paging Ace & others who know Switzerland

I'm off to Austria in the summer. Planning to stop in Switzerland on the
way.

As the Swiss insist on being awkward and have their own currency, I'm
trying to work out how much of it to take in advance. I'd like to minimise
the amount by using credit or debit cards. Are these widely accepted in
petrol stations, supermarkets, restaurants & bars? Hopefully they aren't
Germanic in their outlook and insist on cash only in a large proportion of
outlets.

 

Buying petrol with plastic is no problem at all, a lot of the bigger
shops take plastic as well but IME the smaller shops and cheaper
eateries are likely to be awkward and not take credit cards.

 

thanks

 

I've never had an issue paying for stuff in ch with a card.
--
Champ

ZX10R | GPz750turbo | GSX-R 600 racer
My advice as your attorney is to buy a motorcycle
To email me, neal at my domain should work.

 

Slight diversion but is paying on card an issue in Germany then? What about
France? I ask as I'm off to the Nurburgring in September and was planning
on just putting everyone on my card. Should I bet getting a few quid out
before I go then?

 

Some places (e.g. Aldi) don't like credit cards, or even debit cards
that look like they're credit cards (e.g. Barclays Connect).

 

Until someone who travels more often answers, my personal experience is that
if your card has the sign of either Visa, MasterCard or Maestro you're ok.
Switch and Delta aren't widely accepted in Continental Europe AFAIK.


Geo

 

.... unless it's a Eurocheque card (not a Euro/Mastercard) as those are
far more popular in Germany, mainly for historic reasons.

 

Used my debit card in Aldi and the two supermarkets in Adenau on my last two
trips without hassle.

If you stick your drinks on the hotel / restaurant bill then the only thing
you'll need euros for is snacks etc.

 

As others have said chf should only be needed in smaller outlets.

Don't forget your vignette though if you plan on using the motorways, these
can often be had cheaper via eBay than spending 40chf at a service station
out there.

 

I'm not planning on using motorways but you never know...I'll keep an eye
on Ebay, thanks. Currently 1 on there. The Swiss tourist office does not
list a separate bike vignette, so I guess one originally bought for a car
will do?

 

AFAIK yes.

 

Yes, IIRC they're the same price.

 

Would you go away for a weekend in the UK without any cash in your
pocket? I'd take a minimum of £100 in euros, pay using plastic where
it was convenient and then change the remaining Euros when I got home.

 

They're the same thing.. And designed to be stuck on either the inside
of a windscreen or any outside surface on a bike. Personally I used to
keep mine in the transparent top of my tank bag, which also allows you
to not have it permanently fixed, hence making it re-usable.
Allegedly.

FWIW If I were on UK plates and not planning to make a motorway border
crossing into CH, I don't think I'd bother.
--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (b.rogers at ifrance.com)
\`\ | /`/ DS#8 BOTAFOT#3 SbS#2 UKRMMA#13 DFV#8 SKA#2 IBB#10
`\\ | //'
`\|/`
`

 

Yeah? Whereabouts?

Yes. And most automated petrol stations (and there's a _lot_ of them)
will take virtually any sort of card, as well as accepting both Euro
and CHF notes.

Not generally. It's very unusual to find any retail establishment that
won't take cards. [1]

So if you're just planning on passing through it's possibly not worth
getting any out in advance, and just finding a cash machine if you
change your mind. Restaurants often don't allow a tip to be left on
the card transactions, but thios doesn't matter, as a tip isn't really
expected anyway, and is always appreciated, even when it's just a
round-up of 5% or less.


[1] OTOH they're also perfectly happy to take cash for large
purchases. Buying a new car or motorbike here is, um, interesting, as
cash seems to be the only way to do so. But even quite small post
offices, for instance, don't blink an eye when you walk in and ask for
30,000 francs in cash. It's only 30 notes, after all.
--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (b.rogers at ifrance.com)
\`\ | /`/ DS#8 BOTAFOT#3 SbS#2 UKRMMA#13 DFV#8 SKA#2 IBB#10
`\\ | //'
`\|/`
`

 

Quite. And if you do have to buy one, don't subsequently send it to a
friend to re-use 'cos he'll only bin his bike and nearly put a stop to
his skiing and all.

 

Actually stopping for 2-3 nights on the way back. I'm not organising the
trip but the plan is to use one base hotel and have some day trips over
passes and maybe the Jungfrau train thing.

 

Oh right. Well if you're passing near Engelberg (<1 hour from
Interlaken, whence the Jungfrau) feel free to drop in. Bads available
- how many are you?

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (b.rogers at ifrance.com)
\`\ | /`/ DS#8 BOTAFOT#3 SbS#2 UKRMMA#13 DFV#8 SKA#2 IBB#10
`\\ | //'
`\|/`
`

 

Thanks for the offer.

I tried to get some UKRMers interested. There wasn't any interest so I'm
booking that package trip I posted about last month. They brochure blurb
is a bit vague. I'm waiting for them to send a fuller itinery.