Switzerland: 10 Days In Winter Wonderland

Early this year, we spent 10 days in the Swiss Alps to celebrate my dear husband’s birthday. He complains that we never travel on his birthday so I went all in to make it a memorable trip. We have been wanting to do a ‘white’ winter vacation for a while and it was a dream come true! It was an incredible experience to say the least. We saw some of the most breathtaking sights ever including a night of magical snowfall. Pictures do not do justice to the beauty of Switzerland. Where else could you embark on such picturesque train journeys?

We also experienced the most extreme temperatures ever. In Singapore, we hardly see any seasonal variations. We went from 32 deg in Singapore to 0 deg in Lucerne, -10 deg in Lauterbrunnen and -15 deg in Zermatt. It was much colder at the mountain peaks. I would love to see all these places in summer/spring; pretty sure they are equally stunning in other seasons.

The big advantage of travelling in February is that you do not need to book train and cable car tickets way in advance. You can get away with a little pre-planning since it is not crazy tourist season. We bought our half fare cards online before flying to Switzerland. We bought cable car tickets to go to the mountains based on weather. All hotels have live webcams streaming weather conditions at the peaks so its always advisable to look at the weather before booking.

Switzerland is very expensive; this was our most expensive trip ever. Food in general was disappointing even though our expectations were low to start with. We have had some of the most scrumptious meals during our travels to Europe before but food in Switzerland was quite forgettable. However, I loved sampling chocolates at each of the places we stayed at.

Our itinerary was generally relaxed with lots of chill time. We are not into skiing so our trip was more hiking and walking oriented. Winter trips are usually slower because most tourist sites close earlier in the day. Plus it is so much more comfortable to be cozy in your hotel room when the temperature gets more chilly at night!!

We flew Swiss Air and we didn’t enjoy the flight at all–food was bad, service was bad, limited entertainment options. But hey it was less than half the price of SQ and it was direct so not that bad a deal.

Lucerne: 2 days

We flew into Zurich from Singapore and went straight to Lucerne. Our hotel recommended we visit Mt. Pilatus due to the glorious weather and its relative proximity (as opposed to Mt. Rigi which is a longer excursion). It was beautiful at the top and super windy. You need to climb a few stairs to get to the peak. I could hardly keep my eyes open but the view was spectacular!

We agreed to visit Mt. Rigi sometime in the next two days if weather permits. However, it was raining, so we just walked around the pretty streets of Lucerne. Our favourite meal in Lucerne (and in Switzerland) was at our hotel Hofgarten Lucerne. I really wish we had all our meals here!

Lauterbrunnen: 4 days

We chose Lauterbrunnen as our base to explore Bernese Oberland. It is a quiet village in the valley with great connectivity. We also loved our stay at Hotel Silberhorn with fantastic views of the valley and Staubbach falls.

Since this was our first snow hiking experience, we had chosen few easy trails for our stay here. On our first day, we walked from Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg. It is a flat trail with some amazing views of the valley. You can either walk back or take the bus. We took the bus because it had started to snow.

We enjoyed a magical night of snowfall on our first day in Lauterbrunnen. There is something phenomenal about enjoying hot soup amid fairy lights while watching snow fall outside. The change in scenery the next morning was stunning.

On our second day, we visited Jungfrauoch in the morning. There was heavy fog, with limited visibility in the valley but crystal clear at the top.

During our return, we stopped at Wengen for a walk on the Staublisegg trail. I loved Wengen. It was a picture perfect Swiss village covered in a thick coat of snow–winter wonderland of my dreams!

On our third day, we explored Grindelwald and First mountain. We did the cliff walk and also hiked a bit at First.

Grindelwald is a large village surrounded by massive mountains on all sides. It also has lots of shopping and food options. I felt it lacks the charm of smaller villages like Wengen and Murren.

On our fourth day, we hiked from Grutschalp to Murren. This was the longest hike of our trip and it was the most spectacular. The triplets Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau were with us the entire hike. We were so excited that a bunch of calls were made to our families to share the beauty of the place we were in. This hike was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. While the snow made it more challenging, the hike is fairly easy. Like Wengen, Murren is also a very beautiful Swiss village with some picture perfect views.

The Swiss authorities do a good job of keeping few trails groomed during snow season. You should always check the official websites and/or confirm with your hotels on which trails are open during this season.

At Murren, we rode the cable car to Schilthorn. The 360 degree view of the Alps from Schilthorn was amazing. I enjoyed this a lot more than Jungfrauoch which is significantly more expensive. We had a nice meal at Piz Gloria (of the James Bond fame) to bring in my husband’s birthday.

We came back to Murren and then walked to Gimmelwald. This trail is mostly downhill but very rewarding in terms of views. Gimmelwald is tiny and looked like a sleepy village. It was the middle of afternoon so most of the places appeared closed. From Gimmelwald, we took the cable car to Stechelberg and then bus back to Lauterbrunnen.

Zermatt: 2 days

Lauterbrunnen to Zermatt was the longest train journey of our trip with multiple stopovers.

We stayed at Alpenblick superior with the best view of Matterhorn.

On our first day, we went to Gornergrat. The train ride from Zermatt to Gornergrat was my favourite.

On our second day, we did paragliding from Rothorn. It was crazy for us to do this at -15 degrees (lower when you are in flight) but it was one of the most thrilling experiences we have ever had. I was really nervous especially due to the extreme weather but Matterhorn Paragliding answered all my questions very patiently. They were very professional and ensured we have a comfortable, warm ride. Our pilots were super fun and gave us a lot of information about the area. The flight itself was comfortable beyond my expectations and I truly enjoyed the amazing sights in front of me. After the flight, my husband and I agreed that we wont get a better view of the Matterhorn than this so time for us to conclude the sightseeing on a high note!

Zurich: 1 day

After the highs came the lows. I fell pretty sick the next day and it got worse during our train ride from Zermatt to Zurich. My system couldn’t take any more of the awesome Swiss food. I suspect it was the fondue in Zermatt last night. Anyway, I was pretty much out when we reached our hotel in Zurich. The only thing I could hold down was some plain rice and dal and thankfully Zurich has some decent options for Indian food.

The next day I was feeling a bit better which was a relief because we had our return flight that night. We walked around Zurich this day. The weather was good and it was nice to feel a bit better and be out. Thankfully the flight back was not too bad either. Once back in Singapore, it took me a few more days to feel 100%. Notwithstanding the last day, it was a really memorable trip because it was full of new experiences and involved us going out of our comfort zone.