Swiss neatness, good manners and local curiosities – but also their high prices – greeted me in Zürich. It’s a huge economic, university and cultural centre, standing by the lake of the same name. The best priced accommodation was, natural, to be found in a HI hostel Zürich. It is a strangely shaped building, about half a century old and an architectural monument. A few years ago it was renovated and it offers two and four bedded rooms. Each room has a handy hall with a sink. The ground floor welcomes you with large common places, which serve also as the dining room. Apart from breakfast (included in the price) you can also have dinner, or maybe one of typically Swiss meals – a fondue. The food is also among price friendliest in town.
You can get to know the large city on foot, at least the closer city centre. The hostel is a little more toward the outskirts of town, which comes in handy if you arrive by car. I recommend you get a day-pass for travelling around the town, it includes all public transport (from buses and trams, right down to boats connecting the river and lake shores).
For my next stop I chose Luzern and its hostel Luzern on the outskirts of town, just a longer walk by the river and lake away from the picturesque town centre. Upon arrival I was even greeted by a cow – well, they were mooing their welcome from the next hill. The hostel just had a mascot with HI symbols on it. It was painted as part of an artistic project a few years ago, where companies from various parts of the country came with their colours and logs to come up with their own cow. So today you can admire large sculptures at various places – even some private backyards. The rooms in the new hostel are varied, with biggest having room for more than 10 people. Apart from regular breakfast you should try the home made muesli, prepared daily from oats, dried fruit and yoghurt.
The first encounter I had with the real Alpine landscape was when I arrived to Brienz. It’s a town by a large lake, with peaks topping 3000+m surrounding it. Again the town boasts with a lovely hostel Brienz, so I decided to spend a night there. It is in a smaller house by the lake. The wooden halls and bunk beds remind me of a mountain cabin. I suggest you book ahead, for it is often visited by groups of mountaineers, and it is a small hostel! The shops and restaurants of Brienz are just 10 minutes away. Large wood carvings are typical of the town, which even has a school for this craft. They have two rail stations. The older one has Alpine train connecting the town with Rothorn daily – from spring to fall. It reaches the elevation of 2244m.
There are several nice spots to visit nearby. If you feel like spoiling yourself, you should head for lunch at the castle/hotel Giessbach. Right beside it mighty waterfalls used to be an attraction for nobility, but are now available for everybody to enjoy. Over a century ago they built (a still operating) cable cart, that takes the visitors from the small port to the castle. The road was built only a few decades ago.
If you fancy another mountain railway, you can ascend the 3454m Jungfraujoch, but it will cost you (around 150€), but this is the railroad with the highest elevation in Europe and hundreds of tourists ride it daily.
The hostel Lausanne is quite far away from the centre of the city – too far to walk. But everybody that spends a night in Lausanne gets a free public transport pass. The hostel is a one story building done in wood, with numerous atriums on the inside, where people can sit down. Rooms have up to four beds and are comfortable, with some wardrobes and a big shelf that is there instead of a table.
Locarno can also boast with a similarly pleasant atmosphere. It is in an Italian speaking canton at the lake Largo Maggiore (which is mostly on the Italian side of the border). So the chance to visit the neighbouring country is self-imposing. Crossing the border doesn’t change much thought, the language is the same, the landscape is the same, only the currency changes from francs to euros – which is a bit friendlier to tourists.
Locarno stretches along the coast of the lakes, but the most interesting – old part – of the town is rather small, but with a large square. There are many events taking place there, as well as most shops and restaurants are being placed around it. The HI hostel Locarno is also nearby. It is in several houses, which are connected into a single unit and renovated. The best rooms are twin bedded, for they have their own facilities and a balcony with a view. And the guests are welcomed by a complementary fruit plate…
Where ever you plan to go, it won’t be hard to find a HI hostel nearby, for the association has over fifty of them!
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