Zürich!

Raff
Nov 19, 2019
4 min read

Traveling to Switzerland is somewhat different from traveling in-between other European countries. For a start, you require a passport with you to cross, even if there is not a manned border. (There is a border crossing, but it was unmanned when we crossed it)

We know this because as we traveled into Zürich by car, we were randomly pulled in for an inspection. The police officers were clearly amused at our British plated bright orange Smart car as we pulled in to a lay-by to be inspected!

The Swiss are extremely polite and courteous and the officer asked us all about our journey, revelled at a picture of the car and motorhome attached! His sister had spent 3 months in Eastbourne at one of the town's language schools so he knew where in the UK we were from, and of course, they all spoke fluent English.

We were told that we needed to travel with our passports when entering Switzerland, and also our car documents need to be in the vehicle at all times. We were able to provide them with our driving licences which satisfied them but it was useful to know that Switzerland has different document requirements.

And other differences have been the vignette cards which you need to travel on their roads. Up to 3500kg you require a sticker which is placed in the windscreen. Over 3500kg and you need to pay a daily tax, at the Swiss border. As our motorhome is heading towards 4,500kg, we had to bite the bullet and hand over the cash. So, both the motorhome and the car needed to be covered, even if we were not detaching the car. As it happened, we did detach the car to travel to Zürich. I certainly would not want to have to take the motorhome anywhere near the city centre as it is quite busy with narrow lanes and low tunnels. The Smart car, again, has proven its worth!

We found it very difficult to find a campsite near Zürich, so ended up staying in a German border town, which you actually had to travel through Switzerland to reach from our stop in Stuttgart! From there, it was just a 20 minute drive in to the city.

And what a city it is. We have been blessed with some wonderful city trips recently - Strasbourg, Stuttgart and now Zürich. Zürich felt different - it didn't feel like another Germanic city, which we were expecting due to the relative closeness to Germany, but it definitely had its own Swiss style and class. I really struggled to see any litter, graffiti or vandalism. Everything was extremely well kept and clean. The water in Lake Zürich was crystal clear with no litter floating about. It felt well cared for and there are plenty of open green spaces and beautiful architecture. The city is split by the river Limmat - both sides of the river are flanked by very ornate and beautiful old towns and then lead into the newer, commercialised centres as you would expect to find in most large cities.

I had done a little research before our visit and we headed to a wonderful Lebanese restaurant called Le Cedre - winner of the Zürich restaurant award. WOW! The meal we had - a selection of hot and cold mezze from baba ghanoush, tabouleh, hommous, fattayer (little pastries filled with spinach and sumac), kibbeh and the classic kafta, it was all delicious and we each enjoyed a bottle of Beirut import Almaza beer. A little taste of Lebanon in the centre of Zürich. Highly recommended if you are in the city and want a delicious meal.

We then followed this up with an extensive walking tour of the city. Every corner was a photo opportunity - a little cobbled side street leading to a beautiful square, or the most magnificent Roman building - an opera house, a museum, a beautiful park or just the stunning blue river which dominates the city. Being here in Autumn also gave us the pleasure of the the city's many trees in full autumnal bloom - vivid orange, burnt reds and deep pinks.

We were also able to travel along Lake Zürich to Tina Turner's sprawling lake side mansion - Villa Algonquin on the golden mile of the suburb of Kushnacht. I am a total fan and she is my favourite singer (lucky enough to have seen her perform live!) and I could not, not take a look at her house! You can't see much as predictably her drive way is very long with lots of high trees and walls, but I made it and got to see the beautiful view of lake Zürich from her street. What a delight to wake up to!

Which brings me on to the cost of Zürich. If you think Norway is expensive, you will possibly want to avoid Switzerland. According to a recent comparison, the cost of living in Switzerland is a whopping 19% more expensive than Norway. We paid almost £20 for two cups of coffee and a biscuit. One pizza in an average pizza shop in Zurich was €25. And diesel was almost €2 per litre. We paid €21 for 5 hours of parking in a car park on the edge of the city and lets say, lunch was a treat! The only area where Norway is more expensive is on alcohol and car imports which are heavily taxed by the Norwegian government. Add this to the cost of the vignettes, which for a heavy motorhome and a car, it all adds up and should be taken into consideration when planning to visit the country. Zürich appeared on the surface at least to be a very wealthy city with all of the associated shops and facilities you would expect for a population with a healthy amount of surplus income.

We really enjoyed our visit to the city and it really did live up to our expectations, if not exceeding them.