- Yellow Productions presents 10 things to know
before you go to Switzerland.
I'm Chris, this is my traveling panda, Topher.
We do travel guides that are fun, informative,
and entertaining, and in this video
we'll tell you some things you'll wanna know
before you come to Switzerland.
And we'll start with number one which is,
Switzerland has four different languages.
Yes, in Switzerland they speak
German, French, Italian, and Romansh.
And in different parts of the country
they speak different languages.
So, in Zurich and Lucerne you'll find people speak German.
In Geneva they speak French.
The south speaks Italian, but almost everybody speaks
English too, so if you're an English-speaker,
chances are you'll be able to get along
just fine in Switzerland.
And the other thing to know about languages
is there's really no need for small talk in Switzerland.
In a lot of places you have to chat up
the store clerks, the waiters and waitresses.
Here they're pretty good about being efficient;
they just want to finish the transaction
and so you'll find you don't need to make
that small talk that maybe you do back home.
If your home is the States or places
where small talk is popular.
Alright.
Thing to know number two: hours.
Switzerland is an early country.
Cafes open early, stores close early,
so when you're here you will want to start,
and likely end, your days early.
Most stores open between eight and 10 in the morning
and they close between six and 8 p.m. in the evening.
On Saturday most shops close around four or 5 p.m.,
and on Sunday almost everything is closed.
Switzerland has pretty strict laws
to have a good quality life so things aren't
too noisy or too busy, but that means that,
when it becomes night time, there's not much to do.
So just kinda plan your days that way.
There are some cities that have a thing
called evening shopping and they'll have
one day a week where the shops will be open 'til later.
In Zurich this happens on Thursdays,
and on Thursdays the shops are often open until 9 p.m.
Alright, number three: transportation.
Switzerland has really good public transportation.
It's pretty similar to Japan in that context.
Public transportation here is always on time.
If your train leaves at 12:02, by gosh,
it's gonna leave at 12:02.
If you see another one that's leaving at 11:58,
that is a different train.
Something to know if you're coming to Switzerland
and you'll be traveling a lot on the train,
there's this thing called the Swiss Travel Pass
and you can get unlimited transportation
on trains, buses, trams, everything like that.
And so that's a pretty good deal
if you're gonna be doing a lot of train travel.
Alright.
Also, if you are doing a lot of train travel,
make sure on your mobile device
that you download the SBB app.
SBB is the Swiss Railways and their app
tells you lots of great stuff about where you're coming,
where you're going, platforms it goes on,
so that's a handy thing to have with you.
And also there's two main classes
of train travel in Switzerland.
First class and second class.
Now the second class is actually pretty good.
I think second class in Switzerland
is almost as good as first class
in a lot of other countries, so don't feel bad
if you're taking a second class train.
Okay, the fourth thing to know is money.
In Switzerland they don't use the euro
and they're not part of the European Union either.
They are part of the Schengen Agreement
that allows visa-free entry
so the money they use here is the Swiss franc,
abbreviated CHF, but you can exchange euros
at any bank, many hotels, a lot of stores will accept euro,
but then you'll get change back in francs.
And if you're looking for an ATM
you will see those called Bancomats.
Bancomats is the term.
Alright thing to know number five:
Switzerland is expensive.
You've heard Switzerland is expensive and it is.
Pizza probably cost you about 20 Swiss francs at Vapiano's,
which is a pizza chain that I like quite a bit,
but that was a bit of sticker shock
when it was 20 francs for a pizza.
A Big Mac meal at McDonald's will cost 12 francs.
Starbucks coffee, five Swiss francs.
Nothing here is cheap.
By the way I don't know that if I said this
of where I'm doing this.
I am doing this video in Zurich right over the river.
There's a river boat going underneath right now.
So if you haven't checked out my Switzerland travel guide,
you can find a link to that in the description below.
Alright, so thing to know number six: food.
When you are in Switzerland, the things to eat
are chocolate and cheese.
You will find chocolate shops almost on every block
in major cities in Switzerland.
The cheese, there's over 400 varieties
of cheese in Switzerland, and those are
two of the things they're most famous for.
They have a lot of cows so drink the milk too,
dairy is a big thing here.
Something to also know about food,
and I just talked about things being expensive,
food is expensive.
If you're trying to get some cheaper eats,
go to restaurants that have lunch specials,
you might find those to be about 20 francs,
go to some of the cafeteria restaurants
that are in department stores,
or, if you want the cheapest eats,
check out the ethnic restaurants.
Kabobs are always cheap so you can find
a kabob maybe for 10 francs.
Last thing to know about food is
if you have a reservation, don't be late.
If your reservation is at 7 p.m. and you get there at 7:15,
well you might as well forget you had that reservation.
Things here are much like Germany or Japan
where they're very strict on time,
so make sure you don't get too late
and still expect them to seat you.
Okay, number seven thing to know
about Switzerland is it is small.
Switzerland has a total population of eight million.
It is one tenth the size of the state of California,
or about three times the size of Los Angeles County,
but Switzerland has many mountains
which makes travel fairly slow throughout the country.
But if you're driving on the freeways
where it's been developed pretty good,
you can go from Zurich to Geneva in three hours,
and that's pretty much the length of the country.
Okay, the eighth thing to know: the weather.
The weather in Switzerland can be quite varied
because of the Alps, the mountain range
that runs through the middle of Switzerland.
On the west side it can be windy,
on the south it's significantly warmer,
but the thing to know is that in the summer time,
here in Zurich, it can be quite warm.
When we were here the daytime highs
in Fahrenheit were about 80, 85 degrees.
They can get up to 95 degrees and 35 degrees Celsius
for the highs, so Switzerland can be quite warm,
which is something that we didn't really take into account
when we came here, so make sure you bring,
if you're coming in the summer,
definitely short sleeves and shorts.
You will want it.
It's also humid here cos there's
so much water out and about and around.
Another thing to know if you are going
up to the mountains, the mountains are cold.
Each mountain will typically have its own website,
so check the weather on the mountains.
Even though it's 85 Fahrenheit here,
up on top of the Jungfrau it's nearly freezing today.
So do pay pay attention to the weather.
And when you're up on the mountains at a high elevation
make sure to wear sunscreen because the elevation
is high and so the sun is stronger up there.
Okay, number nine, we're getting to the end,
and Topher I need to set you down so I can do a visual aid,
number nine is about water.
So skip the bottled water.
Bottled water is really expensive.
They have a tax on these plastic bottles
which makes these plastic bottles
2, 3 francs to purchase them.
Pick up one or bring one with you
from maybe the airport you're flying from
and refill it as you get here.
Switzerland cities are full of public fountains
that the water is cold, delicious,
and good for you, too.
Zero calories in the Marriott.
Zero calories, no sugar, no fat, so check out the water.
Fill it up from the tap or from those public fountains,
that'll save you some money.
Okay, the last thing to know
when you come to Switzerland is recycling.
The Swiss are really big on recycling.
So when you see trash cans in supermarkets
there will often be four or five different trash cans
for plastic bottles, for metal, for glass,
so make sure you're putting your trash
in the right areas otherwise you might get a nasty sneer.
Few more bonus tips I wanted to add related
to things to know, and this is after
I just finished dinner at Zeughauskeller in Zurich.
And if you wanna know more about what food is in there,
check out my Zurich travel guide,
but here's three things to know about eating at restaurants.
One, if you want air conditioning,
make sure they have air conditioning.
This is one restaurant that doesn't,
and Zurich and Switzerland can be warmer
than you might expect in the summer,
and eating there at eight o'clock at night
I felt like I was inside a sauna.
Two, a lot of restaurants add a service charge,
they add an 8% service charge here,
so you don't need to add a tip to the extra service charge.
And Switzerland in general is probably
warmer than you thought.
I know that I had a section about weather,
and I know that I said it was warm,
but in the summer, however warm you think it is,
if you're in Fahrenheit add about 10 more degrees,
if you're in Celsius add five more degrees
cos it can be hot and humid.
Did I mention that?
Like Asia is usually hot and humid,
but Switzerland you have this perspective
of snow and cold, but in the summer, throw that all away.
Hot and sticky.
That brings us to the end of this video,
and so Topher and I we hope you enjoyed it.
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Alright, bye bye.
- [Child] Bye bye.