I got an invitation to attend my Italian friend’s wedding in Italy in late September, so we decided to take the opportunity to visit Switzerland before going to the wedding. We were in Switzerland for 10 days and we rented a car to get around.
4 Sep 2017 : We landed in Geneva late afternoon and picked up our rental car. We booked an apartment in a village called Villette via Airbnb for 4 nights, located about 10 km from Lausanne and an hour drive from Geneva. The apartment is right in front of Lake Geneva with view overlooking beautiful Lake Geneva and France on the other side! In the back of the apartment is a huge beautiful hillside vineyard. We were very impressed with this stunning location. We booked this place because we always prefer to live like locals; staying in the city or a busy tourist town is not our style. Another benefit of staying away from the city centre is that sometimes you get a better standard of accommodation and good value for money. Swiss people in this area speak French.
5 Sep 2017: On our second day we did a bit of relaxing by visiting Lausanne, where our King Rama IX used to live for 18 years from 1933-1951. We also visited the Royal Thai pavilion. The pavilion was a gift to the City of Lausanne from His Majesty the King of Thailand in 2005 to mark the 60th anniversary of his accession to the throne of H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej and the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Thailand and Switzerland.
Later in the afternoon we went to Geneva, walked around the city centre and along the waterfront and get the feeling of the rich city. Geneva was busy with tourists, every cafe and restaurant was crowded. We did some shopping and had coffee in a chic cafe before heading back to the apartment.
6 Sep 2017: We left the apartment around 9 am and drove a long the lake to the Chateau de Chillon. A long this road were countless beautiful vineyards and Lake Geneva. We stopped a few times to enjoy the scenery and take photos. On the way back we stopped for lunch at Montreux. We found a good Thai restaurant which is very close to the real deal! We also walked along the waterfront and had coffee and ice-cream at a cute Turkish restaurant.
After that we drove back near our apartment and did a vineyard tour by car which was the highlight of the day. We spent a few hours enjoying this amazing area. And to finish a good day we drove up to the top of the mountain and enjoyed a glass of wine at the Restaurant de la Tour de Gourze – friendly service with stunning view. What an awesome day!
7 Sep 2017: We walked up the hillside vineyard in the morning, I could never get enough of those views and the fresh air in the morning made me feel like I gonna live longer! We had a great lunch at the restaurant on the top of the hill called ” Auberge De La Gare” recommend by the host. We had a very nice salad with perch from Lake Geneva and a glass of local white wine with a stunning view overlooking Lake Geneva. The restaurant seems popular with locals. Later in the afternoon we returned to the apartment to catch up with some work emails, take a rest and drink wine for the rest of the day!
8 Sep 2017: We checked out from the apartment at 9 am. Our next destination was the town called “Interlaken” located between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz. After turning off highway No.9 we took road No.11 as we were going to visit the Glacier 3000. Along road No. 11 was beautiful scenery of mountains, villages and lakes.
After Glacier 3000 we stopped to have lunch at a quaint village called “Ormont-Dessus”. The village was very quiet, located in the middle of nowhere and looks like it is a winter holiday village for Swiss people. The village was beautiful, each property was well maintained, the whole area was clean and tidy. It was like the beautiful village in a novel which was not real to me! People in this area speak German.
After lunch we continue our driving and enjoying the locals lifestyle a long the road and beautiful scenery.
We arrived in Interlaken around 4 pm and we booked an apartment in front of Lake Brienz for 4 nights. The apartment is located only 10 minutes from Interlaken downtown. When we arrived at the apartment it was a beautiful sunny afternoon overlooking blue Lake Brienz. After a long day we had such a very relaxing accommodation and we recovered with a glass of wine! It was the most beautiful and relaxing place I have stayed so far.
9 Sep 2017: It was a wet and cold day. We did a bit of driving, went to the supermarket, prepared lunch at the apartment and stayed inside for the rest of the day.
10 Sep 2017: The weather improved today so we could explore more. We left the apartment at 9:30 am and drove around Lake Thun, went up on the hill to a small village called Beatenberg and later we visited downtown Interlaken. The downtown was busy with tourists. Later in the afternoon we went to Grindelwald for the cable car.
But first we wanted to experience one of Switzerland’s most famous eating experiences – fondue. So for lunch we found a restaurant that served meat fondue. The other option is a cheese fondue. In fact, there’s also chocolate fondue! Our fondue is a bit like Thai hot pot but instead of water in the heated bowl, there is cooking oil, When the oil is hot enough, you put beef, chicken and pork on the end of long forks and dip the meat in the oil to be cooked. It was served with Thai rice, french fries, dipping sauces and pickles.
The cable took 25 minutes up and 25 minutes down. The view was stunning only half way because the weather was not good and unfortunately, I could not take any photos. We returned home around 5 pm.
11 Sep 2017: The weather was much better than the 2 days before, it was sunny with beautiful blue sky so we decided to visit Jungfrau (Top of Europe). We left the apartment around 9 am, and only 20 minutes to drive from the apartment to Lauterbrunnen, a village where we took a train to Jungfrau. We very much enjoyed the scenery a long the railway, many beautiful small villages and hotels are available. It took 1.50 hours to reach the Top Of Europe and when we arrived at the top we went straight away for lunch. There were a few choices to eat and we ate at one of the restaurants which has stunning view over white snow and mountain, that was a good start. After lunch we checked out all the view points and it was spectacular for someone who live in a hot climate all the time like me! Another exciting experience was walking through the Ice Palace. We were 3,454 meters above the sea and this is the highest we have ever been and it was not as cold as I expected.
The view at the top was stunning. It’s amazing how nature created this but how humans created the railway 100 years ago through mountains and stone. It took them 16 years to finish Europe’s highest-altitude railway. The sadness is that many lives were lost during the construction.
Visiting Jungfrau has to be “must do” on your list when you visit Switzerland.
12 Sep 2017: We checked out from the apartment at 9 am and our next destination was Lugano for our last 3 nights in Switzerland. We took the road No. 11 through the mountains and snow when the temperature was zero degree. It was beautiful scenery of mountains with snow and pretty villages. When we reached highway No. 2 and arrived at the Italian speaking area, the temperature was 23 degrees and sunny with a beautiful blue sky. It was like we had just changed countries but we were still in Switzerland.
We stopped for lunch at Locarno and checked out the town for a few hours before heading to Lugano where we booked apartment for 3 nights. We arrived in Lugano at 4.30 pm and the apartment was stunning location view overlooking Lake Lugano and the downtown. After that it was drinking and enjoying the sunset!
13 Sep 2017: After many days in countryside, mountains, lakes, villages and snow I felt like I needed to visit a big city like Milan. It was not in my original plan but when I realised that it was only an hour by train from Lugano to Milan I decided to take a shopping trip to Milan. I left Lugano at 9.30 and returned at 17:30. It was an enjoyable shopping day in Milan! My husband did not join me in Milan. Instead he took my camera and explored Lugano. After I returned from Milan we went for dinner near our apartment which was recommend by the host but the restaurant was fully booked. However, the staff at the restaurant recommended another restaurant nearby called “Locanda Gandriese” which was very good, the food was excellent with friendly service and a stunning view overlooking Lake Lugano. Staying here feels like living in Italy!
14 Sep 2017: The weather was not so great today so we decided not to do much, just relax at the apartment, pack to be ready to fly away tomorrow and look at all the photos where we had been in the last 10 days.
Traveling in Switzerland gave us a feeling of traveling in 3 countries – France, Germany and Italy. The first place we stayed people speak French and the scenery was vineyards, wineries and the border is next to France. Then we stayed in Interlaken where people speak German and were driving a lot of Mercedes and BMW! And the last place was Lugano where people speak Italian and the border is next to Italy. The architecture of property in each area is different, influenced by the proximity to neighbouring countries and the climate of the area.
The 3 apartments we stayed could not have been any better; all of them were specious, fully equipped and located in superb locations with stunning views. We booked them via Airbnb as we prefer to have access to facilities like kitchen, laundry and working space. The 3 places made us feel like home.
We ate out from time to time and we also cooked many times when we were sick with local food. I packed some Thai ingredients from home and this helps me a lot when I need spice! Eating out in Switzerland can be pricey, especially in tourist areas. The cost of food in supermarket seems very high compared to other European countries. Switzerland is probably the 2nd most expensive after Norway (from our own experience).
Driving in Switzerland was not too difficult. We used GPS sat nav which was very helpful. The roads in Switzerland, especially in the countryside, were quite narrow and we found it a bit scary when other cars approached. The manner of drivers here were very good and we did not see any accident on the road – which is the opposite of Thailand!
We both agreed that this was one of the most enjoyable after our road trip in South Africa and camper van trip in New Zealand.
15 Sep 2017: Last few shots of Sunrise before leaving at 7:30 am.
Pim Never Stops 