Eating economically while traveling

I really appreciate your site. It has already given me much valuable information. Maybe you all can give me some insight into something a little different. In order for us to be able to afford to travel and visit many places we generally buy our food at grocery stores and cook ourselves, or make sandwiches, take along bread and cheese, sausages, etc. Some of the places we are looking at to stay do not offer the use of a kitchen or cooking facilities. Please, anyone, do you have suggestions as to how one can work around this problem?

For example. We are considering staying at a place on the Vierwaldstättersee for eight days while we explore and hike on the paths around this lake. We will have a refrigerator, coffee machine, and a kettle for heating water, as well as plates, etc. but no stove, hot plate, or microwave. We would love to stay there because it is affordable and convenient, but we could not afford to eat in restaurants all of the time.

My wife is a person who cannot live on starch and lunch meat and sausages. She needs some cooked vegetables. Here in the U.S. you can go to the grocery store and buy a cooked chicken, and many times they have other cooked food available. Does Switzerland have this?

Arthur

Hi Arthur-

Check some of the links on this page:

www.myswissalps.com/ab outswitzerland/practic al

Switzerland has a tremendous number of options for takeaway. Much of the food in a Migros or Coop store comes in neat little packages and fresh veggies are available easily in very high quality. Price per pound/ ounce or gram tends to be high by US standards. You pay for quality, neatness, and convenience. You'll be tired of prepackaged food by the time you leave, but it is certainly available..

In larger towns, many kinds of stores have hot lunch buffets. Coops and Migros are the first place to look.

Where on the Vierwaldstättersee will you stay? We provisioned our stay at the Swiss Holiday Park in Morschach from the Coop in Brunnen (but we had ways to cook) . We did use a car, but there was frequent bus service.

When are you traveling?

Slowpoke

Slowpoke,

Thank you for that link. It is very helpful. I spent some time and found that each of the grocery chains, such as Aldis, Migro, C00p, etc. has a map on their site that will tell you where their stores are located in Switzerland.

We will be staying for a week in Vitznau. This will be toward the end of July. Since there are no stores listed near where we are staying we will probably pick up something on the way back from the other villages. However, Vitznau may have something that is not listed.

Arthur

Hi Arthur-

The bus line that runs along the lake shore from Küssnacht am Rigi via Vitznau to Brunnen and on to Schwyz, may be useful. Don't know if Küssnacht has anything, but it is larger than Vitznau.

Certainly Brunnen has a Coop as I noted, and it is right across the main street from the bus stop for the Post and a large parking lot. If I recall correctly, it does not have a buffet the way the one in Züri across from the Bahnhof does, but it has plenty of fresh and packaged foods.

Schwyz is also large enough to likely have such stores, and that is a town worth exploring on its own merits. Although, perhaps you have visited there on previous trips. With your background, you may find some of the historical stuff to be interesting, particularly, the Bundesbrief Museum.

We particularly enjoyed the Ital Redding House and Bethlehem house.

www.myswitzerland.com/ en-us/schwyz.html

www.myswitzerland.com/ en-us/forum-of-swiss-history.html

www.myswitzerland.com/ en-us/museum-of-the-swiss-charters-of-confederation.html

If you are over on the other side of the lake, you are aware of Sarnen, surely. Lots of shopping.

Have you seen this post:

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/the-swiss-path-and-southern-lake-lucerne

Have you been up on Hammetschwand? Nice view of Vitznau.

Slowpoke

Slowpoke,

Again, thanks for all of your links. We are actually planning to do the whole Swiss path in sections, as well as some of the Waldstätterweg and possibly the Schwyzer Höhenweg. This all depends on the weather. In between we would like to see some of the other places you mentioned in your previous links.

In regards to Hammetschwand. I probably have been there in the past. I have been on the Bürgenstock several times through the years. Actually it surprises me that the Bürgenstock is hardly ever mentioned when people describe where they want to go around the Vierwaldstättersee. Do you access Hammetschwand from the top of the Bürgenstock, or from another direction? I read that the lift to the top is closed due to the construction of the new hotel on top of the Bürgenstock. Do you know anything about this?

Arthur

Hi Arthur -

<<"I read that the lift to the top is closed due to the construction of the new hotel on top of the Bürgenstock. Do you know anything about this?">>

They have been doing that building work for a few years. I was up there last June. The funicular from near Kehrsiten is closed. The lift was working. There is no reason to close it for the construction....too far away.

Since the elevator was working, we walked the Felsenweg to it.

On that trip, I had a car.

First, I checked all details at the tourist info by track 1 in Luzern HBf, and got specifics. They picked up the phone and got the latest details. We drove up from Stanstad, and parked at a modest parking area just before the construction. Tourist Office stated that we could drive through to the other parking lot, which you access if you come up from Buochs. (That is what we have done usually. We were rewarded with the attached image one time.)

When we walked along the road through the construction area, some supervisors told us that we could not go to the Felsenweg that way. However, I told them that we wanted to go the restaurant (which was open) and they said OK. You never know. The Felsenweg starts very near the restaurant.

I have a first draft of a description of the current access. I tried to attach it, but it may not be an accetable file type.

I'll include it here, knowing that formatting is lost.

I'll try to edit it later.

<<"DRAFT

There is a mountaintop “restaurant” near Luzern on top of the Bürgenstock peninsula at Hammetschwand. It is delightful place to have a light lunch on a sunny day. Or, a not so light lunch. ;-)

More than a sausage stand, it does offer full plates, but, it is more like a glorified sausage stand than a full restaurant. And, prices are a small bit higher due to the need to bring everything in/up to the restaurant.

Because of the 360 degree views, combined with a modest walk on an excellent trail to get there (and back out.) it is a spectacular visual experience, with just enough exercise to help you enjoy the meal or walk off some of it.

Now, in early 2016, the only problem is that construction of new buildings up there has disrupted some of the travel network.

Until the last couple of years, a really nice way to get there was to take a lake boat on Lake Lucerne to near Kehrsiten, then ride the private funicular up the hill side to the famous luxury hotels on top of the peninsula. Their fame has diminished a bit, they are being rebuilt, and new construction includes luxury apartments with stunning views. There is lot of money from other parts of the world that would like to invest in premium Swiss real estate, and the new construction here surely meets the standards for that sort of funding. It is possible to walk safely through/past the construction site, on the road, but the funicular is not running.

So, I’m posting this with the belief that the public transport system will return to its really excellent state in a few years. Meanwhile, it is possible to get there, but it is not quite so straightforward, nor so scenic as the route that I just mentioned.

One way to get there remains the same. It requires a car. Use an automobile to drive up the back side of the peninsula from Buochs and Ennetbürgen to a parking area near Honegg. Walk toward Bürgenstock hotels for 15 minutes or so on a level road. Then as you pass the restaurant on the left, turn right , upwards, past the small church, and enter the Felsenweg (rock path). This a wide smooth trail (suitable for wheel chairs, although it does climb a bit) that runs gradually upward along the cliff face to an outdoor elevator (der Aufzug) which is visible in some of the attached photographs. You do have to pay for it. It takes you in spectacular fashion to the top of the peninsula, where the restaurant awaits. (There is a trail down the backside of the cliff/peninsula to connect with the level road you came in on, so, if you don’t want to pay for the elevator, you can use that strenuous option in either direction. Much less scenic.)

The Felsenweg and the restaurant on top at Hammetschwand are closed in the winter and in months when the Felsenweg is not suitable for walking on.)

Another way is to take the bus from Stanstad to Oberbürgen/ Bürgenstock. Walk a short way, then pick up the level road I mentioned and continue from there. It is in the timetable. It does take a while to make the trip from Luzern.

Once you are up on top, you will be rewarded with the views and food shown in the attached images.">>

Slowpoke