Rick Steves' Switzerland Paperback – April 1, 2014

My wife and I love Rick Steves guidebooks. We buy one for each country we're visiting. Rather than pay $20 for the most recent edition, I pay half that for a 2 year old edition (they tend to be updated every two years).Rick did European tours for years and his guidebooks have the tourist in mind (at least those of us from the baby-boom generation - my 30ish year old son just reads online info and doesn't care about the books.(All of) Rick Steves' travel videos are available online at YouTube and at his website. You can get a feel for the man and, thus, for his style (and books) by viewing those.

As others note, this book is spotty in its coverage. It does cover, for example, the famous Alps in the Berner Oberland, and Zermatt, but not the Aletch glacier and surrounding area, between these two areas.It is excellent in the areas it covers. Like other Rick Steves guides, it gives practical advice for the foreign traveler, omitted by some other guides. He tells it like it is and provides opinions of what is worth doing/seeing.Read the table of contents carefully to see if it covers the regions you wish to visit, so you are not disappointed.

We used this during our trip to the Berner Oberland. Most of everything was spot on except that he really oversells Gimmelwald. I would recommend this your trip.

I spent most of my 3 days in Switzerland in Zurich. The walking tour of Zurich provided was very interesting, but not well routed. I bought the Kindle version and walking from place to place with it I found myself lost several times, having to spend cellphone data roaming $ to get myself back onto the 'tour'. The tour itself was very interesting, wishing the route was more clearly laid out. The street names in the book are not exactly what the street signs say. The book says to go straight several times through pedestrian walkways that have no signs that split into a couple directions.I really appreciate the Rick Steves philosophy of vacationing on the cheap. But the key points of visiting Switzerland on the cheap are not well highlighted. The book mentions that reasonable priced food can be found at the cafeterias (Migros and Manoras) and the groceries, but this should be emphasized at the beginning of the book. Meat and Seafood are expensive. Fruits and veges are cheap at the groceries, anything purchased at a restaurant is 2x the cost of the US. or neighboring EU countries.I arrived in Zurich at the train station and if I had taken a cab to my hotel it could have cost me $80. I decided to try my hand with the local Zurich trams (with no map in my guide book) and help of google maps and it cost me $2.60 for the 30 minute tram ticket.The book recommended going into Gimmewald for the Southern mountain experience. After mentioning this as my destination from my local hotel they 'corrected' my pronunciation of Gimmewald to Grindewald. After receiving the correction in my English speaking and going to Zurich HB (main train station) foreigner travel center and requesting a trip to Grindewald paying my $160 CHF I am glad I did, as I only had a day to spend. Grindewald was very touristy but if you are backpacking being on the cheap and have time to spend I'm sure Gimmewald is wonderful.With my short trip spending $160 CHF for the train ride to Grindewald is probably OK, but my hotel had a guided tour for probably $80. If you are not getting a train card book tours, it will be much cheaper and more interesting than going your own route.

All of Rick Steves' material helps me have a more interesting and less stressful trip. I think Switzerland was one of the first countries Rick started going to, so he has a special love for its mountains and valleys. I esp. appreciated the information about Zuerich. Although the town is off the traditional tourist map, its sights are well worth the time.Among other qualities, Rick's maps are useful and easy to read. They're hand-drawn, which makes them more user-friendly.I always travel to Europe with one of Rick's books in hand.

How many years have we been depending on Rick Steves for accurate and comprehensive travel info? A couple of dozen at the least! It's a natural thought to get whichever Rick Steves book for wherever we've decided to travel. Picking up his latest guide to Switzerland was a smart choice. Not just for places to visit, but for background, history, travel tips, currency, customs, food, lodging and more! We appreciate the guidance and will stick with Rick when making future travel plans.

Very detailed guidebook. Offers a good description about places to visit in Switzerland. I loved his recommendation on places to stay in. I used the book to plan hikes around Switzerland and it helped me understand the difficulty level and challenges in each hike. Also loved his recommendations on which cities/villages to stay at.

I like Rick Steves travel books a lot and even though we will just be passing through Zurich for a couple of days this is very useful.