July 20-30, 2020 was overloaded with beauty as we enjoyed 10 incredible days in the Swiss Alps. Hiking to the music of cow bells. Alpine views. Gravity-defying mountain passes. Quaint, inviting towns.
Curious what it cost us? If you have never read one of our expense reports, we recommend that you read the background info below. But if you are familiar with the way we travel, click here to jump right to the report.
Why we share our expenses
“Isn’t it getting a little personal to share on a blog how you spend your money?” Well, that’s one way of looking at it; but here’s another:
Before we started traveling, we had no idea what it would actually cost. We figured traveling Europe was mostly for the wealthy, or for those “once-in-a-lifetime” experiences you save for your entire life. It was through others like us who were willing to get a little personal and post their spending and budgets that we started to realize that we, too, might be able to enjoy traveling Europe — even on our budget!
I mean, sure, you can blow it out and take luxury trips, and there’s no limit to the amount of money you can spend! But that’s only one way to travel. We hope that sharing our spending will help you discover your style of travel, too. In addition to helping you, we find that it helps us as well! Writing posts about our spending forces us to actually track it, keeping us to a budget and allowing us to make adjustments as necessary.
Some apprehensions (translated: why we almost didn’t start sharing our spending at all!)
- We’re not trying to brag or impress you. We hope that nothing about this comes across as prideful. We’re grateful that we get to do all that we do, and we know that many can’t. But for those who want to travel more or travel differently, we hope it’s a window into possibilities and a doorway into transformational travels for you, too!
- We probably don’t travel the way you imagine someone traveling Europe. We work while we travel, to earn money to sustain our travels longer. We skip out on a lot in order to save money (experiences that travel guides would consider “essential” — yeah, we’ve missed plenty of them!). We stay in one place longer and rest more. Because, let’s face it, a permanent vacation would just be exhausting!
- It’s a ton of work. It takes a lot of time to put a post like this together. And it might raise more questions than it answers. If that’s the case, leave us a comment or send us a message! We’d love to tweak these reports over time to make them more helpful. In fact, it’s because so many of you have asked that we’re creating these at all!
How to Benefit From These Spending Reports
There are probably as many travel styles, priorities, and budgets out there as there are people in the world! And you would probably do a lot of things differently. So keep the following in mind as you read to make this information as useful as possible:
- We are a married couple traveling together. Obviously these figures would be lower for a single person, or greater for a family with children.
- This report begins upon our arrival in Switzerland and wraps up with our departure. The costs of getting to and from a travel destination can vary widely, depending on whether you’re coming from the U.S. or from within Europe, for example. Therefore, we’ve attempted as much as possible to allow this report to reflect actual “on-the-ground” costs.
- This report doesn’t include the use of any credit card points and miles. Though we leverage points and miles extensively to minimize our travel costs, we’re sharing the full cost of everything without those factored in. We’re doing this in order to make this report as accurate and helpful as possible.
So take our info and personalize it for your own trip to the Swiss Alps! And finally, here we go!
The Cost of 10 days in the Swiss Alps: $1546 ($154.60/day)
There’s just no way around it: Switzerland is expensive! However, it’s our favorite country to visit. And while it tends to be a budget-buster for any traveler, we just can’t stay away forever! We can only afford to sprinkle a little of Switzerland here and there as the “spice” to top off our travel “meal.” But we’ve learned over the years how to make it a little more affordable for the average traveler.
Here’s a little of what we enjoyed during our 10 days in Switzerland:
- Visited the powerful Rhine Falls
- Hiked the Panorama Trail on Mt. Rigi for beautiful lake views and an ice cream refreshment at a mountain hut
- Explored the quaint Swiss towns of Schaffhausen, Zug, St. Gallen, Appenzell, Brunnen, and Chur
- Climbed the famous Ebenalp mountain peak, after a short detour to the gorgeous Seealpsee (lake) and a bite to eat at the Ascher Guesthouse
- Tasted about a half-dozen varieties of the stinky Appenzeler cheese
- Drove all over the tiny country of Liechtenstein
- Enjoyed every minute we spent in the relatively undiscovered canton of Glarus, complete with a breakfast picnic at Lake Klöntal and a breathtaking panoramic hike above Braunwald
- Drove the iconic Klausen Pass, with jaw-dropping cliff ledges and hairpin turns
- Relaxed a bit at Ruinaulta, the beautiful river that carves out the gorge known as the “Swiss Grand Canyon”
Read on for a breakdown of each expense category.
Lodging: $985
We split our time in Switzerland between 3 days in the Oerlikon neighborhood of Zurich and 7 days in the Alpine village of Flumserberg, taking day trips from each throughout a large portion of Eastern Switzerland.
The Oerlikon apartment ($269 for 3 nights) was a studio with a full kitchen, private bath, and washing machine access. The Flumserberg apartment ($716 for 7 nights) was a 1-bedroom with living/kitchen room combo, private bath, laundry access, parking, and a breathtaking mountain view!
If you’ll be staying in hotels when you travel you should really check out this hotel discount card. You can save up to 50% on your stay which means more money in your pocket or more money to spend….you get to choose!
Transportation: $118
**We’re currently leasing a car long-term, so this figure excludes any rental costs.
Gas: $88. One of the things we most wanted to do was drive every nook and cranny of this beautiful slice of God’s creation. So that’s basically what we did!
Parking fees: $30. I don’t enjoy paying for parking! But these relatively small expenses allowed us to enjoy hours wandering Zurich Oerlikon, Schaffhausen, the Rhine Falls, Zug, Appenzell, St. Gallen, Glarus, Brunnen, and Zug.
If you’ll be using Swiss transportation such as buses, boats, and trains. Check out this Swiss Train Pass resource that helps you find the right transportation pass for your trip and this Guide that helps you ride Swiss transportation like a pro!
Food: $330
Groceries: $158. Why is this number so high? 10 days of food for 2 people doesn’t usually cost that much, but we bought a ton of snacks for hiking (like sausage sticks, dried fruit, and nuts). This number also includes 2 bottles of wine.
Restaurants: $47 Trying to avoid expensive Swiss food costs, we mostly cooked meals, ate at mountain huts during hikes, and nibbled on pastries. But we did have one dinner in Flumserberg, where Jana destroyed a tasty burger, and I enjoyed a typical Rosti chased with an espresso.
Cafes, drinks, and treats: $65 This is where we like to splurge! We’ve learned that if we’re willing to eat most of our meals at home, we can enjoy plenty of coffee, pastries, gelato, and drinks out on the town!
- $24 – Beer and Aperol Spritz in Zurich
- $6 – Coffee while working in Zurich
- $15 – Coffee, tea, and pastries at the lovely Bucher Cafe in Flums
- $4 – Typical Appenzeller pastry
- $11 – Some Brazilian street food with a cappuccino
- $5 – A couple burgers while enjoying the free wifi at McDonalds 🙂
Food Experiences: $60
- Ice Cream at a hut on Mt. Rigi: $10. There’s something so fun about stopping at a mountain hut in the middle of a hike when there’s nowhere else in sight! The only thing better (for Jana) is when the mountain hut includes ice cream!
- Cheese Purchased from a Mountain Hut near Seealpsee: $8. Along our hike to Ebenalp, we found this little place. We passed the cows that produced the milk that made this cheese. Watched them fight. Stepped in their cow patties. I mean, how can it get more locally sourced?!
- Beer, Sausage, Bread, and Croissant at the Ascher Guesthouse: $19. This experience has been featured on National Geographic, so it’s almost always packed. But seriously, you have to see this place to believe it. And it’s a perfect celebratory stop just below the peak of Ebenalp.
- Cheese Tasting in Appenzell: $3. The stinky cheese redeemed itself! After nearly making us vomit on our honeymoon in 2012, we worked up the courage to try 6 different Appenzell cheeses, and enjoyed them all!
- Alpine-Style Macaroni and Applesauce at a Mountain Hut: $20. Another fun mid-hike experience, this time we chowed on a typical dish you’ll find all throughout the Alps. And our experience was even better as we enjoyed the food with a local we met during the hike!
Hungry for more? Check out our Swiss food recommendations or our own DIY Swiss Food Tour.
Experiences: $130
- Mountain Lift down from Ebenalp: $43
- Round-trip from Braunwald on a Mountain Railway and Gondola : $70
Both mountain lift experiences not only gave us amazing views of the alps surrounding us, but also made possible incredible hikes that would have otherwise been impossible! If these sound fun, you should check out some of our other amazing experiences at Jungfraujoch, Schynige Platte, and the Via Ferrata!
How We Saved Money in the Swiss Alps
Many tactics were helpful to us in decreasing what could have otherwise been a costly 10 days. But the most helpful were:
- Booking an apartment from a local
- Staying for an entire week (in Flumserberg)
- Buying groceries and eating most dinners at home
- Packing food in a day pack when out exploring
- Knowing the rules of the blue parking zones in Zurich, saving up to $28/day!
Traveling Switzerland can be very expensive but it doesn’t have to be! Read this to learn how to travel Switzerland on a budget and if you’re interested in more money-saving strategies, check out our post: 70+ Ways We Save Money Traveling Europe or how much we spent for 1 week in the German Rhine Valley or how much we spent for 1 week in Zermatt.
Want to come to Switzerland but not quite sure where you want to go? Well that all depends on what you want to do when you get here! Read this to learn how you can narrow down your search and find the perfect home base for your time in Switzerland.
You can also check our our Swiss Travel Guides. These are done for you guides complete with itineraries, transportation information, restaurant recommendations, and rainy day activities. These guides are FULL of our best advice and insider tips!
