My 6 Shocking Experiences in Switzerland

#5 People are like Americans?

It’s been a dream to visit Switzerland. As a kid, I watched Bollywood movies where the songs were shot in picturesque locations across the country.

But it’s also one of the most expensive countries in the world. So it took me a while (and my mom) to finally visit.

Now, I’ve traveled extensively across Europe. At the time of typing this, I was in Switzerland just a week ago. I spent 8 days there exploring as much as I can.

Comparing it to the rest of Europe and the world in general, this country is one of its kind.

Here are six things that shocked me.

1. Free Water

It annoys me to pay for water.

I paid as much as €3.5 for 200ml in Amsterdam!

Switzerland was my last stop, and I traveled to five countries before that during this holiday. The currency conversion compared to my home currency is so high that I can buy a sandwich with as much money in India as I do for a small bottle of water.

Here’s the price of 500ml water in

• India (my home): €0.13
• Europe: €2
• Switzerland: FREE

There are plenty of fountains across cities that give you access to fresh and free water. How amazing is that?

Drinking water straight from the Swiss Alps.

2. Switzerland Is for Scenery

My friend told me that Interlaken is avoidable. I thought she’s nuts, to say that about a place which is known as one of the most beautiful towns in the country.

She was right.

Zurich, Interlaken, Lucern — the cities are underwhelming. Or maybe it’s because I’ve traveled to prettier cities.

Visit Switzerland for its scenery.

Picture this.

Sitting on a train with a bright turquoise lake next to you. The lake doesn’t end for minutes. Then you’re in the middle of hills with cute wooden houses. They decorated some of them with bright red, pink, and orange flowers because it’s summer.

Far away, you can also spot a snow-topped mountain.

The views absorb you in their beauty. That stuff is out of the world. Not the cities.

3. Annoyingly Expensive

Switzerland can cost double than rest of Europe.

I’ve lived in England for a year, which is one of the most costly countries to live in. But Switzerland changes the narrative of what ‘expensive’ means.

A chicken burger at Mcdonald's is for €10.

Coke is for €3 (for reference, it’s for €0.32 in India).

To give you a perspective, we had one beer each and a main course at top-notch fine dining in Prague for €20 in total. In Switzerland? It was €24 for one pizza.

There are also no daily or weekly passes for buses like in other countries.

Money didn’t pinch me this much when I traveled solo across Europe on a shoestring budget at 21. Imagine.

4. Anything for Tourism

In Prague, we hiked up for nearly 40 minutes to visit Biergarten Letna-Schlösschen. It’s an enormous area to sit out and have a beer as you see the entire city beneath painted with sunset hues.

And we couldn’t use cards!

What we could do, was to use an ATM which cuts 10% extra. What a scam. There were fine dining restaurants too, which only accepted cash.

In Switzerland, you could be at the peak of Jungfraujoch mountain and conveniently use a card for a hot chocolate.

I noticed how so many cities have nothing ‘to do’, but they’ve made excursions and adventure activities to attract tourists.

If you’re a tourist and you have money to spend, it’s super convenient to get anywhere and do adventurous stuff.

I was also surprised by their technology. You don’t have to worry about getting on top of peaks because of cable cars. Not your standard 2-minute rides. We sat in one which was 25 minutes long.

5. People Are Like Americans?

On my holiday to America in fourth grade – I was at my uncle’s basketball court playing around with a cycle I didn’t know how to ride.

And then I peddled, so it started moving. I kept peddling because I didn’t know what to do. Until I fell.

A guy who was walking around smiled and crossed me.

On that trip (and all further trips to the States), I noticed that people just smile at you for no reason at all. Unlike my home country and other European countries.

The Swiss smile when they look at you too. But now that I’m grown up, it’s a relief.

Because I’ve been the only brown-haired person in many places abroad and have my own tales of experiencing racism.

6. Cleaner Trains

On our last day, we had to travel from Bern to Paris which had one train change in between.

The moment you hop from Swiss trains to French trains (or any other country’s train), you can feel a significant difference.

Swiss trains are squeaky clean, smell fine, and are so well equipped.

This particular French train was old with stained carpets and a dysfunctional washroom.

I’ve sat on trains in ten other countries where only first class (in the UK) could make up for this level of maintenance.

It truly feels posh.

Below is the famous Glacier Express ride. Remove the huge table and that’s what a normal Swiss train feels like too.

If you can, I encourage you to explore this part of the world.

Each time I looked out of the train window, I felt God worked extra hard when he made Switzerland. Because its beauty takes your breath away.

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