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@Yehuda - 1 day trip
sam28
Sam28 St Moritz Switzerland kosher Grand Hotel Kempinski
Yehudaa - 18-hour Zurich stopover


Kosher food list 2022

Zurich
HOTELS
-The Park Hyatt is fantastic and a 10 minute walk to shul.
Tram stop: Stockerstrasse

RESTAURANTS

Meat:

Florentin - Located inside he JCC https://florentin.rest/
Tram stop: Bahnhof Enge

Grill Cave

Food truck. Check website for opening hours. Burgers, sandwiches, hot dogs etc.
https://www.thegrillcave.co/


Milk/Parve:

Babi's Bagels (Bederstrasse corner Klopstockstrasse 8002 Zürich) Tram Stop "Waffenplatzstrasse"

Bakery:
Ma'Adan Bakery
Manessestrasse/Schimmelstrasse
Has delicious pastries and also sells sandwiches, salads, and some sushi.

Butcher:
Metzgerei Kol Tuv

Can preorder for pickup.
Can also deliver throughout Switzerland by post.
See website for details.

https://www.koltuv.ch/en

ATTRACTIONS
-Walk around the lake area
-Bahnhofstrasse window shopping
-Take a train to Lucerne and buy the golden ticket, included a boat ride on Lake Lucerne, cogwheel train and tram. Then take bus back to Lucerne
-When you arrive in Lucerne you can go to the tourist office to see a live view from Mount Pilatus (Or you can check online). If it's cloudy skip the cogwheel train and just take a nice boatride and explore the town, ancient bridges, and walk on top of the old city fortress walls.




Options in the Alps

Arosa: Metropol Hotel - quaint little old hotel. Not very fancy - it's like honeymooning in your grandmother's house (HT: Mrs. Moishebatchy). The food is very basic, but delicious. Mikva on premises. If skiing is your thing, the have an agreement with one of the ski places (Härtner) not to charge Metropol customers for ski rentals over Shabbos.


Need a meal on shabbes, please PM me (Chuchem). I live 15 minute walk from the hyatt, close to chabad. Zürich has no eiruv!

Major Attractions
“Please edit the wiki to add more attractions”

Central Switzerland
-Lucerne, Pilatus Offers: Cogwheel, Gondolas, Alpine Sliding, Mini Zip-line and fun area
-Titlis Offers: Gondolas, Snow Tubing, Trutti Bikes, Ice Museum, Row Boating
-Brunni Offers: Gondolas, Alpine Sliding, Stroll in Lake(!)

Jungfrau Region
-Jungfrau/jungfraujoch Click here for the Kosher hotel in Wengen / 360-degree panorama of Jungfraujoch-Top of Europe
-Grindelwald Offers: Gondolas, mega Zip-line, Trutti Bikes

Eastern Switzerland
-St. Moritz
Davos / Klosters
Arosa Click here for the Kosher Levins hotel

Southern Switzerland
-Zermatt - "Matterhorn"
-Saas-Fee Offers: Gondolas, Alpine Sliding, Mega Zip-line, Trotti Bikes, (Saas-Grund has Monster Trotteres) and on top of "Allalin" you can go Snow Tubing and Skiing even in the summer!
-Crans Montana You can email the Kosher hotel in Crans Montana Hotelmk@gmail.com  or call them at 0032485640498 or 003233011600


HalbTax Pass

A HalbTax pass (or Half Fare card) is a card designated for tourists and not for Swiss residents (officially...). The card gives you half price on all public transportation like buses, trains, trams, boats and also on "most" cable cars (attractions). There are basically 4 kinds.

1) An annual pass, the price is currently 175 francs. If i remember correctly it has a photo ID of the recipient, so double check before sharing it.
Click here for the annual pass

2) A 30 day pass, the price is currently 120 francs, it does not have a photo ID on it.
Click here or here for the 30 day pass

3) - Recommended for frequent traveling Swiss Travel Pass - you prepay a set amount per day and get unlimited for that day (plus "optional" for a fee, for 1 month including the days you chose, it is a HalbTax, even on the prepaid free days, it's only free for all transportation, on cable cars you only get half off). The price per day depends on how many days you prepay, for example if you prepay 8 days, the price per day will be about 53 francs, if you prepay 3 days the price per day will be about 73 francs. If you are 25 y/o or younger, you can get the Youth Pass which is cheaper - If you prepay 8 days  the price per day will be about 40 francs a day, if you prepay 3 days the price per day will be about 62 francs.
Click here (or here) for the prepaid pass

The card comes with a few days “you could chose your dates later”, officially when you want to use a certain day for the free day you should fill in on the pass that date, and when the first conductor comes he punches that day, but technically you can leave the date blank until the conductor comes, that way you have a chance if no conductor asks you for your card (happens quite often) you can save it for the next day :)

4) Swiss Transfer Ticket" This card costs 141 francs and is valid for 2 trips from and to the boarder or airport, for example you are traveling from the airport to Arosa and are not planning to go anywhere else or take any other transportation, with this card you will effectively pay 71 francs per way. This card is only valid for trips to and from the airport or boarder and no (long) stops allowed. Technically if you will travel one more day, the Swiss travel pass mentioned above will probably be cheaper.

Make sure to order your pass a few weeks before leaving, it takes about 1-3 weeks for the pass to arrive. But you can always buy it in the Airport, though you might have to wait in line and also if you want to buy the Youth pass (for 25 y/o or younger) they might ask you for proof...

There is also a family pass if you travel with a large family, I am not familiar with that.


Fast Baggage
There is a service via SBB, They deliver your luggage for you!! For example you are traveling from ZRH to Arosa, you don't want to be busy Shlepping around your luggage, You can check in your luggage in the airport and they (SBB) will deliver it to the train station in Arosa. This service is available "from and to" most train stations in Switzerland. You can ask about the Fast Baggage by any train station or read here or here

You can even buy a tag that you put on the luggage before checking in your luggage in any airport (i.e. JFK) and Rail Europe will take your luggage from the airplane in Switzerland and deliver it either to your hotel or to the train station in the city you're going to.  Read about Flight Luggage Here




PS. When doing research and getting to a website in German, just add /en (after .ch) to translate to English.
And Hey, Don't forget to write a TR ;)

Sample Itinerary for 9 hour stopover on Swiss flight from TLV to U.S. that lands at 810 and takes off around 5
Copied from @cholent:
Here it is: landed in zrh, crazy line for entering country but moved pretty quickly, about half an hour. Picked up sim in the airport. Rented car through Priceline from europecar. Drove to Titlis, stunning scenery along drive. Missed a turnoff because I couldn't get Waze to talk and I was trying to do some stuff online while we were driving, added half an hour to get there, but the stunning scenery made it worthwhile. Got there, parked, you pay at the entrance if you're going to park for more than an hour. Paid, took the cable car. Got off at there halfway station by mistake, gorgeous lake. Went back on and back up to the top. It was somewhat cloudy which was a pity. Suspension bridge was fun but no view because of the clouds. Took the ice flyer to the other peak, then went sledding down the hill, lots of fun. No tubing because there wasn't enough snow. We didn't have enough time for the ice cave because of the extra time driving there and we weren't sure where it was anyway. Made some new Israeli friends and took the cable car down with them. Got back to the airport, returning the car took less than five minutes, getting through the airport took a little longer so we didn't have time for showers at the lounge. It was amazing all around, I would definitely recommend

« Last edited by yyzzrh on October 20, 2022, 01:16:48 PM »

Author Topic: Switzerland Master Thread  (Read 604040 times)

Offline chaimh770

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1420 on: January 30, 2017, 10:33:59 PM »
Anyone ever been to crans Montana ski?

Offline Saulius

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1421 on: January 31, 2017, 02:38:58 AM »
Anyone ever been to crans Montana ski?

Chaim, are you really planning to go? You were posting asking for cheap before. Train from ZRH airport would cost $115 each way, accommodation is very expensive, and ski lift also costs lots $$$.

Offline chaimh770

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1422 on: February 02, 2017, 12:55:01 AM »
Chaim, are you really planning to go? You were posting asking for cheap before. Train from ZRH airport would cost $115 each way, accommodation is very expensive, and ski lift also costs lots $$$.
Plans were changed to arrive in Geneva... So in your opinion where would I go for skiing is there anywhere close enough to the airport somewhat?

Offline Saulius

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1423 on: February 02, 2017, 07:58:23 AM »
Plans were changed to arrive in Geneva... So in your opinion where would I go for skiing is there anywhere close enough to the airport somewhat?

I would recommend Chamonix, France - only 60 miles away... there are a few shuttles available from Geneva, 
http://www.ouibus.com/line/geneve-aeroport-chamonix , http://www.chamexpress.com, http://www.mountaindropoffs.com ...

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aiguille_du_Midi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bossons_Glacier
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/france/chamonix

Also see: https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Chamonix
« Last Edit: February 02, 2017, 08:01:51 AM by Saulius »

Offline dpk4588

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1424 on: February 02, 2017, 12:08:23 PM »
Try this
http://seat61.com/Swiss-trains.htm#Swiss_travel_pass_&_Swiss_transfer_tickets
Sorry for the delayed response. I took a look and for me, it looks like the best option is paying full fare for everything :( but thanks for that direction.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
-Albert Einstein

Offline lifetimedeals

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1425 on: February 02, 2017, 03:36:54 PM »
Is May a good time of the year to visit Zurich? Or is it more of a ski winter trip.
Is 2-3 days enough for general basics?

Offline PlatinumGuy

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1426 on: February 02, 2017, 03:48:51 PM »
Is May a good time of the year to visit Zurich? Or is it more of a ski winter trip.
Is 2-3 days enough for general basics?
For Zurich alone 2 days is more than enough.
״וזה כלל גדול: שישנא אדם כל דבר שקר. וכל מה שיוסיף שנאה לדרכי השקר – יוסיף אהבה לתורה.״ - אורחות צדיקים

Offline lifetimedeals

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1427 on: February 02, 2017, 03:59:38 PM »
For Zurich alone 2 days is more than enough.
What else do i combine with such a trip? 7 day trip

Offline PlatinumGuy

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1428 on: February 02, 2017, 04:09:08 PM »
What else do i combine with such a trip? 7 day trip
Depends what you're looking for... in Switzerland it's pretty much hiking and biking in the Alps
״וזה כלל גדול: שישנא אדם כל דבר שקר. וכל מה שיוסיף שנאה לדרכי השקר – יוסיף אהבה לתורה.״ - אורחות צדיקים

Offline Saulius

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1429 on: February 02, 2017, 05:30:53 PM »
Sorry for the delayed response. I took a look and for me, it looks like the best option is paying full fare for everything :( but thanks for that direction.

Could be cheaper to rent a car. People in Switzerland either have a Half-Fare travelcard giving 50% off, or a GA card - which allows unlimited train travel for the entire year. But foreigners pay full price.

Offline Saulius

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1430 on: February 02, 2017, 05:32:07 PM »
Is May a good time of the year to visit Zurich? Or is it more of a ski winter trip.
Is 2-3 days enough for general basics?

Not much to see in Zürich, take the train to Luzern.

Offline dpk4588

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1431 on: February 02, 2017, 05:35:01 PM »
Could be cheaper to rent a car. People in Switzerland either have a Half-Fare travelcard giving 50% off, or a GA card - which allows unlimited train travel for the entire year. But foreigners pay full price.
The largest "travel" expense of my 15 hour trip is going go be the ride up and down Pilatus, which renting a car won't help.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
-Albert Einstein

Offline Saulius

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1432 on: February 02, 2017, 05:36:32 PM »

Offline Saulius

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1433 on: February 02, 2017, 05:55:47 PM »
The largest "travel" expense of my 15 hour trip is going go be the ride up and down Pilatus, which renting a car won't help.

Can I suggest going to Engelberg instead and go up Mt. Titlis? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titlis

Offline chaimh770

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1434 on: February 02, 2017, 08:50:05 PM »
I would recommend Chamonix, France - only 60 miles away... there are a few shuttles available from Geneva, 
http://www.ouibus.com/line/geneve-aeroport-chamonix , http://www.chamexpress.com, http://www.mountaindropoffs.com ...

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aiguille_du_Midi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bossons_Glacier
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/france/chamonix

Also see: https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Chamonix
Thank you Chamonix looks nice, anyone ever there or had any experience with the shuttles?
Is there a border we go through?

Offline Saulius

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1435 on: February 03, 2017, 06:04:15 AM »
Thank you Chamonix looks nice, anyone ever there or had any experience with the shuttles?
Is there a border we go through?

I would prefer ouibus or mountaindropoffs as far as shuttle. There is no border control after
you have cleared immigration. see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area

The airport itself has a French side, (follow signs destination France), if you want to exit out
onto French territory.

Offline chaimh770

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1436 on: February 05, 2017, 01:17:51 AM »
I would prefer ouibus or mountaindropoffs as far as shuttle. There is no border control after
you have cleared immigration. see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area

The airport itself has a French side, (follow signs destination France), if you want to exit out
onto French territory.
Where can I book skiing?

Offline chaimh770

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1437 on: February 05, 2017, 02:04:23 AM »
Where can I book skiing?
Or do I not have to book in advance

Offline Saulius

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Offline chaimh770

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1439 on: February 05, 2017, 10:57:21 AM »
Buy a pass when you arrive:
http://www.chamonix.net/english/lift-systems/lift-passes
http://www.chamonix.com/ski-passes,25,en.html
Is it worth getting the unlimited pass? I'm not a pro at skiing but looks like I'm missing out on some other stuff