Do you think Switzerland is expensive?

Question

I went to Switzerland a couple of weeks ago. Whilst I was there I visited Geneva and Zurich. I was expecting Switzerland to be incredibly overpriced but it wasn't. Most of the time it was slightly cheaper than the UK. Obviously there were the expensive parts of Zurich (Bahnofstrasse in particular) but most of the time the prices were pretty reasonable. The prices I am referring to are of food, drink, and general day to day items. You always hear that Switzerland is expensive, has anyone else found this not to be the case?

Answer 1

The cost of living is very expensive in Europe.  I think it may not seem to it to you if your home currency is strong vs. the Swiss Franc.  Unfortunately, the dollar is so low compared to other currencies that Europe and Switzerland are becoming more and more unaffordable to Americans wanting to vacation there.

Answer 2

The United States is probably more expensive

Answer 3

Food, day to day items are basically the same price than the US.

People living in Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York will find the prices are almost identical.  It can be very expensive if you live in the mid-west or  the South where lots of things are much cheaper than California or NYC, thus quite a shock gor therm going in Switzerland.

Answer 4

Switzerland is much more expensive than just over the border in Germany or France. I think you're just comparing it to the UK, which is also hideously expensive.

Answer 5

Of course, Switzerland is very very expensive.

Answer 6

yes, but don't forget that UK is the most expensive place in Europe...

So, switzerland is certainly less expensive than UK, but more than France, Italy...

Answer 7

Hah Mz Goofy, I hope you're kidding.  The US is SOOOO cheap compared to almost all of Europe.  Switzerland isn't expensive compared to London, but it is literally twice as expensive, if not more, compared to almost all of the US (it might only be like 1.5 times as expensive as NYC and San Francisco).

Answer 8

I've never tried to purchase it.

Answer 9

Switzerland is expensive

Answer 10

Hi there,

I live in Switzerland (Zurich), are German, have lived in the US and visited the UK several times.

So in essence I have some references to compare Switzerland to.

Looking around the European Countries would I say the Switzerland and the UK are both countries ranging in the top part for cost of living and prices. I'm not so familiar with the Nordics, but think that even Sweden and Norway have a similar cost of living.

Especially for visitors who are eating out a lot Switzerland is pretty expensive, due to high cost (labor and resources like meat), but compared to the UK are these similar cost and might even be a bit lower depending on the restaurants you choose. I would even go so far to say that in most cases you might get better quality in Switzerland compared to the same cost in the UK.

Other day to day items (brand) have similar or the same prices) as in Germany or other bordering countries, if you just convert the price to Euro.

So yes, from a UK perspective is Switzerland reasonable and that's why we have many tourists from the UK each year.

Comparing it to other EU countries and the US though , do we see a different picture. Here Switzerland is more expensive, even though with a strong Euro the buying power of a EU citizen visiting has increased lately. Coming from the US is a different story, with a weak USD and fairly high prices in Switzerland, does the country feel incredibly expensive, but currently even EU countries like Germany feel expensive for US citizens.

But in essence Switzerland is a very nice country and you get a great value and good quality for your money.

Ina