Topic Wiki

Trip Reports
Dan
Yungerman
chucksterace
VacationLover Part 1
VacationLover Part 2
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 604713 times)

Offline kosherjid

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite
  • ****
  • Join Date: Aug 2018
  • Posts: 323
  • Total likes: 22
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2280 on: October 02, 2019, 02:08:47 PM »
Does Saas Fee have a kosher hotel in July?

Yom Kippur is approaching and you're worried about skiing next summer ?!? sounds like an emergency..

Offline mmgfarb

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Presidential Platinum Elite
  • *********
  • Join Date: Dec 2015
  • Posts: 8355
  • Total likes: 1110
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 4
    • View Profile
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2281 on: October 02, 2019, 02:11:44 PM »
Yom Kippur is approaching and you're worried about skiing next summer ?!? sounds like an emergency..
Who died and made you mashgiach?
"JS [is] a fetid cesspool of unvarnished linguistic manure, with lots of useless drivel and post-padding." -Moishebatchy

Offline Divora M

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Silver Elite
  • *****
  • Join Date: Dec 2018
  • Posts: 637
  • Total likes: 124
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2282 on: October 02, 2019, 04:22:32 PM »
Yom Kippur is approaching and you're worried about skiing next summer ?!? sounds like an emergency..

So it's ok to read about trip planning but not to post about it before Yom Kippur?

Offline kosherjid

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite
  • ****
  • Join Date: Aug 2018
  • Posts: 323
  • Total likes: 22
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2283 on: October 03, 2019, 04:36:47 AM »
So it's ok to read about trip planning but not to post about it before Yom Kippur?

Sorry, didn't mean to offend anyone.

Offline iluv2travel

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jul 2019
  • Posts: 1148
  • Total likes: 290
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2284 on: October 03, 2019, 11:37:26 PM »
IIRC Saas Fee also has Skiing in the summer

Skiing in July? That is way cool! What's the weather like?

Offline sam28

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jun 2010
  • Posts: 1876
  • Total likes: 137
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2285 on: October 04, 2019, 12:45:08 PM »
I got a speeding ticket last month in Switzerland my mail I was doing 107 in a 80km for 260 CHF do I have to pay it ?

I was watching my speed so much there but its real tricky since it goes down so fast each time u approach a tunnel I was driving from the ZRH to St Mortiz

Offline bestwatchman

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite
  • ****
  • Join Date: May 2010
  • Posts: 289
  • Total likes: 53
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2286 on: October 05, 2019, 07:49:11 PM »
I got a speeding ticket last month in Switzerland my mail I was doing 107 in a 80km for 260 CHF do I have to pay it ?

I was watching my speed so much there but its real tricky since it goes down so fast each time u approach a tunnel I was driving from the ZRH to St Mortiz

Yes! The Swiss are super strict about this. If you don't pay it keeps growing and they are likely to stop you at border control next time you come in and force you to pay the 260 plus crazy fees. Only shtick you can try is telling them someone else was driving.

Offline sam28

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jun 2010
  • Posts: 1876
  • Total likes: 137
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2287 on: October 07, 2019, 12:05:21 PM »
Yes! The Swiss are super strict about this. If you don't pay it keeps growing and they are likely to stop you at border control next time you come in and force you to pay the 260 plus crazy fees. Only shtick you can try is telling them someone else was driving.

and how do I tell them that ?

Offline Lchaim

  • Dansdeals Gold Elite
  • ***
  • Join Date: Oct 2013
  • Posts: 153
  • Total likes: 0
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 1
    • View Profile
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2288 on: November 20, 2019, 04:01:52 PM »
After my meal tonight at the Olive Garden, the waitress told me that next month they’re closing down the restaurant for good. There goes the only Fleishig place in Zurich...  :-[

Offline TravelSER

  • Dansdeals Gold Elite
  • ***
  • Join Date: Mar 2016
  • Posts: 246
  • Total likes: 13
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2289 on: November 20, 2019, 04:19:03 PM »
After my meal tonight at the Olive Garden, the waitress told me that next month they’re closing down the restaurant for good. There goes the only Fleishig place in Zurich...  :-[
Someone from Zurich told me that is not closing just changing ownership.

Offline PlatinumGuy

  • Dansdeals Lifetime 10K Presidential Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Apr 2011
  • Posts: 14958
  • Total likes: 2421
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 11
    • View Profile
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2290 on: November 20, 2019, 04:34:52 PM »
Someone from Zurich told me that is not closing just changing ownership.
Yes. Reopening as higher end restaurant.
״וזה כלל גדול: שישנא אדם כל דבר שקר. וכל מה שיוסיף שנאה לדרכי השקר – יוסיף אהבה לתורה.״ - אורחות צדיקים

Offline Baglach

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite
  • ****
  • Join Date: Jan 2014
  • Posts: 497
  • Total likes: 72
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 19
    • View Profile
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2291 on: November 21, 2019, 08:49:07 AM »
Yes. Reopening as higher end restaurant.

It can get more expensive?  >:(

Offline nescafe

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Silver Elite
  • *****
  • Join Date: Jun 2016
  • Posts: 748
  • Total likes: 37
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 2
    • View Profile
  • Location: Brooklyn
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2292 on: November 21, 2019, 12:59:43 PM »
It can get more expensive?  >:(
I found it to be priced pretty decently when I was there

Offline expertvl

  • DansDeals Copper Elite
  • *
  • Join Date: Aug 2012
  • Posts: 21
  • Total likes: 2
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2293 on: December 17, 2019, 09:51:03 PM »
I got a speeding ticket last month in Switzerland my mail I was doing 107 in a 80km for 260 CHF do I have to pay it ?

I was watching my speed so much there but its real tricky since it goes down so fast each time u approach a tunnel I was driving from the ZRH to St Mortiz

I got a ticket for 750chf and was able to make a payment plan with them.
The only issue they won’t accept cc. You have to wire.

Offline Hidden

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Silver Elite
  • *****
  • Join Date: Aug 2013
  • Posts: 744
  • Total likes: 4
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2294 on: December 31, 2019, 10:38:15 AM »
Anyone has any idea about a sim card for Switzerland?

(Now that toggle mobile is dead)

Thanks

Offline yelped

  • Dansdeals Lifetime 10K Presidential Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Mar 2015
  • Posts: 10481
  • Total likes: 3836
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 43
    • View Profile
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2295 on: December 31, 2019, 11:22:10 AM »
At the Kiosk in the airport. Blue K sign. Should be $15 for a great plan with Lycamobile. There's great coverage in Switzerland (depending on your phone).
Anyone has any idea about a sim card for Switzerland?

(Now that toggle mobile is dead)

Thanks

Offline RebTuvia

  • Dansdeals Gold Elite
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jun 2019
  • Posts: 204
  • Total likes: 7
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
  • Location: ברוקלין
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2296 on: December 31, 2019, 11:39:47 AM »
Anyone has any idea about a sim card for Switzerland?

(Now that toggle mobile is dead)

Thanks
If you can get hold of a "3 Mobile Sim" would be the best! It works in all of Europe and in most countries in the world.

Offline Hidden

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Silver Elite
  • *****
  • Join Date: Aug 2013
  • Posts: 744
  • Total likes: 4
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2297 on: December 31, 2019, 10:53:40 PM »
If you can get hold of a "3 Mobile Sim" would be the best! It works in all of Europe and in most countries in the world.
Thanks!

Offline yelped

  • Dansdeals Lifetime 10K Presidential Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Mar 2015
  • Posts: 10481
  • Total likes: 3836
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 43
    • View Profile
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2298 on: December 31, 2019, 11:26:11 PM »
If you can get hold of a "3 Mobile Sim" would be the best! It works in all of Europe and in most countries in the world.
Cost?

Offline solls108

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jun 2014
  • Posts: 1217
  • Total likes: 8
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 2
    • View Profile
  • Location: NYC
Re: Switzerland Master Thread
« Reply #2299 on: January 05, 2020, 11:44:17 PM »
Have an 8 hour stopover in ZRH and wanted to a chocolate tour. Any chocoLate tours that are recommended that’s a train ride away from the airport? Not renting a car. What else do people here recommend?