Travel Guide: Top 5 Affordable Attractions to visit in Switzerland
Switzerland is one of the most beautiful and iconic countries in the world. The country is famous for its beautiful lakes, breathtaking mountain views and scenic Ski resorts and alpine villages.
If its not enough Switzerland has a world known watch making industry and high quality cheese and chocolate manufactures so you have all of the reasons to just come and visit that beautiful country.
But.. wait! there is only one problem, most people are saying that Switzerland is too expensive and it just impossible to travel there without spending thousands of dollars on attractions, food and accommodation. So you are probably asking yourself if its true? my short answer to that is basically not, its not true and in this post I will show you exactly why not and how you can visit some of the most beautiful places in the country very affordably and without breaking the bank.
I have made a list of 5 places you can visit in Switzerland for free completely or for a very reasonable price (that most people can afford), so lets get to the list!
Before we start I just need to make a little disclaimer, in order to visit the most famous and iconic ski resorts or the alpine hotels you see in movies, you will have to pay and a lot (Some of them costs as high as 1000$ per night or more), which means that we have to understand that we leave some of the famous places “out” of the list in order to keep the budget low but it doesn’t mean those places are less beautiful, they are just easier to get and sometimes less famous.
1. Lauterbrunnen Valley
Lauterbrunnen is a name of a municipality in Switzerland but also a village with the same name. Lauterbrunnen village no doubt is one of the most famous places in Switzerland and it is super viral on social media as well! You can tour around this beautiful village (for free obviously) and enjoy the views of the famous Staubbachfall waterfall, walk in the fields around and get some amazing viewpoints over this beautiful valley.
Price: Free of charge
How to get to Lauterbrunnen
By train: you can get to Lauterbrunnen by taking a train to Lauterbrunnen train station.
By bus: you can take a bus to Lauterbrunnen from a few places in Switzerland like Interlaken and more.
By car: you can easily get to Lauterbrunnen by car and park the car in one of the paid parking lots around the village, you can park in this recommended car park in the center.
2. Mürren: The Alpine Village (via Grütschalp)
Mürren is one of those beautiful alpine villages you are seeing in your mind when thinking about Switzerland, It has those cute Swiss houses, surrounded by the amazing views of the Swiss mountains and a lot of greenery around (or snow.. depends when you are coming).
Murren is located above Lauterbrunnen valley at an altitude of 1638m above sea level, Mürren is a great village to visit for a day or take a few nights in one of the hotels / ski resorts around (if your budget allows), in case that you are coming for a few hours like me, you can walk around the village, enjoy the view and have lunch or a few drinks/ coffee in some of the restaurants there. Murren village was actually featured in one of the James Bond movie for a good reason! once you will get there you will know why.
How to get to Murren from Lauterbrunnen
Murren village is located right above the Lauterbrunnen valley and luckily enough it is very easy to get there from Lauterbrunnen village by cable car and a train. The cable car station in Lauterbrunnen is located next to the car park and very easy to find.
You take the cable car from Lauterbrunnen station to Grütschalp station which is located in the mountains, from Grütschalp cable car station you change to an alpine train that will take you to Murren in just 2 stops! the name of the train stop in Murren is: Mürren BLM so you can’t miss it.
Price: 15 CHF/ 13 USD approximately each way for the cable car to Grütschalp station and train from Grütschalp to Mürren.
3. Rhine Falls: The Largest Waterfalls in Europe!
The Rhine falls are located on the Rhine river close to the border between Switzerland and Germany. The Rhine falls are holding a few impressive European records such as the most powerful waterfall in Europe, the widest and largest waterfall in Europe with over 150 meters width.
The view over the falls is powerful and super impressive especially if you never seen such a huge waterfalls in the past, there are a few view points and viewing platforms along the falls and each of them are gives a different angle on the falls.
The beautiful thing about this place is although you can buy a ticket and enter to the actual site (recommended!) which is very affordable (price below) there is a whole area with a promenade and a few great viewpoints on the falls for completely free in case that you want to save even more on the ticket.
Ticket Price: 5 CHF/ 5.5 USD per person
How to get to the Rhine falls
By train: you can take a train to Schloss Laufen train station which is right next to the falls in a walking distance.
By car: just drive to the car park outside the falls and park your car, usually there is enough parking over there since it is big enough parking lot.
How to get to the free section of the Rhine falls
As i mentioned above there is a whole area with a promenade and many viewpoints on the Rhine falls which is completely open for the public for free! my recommendation is to go there if you are on a budget and want to save some money on the ticket but also if you buy the ticket since you just get a different angle on the falls and it is pretty nice to walk there especially on a beautiful sunny day.
To get to the free section which is located on the opposite bank or the river just navigate to this parking lot and a few 2-3 minutes to the falls.
4. Swiss National Park
The Swiss National Park is located in the East of Switzerland and it is the oldest national park in Central Europe and one of the most beautiful in the continent. It’s home to a variety of wildlife and alpine views with a 100km network of 21 hiking trails to choose from.
The hikes trails are very diverse in terms of time and difficulty, from easy hikes of 40 minutes and up to more difficult hikes of 5-9 hours and more. Check the list of hiking trails available here
Entrance Fee: the entrance to the Swiss national park is free of charge.
How to get to the Swiss National Park
By car: drive to Zernez village, which is the starting point of many of the hikes (depends which hike you are planning to do)
By train: take a train to Zernez train station (make sure you pick a route which is not too far from the village if you are coming by train)
Check the list of trails and the map of each for the exact starting point.
5. Free walking tours in Zurich, Geneva, Lucerne or Basel
Free walking tours are some of my favorite activates to do in a new place, its a great way to get to know the place better and get to know some of the background and some unknown details from a local.
There are a few free walking tours in the main cities in Switzerland like Zurich, Geneva, Lucerne and more. Just check the one that suits you and your dates and makes sure the reviews are good (check TripAdvisor or Google) and you won’t get disappointed.
Price: Free (tips are recommended)
That’s it for today guys, I’ve mentioned 5 amazing options and 3 of them are completely free and the other 2 are very affordable to visit! I hope now you will consider Switzerland for your next trip and price only won’t discourage you from visiting this beautiful country.
Check My Other Posts About Switzerland
Thank you for reading this post, if you liked this one I’m sure you will like my other posts from Switzerland
Top 5 Affordable Attractions in Switzerland
