10 Tourist Mistakes to Avoid in ZURICH, SWITZERLAND | What to know before visiting Zurich

hey guys welcome back to our Channel if you are new here my name is Alexis and I'm from the US and I am Louie and I am Swiss and together we make all kinds of videos about traveling and living in Switzerland so if that sounds interesting to you make sure to hit that subscribe button to stick around so you guys saw in the title today we are talking about more Taurus mistakes to avoid and this Edition will be about Zurich so many of you use Zurich either as your base totally for the entire trip or you use Zurich flying in and out of from your destination because it has the biggest airport in Switzerland so I know a lot of you spent time there and Surah can be an expensive city and even more so if you make some of these mistakes so let's get right into it so the first tourist mistake in Zurich that I would advise you to avoid is staying by the airport in your hotel so this might seem counter-intuitive especially if you've traveled a lot to cities like London or New York and Paris and Barcelona and things like that where it can be kind of a trip to get to the airport Zurich is a exceptionally well connected you can kind of land on the tarmac and be in your hotel room in like 45 minutes really I say that like I could be back in my bed take 50 minutes after the wheels came down to the plane from Zurich house bonhole to the airport it's about 10 minutes on the train and that train comes all day long constantly so if you're staying in the old town you can get to that airport gate really really quickly so staying at the airport hotel I think is totally unnecessary in in really any circumstance and it's a shame because there's a lot going on in Zurich in the evening so if you're staying in the airport I think that's when it can be a little bit more annoying you won't have that same kind of life I think you're not going to sort of go back in the evening go back to the old town to go have a dinner and stroll around but you'll definitely do it if you have a hotel close to the train station so the next tourist mistake to avoid is also based on where you're staying and that's don't only stay in the old town I see some people saying like for the biggest city in Switzerland Zurich is actually quite small and Matt says to me that you really just kind of walked around the little old town area back and forth around the river Zurich is really spread out quite wide in terms of things to do the old town is very concentrated it but there's a lot of really cool areas around one of our favorites that we've recommended in a few videos actually called hard broker this really cool I think it used to be industrial area now is coming a little bit more up and coming there's a lot of interesting bars and shops there that's one area and there's a lot of really beautiful areas around the lake of Zurich that you can explore there's Bellevue there's so many other beautiful places that have really lovely restaurants there's a lot to see in Zurich outside of the old town we have a video dedicated to it but make sure to just get out of that little tiny area because then Zurich will really feel like a village but it's it's City there's more than a million people yeah no I think for example is also for younger people like this is where people go out to and and Services would be a shame to you to mess if you are one or two days in Zurich so the third tourist mistake that I would recommend avoiding is actually purchasing a Zuri card which is one card that will give you access to all the public transportation and some of the museums of Zurich not all and why is that I think the alternative is the 24-hour public transportation ticket that is very cheap and that is really 24 hours not just one day but spread out to two days in case you are taking it at noon this is going to be I think three times cheaper and the zoo card doesn't really include a lot of museums and you might also not necessarily want to do museums and you'll have to do at least two or three to break even so just keeping the zvv these are the public transportation 24-hour ticket is what I would really recommend instead of the zurichond so tip number four is to avoid dragging all your luggage around with you for the day when you are in Zurich so I know a lot of people just fly in and out out of Zurich or take the trade in out of Zurich and maybe you're not even staying at night and in that case you might be wondering what do I do with all of my luggage it's really easy in the airport and in the train station there are so many lockers available to you these lockers are really inexpensive depending on the size of the locker and how long you leave them for they range from like four francs to eight francs maybe a little bit more if you're leaving it for a really long period six times yeah but you can just drop it in the locker you get a little key some of them you get a code you can pay with coins or a credit card and you're on your way so look out for free this little icon that's the same in every train station or airport in Switzerland that means it's like a locker room and you could just leave your stuff there so I always felt bad when I saw people kind of dragging it around on the Cobblestone because it's just such a pain to have to explore a city that way so leave your stuff in lockers so before we get into our top tips I wanted to stop and say thank you to our sponsor Manta sleep they've sponsored us before and I know some of you guys have actually purchased them and have told us that you really like it for your travels so thank you so much for supporting sponsors that support us and let's check out Amanda sleep sleep mask so if you're watching this video chances are that you're planning a long journey soon Louis and I are on the road a lot and our parents to an infant and it's important for us to be able to catch a little bit of sleep whenever we can so whether we're on a train playing anywhere in between the man to sleep mask provides 100 blackout anytime anywhere guaranteed this mask is infinitely adjustable with detachable eye cups in different sizes that can be placed anywhere on the head strap you'll be sure to have a perfect fit so purchase today with our code for 10 off there's a 60-day money-back guarantee if you aren't satisfied but we're confident that you will be so the fifth tourist mistake to avoid in Zurich is if you are planning on renting a car to go around Switzerland but you're going to stay a few days in Zurich do not rent the car at the airport and have the car around because it's going to be a pain actually to handle that kind of parking it's going to be extremely expensive and Zurich is not kind of a car city it's really makes it pretty difficult to uh to navigate by car you have lots of one-ways to eat some now you'll get lost and you'll lose a lot of money so I would just recommend renting the car the day when you are going to leave for the mountains for example this is Valley then there are some people if you have a lot of family taking a car is nice in Switzerland but not having it in Zurich because this is just going to be complicated we live in Geneva now and we have a car we lived in Durham for two years and we did not have one for that reason it is such a pain to have to deal with it in the parking and driving it around it's really more hassle than it's worth so if you're in Zurich for a couple days don't rent it until the end so the next tourist mistake to avoid and this might be a hit or miss depending on the audience but if you're like me this is going to be an important tip and that is not having change to go to the restroom so if you are from the US you are not familiar with this you need change to go to a lot of restrooms in Europe but particularly I noticed in Zurich and background on me I'm someone that lives with lifelong anxiety about where I can go to the bathroom at all times I just need to know to feel good so in Zurich particularly especially in the old town there are really no free public restrooms you need to put a coin in the door usually to get it to open to go to the restroom so just make sure you have change on you it just avoids that whole kind of like what am I gonna do now and trying to ask someone on the street just have a couple friends it might also not take your bills so really have your like one Frank yeah you have like one or two friends on you and this as well I always have coins in my wallet in Switzerland but in dark particularly I found that some of the other areas in Switzerland are a little bit more forgiving with this where they'll have like free bathrooms and the train station stuff like that Zurich is hard to find itself keep change with you but the supplies to Switzerland too another tip on tourist mistakes not to make in Zurich is taking a taxi or even an Uber in Zurich this is extremely expensive and we have such a great public transport rotation system with the s-bonds these are these trains that go from one train station to another within Zurich and the trams you're going to get much faster one with the public transportation and it's going to be cheap within your 24 hour day pass don't take taxis that's going to take a long time to wait for them and it's going to cost you a lot of money so I would not advice for taxis in Zurich so the next tip to avoid making is spending so much money on your hotel in Zurich because there are ways to save I know we have a whole video about Zurich budget tips that you can check out but additionally we recently have partnered with a company called Wander to create a specific traveling Swiss booking platform that Louis and I actually have used a couple times he uses it when he goes to Zurich for work and we have access to some cheaper rates that are available publicly on sites like booking.com now there aren't a lot and it isn't in every hotel but there is a good amount so check it out they can really be up to 50 off booking.com I've had my friends use this I've had my family use this and some of you have used it as well and told me that you couldn't believe how cheap the rates are so happy to be able to offer this to our community again there aren't a ton of room so if you're gonna book book quickly but it's a great way to save money and get the same room that everybody else gets but add a little bit of a discount yeah just to name a few hotels that I like actually close to the train station the Ruby Mimi Hotel the townhouse or the Lima Sleek are three hotels that are on that platform and I've booked twice on the Ruby Mimi was 50 bucks less so like 180 versus 230 50 which is still like uh you're going to spare a meal with uh with this platform so check it out and uh and compare but uh that's a good tip I think so the second to last tip is a tip that applies in Zurich also all of Switzerland a lot of these can be extrapolated too Switzerland but this one is having Swiss franc so making sure to not just have Euros is the mistake to avoid the reason I say this Resort particularly actually be counter-intuitive and that's because a lot of vendors and stores and such in Zurich except Euros but they will do so at a really bad exchange rate so yeah they're they're doing it because they're doing you a favor but anytime I've seen that the exchange rate has been much lower than what it is currently in reality so if you need to get rid of Euros for whatever reason you can use them in Zurich often but I really recommend paying with Swiss Francs don't think that it's kind of just like a one-to-one then it's equal if you're using both make sure to pay with Swiss Francs and the last step we have for you is maybe a little bit more silly but unfortunately it's like a JK but not really it is true it is not to be prepared to be poorer after your trip in Zurich Zurich is expensive it's one of the most expensive cities in the world and that ranking here with Geneva and I think you need to just plan accordingly we have made a full video on doing Zurich on the budget so you can already sort of mitigate your risks with this video but still I think this is some something to to keep in mind Zurich more than anywhere else in Switzerland is going to be expensive so if you can save some money on maybe taking lunch by the river or by the lake with a sandwich that might be a good way to save some money but that's just to set expectations when you are going to travel to Zurich it is an expensive city so just plan accordingly and you will be hopefully fine dark is a really great City it is a great base to explore Switzerland and is very well connected we actually built Louis actually built a full itinerary if you are based in Zurich you could purchase it along with many other itineraries on our website at the link here if you are headed to Switzerland soon and you still feel like you need more one-on-one assistance you can book a consultation with Louis himself for 45 minutes and he will walk through your itinerary any questions you have and make sure you feel comfortable and confident before heading to Switzerland and of course you also have our full roster of videos here on YouTube and on Instagram for some free resources as well so with that thank you guys so much for watching the video we will catch you in the next one bye guys bye hey guys thanks for watching thanks for watching if you want to see more videos like this please make sure to like And subscribe see you soon [Music]

Channel: The Traveling Swiss – Alexis & Louis

Views: 58,813

Keywords: Zurich travel tips, Switzerland tourism, Travel mistakes to avoid, Tourist traps in Zurich, Best things to do in Zurich, Zurich sightseeing, Zurich budget travel, Swiss travel advice, tourist mistakes switzerland, zurich tourist mistakes, zurich, switzerland, swiss, avoid these zurich tourist mistakes, swiss travel, switzerland travel, the traveling swiss, the travelling swiss, how to switzerland, what you need to know in zurich, what you need to know in switzerland

Id: iVg6tcrQMKY

Length: 12min 14sec (734 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 21 2023