If you have read some of my previous posts, you may have come across my previous (partially blogged about) trip with the tour company Globus to Central Europe. Earlier in January, I once again ran across a good deal for a Globus tour to Switzerland named “Swiss Escape”. Since this is part of Globus’s “Escape” tours (off-season trips), options for dates with the best prices were primarily in late November and early December. We ended up booking for the first week of December, arriving in Switzerland on a Sunday and ending on the following Sunday.

The trip cost a total of $1,499 including flights, hotels, breakfasts and three dinners. This is also including a $100 discount for having previously traveled with Globus (to Central Europe). In fact, they were actually nice enough to extend this “welcome back” credit (you get one after every trip with Globus) because it actually expired a month before my booking (after multiple extensions due to COVID). I went with my mother on this Swiss trip and she flew from a different city so hers was a little more expensive (perhaps by $100 or $200) probably due to airfare costs being more expensive from where she was flying from.

This time around I am pretty much going to jump into the trip details but if you want more information about how the booking went and other information about traveling with Globus, you can read my previous trip’s post here as it was mostly the same.

Trip Itinerary

Flights for this trip departed on a Saturday and arrived in Zurich on Sunday (due to flight times and the time difference). We stayed one night in Zurich and then on the next day, Monday, the tour bus drove us over to Montreux which is on the shores of Lake Geneva. There we stayed two nights before moving on to Lucerne for two nights and then we ended in Lugano for our last two nights before departing on the following Sunday back to the US from airports in Milan, Italy (since Lugano is close to the Swiss-Italian border). Although we also stopped by other cities and towns along the trip, for the sake of these posts, I will be breaking up the trip in terms of of the cities we stayed overnight in.

Our tour director kept mentioning how much more she liked the setup of the Swiss Escape tour versus some of the other Swiss tours Globus has since you get to spend two nights in most locations whereas some of the other tours have you switching locations every night.

Switzerland Overview

I wanted to also go over a few things about Switzerland that I think are good to know before going to visit. The most important being that Switzerland is NOT a part of the European Union (EU). This matters because this means that Switzerland does NOT use the Euro but instead used the Swiss Franc (CHF) which at this moment is a little stronger than the Euro and therefore stronger that the US dollar. This also means if you are buying things in Switzerland and spend over 300 CHF in one store and want to get a VAT refund, it must be done before you leave Switzerland. For example, our tour group ended up taking a car to Italy and flying home from Milan airport since it is closer and you may assume you would do your VAT at the airport but because Switzerland is not a part of the EU, you have to do it at the border of Switzerland-Italy or at a Swiss airport or train station if that is how you are exiting the country.

Switzerland is pretty strong financially and Swiss people have relatively high incomes compared to other European countries and so things in Switzerland can be a little more expensive especially compared to its neighboring EU countries. Therefore, you may need to consider your budget beforehand for meals and such since they are not cheap.

Another thing to keep in mind are the outlets. Switzerland uses a different outlet than the EU. Some EU plugs might still work in Swiss outlets but it depends on what the base of your plug looks like. The EU mostly uses the Type C plug in the left image below and Switzerland uses Type J. If the base or your Type C plug is skinny, it might work in a Type J outlet but to be safe, I bought a pack of Type J plugs to bring on my trip.

The third thing is to realize that Switzerland has four official languages and depending on what region of Switzerland you are visiting, the primary language being spoken changes. For example, in Zurich and Lucerne, the primary language you will hear and see is German as this region is closer to Germany. When we were in Montreux, we were in the French-speaking region and then in Lugano, which is close to Italy, it was mostly Italian. The fourth language is Romansh but our tour did not stop in that area. I will say though, the Swiss are great linguists and you can get by with English. But they appreciate it if you try to use their preferred language though I sometimes would forget which language region we were even in since we moved around every few days.

The last tip I have is one I did not realize until right before my trip and was researching things to do in Zurich when we arrived on Sunday is that 1) most shops are closed on Sundays and 2) shops tend to close early in Switzerland compared to the United States. A lot of places and tours I was looking up for Zurich were not open or available for our Sunday arrival though I think most museums were. And then along the trip, a lot of shops tended to close earlier around 6:30 pm or 7 pm.

This post is part of a series:

• Swiss Escape (A Globus Tour): An Introduction
• Swiss Escape (A Globus Tour): Zurich
• Swiss Escape (A Globus Tour): Montreux
• Swiss Escape (A Globus Tour): Lucerne
• Swiss Escape (A Globus Tour): Lugano
• Swiss Escape (A Globus Tour): Final Thoughts