A day trip to Lichtenstein

April 2015.  From Zurich, decided to go on a day trip to Lichtenstein.  I booked a tour from the main train station, via bus.  It was the Lichtenstein and Heidi-Land tour.  The bus ride took about 2 hours into Lichtenstein, via very scenic roads.  I was most impressed with the Heidi-Land part of the tour.  This is the small house where Shirley Temple filmed the movie Heidi.  It may sound a little cute-sy, but it really was absolutely beautiful countryside.  Lichtenstein was more of a bragging rights tour.  I got my passport stamped in the tourist office, but the time the tour spends there is only about 45 minutes.  Truth is, there is not much to do anyway, just a lot of shops and maybe a museum here and there.  The castle up on the hill is the home of the monarch.  I recommend this trip for of course the bragging rights, and to see the scenic hills of the Alps.  It also included a stop at an area on the main lake in Zurich, for lunch, which was a beautiful scenic area too.  Don't go to Lichtenstein looking for a lot of activity, and the short time we spent there was probably enough.  My tour was through Grey Line tours.  

Switzerland and Zurich

March 17, 2015.  Arriving in Zurich, our passports were checked and we easily got through.  This is a VERY expensive city, probably the most expensive that I have been to.  Our first night was at the Holiday Inn Express airport hotel, as our downtown apartment would not be ready until the next night.  This was a great hotel, good value, good free breakfast and probably the last free thing that I got in this city.  The hotel was clean and right near the train station.  Just about a 5 minute walk to the train and free transport to the hotel from the airport made this a great deal.  We took the train into town the next day, after breakfast.  The train station is quite big and is well located in the city to get to other areas.  Trams run regularly throughout the city and regular intervals.  Due to the extremely high prices of hotels among other things in the city, we chose to rent an apartment share on airbnb.com.  This saved us quite a bit of money.  We went out the first day to get groceries to help save a bit of money, mostly breakfast things to cook at the house.  We then took a train Neuhausen-Rhine Falls, which took about 1 hour from the main train station.  The train stops directly at the falls, no need for a taxi, you get out and there you are. At first glance, it seems that you need to pay for a ticket on a boat to get across the river, however, there is a way to go around and over the falls by walking, about a 30 minute walk.  Choose which one you want to do, but the walk is moderate.  There is a snack bar near the train, but a better restaurant choice across the river.  Take a 1/2 day to enjoy the area.  The bonus to the train ticket is that it gives you a free ticket to take the boat ride on the lake back in Zurich at Burkplatz.  The boat ride takes about 1 hour and is a great way to see the city from the lake.  Again, this is an expensive city, a Whopper, fries and small coke at Burger King will set you back $17 US dollars.  Using the toilet at Burger King $2.50.  You get the picture.  There is a grocery store in the train station, and a good idea may be to get some food from the store, or even better yet, bring food from your home country, that which you can get past customs, before you come to save money if you are on a budget.  Prices in the grocery store were a little more moderate, but still high.