99.9 Ways to Travel Switzerland Like a Local

Yodelers,

It's here.

99.9 Ways to Travel Switzerland Like a Local is available at any bookshop by order. You can also find it at almost any online retailer. Below are some of the places you can find the book:

Order your book on amazon.com

Order your Kindle version

Order your book on amazon.co.uk

Order your book on amazon.de

Order your book from bookdepository.co.uk

Order your book from Barnes & Noble

Order your Nook version

Go ahead, be an un-tourist. You'll love seeing the real Switzerland.

New Book Lets You Travel Switzerland Like a Local. (Even if you are one.)

Grüezi People Who Are Cool Enough to Still Read This Blog,

Your involvement in this ultra-exclusive portion of the Internet has gotten even better. Because you, mitenand, are some of the very first to know that there’s a new book coming from yours truly. And it will be available next week.

Almost hot off the presses, 99.9 Ways to Travel Switzerland Like a Local is one part travel book, one part culture guide, and total bucket list enjoyment. 

Coming Soon

It allows you to say adieu to Lucerne and allegra to the place the Swiss voted most beautiful. It encourages you to cut the Swiss army knife from your shopping list and replace it with a rubber messenger bag. And it gives you the inspiration you need to stop following umbrella-toting tour guides (or books that act like them) and start following 320,000 well-dressed Swiss cows instead.

Whether you’re a vacationer rethinking your version of touring, an expatriate who wants to get to know your adopted country on a deeper level, or even if you’re Swiss—99.9 Ways to Travel Switzerland Like a Local is for anyone who believes that the best travel stories come from a desire not just to take a snapshot of a place from a train window, but to stop, smile, and disembark for a while in order to bring the meaning of that blurry photo into sharper focus.

To promote this new book, The Frau will make special appearances in Switzerland next month. Mark your calendars, mitenand, as she would love to see you at one of the following:

The Zurich Writers Workshop May 14, 2:30 p.m. (The Frau will join other authors to discuss how to build a writing career.)

The American International Club of Zurich TGIF, May 19, 6:30 p.m. (The Frau will discuss American life after Switzerland (scary!), the benefits of traveling like a local, and host a quiz—with a book prize—to see who already travels Swisser than the Swiss.)

Global Book Fair May 20, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (The Frau will read a story to children and discuss some "Swisser than the Swiss" activities for families.)

Until next week, Yodelers, when the shameless self-promotion continues.

LG,

The Frau

P.S. Join The Frau's mailing list and be the first to know when the book is available.

New Books About Switzerland You Might Like

As a writer, The Frau considers reading part of her job. And naturally, she likes to read books about Switzerland since she writes about Switzerland. (If you're interested, read The Frau’s latest piece, Why Switzerland So Often Tops Quality-of-Life Surveys, for the Wall Street Journal.) Below are three new books to consider.

Vision for America by Werner Neff

One of the best ways to understand Switzerland—especially if you’re an American—is to read Neff’s short book, Vision for America. In this book, Neff, a Swiss citizen who now lives in Colorado, USA, compares various Swiss policies on healthcare, taxes, politics, and more with their American counterparts. He praises the friendliness and openness of the American people, who immediately made him feel at home, while also urging the starkly less unfriendly American government to have more compassion for its people—a timely and necessary topic in the U.S. these days.

 

Coming Out Swiss by Anne Herrmann

What does it mean to be Swiss when you’re born in America to Swiss parents and have spent your life in the U.S.? That’s the question Anne Herrmann tries to answer in Coming Out Swiss, her memoir about identity. In the book you’ll also learn facts about cheese, chocolate, and that Adolf Hitler had an account at UBS. The most fascinating quote in the book, at least to The Frau, who is questioning this very thing right now, is on page 51 of the hardcover version: “In America, they say you can’t go home again; in Switzerland, they know that even if you leave, sooner or later you’ll be back.” Hmm.

Fodor’s Switzerland 2015

Ok, The Frau is biased on this one since she contributed to updating the Eastern Switzerland chapter of Fodor’s Switzerland, but researching this book made her fall in love with St. Gallen and especially its Drei Weihern—if you do nothing else this summer, go swim there. On the other hand, researching this guide was definitely not very easy thanks to the Swiss hospitality industry who were in general, very unhelpful and unhappy to assist her with her updates. And this guide is probably best for tourists or people who are fairly new to Switzerland and for not terminal expats, who have probably already been to most of the places in it.

But enough about what The Frau thinks. Any new books you’ve enjoyed lately?

Easter in Switzerland

When it comes to Easter planning, The Frau is frustrated. It seems like the perfect chance to get away for the long weekend, but the travel industry does their best to make sure it isn’t. Overpriced airfares (CHF 600 for a 1-hour flight anyone?), apart-hotels that usually have 3-night minimum stays make them 7 instead, and then there are the warnings from locals of heavy traffic.

It’s enough to make anyone consider staying home. Including The Frau.

Easter in Switzerland

So The Frau started researching how to have a fun-filled Easter weekend closer to home. And if the travel industry is frustrating you, don’t let them win. Here is a complete Easter weekend itinerary in Switzerland. Frohe Ostern, mitenand.

Maundy Thursday and Good Friday

Easter Procession in Mendrisio

Costumes from La Scala theater. Torch bearers. Brass instruments and drums. And 50 horses. Watch Christ’s journey to Calvary as you’ve never seen it before–recreated by 200 actors through the streets of Mendrisio.

Easter Saturday

Easter Egg Hunt at Museum Langmatt

This beautiful house/museum in Baden, filled with Monets and Reniors, also has a beautiful garden. At 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 19, they will have an Easter Egg hunt for children.  Cost is CHF 10 per child. Maximum age of participation is 8 years old.

Easter Sunday

Champagne spa breakfast in Leukerbad

Celebrate Easter Sunday in style—in your swimsuit. At the spa in Leukerbad, a champagne breakfast will be served poolside. The cost is only 42 CHF per person and the price includes spa entry.

Easter Monday

Bremgarten Easter Market

Ok, besides the Easter eggs and bunnies, there will be that odd stand selling Confederate flags. But the Easter spirit is there. And if you’re looking for a large market in a beautiful setting, then the Brengarten Easter Market won’t disappoint.

Anyone else have Easter ideas? The Frau thanks you for sharing.