Hi Lyn

Yes I have that kind of 'panda look' going on from wearing large sunglasses with the tomato effect on cheeks. We had a lovely time.

In terms of it being expensive it sort of was. Morges was 10 mins outside Lausanne & my son took a shine to a restaurant there that cooked steak on a hot stone at 39 Swiss francs, so maybe 33 quid, pasta meals were about 18SF. In fairness the later were twice the size you would get here and decent quality ingredients. Infact the food was great, maybe because of the French influence. Coffee/minerals/one boule movenpik ice cream, all about 4SF so much like any of the more upmarket tourist resorts. People swim in the lake, but not many lol.

It's hard to take an informed view only being in a place a short time but it's somewhere that is do-able for 3 or 4 days but you would need to think twice about going for a fortnight if on a budget. I went in to two supermarkets and thought prices were OK. We had a couple of picnic lunches sitting on benches around Lake Geneva, feeding ducks and drinking in views.

Lausanne itself was very busy so we were glad we didn't stay in the City itself, but that may be because the Gym event brought 50,000 extra people into town. It's easy to get about, most ticketing is done at machines with French/English/Germany options, but if you struggle booking offices are always open. Train tickets cost a little bit more than here and seem to cover the buses and metro as well. Not a budget break I guess but definatley doable.

There are also a fair few tourist information offices about, but our time was accounted for so we didn't use them.

If we go and I'm sure we will in the not too distant future we would do a long weekend (just the 2 of us) but it would probably be more of a city based weekend and I believe the EJ /Ryanair options would just be Geneva , Basel or Zurich or somewhere that was an easy distance from those airports.

So no more expensive than the likes of Paris, Rome or Venice . ??

Chris

Thanks for the report. That's the big problem with the Swiss Transport System, their basic fares are expensive but they have a blizzard of special offers, discount cards and tourist passes which might save you money. You'll find that many Swiss residents have a GA which is an annual go anywhere ticket which covers virtually all trains, buses and tram throughout the country. It costs a few thousand pounds but they often have it instead of a car and if you add up insurance, depreciation and petrol it makes sense. What doesn't add up is that Switzerland has the highest per capita public transport usage in Europe AND the highest per capita private car ownership - which suggests they buy cars and don't use them!!

Lyn

Supermarket prices and travel rates are basically the same all over the country but accomodation prices vary wildy from extortionate down to UK levels. Restaurant prices are generaly high but with large portions, the option of half board can work out good value as the VAT rate on accomodation is a lot lower than the basic and the inclusive meal gets the same rate. If you start a new post (this is one is getting mixed up!) and say what you'd want -city sights, mountain scenery, country walks etc - and where your nearest airports are I can make suggestions.

Thanks Steve , I will do once I am somewhere close to booking .

Steve

I noticed those GA passes being pulled out of Swiss Wallets and Purses when travelling, as they have a thorough on-train ticket inspection service.

Most rail stations had stands with flyers, maps, timetables. For example if you had tickets to the Montreaux Jazz festival you could also get 20% discounts off train tickets. There are a lot of cars about but it is congested in the City and hard to park. Not great for a tourist who doesn't know what they are doing.

Our hotel was 330 SF a night for a double B&B which is of course expensive although it was a beautiful Boutique style hotel.

There were much cheaper options if you are flexible on where you stay. Anything Lakeside will be exhorbitant, which goes without saying. We did a fair bit of walking when not viewing gymnastics, as our weather was good.

Lyn

I think Steve is right, if you want to go on a City Break, when ready start a new thread. Can't advise on Geneva City itself as all we saw was the airport and train station. I wouldn't mind going back & spending a few days there, as we were Lausanne focused. It was 30 mins on the train from Geneva to where we were & a further 30 to Montreaux.

The biggest bargain is the Easyjet flights to Geneva you can kind of offset that against the hotel/food costs. It's a long time since I have been but I would say costs similar to Paris, Venice but for 2 or 3 days it's probably of no consequence. Larger style beer was about 4 SF for small glass - thought Dave might want to know!

Yes beer, coffee and eating out twice a day takes up a huge part of our budget Chris . I may do some research for a spring or even winter break .

Hi Lyn

There is very much a 'cafe society' going on in the part of Switzerland that we were a bit like in Paris. I know the weather is a bit hit & miss so you might be better off in Spring than Winter, as you may be able to spend more time walking about and sightseeing. If the weather dictates that you spend hours & hours in cafes you may spend a fortune on the aforementioned coffees, beers etc.

The Swiss have the same knack as a lot of Continentals & are able to make a small expresso and a compimentary class of water last two hours. In that time we probably would get through 4 lattes and 4 beers.

And a big wedge of cake

coffe and cake doesn't have to be expensive, depends where you sit! see http://www.migros.ch/fr/supermarche/gastronomie.html or http://www2.coop.ch/restaurant/default.cfm?language=fr and some of them have superb locations with outdoor terraces.

LOL I had my teen son with & he had his lunch in Migros in Morges twice when we were out in Lausanne and Montreaux.

6 dubious looking sausages, chips and a huge croissant for 10 SF's. But hardly a room with a view, it was a bit like eating in a posh Asda, but he could cope on his own as he has no French and could just point and say Merci.

There seemed to be hundreds of cakes in Switzerland Lyn the sort with a million calories in them.