Switzerland was number one on my bucket list because of it’s beautiful landscape and views. Plus, my best Irish friend surprised me with plane tickets for my birthday. So as you can imagine this trip was one in a million! Shout out to Sean for the awesome birthday surprise. We went in January of 2015. I loved Switzerland and it’s one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
We flew through Ryanair from Dublin to Basel, Switzerland. Something I learned from this was if you are an American, you need to go to the luggage check station to get your passport checked and plane ticket stamped. Since Sean was Irish he didn’t have to do this and I was unaware. I almost wasn’t allowed to board and would have missed my flight if I had to go all the way back to the beginning to get it checked. *Make sure you read everything with Ryanair!*
We stayed in Basel, Switzerland during this trip. Our hotel was called Apartahotel which was AMAZING. We had a king bed, a huge bathroom, full kitchen and it was so modern and clean. I absolutely loved this hotel and would suggest it to anyone! It was a part of my birthday gift so it was a bit pricey, but so worth it! Here’s a link to the hotel: http://www.adagio-city.com/gb/switzerland/city-hotel-basel-57.shtml?xtor=SEC-701-GOO-%5Bppc-adg-gen-goo-us-en-ch-bro-sear-bp-cen%5D-%5Badg-gen-v0313-basel%5D-S-%5Bhotel+apartment+basel%5D&gclid=CJOm6_qtlMsCFQEGaQodN2gFmA
Basel was a very nice town; however, if we had to do it again, we would have spent more money and stayed in a part of Switzerland with the views such as Lucerne which I will talk about soon. This town seemed to be filled with more of people living in Switzerland rather than tourists. We had a few problems trying to find food and landmarks because of the language barrier. We found out people actually speak French, German and Italian in this area. So as you can imagine we had a few issues. However, when we went to different areas that catered more to tourists, there was no longer a language barrier. We spent our first day wandering around the town and exploring. It was very beautiful with a lot of things we ended up running into. The river Rhin is a really great place to sit, relax and take in the views. We didn’t have much of a plan and this trip was a lot more relaxing by just exploring rather than running to known tourist landmarks.
We ended all of our days in local pubs around Basel. We tried Franziskaner Weissbier and Schneider-Weisse pints which were really good! We found some pubs where it was cheaper to buy a liter of beer in a giant mug than a pint. The Walliserhof restaurant was one of the places across the street from our hotel we drank in! We had very chill nights out in Basel just in the pubs but it was a lot of fun!
Something I have always heard about Switzerland is how expensive it is there. They weren’t lying! Everything was very high priced so make sure you budget well or bring a lot of money with you. They use the Swiss Franc in this country. The currency exchange rate from USD to Swiss Franc currently is only a one penny difference; however, everything is priced higher here. This is why we chose to stay in Basel and pay for a kitchen in our hotel because this saved us a lot of money. When we arrived the first night we got there very late. We were starving and ended up at McDonald’s. **Cost. This is something I always advise people of because it was a lot higher prices than I thought.
We ended up at the Basel Zoo during one of our days. This is the coolest zoo I have ever been to because it was full of animals I had never seen before. It only cost us 12 CHF each for entry fee. There was land animals as well as aquatic animals. We had a lot of fun exploring this zoo! I would suggest it as an activity for all ages!
We were blown away by the transportation in Basel. The tram comes every 5 minutes for each line. We were used to Ireland where if you miss the bus you wait at least another 20 minutes for the next one. Here we were never waiting more than 5 minutes for the tram or buses. Our hotel included a mobility ticket so we didn’t have to worry about purchasing bus tickets. The transportation is so easy and speedy in this city!
Seeing the views of Switzerland was always number one on my bucket list. We were on a tight budget so we couldn’t afford to get to Zurich, Switzerland. We ended up buying a round trip ticket for the day to Lucerne, Switzerland. It cost 66 CHF each for a round trip train ticket. This is the most breath taking place I have ever seen in person. It is a very tourist friendly town. It’s full of shops and restaurants with amazing views. There are many opportunties to get to the top of Titlis Mountain with many activities offered but we were very limited on funds since the train ticket was very pricey. We explored around the water, sat and stared at the views, went into the shops and ate loads of chocolate! This was one of my favorite day trips of all time. I would suggest Lucerne to everyone!
The chocolate in Switzerland is to die for! I have never tasted better from anywhere else. We spent a lot of time in the chocolate shops trying to find free samples and buying chocolate. Our favorite was Lindt milk chocolate truffle ball covered in another layer of milk chocolate. They were pricey over 5 CHF but extremely worth it!
As you can tell this was the best birthday gift I’ve ever gotten in my life! I would love to return to Switzerland and explore more when I’m not on such a tight budget. Sky diving in this country is on my bucket list so expect another blog within a few years! Things to remember: it was pricey, language barrier may happen, amazing chocolate, views and transportation was so dependable!
Travel With Morghan 