We're going to Switzerland in June - all advice welcome, especially about vignettes, rail passes etc. Thanks! 
Switzerland
- Thread starter DonnaG
- Start date
hi, if you go online and find the Swiss travel service, you can buy your vignette. Remember of course you need one per vehicle, and there are weight restrictions, a different price if your motorhome is over a certain weight.
If you don't buy your vignette before you go, worry not, all the border crossings have offices to buy one. The border guards wont let you cross without one, therefore can get very busy at certain times of year.
Once we were settled at our campsite, we were given free bus passes and found the bus service stopped right outside the camp, and ran quite regularly. The prices of the train passes could only be described as jaw dropping, the deal we bought gave us 6 return journeys , a return journey each on the boat around Lake Thun and half price on one other, the exchange rate at the time wasn't that great, and the deal cost close to £300 , but by far the easiest and quickest way to get up to the beautiful villages, however we didn't use our car the whole time we were there, lots of deals and offers, it just depends on how much you are prepared to pay and where you want to go. We came back poorer, but wouldn't have missed it for the world. Enjoy the scenery it is to die for.
If you don't buy your vignette before you go, worry not, all the border crossings have offices to buy one. The border guards wont let you cross without one, therefore can get very busy at certain times of year.
Once we were settled at our campsite, we were given free bus passes and found the bus service stopped right outside the camp, and ran quite regularly. The prices of the train passes could only be described as jaw dropping, the deal we bought gave us 6 return journeys , a return journey each on the boat around Lake Thun and half price on one other, the exchange rate at the time wasn't that great, and the deal cost close to £300 , but by far the easiest and quickest way to get up to the beautiful villages, however we didn't use our car the whole time we were there, lots of deals and offers, it just depends on how much you are prepared to pay and where you want to go. We came back poorer, but wouldn't have missed it for the world. Enjoy the scenery it is to die for.
As per the advice given in the post above, we did buy our vignette early and had it posted to Spain, while we were there for the winter. So far, we have found the road network to be really good, with clear signage. The ACSI site near Interlaken is listed as €18 per night, but with local taxes on top, it comes to CHF27.40 - we were also given free bus passes which are worth their weight in gold, and have not bothered to buy train passes, as we don't anticipate using them enough to cover the cost of two passes. The Interlaken area is really beautiful; tomorrow, we plan to head to Lake Lucerne
Hi
If you're going to Lucerne, then the Swiss Transport museum is well worth a visit and has some great exhibits. https://www.verkehrshaus.ch/en/
Alan (Brit living in Switzerland)
If you're going to Lucerne, then the Swiss Transport museum is well worth a visit and has some great exhibits. https://www.verkehrshaus.ch/en/
Alan (Brit living in Switzerland)
One thing that nobody mentioned when we were planning to come to Switzerland is the Swiss three-pin plug/socket, including those in campsite electricity boxes.We read about them and also read that they are readily available in Swiss supermarkets; we haven't seen any! The ACSI site near Interlaken took both CEE three-pin plugs and the older, two-pin Continental plugs, but the farm site we're on now, near Lucerne, does not - it's Swiss style three-pin only. Luckily, we have been able to borrow an adaptor from the owners. Has anyone else come across this in Switzerland?
Hi
You can get 'wire on' sockets in DIY stores like 'Jumbo' or in the electrical section at Co-op. The bigger Co-op s have a 'Bau&Hobby' department which is good.
Jumbo DIY near Luzern
Oberhofstrasse 28
6020 Emmenbrücke (LU)
Otherwise adaptors for EU German style plugs to Swiss are readily available.
You could also try a motorhome dealer, as they tend to have all the stuff one would need.
Not far from Luzern - e.g. mobil center dahinden ag
Hackenrüti 2
6110 Wolhusen
Tel. 041 491 04 14
http://www.mobil-center.ch/unternehmen/
Regards
Alan
You can get 'wire on' sockets in DIY stores like 'Jumbo' or in the electrical section at Co-op. The bigger Co-op s have a 'Bau&Hobby' department which is good.
Jumbo DIY near Luzern
Oberhofstrasse 28
6020 Emmenbrücke (LU)
Otherwise adaptors for EU German style plugs to Swiss are readily available.
You could also try a motorhome dealer, as they tend to have all the stuff one would need.
Not far from Luzern - e.g. mobil center dahinden ag
Hackenrüti 2
6110 Wolhusen
Tel. 041 491 04 14
http://www.mobil-center.ch/unternehmen/
Regards
Alan
manxli said:
Thanks, we won't actually bother as we won't be in Switzerland for much longer, and if we have to do without electricity, it's no big deal. I just wondered how common it was and wanted to give the heads up to other visitors to Switzerland. Thanks anyway though
No problem! I live in Switzerland and ALL the local sites I've visited use the domestic Swiss 3 pin socket rather than the EU industrial socket we are used to. I have a short adapter, which I made up using a rubberised version of the Swiss plug, as used for lawn mower leads and such.
This online vendor is the Swiss version of Maplin and would probably send to the UK in advance at extra cost.
Link = http://www.conrad.ch/ce/de/product/059414/Steffen-Gummi-Stecker?ref=list
I love living here, but the Swiss like to be different in so many ways! Not only in plugs and sockets and traffic rules. They also treasure their dialect of German called "Schwitzerdüütsch". Something like Raab C Nesbitt's Glaswegian compared to Oxford English, so you won't understand much if you learnt high German at school.
It's useful to know that one says "Merci" instead of "Danke" in Switzerland, even in the German speaking areas. And for greeting strangers use "Gruezi!" instead of "Guten Tag". "Hallo" is considered impolite for strangers.
Alan
This online vendor is the Swiss version of Maplin and would probably send to the UK in advance at extra cost.
Link = http://www.conrad.ch/ce/de/product/059414/Steffen-Gummi-Stecker?ref=list
I love living here, but the Swiss like to be different in so many ways! Not only in plugs and sockets and traffic rules. They also treasure their dialect of German called "Schwitzerdüütsch". Something like Raab C Nesbitt's Glaswegian compared to Oxford English, so you won't understand much if you learnt high German at school.
It's useful to know that one says "Merci" instead of "Danke" in Switzerland, even in the German speaking areas. And for greeting strangers use "Gruezi!" instead of "Guten Tag". "Hallo" is considered impolite for strangers.
Alan
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