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Dan
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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 604663 times)

Offline chuchem

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #260 on: September 04, 2011, 04:45:34 PM »
There is a trainstation in the airport.

www.sbb.ch will give you all price info

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #261 on: September 04, 2011, 04:49:00 PM »
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline YudiG

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #262 on: September 05, 2011, 07:47:59 AM »
Thanks everyone! Any restaurant picks in ZRH or Lucerne for late October?

Offline hocker

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #263 on: September 05, 2011, 10:05:30 AM »
No restuarants in Luzern. In Zurich the restuarants are "Nu Nu".

(Basel has great restuarants, yum!)

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #264 on: September 05, 2011, 02:57:34 PM »
No restuarants in Luzern. In Zurich the restuarants are "Nu Nu".

(Basel has great restuarants, yum!)


The cleaning lady in the basel restaurant, has a 3rd cousin that worked in a restaurant in frankfurt, and a friend who lived next to a uk travel agent, so I'd worry about kashrus, but like everything here ymmv

Offline YudiG

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #265 on: September 05, 2011, 03:49:46 PM »

The cleaning lady in the basel restaurant, has a 3rd cousin that worked in a restaurant in frankfurt, and a friend who lived next to a uk travel agent, so I'd worry about kashrus, but like everything here ymmv

?

Offline Chaikel

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #267 on: October 24, 2011, 03:40:20 PM »
Got a 12 hour layover on Thurs in ZRH...I want to take the train to Lucerne and walk around....are there decent size rental lockers in the airport where I can leave my carry on bags?

Is advance booking for the train required?

TIA

Offline chuchem

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #268 on: October 24, 2011, 03:41:30 PM »
Yes there is a luggage storage area. Train prebooking not required. Enjoy

Offline YudiG

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #269 on: October 24, 2011, 03:47:33 PM »
Thx Chuchem...any particular area in Lucerne we should head to or get off the train at?

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #270 on: October 24, 2011, 03:52:35 PM »
If it's clear go up Pilatus.  If it's cloudy take a boat ride on Lake Lucerne and walk the old bridges and old city walls.
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline kivabb

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #271 on: October 24, 2011, 03:59:47 PM »
If I have 2.5 days in Zurich and I do Lucerne one day like suggested here, can anyone recommend a "day trip" to any part of Alps for my second day?

Offline Chaikel

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #272 on: October 24, 2011, 04:37:05 PM »
Thx Chuchem...any particular area in Lucerne we should head to or get off the train at?
Right across from the train station there is a ferry. It is quite a spectacular ride
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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #273 on: October 24, 2011, 05:23:31 PM »
Thx!

Offline kivabb

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #274 on: December 05, 2011, 11:53:08 AM »
Will be on 2+ day stopover in Zurich in May. Hope to go to Lucern as recommended on this site.

Was also thinking of doing something like this on a day trip from Zurich to see the Alps. My wife would love to see the Alps but can't do stop over for much longer.

http://www.viator.com/tours/Zurich/Jungfraujoch-Top-of-Europe-from-Zurich/d577-2460JUNG

Anyone been to Jungfraujoch before?

Thanks

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #275 on: December 06, 2011, 12:01:14 PM »
Thanks to all that have posted to this thread - I got lots of great insight into Switzerland from it.

I am looking for advice - I have a 12 hour stopover in Zurich (on the way to Israel) for 9:30am  - 9:30 pm in January. I have seen some of the suggestions for things to do for a 12 hour stopover, but those were for spring and summer months(like the  boat ride in Lucern). Do the suggestions still hold for Winter time?

I am an infrequent traveler, and I have always wanted to see the alps. Does a 12 hour stop allow me the time? Someone suggested Engelberg. Is a trip to Engelberg doable within the time constraints? I looked at the train timetables and it looks like its 2 hours each way. Any opinion if it makes sense, or a suggestion for a different stop?

We are a group of 4 (2 parents and 2 teenage kids). The train tickets aren't cheap. Does Chuchem or anyone know of a reliable driver for the day - it may be more expensive but it may make the entire experience more flexible (for example he could take us around Zurich first and then to Engelberg then back to get food and on to the airport....)

I appreciate the help.

(As a personal note: Thank you Dan. I am only able to take this trip with the help of suggestions that I found on this forum - great credit card offers and the ways to maximize my points, using ANA for route options etc... Thank you!!)

Offline chuchem

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #276 on: December 06, 2011, 02:44:54 PM »
take the train to lucerne, driver in switzerland will be really expensive. Go up Pilatus if its nice weather. No reason to go to Engelberg, its a village a little higher then Lucerne but view from pilatus is better

For a oneday trip do Lucerne/Pilatus forget Zuerich

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #277 on: December 07, 2011, 03:41:06 AM »
Thanks Chuchem. Your expertise is really appreciated. I will be taking your advice.

I hope to follow up with a brief trip report to let the board know how it went.

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #278 on: December 07, 2011, 04:40:56 AM »
Thanks Chuchem.

Maybe you should change your username now.

Offline Jkhein

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #279 on: December 07, 2011, 06:14:16 AM »
Just make sure its not cloudy that day, or else the train and ride up pilatus will be a waste of alot of money!