Having traveled extensively throughout Europe, when I decided to visit Switzerland, I didn't harbor many expectations. I held the opinion that it was yet another developed European country unlikely to surprise me with anything special. I was wrong. It turned out that Switzerland has largely preserved its authenticity and differs significantly from its neighboring countries. However, the original plan was to spend only 2 days in an urban environment. The main part of the holiday was in small villages around lakes, high in the mountains, or in sheltered historic towns preserved since the Renaissance. We landed in Zurich, just in time for the famous July music festival there. The city was bustling, and our first stop was the spectacular Lindt Chocolate Museum. The museum was interesting, but I wouldn't say it was super impressive. I had previously visited the Lindt Chocolate Museum in Cologne, so it offered nothing new to me. Overall, children and fervent Lindt fans would likely have a lot of fun. In the evening, we headed to the Zurich Festival, which had taken over the entire city center. There were numerous music stages lining the streets with different styles of music and bands. It was cool. There was literally something for every taste, so if you have the chance to go in July, do it! This was the highlight of Zurich for us. We spent the night in one of the IBIS hotels on the outskirts of the city, which was a good option for us.
The next day, we went to Lucerne and took a little cruise to the other side of Lake Lucerne. This city is fantastic. Extremely picturesque, tranquil, and well-maintained, but a few hours are sufficient for a stroll. There is no need to stay overnight there; it is very expensive and not particularly close to other major attractions. For us, Lucerne was just a stopover on our journey. We headed to Buochs, a secluded post hotel right by the lake where we had a great view and paid quite reasonably. Evening and morning walks were simply indescribably pleasant there. It was so quiet, peaceful, and pleasant. You feel immersed in nature 100%. If you seek peace and harmony for a few days, this is definitely one of the top places in Switzerland.
The next day, we took the train to Lauterbrunnen. The magnificent waterfall there, with water seemingly pouring over the houses, is probably the most Instagrammable waterfall at the moment. This place constantly pops up on Instagram feeds, and I'm sure you've seen it. The village is beautiful, very picturesque, but also crowded with tourists. We even managed to hike up to the waterfall, which takes about 30-40 minutes. The view of the Swiss Alps from there is a must-see. I don't recommend having lunch there; it's too touristy, meaning high prices and low food quality. We were disappointed with our lunch. Then we headed to Grindelwald.
Grindelwald is one of those places I could return to again and again. We stayed in a small hotel on the edge of town, which had transportation until 7:00 PM. We didn't even get to have dinner that night as the restaurant was closed, and there wasn't even a shop around us. We were too tired to walk to the town center and ended up dining on some Lindt chocolates that we had been given at the Zurich Chocolate Museum. That's exactly how I'll remember that night - with a 2-chocolate dinner. It was cool in the end. We got the required number of calories for the day. The next day, we had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel - mainly local products: cheese, ham, processed cheese, yogurt, cream, butter, and bread.
We went to Interlaken and Harder Kulm. This is one of the places with an exceptional view of the Alps. It's like being in some fairy tale mountain above the clouds. It is reached by a special train that runs on rails in the mountains. In the town of Interlaken itself, it was not interesting at all: just restaurants and souvenir shops. We quickly returned to Grindelwald for a short walk there. Grindelwald itself is also very touristy, but there are countless attractions to visit. The next day of our stay in Grindelwald, we visited the Canyon there, and later we also hiked Grindelwald First Mountain, which offers indescribable views, great fresh air, and breathtaking scenery.
On the fifth day of our vacation in Switzerland, we headed to the mecca of Swiss cheese - the preserved Renaissance town of Gruyères. Everyone here mainly speaks French. People were much colder and had no particular desire to communicate in English. We stayed in the town itself for 2 nights, but if you ask me, one night is too much for this place. It's very beautiful, very cute, with some interesting museums and a cheese factory, but it's not worth spending 2 nights there. Essentially, tourists come to this place for a few hours and leave after visiting the world-famous Gruyère cheese factory.
I really wanted to visit it because, apart from being a cheese lover, I'm also a foodie. So it was a very special place for me. The tickets were about 5 Swiss francs per person, and along with them, they also give you 3 samples of Gruyère cheese aged 6, 9, and 12 months. So you can taste the same cheese in its different stages of ripening. The factory is not large. There are many panels with descriptions of how the milk is obtained, stored, and used to make the cheese; you can even see live how the cheese is made. Unfortunately, there were no cows or farm around - as much as I would have liked to see Gruyère cows. There is a cool gift shop where you can buy Gruyère cheese at a much cheaper price than in stores in Europe. There is also a restaurant in the factory itself where you can try fondue and other specialties with Gruyère cheese. Be prepared because they don't have an English menu. The waitress simply handed it to us and said, "the owner is French and keeps the menus only in French; if you have a problem, use Google Translate..." In Gruyères, we also visited the town palace, as well as the HR Giger museum. Nice, but nothing exceptional. Actually, the coolest place was the cheese factory. So if you're thinking of going to Gruyères, get off at the stop, walk around the town and the cheese factory, and continue on your way.
Nevertheless, I don't consider the 2 nights spent there a waste of time; it was peaceful and pleasant at night. Our vacation was coming to an end, and we had to head back to Zurich. We took an evening stroll there, and in the morning, we had to fly home.
As much as I enjoyed this vacation, I know it's only 40% of Switzerland, and I can't wait for the next opportunity to visit and see more of it. Don't forget to comment below the article and share it on your social media networks. This will help in the development of this blog. You can also follow me on Instagram at www.instagram.com/pablo_europe.