3-Day Travel Guide to Switzerland

Switzerland oh how I love you. Earlier this year (February 2023), my husband and I took a last minute trip to Switzerland. We weren’t able to stay long but we fell in love with this country and can’t wait to return – maybe in the summer next time. We were able to explore the Switzerland via their incredible train system and stay in a couple of amazing towns along the way. Here is a whirlwind / 3-day guide to Switzerland. Our main goal of this trip was to adventure in a new country, see the sights, and eat some great food – mission accomplished. We hope this Switzerland guide gives you some inspiration for your trip to the country!

Getting to Switzerland is pretty simple as it is only a short flight from London. Depending on cost and availability, you can either fly into Geneva or Zurich. We chose to fly into Geneva to start our journey and fly back to London from Zurich.

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Weather in Switzerland in February

During our trip we experienced a mixture of cloudy and sunny days. We expected a lot of cold and snowy days but it was very pleasant weather during the days and got chillier in the evenings. I packed sweaters for my top half and black jeans, which I wore Lululemon leggings under, for my bottom half. Pair that with a coat and some gloves and that was the perfect amount of layers.

What to pack

Make sure you pack enough warm clothes for your trip to the Swiss Alps.

• Warm long coat – that cold air bites if you don’t have a long warm coat
• Warm sweaters / flannels – during sunny days, this should be enough to keep you comfortable
• Jeans / Pants / Leggings – make sure to pack some long-johns/leggings or another form of base layer to go under your jeans or pants

We packed light for this trip since it was a quick trip. If you need some tips for packing light, Department of Adulting has some great packing tips. And don’t forget to check out my favorite packing tool!

How to take the train

Switzerland has a fantastic train system and it is definitely the best way to travel the county. To make this easy you need a Swiss Travel Pass. While you can purchase point to point tickets, it is so much easier to just go ahead and get the pass which allows you to hop on and hop off and be more flexible with your timeline.

You can purchase the travel pass ahead of time but there is also a counter at the Geneva airport where you can purchase the pass after you land. The airport has access to the rail system at the Geneve-Aeroport station train stop which makes it easy to hop off your plane and follow the signs down the station. For ease of travel, also download the Swiss Rail app for your phone – you can plug in your route and it tells you the timetable, exactly where to go, and when to switch trains. 

Zermatt

After purchasing our passes we boarded our train and enjoyed the incredible views on our way to Zermatt – home of the Matterhorn (the actual mountain not the Disneyland ride). The train ride was just under 3 hours but flew by as we took in the views of the charming Swiss towns and the green countryside covered with snow.

One of the coolest things about this town is that there are no cars allowed. The only vehicles are these little electric things that zip around from place to place for deliveries and transfers for people to and from the train station. We explored the lively evening streets until we stumbled on Pizzeria Ristorante Molino Zermatt. I’m sure a long day of traveling had to do with it, but this restaurant was fantastic. Fun fact: Switzerland lies at the crossroads of several major European cultures: German, French and Italian – which explains why the Italian food was so wonderful!

Zermatt is a fantastic place to explore. The architecture is incredible and the main street provides great views, fun souvenir shopping, and wonderful restaurants.

Where to stay in Zermatt

Kipp and I stayed at the beautiful BEAUSiTE Zermatt Hotel – which sat in a perfect location to town and with incredible views.

This hotel had large clean rooms with wonderful heated towel racks in the bathroom. This hotel is great in so many ways but our all time favorite feature was their outdoor hot tub – which was one of the reasons why we booked here. The views that you take in of the Matterhorn almost looked fake and it was a perfect way to wrap up our first day in Switzerland.

The hotel offers a complimentary buffet style breakfast that will fill you up before a day full of adventure – the breakfast spread was wonderful and even included some fresh honeycomb.

After checking out, the lovely staff will hold your bags until you are ready to go to the train station. They will also provide transfer to the station via a electric car.

Gstaad

Next stop was Gstaad. This train journey took about three and a half hours and it included a couple of train switches – BUT, have no fear, the app will guide you.

We explored quiet, upscale town and arrived at Restaurant Saagi Stübli (at the Gstaaderhof hotel) for a traditional fondue dinner. Side note: fondue is not just cheese, there is also dinner fondue where you dip your meat in a oil and cook it at your table. We loved this restaurant – it was exactly what I would think of for a Swiss restaurant.

Must do in Gstaad: take the gondola up into the Alps! We took the gondola up to the mountain where we were able to get a table at Bergrestaurant Eggli. If you get to Gstaad in the winter, I would highly recommend getting a reservation here ahead of time. There were no open reservations when I called the morning of and the staff told me to just show up and see if there was anything open. We ended up scoring quite possibly one of the best seats in the house but it was pure luck. We ate cheese fondue and drank wine while appreciating the beauty of the Swiss Alps.

After getting our cheese fill, we strolled the town and took in the chalet architectural style of the buildings in town. The towns main street is lines with luxury stores and restaurants. This bougie town is wonderful but definitely a bit pricier than Zermatt. (It’s just like me to have the Champagne taste with our beer budget.) 

We ventured back to our hotel and grabbed our bags to head back to the train station. While it would have been all of a 5 minute walk, we opted for the ride in the hotel’s Aston Martin that they use for train station transfers. It was only a 2 minute drive but it was the only car ride we took on the trip and DANGGGG that car was nice.

Where to stay in Gstaad

Gstaad is considered upscale and it truly lived up to its reputation. Enter – Le Grand Bellevue. This incredible hotel is available for a whopping cost of $1,200 per night (at the time of our trip). Luckily for us it is part of Hyatt’s Small Luxury Hotel Collection. Points people – you are able to get this hotel for 35,000 Hyatt points transferred from our Chase portal. 

We knew this hotel would be fantastic when we were greeted with warm chocolate milk and cookies at check-in. The staff checked us in while we warmed up in front of a large fire in the lobby. They even booked us some last minute dinner reservations. 

We enjoyed another fantastic (and complimentary) breakfast at tLe Grand Bellevue. They offered everything made to order. Kipp and I might have gone through half a dozen eggs benedict plates before we were done.

At some point of your stay, make sure you check out the hotel’s luxury Thermal Oasis spa. Located in the hotel, the spa has almost 20 “wellness zones”. They range anywhere from a cold, ice room to different types of saunas. We tried them all…minus the hay room – that’s a big nope for me and my allergies.

Getting home

After a dreamy day in Gstaad, we hopped onto our train to take us to our final destination of Zurich. We were able to view the northern part of the county via train, which took us all the way to the airport. There, we spent the final night of our trip at the Hyatt Place hotel located at the Zurich Airport. The next morning we hopped on our plane back to LHR and then back to DFW. 

Things to do in Switzerland

There it is…the guide to our whirlwind winter tour of Switzerland. We cant wait to go back to and check it out during the summer months. After this trip, we now know that we want to return for a longer timeframe. I would definitely recommend more than 3 days. Here are a few of the things that we would have done if we had more time:

• Skied in Zermatt
• Spa day at Hotel Villa Honegg
• Glacier3000 Tour
• Explored Geneva and Zurich

Don’t forget to check out our Guide to Maximizing Your PTO!

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And just for fun, here are some of our other favorite pictures from Switzerland.