Looking to visit Zermatt without blowing your budget? By the end of this video,
you'll know exactly how much we spent during one jam-packed week in Zermatt eating, hiking,
sightseeing, and even enjoying a little bit of luxury. We're Jana and Brett, and we love
helping you maximize your budget so that you can travel Switzerland with confidence. We've broken
down our Zermatt spending into four categories: lodging, food, transportation, and sightseeing.
Before we jump in, keep in mind that we booked this as a very last-minute
trip just one week before we went. So if you plan your vacation much further in advance,
you can probably save more money than we did. All right. Let's start with the cost of lodging.
We've learned that the travelers watching our videos prefer a wide variety of lodging options.
So maybe you just want a cozy, comfy, basic place
to explore Zermatt. Or perhaps you'd like a luxurious spa with views of the Matterhorn.
So to see what it might be like to experience each of these types of accommodations,
we booked three different Zermatt hotels. We stayed one night in a five-star hotel, two
nights in a four-star hotel, and four nights in a three-star hotel, all in the heart of Zermatt.
And the total cost for these accommodations accounted for 54% of our total budget. Our
five-star experience was over the top. Incredible from start to finish. We were
transported from the train station to the hotel by a horse-drawn carriage. Horse-drawn carriage,
y'all. It was actually almost a little embarrassing. The room itself was fantastic,
of course, and our stay included free access to the indoor and outdoor pool, hot tubs,
and a wellness area with saunas, steam rooms, plunge pools, and a heated relaxation area.
One night of five-star service and accommodation cost us 343 CHF. And they even drove us by
etaxi to our next hotel, a four-star spot where we spent the following two nights. And honestly,
this might have been the best value out of all three hotels in Zermatt.
The front desk employees were so friendly and attentive. They might
have been the best staff out of any hotel I've ever stayed in anywhere.
And yes, I know that's a really big statement, but I mean it. And because this hotel is partnered
with a five-star hotel we stayed at the night before, we still enjoyed complimentary access
to the wellness area and spa, which was pretty awesome. The nightly rate for this
hotel came out to 207.50 CHF. Finally, we capped our stay in Zermatt with four nights
at a three-star hotel that's been owned and operated by the same family for 120 years.
We had to walk to this one — oh, the thought! — and it wasn't quite as centrally located as
the other two. But we loved our private balcony and full access to the large garden on the side
of the hotel. And the nightly rate came to 183 CHF. So altogether, our total lodging
cost with the tourist tax included came out to 1,490 CHF, which is a nightly rate of 213 CHF.
And in case you're wondering, all three of these Zermatt hotels were fantastic, and we'd stay in
every one of them again. But to be transparent, these numbers include a 25 to 30% discount at
each hotel, thanks to a sweet membership program that you, too, might be able to benefit from. So
stay tuned to the end where we'll point you to another video where we tell you all about it.
Oh, I almost forgot. You can find a free and detailed list of all of our numbers
about what we spent in Zermatt, including the hotels we stayed at,
the restaurants we ate at, and what we ordered, our mountain excursions,
everything down to the last penny. And I literally do mean down to the penny, because when Brett
does our budget, he is very thorough and detailed. Plus, when we plan a vacation,
this is the kind of information that we research for. So we wanted to make it crystal clear and
super easy for you to find these numbers. So there's a link in the description below
where you can go to find this free download. While we often save money by cooking most
of our meals when we travel, we decided to approach this trip a little bit differently.
Our main goal was to travel and spend money the way most visitors to Zermatt,
like you will. And according to a YouTube community poll we published earlier this year,
that means eating out at least once per day. So we did the very hard work of sampling quite
a few different foodie spots, all in the name of research, of course.
And we've broken our total food spending into restaurants, groceries,
and cafes and bakeries, which accounted for 26.5% of our total travel expenses.
Spoiler alert: the restaurants in Zermatt are incredible, and I don't mean just the restaurants
in Zermatt village itself. More on that coming in a future video. We ate out for dinner twice and
lunch five times for an average of one meal per day, and sometimes we split that over two spots.
So like appetizers at one place and an entree at another, because why not? Now,
we rarely eat a whole lot at one time, so our portion sizes are probably smaller
than most people. But a lot of times we would go out for drinks, dessert,
or coffee in addition to our meals, too. So on average, you can think about it like this.
We ate out one meal per day. We both enjoyed a drink per meal, and 75% of the time that was a
beer, wine, or cocktail. We shared one dessert per day, and sometimes we had coffee and tea as well,
and our total cost of eating and drinking at restaurants in Zermatt was 580 CHF for the week,
which is an average of 81.75 CHF per day, or 41 CHF per person per day.
But, you know, it didn't end there. It's my sworn duty to scope out the very best
coffee spots and bakeries so that coffee snobs like you and me don't have to endure
mediocre coffee when you travel. So in addition to our restaurant experiences,
I tried a cappuccino at three different cafes, where Jana sometimes drank tea as
well. And we also enjoyed cakes or pastries at four village bakeries.
Our total spending came out to about 63 CHF or 9 CHF per day. And finally,
since our hotels included complimentary breakfast and we ate out one meal per day,
that means we went to the grocery store for the rest of our food needs, particularly snacks and
drinks for our hikes. There is nothing too fancy to share here other than we ate it.
Weird times and we hiked so much that sometimes we bought full meals, and sometimes we just bought
snacks from the grocery store. But we still spent 93 CHF for the week. In total, our food costs
came out to 736 CHF, or about 105 CHF per day, or 52.50 CHF per person per day.
Now, of course, no two travelers or couples eat exactly the same. But if this is helping
you get an estimate of what you might expect to spend when you visit Zermatt,
hit the like button so we know you value this type of content. While we have no doubt that you
could have an amazing time soaking in your hotel hot tub or filling up on local eats,
most people come to Zermatt for more than that, which means riding trains and cable
cars high up into the mountains is going to be another major expense. Since the cost of
getting to or from Zermatt is going to vary greatly depending on where you're coming from,
we decided to include in this budget only the cost of transportation that we spent while we
were in Zermatt, and this accounted for 13.5% of our total budget. So what's included? Well,
we visited each of the three major mountain peaks, went back to two different spots a second
time for additional hikes, and even upgraded two of our rides for special experiences.
In total, we rode way up into the mountains on five of our seven days in Zermatt and
hiked more than 50 miles over the course of the week. And in total,
our cost for riding the transportation came to 377 CHF, or about 54 CHF per day for the
two of us. One important note is that we both already have Swiss half-fare cards,
which allow us to enjoy a 50% discount on all of our ticket purchases.
Otherwise, this all would have cost 727 CHF for the two of us with no half-fare
cards. So add another 120 CHF per traveler if you're going to visit Zermatt and you
won't have fare cards too. There's one more category to talk about, but before we do,
I wanted to remind you there's a free download that lists all of our expenses
for a week in Zermatt, including the names of the hotels we ate ate, every restaurant,
café, and bakery we visited, including everything we ate and drank, all the cable
cars and trains that we rode, and of course, the little extra adventures we paid for too.
Speaking of those extras, here's what we spent on sightseeing and entertainment,
which accounted for just 6% of our total trip costs. Now the stunning scenery and wicked
cool train and cable car rides are really all the entertainment you need in Zermatt.
But we still sped down the mountain a couple of times on mountain carts and scooters,
visited a museum, and even checked out a nearby gorge. And the total for all of that was 168 CHF,
which means the grand total for the two of us for
one week in Zermatt came out to 395 CHF per day, or 2770.70 CHF.
But wait, because you can likely save even more money than we did IF you watch this video for
more tips on how to travel Switzerland on a budget, including that hotel membership that
we mentioned earlier. We've packed this video with so many actionable tips to help you save more than
1,000 CHF on your next trip. So watch that next, and we'll see you in Switzerland.