5 EXCELLENT Switzerland Travel Hacks - Alpenwild + How to Switzerland

Hey guys, this is Sarah for Elfinwild and today I'm coming to you from the beautiful city of Lucerne, Switzerland. Now you've probably heard that coming to Lucerne or traveling around Switzerland is extremely expensive. You know, and it is a little bit true, but let me tell you, I don't find it to be much more expensive than traveling around any other big city in the United States. And in today's video, I'm going to be showing you some of the easiest ways, some of my personal favorite ways to save money while traveling in Switzerland. With these tips, you can travel more like a local and get the most out of your trip to Switzerland. Let's go. Let's get started. So we have made our way over to Lucerne's gorgeous old town, and if you are walking around like we are on a hot day, it's actually quite warm, it is a nice spring day, you might get a little bit thirsty. And this is where hack tip number one comes in. And the first tip is to drink from the public drinking fountains. Right behind me, you can see one of them. Some of them are very beautiful and ornate, some are more simple, but in Lucerne alone, you will find over 225 public drinking fountains. You can drink from all of them. The water is clean, safe, and ice cold. So when you're traveling in Switzerland, you can pass on the bottled water and just swing by any of these fountains and fill up your own bottle. Okay, so the good news is, we've got beverages covered, total cost, zero. Next thing is lunch. So a great thing you can do when you're traveling in Switzerland is grab lunch at a grocery store. So all over Switzerland, you will see two stores predominantly and they are Cof and Migros. And if you are in a smaller town or not such a main area, they even have smaller versions called Migro Lino and Cof Pronto. So those are the places you're going to look for if you want to grab some lunch on a budget. Grabbing a quick sandwich or salad at one of the grab and go counters at these grocery stores is a great way to save time and money because when you're exploring Switzerland, you might only have 10, 15 minutes for lunch. There's actually a Migro right over here. Let's go check it out. I'll show you all of the options. So as you can see, there is a huge selection of sandwiches, salads, pasta salads, all that good stuff. And they have really great prices. As you can see, a lunch in a supermarket is going to cost you anywhere between three and 10 francs depending on what you get. And they also have a large selection of beverages. Sparkling water is very popular here, so you'll see a lot of that. On to tip number three, I'm going to share with you my Swiss chocolate secret. So of course, when you're traveling in Switzerland, one of the most popular things to do is to find some Swiss chocolate. It's great to buy for fun, for yourself, or to take it home as a souvenir. But look, you don't need to go to some fancy Swiss chocolatier, a fancy boutique chocolate shop to find amazing Swiss chocolate. In those shops, it can cost you up to $30 per pound, which is very expensive. If you're trying to save money, what you can do instead is go to one of those grocery stores that I mentioned earlier. Migros and Coop have great chocolate selections. However, I would recommend that you go to Coop because they carry a wide variety of the famous Swiss name brand chocolates. And seriously guys, you can get an amazing bar of Swiss chocolate for as low as $1 in Coop. Okay, so wow. How impressive is that chocolate section? I was super impressed. That is a great Coop. It is the one at the Löwen Center in Lucerne, if you happen to be in Lucerne. But of course, you can find chocolate at all of the grocery stores in Switzerland. And as you can see, the cheapest bars start at around 60 cents. And as I showed you, they are made in Switzerland. You want to make sure you check that if you're really looking for Swiss chocolate because they do sell some chocolate that is made in Germany. So just check the back. But if you stick with Cahier or Lindt, those are awesome brands. But I really like the Coop brand as well. The one that I pointed out called Cremant is so, so, so amazing. It is a dark chocolate, but it is just tasty and creamy. But really, you can't go wrong with most of the chocolate. The next tip is to take public transportation. The public transportation in Switzerland as a whole is super great, very reliable, very clean, and the most affordable way to get around. We're about to hop on a bus right over here to head to the other side of town. And that is the way that locals get around. Let's face it guys, driving in Switzerland is expensive and it can be very inconvenient trying to find parking. And gas will cost you around 7 US dollars per gallon. So take the public transportation. It's the best way to get around. Alright, so we just took the bus out here where it is a little bit more quiet and it is just so stunning. Look at this view. Absolutely stunning. By the way, while we're talking about public transportation, we do have a detailed video about how to take trains in Switzerland because it's not just buses of course. We've got trains, boats, buses, trams. We've got it all. So the video about trains I will link right here and in the description box down below. But we are out here so I can share with you the fifth travel tip that I have and that is to enjoy all the free things to do in Switzerland. Let's face it, some of the best things that you can do in Switzerland don't cost anything. My personal favorite activity is to go for a dip in the lake. Here the lake is so stunning. We've got the mountains in the background and there are plenty of places where you can swim for completely free. Locals love to do this. Get yourself a blanket, a bottle of wine, a few sandwiches from the grocery store and spend the afternoon relaxing. It's still a little bit too cold to go in today but I'm going to do that the second it warms up. Of course, swimming is not the only nature activity to do in Switzerland. Switzerland is actually one of the greatest hiking destinations in the world. So after you go for a swim, make your way to the Alps for some stunning, amazing hiking. The hiking here is absolutely free. You won't have to pay anything to access their amazing trails. You can discover some beautiful waterfalls, lakes, and of course, amazing views. So really the best way to discover Switzerland is on foot and when you book an all-inclusive hiking tour with Alpenwild, you may find that you're going to save yourself a good amount of time and money. Alright, that is it. Those are my five tips. We're about to jump on a boat and head back to the center of Lucerne. I hope you enjoyed today's video. Let us know what you would like to hear more about in the comments down below. We'd love to take your requests into consideration. At Alpenwild, we want your experience in the Swiss Alps to be the best ever. So make sure you subscribe down below to stay up to date with our latest videos where we share all sorts of Swiss travel tips. That's it for today guys. Bye!