 Poster: A snowHead
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So the other night Mrs UANN and I enjoyed dinner out at a pleasant local restaurant.
Aperos - small Leffe, medium house rosé
2 small salads (yes, yes, I know, she ate mine)
1 filets de perche & chips
1 coquelet grille & chips
1 bottle of local wine
CHF 75 which in old money (i.e. At a historically reasonable purchase parity exchange rate) would have been around £35.
I rest my case.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Where in Switzerland?
Actually when we were in Verbier last year dining out in the evening wasn't too horrendous I think around £100 for four inc.wine. Although lunch on the mountain was similar. However, there is a certain Indian restaurant in Nyon which is eyewateringly expensive (name escapes me) but nearer the £200 for four with a couple of beers each.
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Way back in 2008 Switzerland wasn't expensive (£1 = 2.5CHF). Actually if you got off the beaten tracks and away from the tourist hot spots, such as Verbier or Zermatt, it was decent value, and often cheaper than the UK.
However in 2013 (£1 = 1.4CHF) Switzerland is very expensive for Brits. Prices in CH have remained the same - it would be more accurate to say that the Great British peso isn't worth very much at the moment 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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When I first went to interlaken on a school geography trip it was eight Swiss franc to the pound!
Some 5 years later when I worked in Zurich it was 4 Swiss francs to the pound......
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Haggis_Trap, Primoz, that's part of my point.
Even after 7 years when working out value for money (we're paid in CHs or € so actual GBP/CHF rate practically irrelevant) we use 2.5.
Otherwise we confuse ourselves ("if we were earning in GBP and we were on holiday this would feel expensive but we aren't and are hungry, so...now I am confusing the purchasing dissonance area of my brain").
Whether it is real world expensive to someone importing GBPs is a different matter. Prices in Switzerland haven't risen from an internal point by much in 7 years.
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I bought a new top of the range Samsung TV from a high street store in Switzerland last weekend for the equivalent of about £700 at todays fx rates (£400 using 2.5). Amazon in the UK want £1300 for the same set.
Not particularly relevant to a ski forum I know, but the country can be reasonably priced for certain things.
On the flip side, I enquired about a gardening service the other day and they want £70 per hour...the one we had in the UK charged us £15!
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Yes, but then you'd have a garden made with Swiss precision. 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Yes, but it's much nicer than France
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When we first started going to Switz in 20016 a coffee cost chf 5 and a pizza about chf20
In 2013 it costs the same in chf, there seems to be zero inflation in most things.
Minimum effective wage for resort jobs is about chf22 per hour, maybe 25....I am not aware of any legislated minimum, that is just the lowest anybody gets.
In that context prices are maybe a bit cheaper than the UK.
The pain kicks in when you look at the FX...in 2006 about 2.40 to the £, now about 1.40.
Petrol is a lot cheaper than the UK though, even at today's FX.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Here on the German side I just make a point of not risking it and never buying anything in Switzerland unless I absolutely have to! Zurich Airport may well be the most overpriced place on the planet!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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wow time travel. De Lorean and flux capacitor?
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duh...typo...2006
I already corrected my typing of pixxa and xero before I hit "submit"
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You know it makes sense.
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| under a new name wrote: |
Otherwise we confuse ourselves ("if we were earning in GBP and we were on holiday this would feel expensive but we aren't and are hungry, so...now I am confusing the purchasing dissonance area of my brain").
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I know someone who always uses an exchange rate of 2 Euro : £1 when on holiday to ensure he has a really good time.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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primoz, 15chs for a beer? That'll be Davos, Klosters or Wengen during Lauberhorn week then?
50cls of Cardinal in my local in Geneva is 5.90 chf
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Yeah it was most of times in Davos, St. Moritz, Zermatt, Saas Fee... But still 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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In answer to your question if your exchaning GBP to CHF "does a bear sh** in the woods". If you paid in CHF not to bad.
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Skiing wise, lift passes can be better value in Switzerland than you might think relative to France (re basing to GBP) after taking account of early booking discounts and teenager rates.
In Grimentz, beers and Swiss wine is fairly priced.
The real hit though is if you eat out in the restaurants for dinner eg a steak related dinner (albeit with Swiss meat etc) could easily be £28 - self catering, even buying food in the local COOP as opposedd to shippin it in, does not seem to be so bad.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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We've just got a 5 year fix on the Swiss mortgage at 1.7%, money's cheap in Switzerland.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Is London expensive you might also ask? Depends where you go.... - personally I think Jungfrau resorts are very good value - pint CHF5-5.5 - my local is now charging in Devon £3.70 for guest ale and fizzy cider. A good main course can be had for CHF15 - how many pub lunches can you get for less than £10. Steak seems ridiculously expensive but always seems to have been in Switzerland but then don't eat it - wait til you go to France. The other thing very pricey in Switzerland is non-swiss wine - again drinking the screwtap 50cl swiss wine is OK value tho'. Last year - think my favourite hotel was CHF999 package of 7 nights HB with 6 day ski pass single room - cannot odds it.
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On the grounds that my local postman and all his mates eat lunch at restaurant every day (well, every day that I have been there) I reckon it isn't so expensive...
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^ Nope : that just means average / minimum wages are much higher in CH
Compared to other countries in Europe CH is currently very expensive (especially for poor brits!). The Swiss are very aware of the negative effect strong CH has on tourism - however there is not much they can do to devalue as CHF is seen to be a safe currency during times of economic uncertainty.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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A couple of people I know drove through Switzerland last week and paid 35 eur (equivalent in chuffs) for Mcdonald's 'food' for two. They were so incensed that they are refusing to ever go back.
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Haggis_Trap, a bit of both actually.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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countryman,
If you want cider in Newton Abbot you know where to go
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Google Maps tells me there's a Switzerland, Indiana and a Switzerland, Ohio but I can't summon the creativity to recreate my post in your "London" thread!
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| Haggis_Trap wrote: |
| ^ Nope : that just means average / minimum wages are much higher in CH |
Well, if the Swiss can manage to pay decent average/minimum wages to their worker and still maintain a price allowing those same average/minimum wage earner to eat at resturuant, they sure have a healthy economy! All the best to them then.
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You know it makes sense.
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| halfhand wrote: |
Where in Switzerland?
Actually when we were in Verbier last year dining out in the evening wasn't too horrendous I think around £100 for four inc.wine. Although lunch on the mountain was similar. However, there is a certain Indian restaurant in Nyon which is eyewateringly expensive (name escapes me) but nearer the £200 for four with a couple of beers each. |
The sultan, why oh why oh why would you eat there? Massively over priced and shite
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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VAT In Switzerland is only 7%. So Hi Tech gear is cheaper than most of Europe.
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Poster: A snowHead
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In supemarkets everyday meats like Chicken can cost at least 4 or 5 times the price per kilo compared to Holland.
However, high end meats like Calf,Vennison,Rabbit are very cheap!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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First time I've heard rabbit described as high end.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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It's free where I live
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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shep, heh heh.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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[quote]
Compared to other countries in Europe CH is currently very expensive (especially for poor brits!). The Swiss are very aware of the negative effect strong CH has on tourism - however there is not much they can do to devalue as CHF is seen to be a safe currency during times of economic uncertainty.
I agree with the above
Eating in restaurants is generally much more expensive than in the UK, but stick to local beer and wine in bars and it is pretty similar (unless you are in some resorts) There are many things that are cheaper including some electrical gear. Our utility bills are less than the UK.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| coddlesangers wrote: |
| halfhand wrote: |
Where in Switzerland?
Actually when we were in Verbier last year dining out in the evening wasn't too horrendous I think around £100 for four inc.wine. Although lunch on the mountain was similar. However, there is a certain Indian restaurant in Nyon which is eyewateringly expensive (name escapes me) but nearer the £200 for four with a couple of beers each. |
The sultan, why oh why oh why would you eat there? Massively over priced and shite |
obviously the staff doing the reviews on tripadvisor, for the most part excellent.
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| Haggis_Trap wrote: |
Compared to other countries in Europe CH is currently very expensive (especially for poor brits!). The Swiss are very aware of the negative effect strong CH has on tourism - however there is not much they can do to devalue as CHF is seen to be a safe currency during times of economic uncertainty. |
Returning the stolen gold and making money-laundering illegal would swiftly remedy their problem!
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^ Indeed - though you would need to get into the country first...
Every pass would be blown up at the push of a button before you got near the nazi gold
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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shep, but then Switzerland would revert to it's pre-ww1 status, impoverished and at the mercy of marauding French and Italian dukes.
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I posted this back in December on a similar discussion
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| I accept entirely that it's exchange rate swings that are the cause. If the Swiss Bank hadn't intervened it would have been even worse, it got near to parity with the Euro at one time didn't it. I've just looked and the apartment I paid £440 for in Zermatt at half term in 2009 is £826 next year, there's no way I could pay that for 2. The one I had in Laax in 2010 hasn't gone up quite as much but still a 60%+ increase. Both based on like for like prices in Sterling through Interhome who I booked them through. The one in Laax is actually still quite reasonable and I'd still consider it at that price |
An International pass for Zermatt next season is almost £300 for 6 days and for Laax £250. So for the essentials it's out of reach now as far as I'm concerned. Shame really as I had 3 great weeks skiing there.
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FAQ
Ok now it hurts a bit less, since my salary is "a bit" over that one from 20 years ago, but it's still sort of expensive, I would say 