You Know You're in Switzerland When…

an ass is beautiful.

everything is just a bit more expensive.

plain m&m's are a new phenomenon.

How do you know you're in Switzerland?

Swiss Price Rant

The Frau sometimes feels so integrated in Switzerland that she forgets that spending CHF 20 ($22) on a lunch that she will eat at her desk is actually, in fact, not a very good deal!

Nothing like a Spain vacation to bring her back to Swiss reality.

For every 1.50 Euro ($2) beer, yodelers, the Spanish gave The Frau a FREE tapas. After seven years of being charged for dinner roles even though her CHF 25 ($27.50) schnitzel wasn’t exactly a bargain, The Frau had forgotten about FREE.

After Switzerland, eating in the rest
of the world seems cheap.

In Spain, she had three-course lunches including coffee and a drink for the price of one glass of Swiss mineral water.

She had a churro made fresh on the spot for 60 cents ($.81).

She bought fresh olives at a market for 1.50 ($2).

The only purchase she questioned?

Why she had bought a round-trip ticket.

Forgive The Frau, Switzerland. But it’s her first week back since going to Spain and she is having a little lunch remorse. Can you blame her? She just spent CHF 9 ($10) for one TAKE-AWAY sandwich.

Sadly, she wanted chips and an apple from the GROCERY STORE too. Another CHF 6 ($6.60) down the tubes, all so The Frau could have a romantic lunch AT HER DESK and gaze out at THE FOG.

MEGA UN-COOL.

But don’t worry, Switzerland. The Frau isn’t leaving again anytime soon. So in 72.56 hours (approximately), she will most likely go back to thinking overpriced is normal.

Having a Baby in Switzerland: Are you ready?

Are you ready to have a baby in Switzerland? Find out on today’s episode of The Price is Fright. 

1 Package Pampers Newborn (Size One, 25 Count): CHF 11,20 ($12.02)

Photo by Brian Opyd

1 Package M-Budget Baby Wipes: CHF 1,60 ($1.72)

1 Jar Seelachs Hipp Baby Food: CHF 2,80 ($3.00)

1 Day at Swiss Daycare: CHF 126 ($135)

1 “Free” infant flight from Zurich to Chicago on SWISS: CHF 424 ($455)

1 Pair of must-have Migros rubber pants (Every proper Swiss baby wears them!): CHF 14,90 ($16)

1 Used Bugaboo Stroller from the Expat in Zurich Yahoo List: CHF 650 ($698)

1 Nursing Pillow from Baby Rose: CHF 159 ($170.66)

1 Nursing Bra from Baby Rose: CHF 59,95 ($64.35)

1 Full Night’s Sleep: Unavailable, please try again later.

1 GRAND TOTAL: CHF 1449.45 ($1,555.70)

The Cost of Living in Zurich

Even after living here almost six years, The Frau is still shocked by the price of certain items in Switzerland.

So, in honor of Zurich being rated the world’s most expensive place to live, she’d like to have a “No way! That costs what in Switzerland?” blog party.

Here are the Frau’s top ten “You’ve got to be kidding me” shopping moments:

1. CHF 12,90 ($13.99) for a small container of ice cream? Quite the champagne price for vanilla, don't you think?
2. CHF 39,90 ($43.27) for 116 Pampers…oh, wait, this is the SALE PRICE (Originally CHF 59,90–$64.96)?
3. CHF 39,90 ($43.27) for laundry detergent?
4. CHF 3 ($3.25) for a dinner roll that’s in a basket on the table even though my entrée costs CHF 29 ($31.44)?
5. CHF 5,90 ($6.39) for a miniscule bag of nacho chips?
6. CHF 1,19 ($1.29) a minute to call customer service for the honor of giving them my business?
7. CHF 1600 ($1,735) for a baby stroller?
8. CHF 500 ($542) for a USED baby stroller?
9. CHF 159 ($172) for a nursing pillow?
10. CHF 35 ($38) for two foot-long Subway sandwiches (no chips or drinks), but a real deal considering: CHF 35 ($38) for a club sandwich (side of veggies costs more).

Join the pricing party! Leave a comment about your best sticker-shocking moment in Switzerland. And long live border shopping.

Dear Frau: How does Swiss Health Insurance Work?

Welcome to another edition of Dear Frau. It's kind of like Dear Abby, except with an international twist. If you've got a question about expat life in Switzerland or moving to Switzerland, don't hesitate to contact the Frau and maybe your little Frage will be in the next edition of Dear Frau.

Dear Frau,

I am relocating to Fribourg with my husband from September through July, 2012. He received a Fulbright grant to study at the University of Fribourg, and I get to tag along. We're currently trying to navigate the private insurance world; he'll be covered by the university but I have to buy my insurance. Do you have any pointers on how Swiss health insurance works for expats and what companies to contact?

Sincerely,

Yet to be insured expat in Switzerland

Dear yet to be insured expat in Switzerland,

Swiss health insurance works no differently for expats than it does for Swiss people. Everyone in Switzerland is required to have health insurance—if you can’t prove to your city hall that you have it, they will personally sign you up. Health insurance is not paid for by employers, like it is in the United States. This is both good and bad. Good because no matter your employment status, you have insurance. Bad because it can be expensive. But the best part about Swiss insurance is that you CANNOT be denied basic health insurance for any reason.

The Frau is of the opinion that the basic, compulsory Swiss health insurance is satisfactory for most people and that there is no point to pay more than necessary to have benefits like private rooms at a hospital, since opportunities to upgrade can be paid for separately if desired.

All Swiss health insurers offer basic insurance. All you need to do is compare the price, because as far as the Frau knows, the benefits will be basically the same. (Basic insurance does not include dental or eye care).

Before the Frau signed up for insurance, she got quotes from a couple insurers and compared insurance rates on comparis.ch.

Basically, she ended up choosing Helsana, because their website was in English and they had one of the lower prices, but then Helsana somehow signed her up with SanSan, a division of Helsana that does not have a website in English. The Frau is not sure how this happened but then again she’s not sure how a lot of things happen in the country, and she’s been here over five years.

Nevertheless, despite missing her fantastic international insurance through CIGNA, which also covered dental and eye care with no deductibles, so far the Swiss insurance through SanSan has been satisfactory and for medications/vitamins not covered by it, the Frau hops over the border and buys in Germany where they are 75% less expensive. (Before you move, buy basic medicines, for example, Centrum Vitamins in the US are about $6.95 but in Switzerland the same bottle is $50).

With the basic insurance you have several options; the Frau chose the option that allowed her to go to any doctor, since even though she lives in Canton Aargau she already had several doctors she went to in Zurich at the time she had to switch from international to Swiss insurance. This option for free choice of doctors costs about CHF 20 more a month on her plan. The Frau pays about CHF 162 ($222) a month for basic Swiss insurance with this option with a CHF 2500 ($3440) deductible, which is the highest deductible. With lower deductibles, the monthly fees are higher.

As far as the Frau can tell, someone on basic Swiss insurance will end up spending about CHF 5000 ($6881) a year to be insured before the insurance company starts paying your medical bills. (This CHF 5000 includes the monthly fees, the deductible, and the extra CHF 700 they don’t tell you about that you must also pay before the insurance pays additional costs). There are some exceptions, i.e. pregnant women are exempt from paying deductible costs for most doctor visits and normal procedures related to pregnancy.

For more information, the Frau recommends reading the following:

Health insurance for people new to Switzerland

Benefits and FAQ about Swiss health insurance (download the PDFs, they are very helpful).

Anyone else want to chime in about their experience with Swiss insurance or what insurers they’ve liked/hated?

The Swiss Second-hand Scene

As you know based on my last post, I tend to frequent Swiss second-hand markets. I’m a regular at the Baden flea market, which is the last Saturday of every month, and I never pass by an opportunity to step into a Brockenhaus, or a second-hand store. I also occasionally visit Switzerland’s online second-hand store, in other words, the Ebay of Switzerland, which is, in the Swiss style of being very independent, not Ebay.ch, but ricardo.ch.

All of these second-hand Swiss entities have a few things in common: the prices of things are high and most sellers don’t want to bargain.

Both of these traits run counter to the idea of selling second-hand stuff, but then again this is Switzerland, and that fact alone somehow exempts the country the rest of the world’s way of thinking (not that this is always a bad thing, especially in these crazy economic times).

For example, my husband and I are in the market for a baby stroller. Most used strollers in Switzerland seem to be priced around CHF 350-500 ($464-$664) for something three years old. Alas, we watched one particular ricardo.ch seller try to sell their stroller for three weeks straight for CHF 350. Each week, when it didn’t sell, they just relisted it AT THE SAME PRICE. Like I said, rules of economics need not apply to Switzerland.

We finally emailed them after it didn’t sell for a fourth week and asked if we could come by over the weekend, have a look at the stroller, and then possibly buy it if we liked it. We were prepared to offer CHF 300 if we liked it, which seemed fair, considering they weren’t selling it at CHF 350.

The response: yes, you can come by and see it, but we’re not taking it off ricardo.ch. My response? Forget it. I’m not going to spend half a day renting a car to come see your stroller if I can’t buy it and take it home with me right then and there.

Anyhow, further research reveals that thanks to exchange rates and normal prices that do exist outside of this little exception of a country, we can buy the same stroller, new, from Germany for only CHF 100 more than the used, three-year-old Swiss ones are going for.

So goodbye, Swiss second-hand market. Hallo, Deutschland.

What is wrong with Swiss hotels?

A few weeks ago, my husband and I were trying to plan a trip with our Swiss neighbor. We were going to spend a weekend in Arosa. Together. The 30-something Americans with the 70-something Swiss.

Problem was? There were no hotels in Arosa for the weekend of March 19.

Well, let me put that another way. There were no hotels available for less than CHF 370 a night, and most were over CHF 1,000 AND wanted to charge us an extra CHF 25/per person/per night for--heaven forbid--asking to stay over a weekend.

Excuse me for being a guest.

Even my Swiss neighbor thought it was all ridiculous. Swiss hotels seem to think that we should thank them for allowing us to stay with them instead of the other way around. In the last few weeks, I've received hotel brochure after hotel brochure from places like Grandhotel Giessbach, Belvedere in Scuol, and Hotel Schloss Ragaz. In addition to prices that look sort of reasonable until you realize they are PER PERSON and not per room, they ALL want to charge up to another CHF 60/night for staying on a weekend.

Well I have news for them. Instead of staying in Switzerland, I'll be leaving on a jet plane to other European countries where hotels can still be found for $100, including breakfast, including shampoo, and including a bit of gratitude.

How about you? Has a Swiss hotel ever scared you off? Where will you be spending your upcoming holiday weekends?

Entertainment in Switzerland: Housing Ads

I like reading the housing ads in Switzerland for three reasons:

1. The prices are so outrageous it's kind of entertaining. (4.5 room apartment in the middle of nowhere Aargau for SFr 844,000? Oh and that doesn't include a garage...that's an extra SFr 25,000).

2. I can understand most of the text.

3. You come across gems like this:


Come on, really. Who can resist a Geak Apero...Not to mention the art direction on this ad really matches my English translation of such a thing.

Eight Ways to Save Money in Switzerland

Welcome to Switzerland. Land of the most expensive Big Mac in the world. Land where a plate of Chinese food costs the equivalent of $25 (Come on, Chinese food?). Land where two rib eye steaks will set you back $35 at the meat store. Whew. It’s enough to make any former tightwad like me reconsider her Swiss residency. So how has a former American cheapskate survived living in der Schweiz for three years? Read on, my fellow money-savers, read on. Below is part one of a two-part series.

1. Grocery Shop after 5 p.m.
For those of you who work, shopping after 5 p.m. is probably the only option you have, but it’s a smart one. Many stores will add 25-50% discounts to perishable items towards closing time. At the grocery store inside the Coop City in Baden, for example, the clerks go around with their 50% stickers beginning at 5 p.m.--and yours truly is stalking them. This is how I’ve managed to buy 750 g of beef for CHF 3,75, two chicken breasts for CHF 3, and a 1.5 Liter of Fanta for CHF .90. (Yes, even soda is perishable in Switzerland).

2. Buy big items during the traditional sale months
January and July. That’s when I do most of my clothes and home accessory shopping in Switzerland. For example, my husband and I waited to buy some pillows for our outdoor furniture until July and were rewarded with a price of CHF 5 per pillow (originally CHF 40). So we bought seven pillows at Manor for less than the price one. To quote a Guinness ad, “Good things come to those who wait.” And if you hurry, there are still some sales out there left over from July as I write this.

3. Book hotels in Switzerland last-minute using rooms.ch
Planning an overnight trip in Switzerland? Chances are you don’t want to go if the weather’s bad anyhow. I spent a rainy weekend in Locarno a few months back and I wouldn’t have gone except I had booked a hotel and they wouldn’t let me cancel without penalty. So why not wait until last-minute and book your hotel on the Swiss Budget Hotel website, where last minute rooms around the country go for CHF 99 for two people.

4. Border Shop
If you live near a border town, shop there. I’ve written about the benefits of shopping in Germany before and I still go every month or two to stock up on things that are ridiculously priced in Switzerland like tortilla chips. At the Famila in Waldshut, Germany, not only are their Poco Loco tortilla chips tastier than anything I’ve found in Switzerland, but they also cost the equivalent of CHF 3 for a 450-gram bag. A 450-gram bag. Unheard of in Switzerland. And Moevenpick ice cream? We all know that costs at least CHF 10 in Switzerland, but in Germany, the same thing costs the equivalent of CHF 3,50.

Anyhow, I hope these tips will get you started on saving in Switzerland. If you have any tips to add, please leave a comment. Would love to know how to save even more money in this crazy country. Stay tuned next week for Part Two where we'll discuss budget store brands, discount stores (are they really cheaper?) and more.

Reveling in Germany

Every time I go to Germany I can't help but revel in both the language and the prices of things. This has nothing to do with loving Germany over Switzerland, it's just a few things I appreciate when I cross the border.

I understand people. I don't have to ask them to repeat in High German. I meet native German speakers who have the same trouble as I do understanding Swiss German and this makes me feel better-like a cute 90-year old German woman who owns a little pension in Staufen. After I told this woman that I speak German because I've lived in Switzerland for three years, I also mentioned that my German isn't perfect yet because it's hard to learn German in Switzerland. She patted me on the shoulder and laughed, saying it was hard for her to understand the Swiss too, and then proceeded to give me a basket of cherries as a parting gift.

Then there are the prices. In my few days in Germany over the weekend, I had pasta dinners, I had meat dishes, and I had sodas and beers to go with. Each meal I ate would always amount to about 10 Euros (about 15 CHF) and this was in nice restaurants with great food and no smoking allowed. It was bliss. Why, Switzerland, can't you achieve this? I can't eat out here for less than 25 CHF and I have to smell smoke (at least in most cantons) while doing it.

I love a lot that Switzerland has to offer--endless hiking/biking trails, natural beauty, concern for environment, and the possibly the best public transport system in Europe. And while no place is perfect, Switzerland might be close if only it could add a little of what I love about Germany to the mix.

Swiss Budget Hotels

I was recently enjoying a long weekend in Lausanne and staying at the lovely Hotel Regina, which, despite the price, is apparently considered a "Swiss Budget Hotel."

In Switzerland, CHF 188 ($174) a night for a hotel is "budget."

As most Americans who have visited or attempted to live in Switzerland know, the Swiss have a very different definition of the word "budget." The Swiss Budget Hotel guide is a great example of this. Here, the hotels listed include places that cost CHF 250 ($230) a night. And I don't know about you, but I find that far from the "budget" I used to know.

Another crazy thing about Switzerland is what people consider a sale. Getting excited about a 50% discount is one thing. But in Switzerland, people get excited about 10% off.

For example, RailAway often has some deals on trips and places within Switzerland, but these involve buying the tickets at the departure station from the counter, which, more often than not, is filled with lines of confused people and usually not worth the 2 CHF I might save on the entrance to the Ballenberg Museum, for example. If I'm going to wait in a line the length of a Swiss bus, then I want to save more than 2 CHF.

When friends and family visit with their American perceptions of "budget", I always find myself apologizing for the high prices. I mean, you can't eat dinner for less than about CHF 50 for two people. But, nevertheless, if I pay CHF 50 for a meal for two now, I remark, "what a great deal." I guess I'm becoming slightly less price sensitive in my old expat status.

Dehydration in Europe

One evening on our trip in Provence, I discovered I had a headache along with my dry throat. I knew I was not drinking enough liquids on the trip, especially considering it was hot and we were doing a lot of walking. The general problem is, I have not figured out a good way to travel in Europe on a budget AND stay hydrated at the same time.

Maybe you’ve been to Europe lately and seen the menus. 5,30 EUR for a water in Milan. 5,50 CHF for a water in Zurich. 2,90 EUR for a water in Avignon. And then, when your great thirst from 4 hours of touring tries to relieve itself at an outrageous price, it is given a mere 20 centiliters with which to do so.

This lack of liquid liquidity leads to such preservation techniques as the universal half-sip. This is done while hoping your food will arrive faster than half your water disappears. It’s really quite an accomplishment to manage actually having any liquid left when your meal arrives in Europe. And it’s yet another accomplishment not to pine for the good ole free water and free refills that run rampant throughout the United States as you stare at your overpriced not to mention, gassy water. The combination is enough to make anyone’s stomach turn.

To get the proper liquid (about 180 cl a day) from restaurants in Europe would cost the poor traveler an average of 45 USD a day. No wonder I drink too much beer and wine on this side of the Atlantic. Usually it’s better for my pocketbook. But worse for my poor dehydrated body.

Yes, grocery stores are around. But let’s be honest. A tourist is on their feet all day and can only carry so much liquid with them without breaking their back. One 50 cl water is about all I feel comfortable carrying along with cameras, guidebooks, jackets, etc. And even then, while I may save 5-10 dollars by carrying this water, my shoulders pay the price.

A friend I know actually scours restaurants in Europe, not for the menus, but to see if there are carafes of water on people’s tables first. She doesn’t pick a restaurant based on Michelin Stars, rather on liquid generosity. The few restaurants in Europe that bring free water are few and far between. But they can save you a lot of thirst. And a lot of money.

And thus my project begins:

A list of restaurants in Europe that bring you free water without even having to ask. (Just don’t expect ice too). Here’s a couple to get you started.

Zurich, Switzerland
Palmhof
Universitätstrasse 23
8006 Zürich

Zurich, Switzerland
Hot Pasta
Universitätstrasse 15
8006 Zürich

Avignon, France
Das Camping Bagatelle
25 allée Antoine Pinay -Ile de la Barthelasse
84000 Avignon

Avignon, France
Restaurant NEM (Vietnamese)
7. Cloitre St. Pierre
84000 Avignon