Trip to celebrate my birthday driving through Lucerne, Interlaken, Bern and Zurich, Switzerland. We loved it!!

Day 1 – Thursday (10/27/2016)

We took a flight from Dublin to Zurich with Swiss Airways and we loved the service, the snack and the chocolates they gave us. The 2 hour trip could have been a little longer…lol. We arrived there around 2:30 pm and went to pick up the rental car from the company Dollar without any stress. From the airport, we went straight to Lucerne, our first stop on our 5-day itinerary through the country – see the full plan in this post.

We think that our Internet from Meteor (Dublin) would work in Switzerland, but the package roaming EU DATA, which we normally use on our trips (15 euros for 1GB), didn't work there. We later saw that Switzerland is not on the list of countries in the package (lack of attention in planning) and we even thought about buying the specific one for the country, but we thought it would be better to venture out with the plates and the wifis of the hotels. We did this throughout the trip and had no problems...what a well-signposted country!

We drove for less than 1 hour from the airport to Lucerne just following the signs and when we arrived in the city, we looked for the parking signs and stopped at one very close to the center with lots of free spaces (you can see the number of spaces on some electronic signs). We walked for about 2 hours and saw the city's postcard, the Chapel Bridge, some churches, the town hall (only from the outside), several fountains and cute streets.

We decided to have dinner at a restaurant facing the river, the Pfistern Family Restaurant, after we saw it at Starbucks (they always have it) wifi!) that the review was good. We asked for a table outside with a beautiful view of the city, but we were unable to order one of the country's main dishes – raclette – because they are only served inside the restaurant. We ordered some bruschetta and Swiss cheese as a starter, a local beer and a tasty soda Rivella for me (the driver on the trip). It was a nice snack, but then I got hungry again and we ended up having a real dinner at our hotel restaurant (I'll tell you more later).

We took the car and continued our journey to our first hotel of the trip, the Hotel Kaiserstuhl. We did check-in, We left our bags in the room and went down to dinner at the hotel restaurant, which had a very welcoming atmosphere. We ordered meat and fish dishes and a bottle of wine and everything was great. It was great that we only had to climb the stairs to get to the room. 🙂

Day 2 – Friday (10/28/2016)

We woke up to a beautiful view of the lake right outside our bedroom window and went downstairs excitedly for breakfast. I was impressed with the view from the restaurant and the presentation and variety of items, so it was definitely worth it. one of the best coffees of my life. Just look at the privileged location of this hotel:

We ate calmly, we did checkout and then we drove on a country road around the lake Lungerersee. Although narrow, muddy and sometimes dead-end, these little roads are worth it to see the forests up close in the middle of autumn, the views of the villages and the lake and also to hear the cows with their huge noisy bells. A blast!

After some time, we took the main road and followed the signs to our second hotel of the trip, the Brienzersee. It is very close to the city of Interlaken, in a village called Ringgenberg, and the view it has of the lake with the same name is “amazing”, as my fellow Bahians say.

We did the check-in, We went up to leave our bags in the room and although we chose the cheapest room in the hotel, we were amazed at the view from the window of the mountain. If you want to pay a little more, you will have access to a view of the super blue lake, so neither option is a bad deal, huh?

We talked a lot with the owner of the hotel, a very smart and active little lady, and got some great tips about places to visit in the region with the car we rented. I read in several blogs and some friends spoke very well of the trip to the Jungfrau, one of the most famous peaks in the country, but since you can only climb to its top by train and the round trip ticket was around 200 euros per person, we thought it best to leave this trip for another trip to Switzerland, when we intend to travel by train with the Swiss Pass and we will also buy the Half Fare Card (If you have any questions, just ask me and I'll explain better). This time, we took the opportunity to go to places that can only be reached by car…

We left the hotel with the map that the lady gave us and following the excellent road signs, we went to a place called Schilthorn. Before talking about this spectacular place, I wanted to take a break and post some photos of these DIVINE roads: 

This mountain is almost 3 thousand meters high and has a cable car that makes several stops along it, the highest being at its top in Piz Gloria, at 2970 meters high. The second highest stop is at Birg, 2677 meters high, and that's where we stopped because we thought the price difference wasn't worth it (our trip cost 65 francs and the higher trip would cost 120 francs – the price is per person). The view from inside the cable car is already incredible, but being up there on a glass platform with nothing around you is truly IMPRESSIVE. What a beautiful place!!!

Going up…

Up there:

We spent hours enjoying the view, hours indeed. We got a little hungry and ate hot dogs Swiss people with local beers and soft drinks (Celo and I, respectively). I found the prices to be quite reasonable considering we were in a huge – pardon the language – tourist attraction in the Swiss Alps. We walked around a platform around the mountain, played in the snow at the back of the restaurant and when it was time for the last cable car to go down, we got off.

We stopped on the way back at the station Murren, a very, very cute village, and we strolled leisurely along the main street, but all the shops were already closed because of the time. It was nice to take photos and enjoy the countryside atmosphere, but I think if I could go back in time, I would stop there earlier and after half an hour I would go up to Birg. Here's a tip.

We picked up the car in the parking lot (we paid 7 francs for the hours we spent there) and went to the restaurant recommended by the owner of our hotel, the Laterne (to go to it, we put it in the GPS taking advantage of the wifi of the tourist attraction….lol.) The restaurant has a cozy atmosphere and decor, but the waitress who served us was not very friendly. We ordered a traditional fondue with a good variety of Swiss cheeses, rosties potatoes, and local wine to accompany. Everything was delicious and cost around 80 francs. It’s really expensive…

Day 3 – Saturday (10/29/2016)

My birthday… A very special day! <3

I woke up next to my little darling, got some lovely surprises and went downstairs excited for breakfast. This hotel wasn't bad either in terms of variety of breakfast items and view, but I would say that the atmosphere isn't as welcoming as the previous hotel, you know? I think that since it has a somewhat modern feel, it ends up looking like a normal hotel, I don't know... The important thing is that I was able to eat some croissants with local jams and cheeses, drink incredibly fresh and tasty milk and finish off with delicious homemade cakes.

We took the car and went to the second attraction recommended by the owner of our hotel, the Niederhorn, passing through a beautiful road! It's impossible not to stop along the way to take a thousand photos.

Near the attraction, we asked for some information and parked our car in a parking lot where there was a shuttle bus to and from the place where the cable cars depart (3 francs for 6 hours). We paid about 30 francs per person to go up to the top of the mountain and the view is also amazing. We saw some people doing everything up there: paragliding, hiking for hours, lying down and enjoying the view (we are in that group) and having a snack in a restaurant with fair prices too. We ended up having lunch there.

We went down with the cable car after a few hours of contemplation, we got in the car and went straight to the hotel, since we wanted to go to the center of Interlaken by train to dine and toast in style. Although the hotel is not in Interlaken and yes in Ringgenberg, the hotel owner gave us a card that gives us access to unlimited free trains (!!!) there. We took the ultra mega comfortable train and in 5 minutes we were there Interlaken (The trip could have taken a little longer… lol). We walked along the main street, but most of the shops were closed because of the time. Some were still open, but they were full of Asians buying mainly jewelry and watches, so we passed them by in search of cozy restaurants with fair prices.

We chose the Mercato Restaurant, an Italian restaurant that was empty when we entered, but later became full of Swiss people (or foreigners who speak German too). Delicious pizzas and wine for not outrageous prices (50 francs each, phew). That's how we ended my day with a flourish! <3

Day 4 – Sunday (10/30/2016)

We had breakfast, did the checkout and we set off for the country's capital, Bern, which is less than an hour away Interlaken (I can already tell you that Bern is the cutest city I saw on the entire trip). We followed the electronic signs with the available parking spaces and ended up parking the car near the casino and from there we did everything on foot.

We entered the Gothic cathedral From Berner Munster (you can't take pictures inside), we walked around covered streets, we crossed some bridges to see beautiful views of the city, we saw looooots folkloric sources (I think there are 100 in total), tower of rpraise (Zytglogge), and also the Barengraben (Bear park, but we didn’t see any there…).

We did everything very calmly and decided to stop for lunch at Old Tramdepot, A really cool brewery that is recommended in many places, as it has a beautiful view of the city and the river. I highly recommend it!

At the end of the day, we picked up the car from the parking lot (7 francs total) and drove to the Mövenpick Hotel Egerkingen, that lies between Bern and Zurich, our next destination. The hotel is very large and comfortable, and has several restaurants on the ground floor, but we chose to have sandwiches from the Subway Since we weren't very hungry and wanted to save money, we ate in the comfort of our room. 🙂

Day 5 – Monday (10/31/2016)

We didn't have breakfast at the hotel (it was quite expensive), but we ate some snacks that we had to start the day. We drove to our hotel in Zurich, the Ibis Budget Zurich Airport, which, as you can see from the name, is very close to the airport and is IBIS, that is, the famous BBB (good, basic and cheap).

We did the check-in, we left our bags in the room and drove to the airport, stopping at a nearby gas station to fill up the tank (we paid 40 francs for the entire journey that I mentioned in post). We returned the car and inside the airport, near the train station, we bought an unlimited transport pass for 24 hours to travel during the day and the next day from the hotel to the airport (the woman at the hotel did the math and said it was worth it).

We took a very comfortable train from the airport and in twenty minutes we were in the city center, right on the main and most elegant street in the city, Bahnhofstrasse. They say that underneath it there are huge safes full of gold and silver, but we don't know if that's true, right...

The fact is that it has many fancy stores (and normal ones too) and trams, buses and cars circulating alongside people. Civilized society, right?

We entered a charming alley to see the St Peters Church, which is a cute church inside and out, and then we went inside Fraumunster (5 francs per person, no photos), which is famous for its beautiful stained glass windows by Chagall.

We crossed the bridge and went to have lunch at Star Grill, a sausage restaurant that is quite famous and recommended even by the Swiss themselves. We ate the house specialty – Fried chicken with gold burli (veal sausage with bread) -, we ordered some beers and got a shock when the waiter said we couldn't pay with card, only cash. Luckily, we had the exact amount for lunch. God is great and protects travelers! 🙂

We walked around that side of the city without much direction and then crossed the bridge to get back on the road. Bahnhofstrasse. 

We made a point of going into the most famous chocolate shop in the city, Spruengli. So many delicious things!!! I would buy a lot more than I did if it weren't for the prices...lol. It's worth stopping by.

We thought about having dinner at a nice restaurant to end the trip on a high note, but with the prices we saw and how tired we were, we preferred to stop at McDonald's and buy some burgers to eat again in the hotel room. We took tram 10 to return to the hotel and the next day the same one to go from the hotel to the airport in the morning. Super punctual and comfortable, as expected, right?

That's it! I think I've told you a lot of details about our trip here, right? If you want to read the summary post about the trip, click this link.