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Chapshnell
Tzadik Nistar
@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 604119 times)

Offline Chaim#1

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1120 on: January 04, 2016, 11:47:47 PM »
Hotel Mirabeau in Crans is kosher in the Winter till about mid April.

is this in the Alps?

Offline Tom Brady

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1121 on: January 04, 2016, 11:49:35 PM »
is this in the Alps?
Yes it is. Do you have Google?

Offline Chaim#1

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1122 on: January 04, 2016, 11:51:58 PM »
Yes it is. Do you have Google?

sure how far is it from Zurich airport and how close to the Ski resorts and how is the food there?

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1123 on: January 04, 2016, 11:58:33 PM »
sure
Then please google all of this stuff first yourself before asking here. Besides for basically being a forum rule, it's derech eretz and common sense. It took me 5 seconds to find out that Crans was in the alps with Google.

Offline Chaim#1

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1124 on: January 05, 2016, 02:26:06 AM »
Then please google all of this stuff first yourself before asking here. Besides for basically being a forum rule, it's derech eretz and common sense. It took me 5 seconds to find out that Crans was in the alps with Google.

any1 that can help please do thanks

Offline em0616

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1125 on: January 05, 2016, 03:07:13 AM »
E.g. Olive Garden, according to the their website http://www.olivegarden.ch/en/öffnungszeiten.htm

Monday - Thursday:           11.30am to 2pm / 6pm to 10pm
Sunday                    :           5pm to 9.30pm

Please note, that the last order has to be made 30 minutes before closing.

Note: Look at the prices: http://www.olivegarden.ch/PDF/Speisekarte%20Englisch.pdf

And from ZRH? I'm landing from TLV @ 7:15 pm till what time are these restaurants open?

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« Last Edit: January 05, 2016, 03:39:22 AM by em0616 »

Offline em0616

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1127 on: January 05, 2016, 03:35:22 AM »
As far as food, you can go to the various supermarkets, like Migros, Coop, Denner, etc
and buy whatever that's on the Kosher List.

The Mehadrin kosher list: http://www.wwwdesigner.ch/downloads/koscherliste_aktuell.pdf

There is another kosher list, that has cholov stam products: (this one originates from the Basel community):
http://www.igb.ch/index.php?id=9#c36
(the latest at time of posting is the Koscherliste Dezember 2015.pdf link )

Here is another one from ICZ community, also contains cholov stam:
http://www.icz.org/wcms/ftp//i/icz.org/uploads/koscherb-chlein-2014_online.pdf

In the Coop Supermarket chain, the following breads are kosher and pas yisroel in Luzern:
(only in the original Coop packaging - but not allowed with if it has a title
 "hier ausgebacken" (meaning that it was baked here on premises))

    Bio Knusperli  270 g
    Fyrabigbrot  380 g
    Halbweissbrot  1 kg
    Halbweissbrot  500 g
    Hirtenbrot  500 g
    Knusper Laib  “Pain Artisanal”   450 g
    Pagnol rustique  “Pain Artisanal”   450 g
    Roggenbrot   500 g
    Ruchbrot   1 kg
    Ruchbrot  500 g
    Rusticobrot  “Pain Artisanal”   550 g
    St. Galler Ruchbrot  500 g
    St. Gallerbrot, halbweiss  500 g

Use http://translate.google.com and http://dict.leo.org  if you need to translate from e.g. German into English.

thanx whats with the food situation in lucerne?

Offline Yisroel klein

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1128 on: January 05, 2016, 01:43:32 PM »
anyone stay at the renaisance zurich? whats it like? hows the location?

Offline em0616

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1129 on: January 05, 2016, 04:57:18 PM »
The hotel is very nice, but it would be about a 30 minute walk to the closest shul.
It's more in an industrial area right next to Hardbrücke http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardbrücke

Offline Yisroel klein

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1130 on: January 05, 2016, 05:20:40 PM »
The hotel is very nice, but it would be about a 30 minute walk to the closest shul.
It's more in an industrial area right next to Hardbrücke http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardbrücke
how abt tram? is google maps accurate?

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1131 on: January 05, 2016, 07:11:22 PM »
As far as food, you can go to the various supermarkets, like Migros, Coop, Denner, etc
and buy whatever that's on the Kosher List.

The Mehadrin kosher list: http://www.wwwdesigner.ch/downloads/koscherliste_aktuell.pdf

There is another kosher list, that has cholov stam products: (this one originates from the Basel community):
http://www.igb.ch/index.php?id=9#c36
(the latest at time of posting is the Koscherliste Dezember 2015.pdf link )

Here is another one from ICZ community, also contains cholov stam:
http://www.icz.org/wcms/ftp//i/icz.org/uploads/koscherb-chlein-2014_online.pdf

In the Coop Supermarket chain, the following breads are kosher and pas yisroel in Luzern:
(only in the original Coop packaging - but not allowed with if it has a title
 "hier ausgebacken" (meaning that it was baked here on premises))

    Bio Knusperli  270 g
    Fyrabigbrot  380 g
    Halbweissbrot  1 kg
    Halbweissbrot  500 g
    Hirtenbrot  500 g
    Knusper Laib  “Pain Artisanal”   450 g
    Pagnol rustique  “Pain Artisanal”   450 g
    Roggenbrot   500 g
    Ruchbrot   1 kg
    Ruchbrot  500 g
    Rusticobrot  “Pain Artisanal”   550 g
    St. Galler Ruchbrot  500 g
    St. Gallerbrot, halbweiss  500 g

Use http://translate.google.com and http://dict.leo.org  if you need to translate from e.g. German into English.

Here's the Mehadrin Kosher list with latest updates, straight from the source. http://www.irgz.ch/koscherliste/index.html

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1132 on: January 05, 2016, 07:12:04 PM »
There's not really that many restaurants in Zurich. Only one milchig one around for years. And recently another meat place. Was posted a few pages back. Also was posted regarding the hechsher. There's basically two shuls. One Bnei Akiba/mizrachi (correct me if I'm wrong). And one Shul where  Rav Breish is the Ruv. That's located on the corner of Erikastrasse and Weststrasse, I believe. Please double check.

I left out at least two Shtieblach. One Belz and one Gur. And the Yekishe Shul.

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1133 on: January 05, 2016, 08:50:00 PM »
Yes, your link points to the same source as what I posted: http://www.wwwdesigner.ch/downloads/koscherliste_aktuell.pdf

Here's the Mehadrin Kosher list with latest updates, straight from the source. http://www.irgz.ch/koscherliste/index.html

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1134 on: January 05, 2016, 08:51:44 PM »

Offline VacationLover

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1135 on: January 06, 2016, 09:08:53 AM »
I just speed read most of this thread and hoping the experts can answer a few questions.

Going to be stopping in Zurich in a few weeks from Wednesday at 11AM through sunday at 4PM. Rough plan is to go skiing on Thursday/Friday and stay shabbas somewhere in the alps (probably St Moritz). Not sure though what to do on Wed afternoon and Sunday.

1) Is Lucerne still worth it if the cogwheel is closed until march and I'll be in the alps so presumably will have really nice views there too?
2) If it is still worth it,  is wed afternoon enough time to do Lucerne? 
3) No matter what we do on wed/sun, we'll have our luggage with us which will be pretty annoying. Would it make more sense to rent a car so that we can keep our luggage in the car? How hard is it for a non swiss speaking person to drive in switzerland?
Depends what your final plan is. If you are going to St Morits enjoy the alps in that area. Go to Mount Corvatsch or Muottas Muragl. I don't see any reason in going to Pilatus (unless the weather is better in Lucern than in St Morits)

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1136 on: January 06, 2016, 09:10:02 AM »
any ideas on what to do from zurich? does it pay to go out to the alps?
Once and for all: Pilatus in Lucern or Titlis in Engelberg.

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1137 on: January 06, 2016, 09:11:19 AM »
are there any other kosher hotels except Levin?
Crans Montana see in the WIKI
« Last Edit: January 06, 2016, 09:23:29 AM by VacationLover »

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1138 on: January 06, 2016, 09:12:24 AM »

3. Driving in Switzerland is easy

Not in the winter
« Last Edit: January 06, 2016, 09:23:47 AM by VacationLover »

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Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #1139 on: January 06, 2016, 09:14:06 AM »
I remember having to remove my shoes after 9pm in my grandparents' old apartment in Basel so as not to disturb the downstairs neighbors...
ALOL. Well described...