Where to stay in Switzerland

The visitor tax pays for something

• There is no national tourist tax. Each commune sets its own, typically CHF 2 to CHF 7 per adult per night.
• In most places it buys you a guest card, and the guest card is worth far more than the tax.
• Geneva: free unlimited public transport for your whole stay, including trams, buses, the airport train and the little yellow Mouettes across the lake.
• Bern: the Bern Ticket, free travel on the city network, given with any overnight stay.
• Interlaken, Lucerne, Zermatt, the Engadin and many alpine valleys issue cards with free buses and discounted or free cable cars.
• Ask for it at check-in. Hotels do not always volunteer it and it is not printed on your booking.

Booking

• Prices are high and quality is consistently good. A CHF 150 double is a budget room here.
• Youth hostels are excellent, clean and used by all ages, and are the main way to visit Switzerland cheaply.
• Mountain huts (SAC huts) need booking and are cash or card at the hut. Half board is normal and you bring a sleeping liner.
• Book Zermatt, Grindelwald and the Engadin months ahead for both winter and July or August.
• Many alpine hotels close in the shoulder seasons, roughly late April to mid June and late October to mid December, when the lifts stop.

Practicalities

• Check-in from 15:00, check-out by 11:00, enforced politely and precisely.
• Quiet hours are real. Most buildings observe 22:00 to 07:00, and complaints get made.
• Recycling is separated in your room or apartment and you are expected to do it properly.
• Air conditioning is rare because it is usually not needed. In a hot July in Geneva or Ticino that can matter, so check if you feel the heat.