Good Morning Sweeties, welcome back to my blog. For those who read my full Switzerland Itinerary (click here) you are probably waiting for this post. It took me a while as I couldn't track back the link but no worries, everything is good now and that's why you are reading it right now. I remember I always shared about where I stay in Japan and I'm so glad that I have explored to new countries and found so many hidden gems to share with you guys.
Before you start planning or booking your stay, you should always check whether if it's a solo trip or with your partner / family. If you are planning for your upcoming Switzerland trip with the elderly, I will recommend you guys to stay in an apartment hotel as some homestay or airbnb, although tbh it looks really beautiful but with the amount of distances and staircases, it might not be friendly for the elderly. But if your parents or partner are strong enough and got no complain then feel free to stay at those beautiful homestay / airbnb.
After spending half month in Switzerland, I would love to share with you guys some #ChanwonTips on how to choose 'the right' place (whether it's airbnb , homestay or hotel / apartment) to fit your travel style.
Staying in hotel vs homestay / airbnb
As mentioned earlier in my itinerary blog post, the average accommodation expenses of mine was around CHF200 per night (around RM1000 if convert into RM). Because I'm quite a picky person when it comes to homestay or hotel, I can't sleep if I'm staying at a dirty homestay with dirty toilet lol. So mostly I will go for 4 stars hotels and for homestay /airbnb it's averagely rated above 4 stars and I always choose from superhost's listing. You can find somewhere cheaper around RM800 and then you can decide it with the amount of pax you will be traveling with. I think it's pretty reasonable if you don't convert, our Ringgit Malaysia value depreciate like hell now.
There are a few option for you, either choosing your stay and book via airbnb website if you prefer homestay traveling style, like staying at a cozy house with just you and your partner with the kitchen available for you to cook for supper and not to mentioned, your own toilet. Lower cost options airbnb might have common areas to be shared (kitchen / toilet).
✓ Pros: Get to stay in a quiet zone, less tourist, feel like a home, some airbnb provides washing machine for you to wash your clothes (some need extra charges so make sure to check with the owner)
✘ Cons: No breakfast included, no pick up service, without lift mostly with staircase only (not a good option if you bring too many luggages or travel with your parents), couldn't keep your luggages there (all my airbnb owners do not allow us to place our luggages there when we arrived early), no cleaning service daily, check in only after 3pm and might need to walk some distance or get on a bus in order to get to the airbnb. Another drawback is, check in guide might be confusing for someone who doesn't travelled much and stayed in airbnb, because you need to find the location yourself and find the key.
Next will be staying at a hotel. Since it's a hotel, it always comes with breakfast. All the hotel I stayed during my trip comes with breakfast and tbh, it taste heavenly good! Super worth it and you get to try a lot of fresh local fruits and diff kind of cheese too.
✓ Pros: Breakfast included, can help to keep your luggages at the counter, mostly comes with lift and can arrange pick up service at nearby station if available, cleaning service, some comes with spa and sauna facilities, mostly located at tourist spot and not too far from train station, can request for best view room if you are alright to pay more.
✘ Cons: extra charges for laundry service or to use washing machine you need to pay, most hotel don't have a kitchen therefore you couldn't cook, feels more like staying in a room rather than in a house.
There is a better option if you still couldn't decide whether to stay in a hotel or airbnb, you can always choose to rent an apartment at the hotel booking website. For example I rented one apartment hotel in Zermatt, it's like paying an hotel service but you are actually renting a small apartment with kitchen area for you to cook your supper at night lol.
Considering all this, you need to look for your budget, whether you wish to have breakfast included or not, washing machine or other facilities if you are looking for one, pick up service, keeping your luggage and also the walking distance or nearest station to your layover staying point. Those are the few main criteria that you need to consider when booking for your stay. For us since we are traveling there for half month, we pick some of the listings with washing machine available so we can wash our dirty inner wear and socks but if you are there for just a week or less then you no need that at all.
For my itinerary, here's the place I have my layover. I started with:
Zurich - Lucerne (booked through airbnb) - Interlaken (2 diff booking on airbnb) - Zermatt (1x hotel & 1x apartment hotel booking on agoda website) - St.Moritz (booked through airbnb) - Zurich (booked through airbnb)
For those who looking forward to get the link on where I stay in Switzerland. Feel free to bookmark this link or save this post for your future reference as I really am looking forward to share my review and some of my final thoughts with you guys. Each airbnb / hotel comes with its own pros and cons. So make sure you read my review before booking it.
If you are booking your accommodation while Klook app, *Remember to use promo code 'CHANWON92KLOOK' on Klook to enjoy 5%-12% OFF on your booking*
The first few days we stayed at this cozy space. I chose it because it's located at a quiet town and there were mostly locals and this airbnb located near to Mt. Titlis. We get to enjoy the Mt.Titlis view from the balcony. If you are more of an adventure person, you can go to Mt.Pilatus as well. It's just one hour distance by public transport. Here's some pros and cons review of this airbnb:
✓ Pros: Quiet town, train station located nearby the airbnb with only 2 min walk, super clean, airbnb located right above an Italian restaurant, the restaurant selling awesome pizza (we had our lunch and dinner there and it was really good), Mt. Titlis view from the balcony, kitchen and dining table area and clean toilet as well.
✘ Cons: No lift, nearby shop closed early around 5-6pm since it's a quiet town with mostly locals staying there.
★ Check out this airbnb (click here)★
Okay this one is something that I wish to put into my dream list. It's always a dream for me to have a beautiful cottage house lol. So I'm really into the farm house in Switzerland. It's like my freaking dream to stay there so I don't really mind to take the extra effort on moving both of our huge luggages and walk uphill in order to get to this beautiful cottage house.
It was a beautiful one and this was the only airbnb I took which was not a complete unit for our own. We rented one of their room only, therefore we were sharing toilet with the other guest in the same house BUT we were really lucky during the time we traveled to Switzerland, because MCO just lifted and there was like no tourist at all lol, so we basically enjoy and use the whole space for ourselves. The owner stayed at the highest floor of the house, they gave us our private space and was super friendly too.
To be honest, it's really my first time having such experience staying at the cottage house and by far the best memories I have in my Switzerland trip. We get to explore this beautiful small area, although it requires extra effort to climb and walk all the way to this house and needing to change from train to local bus, it's really like a dream for me. There were many black nose sheep around the neighbourhood and you can also spot lots of Swiss cow. Every morning we walked down and play with the animals, there were rabbits too and the house is well maintain, super nice with the natural sunlight and balcony view was awesome!
If you are traveling with your fam or more than 4 pax, you can rent their ground floor room (check out the owner's listing on the airbnb link) then you can have your own kitchen. For our room we only have a microwave and we weren't allow to cook, therefore we bought our dinner on the first day and went to the nearest restaurant for our dinner on the second.
The owner has 2 beautiful cats, 2 kids and both Smelly and I really like animals so we don't mind, although the owner told the cat not to enter our room but we actually welcome both of their cats to enter and we play with them! To avoid the noise, all guests were not allowed to shower after 9pm as it will disturb other guests so please take note on this. People here sleeps really early and wakeup early lol, we only get to see the owner and her kids in the morning then we went out for a whole day and only get back in the evening.
Also take note of the bus timetable as you will be crying if you miss the last local bus from the train station because this homestay is located at the top of the uphill lol. I saw people cycling back and I was like 'OMG I will be -10kg if I lived here and going for cycling everyday HAHAHAAHHAHA'. So here's the final thoughts of staying at this homestay:-
✓ Pros: Beautiful sunlight cottage room, spacious balcony with mountain view right in front of it, clean and spacious toilet, friendly and helpful owner, big wardrobe, get to experience staying at a cottage house, get to see Swiss cow and black nose sheep at the neighbourhood, best experience if you are traveling with your kids, if you are an animal lover you will love this, sunset & sunrise was incredibly beautiful at this area, away from tourist spot and quite a quiet area too. You really get to enjoy the nature.
✘ Cons: Location far from the local bus station if you are carrying your huge luggages (alternative you can store your big luggages at the train station and bring a small hand carry with you or considering paying extra for the owner to pick you up with car at the nearby station), can't cook but you got small little microwave inside your room, shared toilet with same level guest, staircase without lift, no shower and making noise after 9pm, need to take local bus in order to arrive to this house and the bus only comes once every hour so need to take note on that, nearby convenient store is located at the main train station not nearby, no washing machine included (you can pay extra to the owner if you need to use their washing machine).
★ Check out this airbnb (click here)★
Moving to the next house. OMG Please call me a senpai, I really think I took my time to do a lot of research and finally picking the right one. Imagine how many listings I have checked through to be able to hit the jackpot. This is another listing that I love. If you like modern cozy home, a huge space for cooking and dining area this one is located nearby Interlaken and it was a good one. The owner has the best interior taste ever, they got so many listings at the airbnb but this is by far the best for me because I like the super beautiful view of the lake. It's just right in front of the house. You will be surprise later when you see the photo!
Another highlight will be their dishwasher machine and a full set and complete kitchenware, even coffee machine and capsule for you to enjoy. Plus, Dyson hairdryer. So extra and thumbs up for this super host. If you love lake view, this is something you can consider.. but there is a drawback because you are require to climb and walk the staircase up all the way to this home lol. The train station is really far from this home, we walked like 15 mins slow walk, and then the moment we arrived, a long steep staircase waiting for us! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH Nightmare for smelly and he keep on giving me that 'wtf are we going through face' but since his wife enjoying and laughing behind, he got no choice lol. It's like a team building activity where two of us were taking turn to hold the luggages and then taking rest at the middle of the staircase 🤣🤣 a necessary sacrifice to have a beautiful view of airbnb, but is okay lah, we have a healthy body we can do it! AHAHAAHAHAHAH
If you are traveling with 猪队友 someone which complaints a lot, then just give up on this don't ever pick this if not you gonna be having a nightmare after all lol. When I stayed there I feel like I'm having a taitai life, enjoying sunset with wine (orange juice for me lollll I prefer fruit juice HAHAHA) and looking at the lake view. Our life is perfect there.
✓ Pros: Coffee machine, Dyson hair dryer, super premium host with good interior taste, dishwasher machine, complete kitchenware, huge dining area, TV, look exactly like what you seen from the website photo, best lake view and sunset ever, spacious balcony, clean and modern toilet, convenient store nearby, quite a quiet area.
✘ Cons: Location quite far from station require around 15 mins walk and then super steep staircase, when we checked in we realised that there are hairs from previous guest so we contacted the owner and he offers to send the cleaner, owner reply really fast and helpful. Seriously other than the distance from the train station and staircase, I think this is basically a good airbnb.
★ Bijou Lake Side Terrace (click here)★
If you read my full Switzerland itinerary sharing blog post before this then you know I rented most of my layover from airbnb and the rest I was staying in hotel and apartment hotel in Zermatt. Zermatt was where I put a higher budget on it because it's a tourist spot so everything was slightly pricy than usual. If you come during peak season, omg it's 30-40% higher in price and mostly full, you need to book at least 4-6 months earlier. Both hotel I stayed in Zermatt were super good 5/5, the only drawback was it's not that cheap and affordable. But I'm sure it worth every single cents of your $$. Work hard and make your dream come true, most listing with 4 stars rating and above for their hotel standard can be really luxury and premium already, so please please, Zermatt is a must come place if you ask me.
I'm the rare case as since the border just opened, we booked like maybe 1 months earlier and get to enjoy more option and pick for a better view room. If you aren't familiar, The Matterhorn is so well-known that it was printed all over on the Toblerone chocolate packaging. So if you love Toblerone chocolate like us, do stay at the hotels that are facing the mountain. Whenever I'm having the chocolate, it reminds me of my trip lol. I'm be like ' hey you know we actually went there' HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH
There are many hotels and apartment hotels located in Zermatt. Don't worry if you can't get to stay in this hotel because there are plenty more as beautiful as this, but I highly recommend this Hotel Post because the breakfast spot here is super beautiful like a huge cottage house interior, spa and sauna as well for all the guest who stayed here (but too bad during the time we went there it's under maintenance lol so sad and I paid so much to stay here but couldn't enjoy the facilities wtf), pick up service available for all the house guest FOC from the Zermatt station, suitable for honeymoon. Here's everything in short:-
✓ Pros: Matterhorn view, FOC pick up service at the station, friendly and helpful staff, smooth check in process, breakfast included and highly recommended because the breakfast place is so freaking beautiful, bar located right below your stay, spa sauna facilities, suitable for honeymoon couple, amazing location and with lift, taking care of your luggage if you check in earlier, restaurants and bars nearby, bath tub and spacious toilet.
✘ Cons: Higher budget needed, spa and sauna under maintenance when we were there, cooking aren't allowed due to no kitchen area. Actually other than the price, the rest is 5/5.
★ Check out this Hotel Post link (click here) ★
Next will be the Aparthotel aka apartment style hotel that I booked to stay in Zermatt. It's only 7 mins walking distance from the Hotel Post Zermatt. Naco Aparthotel is more spacious compare to Hotel Post and it comes with FOC washing machine available at the common area, also the spa and sauna available during our visit. The spa pool was super duper huge and the whole hotel is so well maintain, sparkling clean and their toilet is the biggest. Although it's consider a hotel but it comes with a kitchen area for you to cook, it's just like an apartment but with check in counter and also cleaner, as well as breakfast was included too.
If you are traveling with your family, I really recommend this Aparthotel as compared to Hotel Post. They have bigger and more space for your luggage and also room type that are suitable for 6-8 pax family. You can also book their room with matterhorn view but since we have it in previous hotel, I don't mind if this room comes without any matterhorn, it's still as pretty as it is. The thing is, since it's not peak season, they FREE upgraded our room to a slightly bigger one that comes with a dining area. It's my first time getting free upgrade lol. I have been traveling for so many years but never once I get free upgrade lol. So I'm really satisfied with how kind they were. But don't expect this if you are travelling during the peak season. Next, I can put my luggage anywhere I want lol, the room is really big and the wardrobe too. I can't think of any drawback other than the price lol.
✓ Pros: Suitable for family or bigger group as well, super spacious room, big toilet, big balcony (you can choose your room type and get matterhorn view if you don't mind to pay extra for it), breakfast included and it was as good as the one I had in another hotel too, FOC washing machine, super huge spa pool and very well maintain, well trained staff.
✘ Cons: Cant think of any other than the price if you are on budget then might need to go for other option.
★ Check out this Naco Aparthotel by Arca Zermatt (click here)★
This is the Airbnb in St. Moritz. It comes with diff kind of layout and I picked the simplest alpine style with all wooden furniture one. Super adorable like all the table and chairs there were handcrafted like OMG I took a few photos here and the sunlight shines through the window as well. I love most of the Swiss house layout. It's has simple layout with super nice window facing the sun.
When I was there during my check in, the main entrance door caught my attention. It was soooooo cute and I took some photo in front of the main entrance lol.
✓ Pros: Cozy space, everything look exactly like the photo, coffee machine , microwave and cooking & dining area for you, nearby convenient store and a kids playground.
✘ Cons: narrow staircase with no lift, if you are carrying super huge luggage might need to choose the second floor instead of the higher one, small toilet and no balcony.
★ Check out this St. Moritz Wooden House (click here)★
This is the last airbnb we booked on our trip. We spent the last few days back in the city, unlike the rest of our stay, which were all located in quiet areas and this is by far the most happening one because this apartment was like half underground beside the road and right beside a bar alike restaurant. On Friday night, it's quite noisy since the bedroom window was facing the busy road. But so far I got no problem to sleep.
The check in process is quite a bad experience for us because the owner gave the wrong instruction and we cant open the main door at all and the person in charge only reply us after we waited outside the apartment for 45 mins. During the day we were in Zurich, the weather was like freaking hot, both of us wearing heat tech inner and jackets, it was so hot downstair and we tried every methods to enter the house until we got the reply from the person in charge. So I'm in a bad mood but luckily got reply within an hour but still, they have space for improvement.
Here's some of the pros and cons:-
✓ Pros: Big kitchen area, near to station and very convenient, exactly same like the photo showed on website and affordable.
✘ Cons: not a smooth check in experience, a little noisy on Friday night because there is a restaurant bar nearby.
★ Check out this Zurich Downtown Apartment (click here)★
So here's everything about my stay in Switzerland. Plan your budget accordingly and choose the right one to match your travel style. You get what you paid for and I can say that most airbnb in Switzerland was so clean and if you have less budget you can try staying at a cheaper guest house or hostel. You can still enjoy, if you travel with your family then beware of the staircase and maybe choose apartment hotel rather than airbnb so you can have someone to clean up and help you to keep your luggage if you get there rather earlier than the mentioned check in time.
If you plan to visit Zermatt, strongly recommend you to stay at 4 stars hotels, it is a once in a lifetime experience and you get to enjoy the breakfast available there. It's really taitai life to the max and I wonder how not to fall in love with this country, like seriously every place I stay comes with FREE postcard scenery!
Last #ChanwonTips: for people who wish to save more when you book on any hotel, apartment stay or even flight ticket. I really love this app and shared many times on my instagram. It's known as Shopback app (click here), previously I use it to buy Taobao and get some money back can be cash out to our own bank. While all borders now are open to tourist, remember to fully utilise this app and while using this app to book any staycation, homestay & flight ticket, you can your Cashback $$ and use that to treat yourself a good meal. Pretty worth it and it's my tips to save more while travel more!
Thank you so much for reading my blog post and for those who are planning for your upcoming Switzerland trip, wishing you a happy trip ahead and I really can't wait to know how you feel for this beautiful country. See you again on my next post! That's all for today, xoxo.
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