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Do I need Swiss Francs for an overnight stop in the country?

Holiday Ideas & Foreign Travel
Clariman
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Do I need Swiss Francs for an overnight stop in the country?

#156115

Postby Clariman » July 30th, 2018, 1:52 pm

We are going on a driving tour of Europe and will pass through Switzerland - spending one night in a Lucerne hotel (paid in advance). We will be travelling with Euros in cash and with a credit card that does not charge currency conversion fees. We will probably eat in the hotel, but may have incidental spending enroute or wandering around town.

Is there any point buying Swiss Francs in advance ... or will we get away with credit card and Euros? I guess I could withdraw from an ATM too while there.

Thanks
C

Howyoudoin
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Re: Do I need Swiss Francs for an overnight stop in the country?

#156150

Postby Howyoudoin » July 30th, 2018, 4:29 pm

Clariman wrote:We are going on a driving tour of Europe and will pass through Switzerland - spending one night in a Lucerne hotel (paid in advance). We will be travelling with Euros in cash and with a credit card that does not charge currency conversion fees. We will probably eat in the hotel, but may have incidental spending enroute or wandering around town.

Is there any point buying Swiss Francs in advance ... or will we get away with credit card and Euros? I guess I could withdraw from an ATM too while there.

Thanks
C


Just asked a Swiss lady in the office and she said that you will be able to get away with it for one night. If you need to buy anything, the shops only take SFs, not Euros, but they do take credit cards.

She also mentioned that you need to buy a 'Vignette' at a cost of 40SF if you intend to use the motorways in Switzerland . . . .


HYD

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Re: Do I need Swiss Francs for an overnight stop in the country?

#156165

Postby Markab01 » July 30th, 2018, 5:24 pm

I have just returned from Luzern.
There used to be places in Switzerland that gave the prices in Euros and SF but Luzern is not one of them. I found no problem using a credit card anywhere in Luzern.
If you really need cash then ATMs are plentiful.

Markab01

Howard
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Re: Do I need Swiss Francs for an overnight stop in the country?

#156194

Postby Howard » July 30th, 2018, 8:17 pm

I recently visited Switzerland and found that a UK credit card was ok for all purchases in a hotel.

The point about a vignette raised by Howyoudoin is important. If you enter Switzerland on a motorway you will need a vignette, cost Sw Fr40 which will be sold to you at customs who will accept credit cards. And it is mandatory for travel on any Swiss motorway once you are there.

Have a good trip.

Howard

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Re: Do I need Swiss Francs for an overnight stop in the country?

#156210

Postby Dod101 » July 30th, 2018, 9:33 pm

Markab01 wrote:I have just returned from Luzern.
There used to be places in Switzerland that gave the prices in Euros and SF but Luzern is not one of them. I found no problem using a credit card anywhere in Luzern.
If you really need cash then ATMs are plentiful.


I assume Lucerne and Luzern is the same place. When did it change its spelling?

Dod

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Re: Do I need Swiss Francs for an overnight stop in the country?

#156216

Postby AleisterCrowley » July 30th, 2018, 9:49 pm

Dod101 wrote:
Markab01 wrote:I have just returned from Luzern.
There used to be places in Switzerland that gave the prices in Euros and SF but Luzern is not one of them. I found no problem using a credit card anywhere in Luzern.
If you really need cash then ATMs are plentiful.


I assume Lucerne and Luzern is the same place. When did it change its spelling?

Dod

I think it's just the German version of the French Lucerne. Four official languages of course!!

Bit like Bruxelles/Brussel French and Dutch versions

Clitheroekid
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Re: Do I need Swiss Francs for an overnight stop in the country?

#156478

Postby Clitheroekid » August 1st, 2018, 1:23 am

AleisterCrowley wrote:
Dod101 wrote:
Markab01 wrote:I have just returned from Luzern.
There used to be places in Switzerland that gave the prices in Euros and SF but Luzern is not one of them. I found no problem using a credit card anywhere in Luzern.
If you really need cash then ATMs are plentiful.


I assume Lucerne and Luzern is the same place. When did it change its spelling?

Dod

I think it's just the German version of the French Lucerne. Four official languages of course!!

Bit like Bruxelles/Brussel French and Dutch versions

It's interesting to see the number of different names there are for cities - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_ ... 2%80%93L#L

For example, London is called Lontoo in Finnish, and Rondon in South Korea, possibly reflecting the difficulty that East Asians have in pronouncing `L'. A similar transformation is in the case of Liverpool, which translates as Ribapūru in Japanese.

It's also interesting to see which countries have renamed cities in their own language, and to speculate as to why they would have thought it necessary. Of course with large international cities like London it's not surprising, but why on earth would Serbia bother to create a name for Colchester? Was there some ancient battle between Serbia and Essex, lost in the mists of time? Or is it just that a lot of Essex girls somehow found their way to Belgrade and left an impression? ;)

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Re: Do I need Swiss Francs for an overnight stop in the country?

#156523

Postby Slarti » August 1st, 2018, 10:10 am

Dod101 wrote:
Markab01 wrote:I have just returned from Luzern.
There used to be places in Switzerland that gave the prices in Euros and SF but Luzern is not one of them. I found no problem using a credit card anywhere in Luzern.
If you really need cash then ATMs are plentiful.


I assume Lucerne and Luzern is the same place. When did it change its spelling?

Dod


Lucerne is on the banks of Lake Geneva in the far south of Switzerland Luzern is much further north, on the banks of Lake Luzern , not that far from Zurich.

You can do a smashing round trip from there, boat, rack railway to the top of Mt Pilatus, cable car back down the other side and then bus back to base. The rack railway is the steepest in the world.

Slarti

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Re: Do I need Swiss Francs for an overnight stop in the country?

#156524

Postby Slarti » August 1st, 2018, 10:14 am

Clitheroekid wrote:It's also interesting to see which countries have renamed cities in their own language, and to speculate as to why they would have thought it necessary. Of course with large international cities like London it's not surprising, but why on earth would Serbia bother to create a name for Colchester? Was there some ancient battle between Serbia and Essex, lost in the mists of time? Or is it just that a lot of Essex girls somehow found their way to Belgrade and left an impression? ;)


Because they had a lot of soldiers from the Colchester barracks over the centuries?

Slarti

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Re: Do I need Swiss Francs for an overnight stop in the country?

#156540

Postby Dod101 » August 1st, 2018, 10:50 am

Very interesting Slarti and your comments make perfect sense but I doubt that they are correct. Lausanne is on Lake Geneva and my atlas tells me that Lucerne is usually known as Luzern. That is not surprising when I think about it because it is in the Swiss German speaking part of Switzerland.

Dod

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Re: Do I need Swiss Francs for an overnight stop in the country?

#156569

Postby PinkDalek » August 1st, 2018, 1:35 pm

Dod101 wrote:That is not surprising when I think about it because it is in the Swiss German speaking part of Switzerland.


It is interesting and when one searches further it appears the local dialect is part of the Alemannisch grouping as per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucerne > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alemannic_German

The latter includes:

Alemannic dialects are spoken by approximately ten million people in eight countries … United States: Allen and Adams County, Indiana by the Amish there and also in their daughter settlements in Indiana and other U.S. states. … Venezuela: Colonia Tovar (Colonia Tovar dialect)

Will Clariman need a dictionary as well? :)

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Re: Do I need Swiss Francs for an overnight stop in the country?

#156575

Postby Slarti » August 1st, 2018, 3:03 pm

Dod101 wrote:Very interesting Slarti and your comments make perfect sense but I doubt that they are correct. Lausanne is on Lake Geneva and my atlas tells me that Lucerne is usually known as Luzern. That is not surprising when I think about it because it is in the Swiss German speaking part of Switzerland.

Dod


lake Geneva (or Lac Leman as it is known locally) is in the mainly French speaking part of Switzerland, from listening to the people on the streets, whereas in Luzern, when I was working there, most of the locals seemed to be speaking German, but it was almost unintelligible, being Schweizerdeutsch
Apparently even Germans find it hard.

When getting tickets to make sure that you are asking for the right place, Luzern in the German speaking canton of Luzern, or Lausanne in the French speaking canton of Vaud.

And that is where I was at cross purposes with you as I was reading Lucerne as Lausanne. Probably my bad there for getting wires crossed.

Sorry
Slarti

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Re: Do I need Swiss Francs for an overnight stop in the country?

#156579

Postby Dod101 » August 1st, 2018, 3:20 pm

Thanks Slarti.

I do not know Switzerland very well but I used to visit Zurich regularly on business and went to Lucerne (or Luzern!) occasionally. The Swiss German speakers also of course spoke excellent English and made it clear that they would rather speak English than High German!

Dod

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Re: Do I need Swiss Francs for an overnight stop in the country?

#156641

Postby panamagold » August 1st, 2018, 8:37 pm

Clariman wrote:We are going on a driving tour of Europe and will pass through Switzerland - spending one night in a Lucerne hotel.


If you wish to make a lasting impression on your Swiss hosts, learn how to pronounce this Schweizerdeutsch word before your departure. "Chuchichästli". Even speakers of Hochdeutsch struggle. And what does the word translate to in the English language? Plain and simple 'kitchen cupboard'. :)

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Re: Do I need Swiss Francs for an overnight stop in the country?

#156644

Postby PinkDalek » August 1st, 2018, 8:57 pm

panamagold wrote:If you wish to make a lasting impression on your Swiss hosts, learn how to pronounce this Schweizerdeutsch word before your departure. "Chuchichästli". Even speakers of Hochdeutsch struggle. And what does the word translate to in the English language? Plain and simple 'kitchen cupboard'. :)



They could always find out from:

Chuchichästli
Restaurant and Bar
Ruopigenstrasse 15
6015 Luzern

Wir haben 365 Tage im Jahr jeweils ab 10.00 Uhr Geöffnet

Clariman
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Re: Do I need Swiss Francs for an overnight stop in the country?

#157363

Postby Clariman » August 5th, 2018, 4:51 pm

Thanks for your advice. We survived without any Swiss Francs, but a bank loan would have been helpful with the high prices :). All paid with a credit card that does not charge currency conversion.


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