How To Travel Switzerland On A Budget

While Switzerland is one of the world's most expensive countries to visit, it still can be traveled cheaply. Here's my guide on how I managed to spend only $500 on transportation, lodging, food, and entertainment on a week in the beautiful country of Switzerland :)

Song: Oceans by Ehrling

Trip Costs Breakdown
Car Rental: $200
Gas: $75
Lodging: $45
Food: $80
Entertainment: $100
Total: $500

Some Travel Tips:

Flights: You can get flights from anywhere within Europe for 50-100 round trip.

Transportation: Many people love to use the Swiss travel pass which allows you to use Switzerland's wonderful public transportation (bus, train, boat) across the country. I prefer to rent a car because it gives me freedom to go wherever I want and its cheaper :)

Lodging: You can get airbnb's for fairly cheap if you plan ahead. I chose to sleep in my rental car for most of the nights I had in Switzerland. This was key for me saving money.

Food: Restaurants and any food in general is outrageously expensive in Switzerland. A average meal can cost $40-60. I survived off of $10-$15 a day, I mainly ate grocery store pasta and a occasional cheeseburger at McDonalds.

Entertainment: Gondolas, Special Trains, and other activites can range anywhere from $30-$200, plan ahead and you can figure out where you want to spend your money! :)

[louisasmith]

The trains are the “must spend” item. Many towns and other destinations you need to be in or near don’t allow cars! Eat from supermarkets; many Swiss restaurants even costly ones are often uneven (heavy food etc). NATURE is what u go there to see as a toyrist. Working there is a different matter: my comments are for tourists. Most beautiful place I’ve ever been to (so I repeat the trip sometimes to see different seasons and weather). Beware the “CLOSED MONTHS” between hiking and skiing season (esp during the pandemic), and look up pandemic related rules well before you go if you are not Swiss just returning home. (!!!) It looks like I saw this YouTuber climbing Gumihorn or one near it (“all to myself”)... yes it can happen and it’s a great feeling ... unless clouds roll in by the time you’re on top so all that weather is below you. TAKE LOTS OF LAYERS from T-shirt’s to down vests, good hiking or walking shoes, and remember they are NOT part of the EU... do your research on money (not the euro), trains, pandemic testing, seasons and even what electrical outlet cinveretefs you may need. Don’t miss Switzerland — go sometime in your life!

[zjgvergara]

I just wanted to add, since I was there when you started releasing these videos:

-Coop had cheap beers - 0.75 CHF (others more or less but over all cheap)

-Coop liter bottles of water 0.25 CHF

-Swiss travel pass is worth every penny (no need to validate, just jump on trains boats and busses)

-if you have the Swiss travel pass, skip junfraujoch and do schilthorn (you don’t have to pay anything extra).

-with the Swiss travel pass you can go up to Stoos but cannot use it to go up to Fronalpstock.

[VlltMoechteIchkeinenAlias]

I really like to watch this as a swiss person :)) come and visit Switzerland y’all

[claudiacomacchio]

I will be travelling around Switzerland in July 2020 and I want to say thank you so much for your videos. I have used so many of your tips while planning the last few weeks, and they have helped me to avoid spending money and time on things that are unnecessary for me!

[TopBinsYT]

Who else is addicted to watching Ryan?

[frouchitude]

You convinced me. I get in my car from Belgium and in 6h I am there. Magnificent.

[USARoadtrip]

Very good n beautiful country where I want to be.. nice n detail explanation about to visit to there . Thanks for sharing it.

[BrialMusic]

Also good tip to follow: don't get the cheapest car as they usually have small engines and low horsepower so you will be struggling to go up the mountains. Got one in another country and it was so frustrating and was holding up traffic behind me 😂 so be careful

[tpc.]

On Food:
If you are in the city, look for COOP/MIGRO/MANORA Restaurant. You can enjoy a decent meal (breakfast/lunch/afternoon tea) within/around CHF 20 or less. Otherwise, look for MIGRO TAKEAWAY so you would have a chance of hot food (especially in the late afternoon/early evening).


On Stay & Travel:
If you stay in Hostel/Hotel (Not AirB&B though) in some areas, you will have FREE transport card for enjoying some discount on local visit. Or if you stay in specific region, you can buy regional pass. Need to do your own research though.

[heatherhs]

Your videos are absolutely AMAZING!!😍🤩

[Bluepeter]

You can also fly to Mulhouse France which is very close to Switzerland with hourly bus shuttles to Basel.

[XProSuper]

Honestly this is breathtaking ! thank you .

[Let_Walk_Around]

Thanks for this tips I'm planning a trip there and now i have an idea on the budget.. Thanks

[Summitclym]

Great job on this video! Good info! I do an annual solo 10-14 day September back packing trip to Switzerland with a mix of camping, staying in mountain huttes or cheap hotels with communal bathrooms (no hostels for me 👎) and do it for $1500. The flight must be <$500 for the budget to work, hence September travel. Eating from grocery stores, avoiding popular tourist destinations and buying a Swiss half fare card for public travel really keep the cost down.

[jakobpeschke]

I (as a locla) would highly recommend to use the public transportation. You can watch the beautifull landscape whiile you're traveling and it's realy calm, clean and reliable. It's also nearly everywhere available. Here, it isn't something for poor people, neary everybody uses public transportation on a daily base. And there're a lot of beautiful villages, which you can't reach by car. You get also discounts on cablecars with the traveler's pass, so it won't be more expensive than rent a car.

[inprice]

A slightly different approach is to rent a holiday apartment for a week in a place like Grindelwald and do day trips from there. It works out a lot cheaper than staying in hotels.

[ryantripp]

Very informative! We want to visit Switzerland next year. Thanks for the info bro.

[titaalpay]

Wow ! - you are truly inspiring young people like you who are on budget to love your budget plans !

God bless Ryan Shirley !

[justinagritzan]

Thank you Ryan! Really appreciate it that you made this video. So happy to see this, as I always travel in budget. Once again thank you for thinking of us, budget traveler 😊

[jamiemarie]

Awesome footage! Good info to know thank you :)