Switzerland For The First Timer and Tips

Switzerland is one of the most famous destination to visit among Belgian and other European. The number one place in Switzerland to visit if it is your first time is a village with the name Zermatt, located in the south-west of the country in the kanton (province) Wallis.

The mountain Matterhorn is nearby with a height of around 4478m. Matterhorn is the most photographed mountain in the world. You probably never heard its name but I m sure you know the main icon in the Toblerone Chocolate? then there it is.

If you want to experience the snow all around the year, there are a few possibilities:

In the village Zermatt you can take the Gornergratbahn, a small train that brings you to an elevation of 3232m high. Most of the year you will see some snow there, you can even touch the snow.

The village itself is very cozy, with a lot of souvenir shops, restaurants, cafes and all the houses are in wood, sometimes in combination with nature stone material. Normally you can find hotels there aswell or just before in another village.

Zermatt is a car-free. Private traffic is only permitted up to Tasch (5km before Zermatt).

You can park your car on one of the many car parks and than you have to take a shuttle train of the Matterhorn Gotthard Railway run between Tasch and Zermatt every 20 minutes. The train ride journey is only 12 minutes and ends in the heart of Zermatt village.

In here you can see the details about how much the ticket price for the panoramic pass and skiing in Matterhorn.

Few top destinations in Switzerland:

1. Luzern + Vierwaldstattersee
2. Jungfraujoch (top mountain)
3. Saasfee (quite nearby from Zermatt)
4. In the other part of Switzerland, in kanton Graubunden , there is : Davoz, St Morritz & Klosters --) but i m not sure any snow during summer, famous during winter!

How to reach the main destinations in Switzerland from Belgium / Route planning from Brussel to Zermatt :

The most convenience is to leave home around 5 AM in the morning or even 4.30 AM, the distance is about 850-900km

Brussel – Namur – Arlon - Luxemburg - Border France – Thionville – Metz – Nancy – Lunéville - Baccarat ( small city famous for crystal) - Saint-Die (des Vosges) - Saint Léonard – Anould – Fraize - Col du Bonhomme (le Bonhomme) - Kaysersberg (very cozy village, you have to see it) - Colmar (and take the highway direction Bale (Basel) - Mulhouse

Border Switzerland - Basel (on the border you HAVE to buy a vignette-sticker for the highways)

Bern – Fribourg – Vevey - Montreux (on lake Geneva with a nice walking boulevard with palmtrees) – Aigle – Martigny – Sion – Sierre – Leuk - Visp (here you leave the highway)

St. Niklaus - Tasch (here you take the shuttle train to Zermatt) - Zermatt

For coming home I suggest the following route;

Zermatt – Tasch - St. Niklaus - Visp (here take highway) – Sierre – Sion - Martigny (here leave the highway) - Follow direction Chamonix in France - Martigny-Combe (here the road goes up between vine yards) – Trient - Border with France - A bit later the road goes down

Chamonix (not to miss, interesting to stay a few days, many hotels etc...)

In Chamonix you are very nearby the highest mountain of the Alps, Mont-Blanc with a height of around 4807m. There are some possiblities to go up with elevator-lifts (télépherique) , I would like advise you to take Télépherique de l'Aiguille du Midi (not cheap, but worth to do it)

Direction Geneva – Bourg-en-Bresse – Macon - Dijon (famous for the best moustard in the world) – Langres – Nancy – Metz – Thionville – Luxemburg – Arlon – Namur - Brussel

How much is the price of vignette-sticker to enter Switzerland and how to buy it ?

- It is required to have a vignette-sticker when your car enter the Switzerland. You can purchase it in the border locket, petrol station, custom.

- The price of vignette-sticker is : CHF 40 for one year

- The customs/border control are tasked with checking every car at busy points such as Basel or the Italian border in the south. 

- The penalty for not displaying the vignette is 200CHF on the spot