I went for two weeks in Sept/2018, (I realize it's nearly 5 years ago) I converted 1000.00 US$ to Swiss francs and it lasted the two weeks. I tried to spend down as much as I could on one last beer, and a pasta dish at Zurich airport. I used my card for the bulk of hotels, restaurants, souvinirs and such. Most of the cash went towards bar bills, a lot of food between the restaurants, (a few toilets - I remember Lucerne train station in particular) and other incidentals, etc. So it's always good to have some cash on hand. As far as exchange rates goes, I just went to an AAA travel office to convert and didn't concern myself with any particular rates. Just the way I happened to go about it. Hope you have a great trip.

Regards,

Danielsan

Thank you for sharing your tips Danielsan.

Thank you for the info, Danielsan.