To enjoy the serene natural beauty, the pristine lakes, the towering mountains and the lush green valleys of Switzerland, nothing beats travelling alone at your own pace and time, and planning your own itinerary on your budget.

Switzerland is a stunning country blessed with an abundance of natural beauty and breath-taking landscapes. For a nature lover and hiker like Rebecca Chan (from Registrar’s office), travelling alone at her own pace to appreciate the serenity of the outdoors, is the ultimate holiday for her.

From the majestic Swiss Alps to the bustling cities, Switzerland is a fascinating place for her as she loves to walk, hike and explore on foot. No jam-packed tour schedules and long bus journeys from place to place for her. Rebecca believes in appreciating the moment and savouring each beautiful location.

She shares her experience with readers and provides tips for optimising the travelling budget without having to pay the tour agent and still have a meaningful good time.

She said, “When I'm doing research on the country I want to visit, the first thing I do is to search on Mr Google for the top attractions of the country. Once I have an idea of what I want to do and the places to go, I will do more research, read up more and take notes. The one way to go about doing that would be to watch YouTube travel videos and see the experiences of other travellers before I decide. You’ll be surprised how much info and tips you can gather from these travel videos.” The next step is to draft an itinerary and that itinerary needs to be flexible, which means you need options as your travels will be determined by many factors beyond your control.

For Switzerland, I pretty much decided that I wanted to do some moderate hiking to see the mountains and to explore smaller towns and villages. I am not a hardcore hiker, neither am I a very experienced one. I will read up on the area I want to hike and decide based on my capability level, weighing the risks involved since I am a solo traveller. I then researched how to get there, the length of the journey and the mode of transportation for me to get around. Since I love long distance walking, I don't mind doing 1-2 hours of walking to a destination, provided it is fairly safe and especially if the weather is nice and cool. Public transportation is fantastic in Switzerland, but most of the time, I chose to walk just because it's just more gratifying for me.”

According to Rebecca, accommodations, be it hotels, AirBnbs and even hostels in Switzerland can be rather pricey, especially those located close to the city centres or near hyped-up touristy spots; and those that are located in quieter areas near places of natural beauty. We are blessed that we now have so many sources of information, apps and maps to help us in planning our holidays. It is good to check out Booking.com, AirBnb app, Trip.com, Expedia, TripAdvisor and similar travel sites to compare prices. It is important to read the reviews first to see if the accommodation and location is suitable for you as a solo traveller. When you are booking an accommodation, preferably opt for free cancellations, although free cancellations can slightly be pricier than a confirmed reservation whereby you may get a cheaper rate but you will be charged if you need to cancel.  

As you are browsing around, looking for a suitable reasonably priced stay during your holidays, free cancellation policies allow you to change your mind and explore more options worry free. As for Airbnb accommodations, Rebecca had learned the hard and painful way that one needs to watch out for the cancellation and refund policy. Read the terms and understand them before booking.

Upon reaching Switzerland, Rebecca bought the Swiss Travel Pass (STP) and used the SBB app for the train schedules. Upon returning to Zurich after staying 8 nights away in the mountains solo, she continued to go on day trips out of Zurich practically every day using the STP within the validity period as she wanted to maximise the use of the pass as much as she could. The STP is not cheap either, but it can help to save a bit of money as train rides are very costly in Switzerland.

She gave an example of the train fares in Switzerland. A train ride of 12 minutes, covering approximately 8-9kms will cost you around CHF3.10-3.40 (approximately MYR16-19) per way. The Pass will be suitable for travellers who have a somewhat firmed itinerary and already know the places they want to go to and how much they would need to travel.

According to Rebecca, “The 19 full days in Switzerland weren't really enough to cover even half of the country. And my friends asked if I visited the neighbouring countries while I was there, like Germany, Italy, France, and Austria, just to name a few. However, I learned from my first solo trip to the UK in 2017, that going to too many countries within a short period of time does not allow one to truly enjoy and appreciate the place. I spent more time travelling between countries than actually enjoying the beauty of each place.

With Switzerland, I came home feeling a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. Spending 8 nights away from Zurich up in the mountains on my own was the best decision I've made so far on all my travels. By spending more days there, I could walk leisurely and enjoyed the towns and small villages more. It was autumn when I went there, but I was so happy that I got to see and touch snow up in the mountains on one of my hikes.

During one of my long walks and hikes, I stumbled upon a vending machine that you can pay CHF1 to get fresh cow milk in a cup or in a bottle. That was interesting. I also stumbled across a beautiful river amidst the autumn foliage because I chose to hike down 1.5 hours from a village to the town valley below instead of taking the train down. These were the gratifying moments of my trip because those finds were so unexpected.

I read and heard that Swiss people aren't that friendly. I can safely say I've had my fair share of encountering some not so nice Swiss people; but, I had also encountered some very friendly ones. In the end, we can't let the unpleasant experiences overshadow the good ones.

When people say that holidaying in Switzerland isn’t cheap, they weren't joking. Transportation, food and accommodation expenses will definitely dig a very deep hole in your pockets. If you have a limited budget, do plan your travel during non-peak seasons. You will definitely need to book your flights and accommodations months in advance. Some airlines have promotional fares for non-peak travels and this will help greatly.

You need to decide what you want to do, see or experience and just concentrate on one area that could fulfil all of your expectations of a great trip if you are on a tight budget, because you can't afford to hop around too much.

A must-see place in Switzerland is Zermatt, the picturesque village at the foot of the impressive Matterhorn mountain. It is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places in Switzerland. This car-free mountain village deep in the Swiss Alps is known for its horse drawn carriage rides, luxury chalets and all-year round skiing opportunities.”