Today we go for our second Swiss Via Ferrata.
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It starts in Grindelwald, the closest town to the Eiger. The Eiger is one of the most climbed mountains in Switzerland. It is a particularly strenuous and demanding and, therefore, has the lowest rate of success. The way to climb it is via its north face, which is basically a climbing wall. In the past, there used to be a watch out point from Grindelwald so people could look at climbers. There is one section particularly dangerous; the white spider. It is here where lots of climbers have lost their lives. And from this watching point people were able to watch climbers freezing to death. I feel goose bumps just thinking about it.
The Eiger has an infamous history and a fascinating and macabre one. If ever you want a brilliant climbing book to read, ‘The White Spider’ has to be it.
This is the Eiger. But don’t panic, we are not climbing it, we are only going to do the Via Ferrata, but from the top we should be able to get really good views.
As usual, we go to the tourist information office to find out how we get to the start of the route. Again, this Via Ferrata is quite high so it must be reached by either funicular or train.
The ticket prices for both are eye-watering; neither of them less are than €50 each. We take a view; we would like to do the route,mainly to see the Eiger up closer, but really, is it worth that much? We decide it is not. So we leave Grindelwald behind and move on to our next destination; east of Valais, to do some walking.
This is such a shame, but the right decision, maybe we will come back when prices are a little more sensible, if ever. For now we walk with our feet. These prices are unreasonable and we will not be cajoled it parting with our cash on the basis it is a once in a lifetime experience. You live only once, every experience is once in a lifetime and some might not be worth the cash. GDR
We are getting quite annoying about how expensive Switzerland is. Yes, it is a wealthy country, it attracts vast quantities of foreign capital, specially now when interests rates are so low, investors are desperately for some return. Undoubtedly, they do things well; productivity is high and they have a high value added industry. This pushes salaries up and therefore, prices. I am sure most Swiss can generally afford to live comfortably here.
But they have a competitiveness problem, specially within the Euro area. In the past they tried to peg the Swiss franc to the Euro for a while but after severe attacks from speculators, the Swiss central bank couldn’t support it and finally had to give up. The Swiss stock market fell and the economy suffered badly.
We have been travelling for a year now and visited 24 countries, all with at different economic states, some more affordable than others. But it has only when we have come to Switzerland that we are starting to appreciate a distorted relation between value and price.
A beer costs €7
A half a litre bottle of water, €5
A night in mountain refuge, €50, €90 with half board included
And we have already talked about chair lift costs.
Some minor fluctuation in price you could expect, country to country. But this is ridiculous- Lidl baguette, the rest of Europe €0.35-0.50, In Switzerland, same supermarket but €1.15. Now this is not super tasty value added, much more healthy, made by hand, with organic, GM free, fair-trade alpine bread- this is the same loaf! GDR
I would like to know how much of their income is down to tourism, specially with this economic crisis.
I agree, they have lots to offer to tourists; they owe the biggest share of the Alps, people come all year around to enjoy the countryside.
But this is the most annoying thing; despite their high prices, demand doesn’t fall. People continue to come and therefore, the Swiss can get away with charging ridiculous prices.
The Swiss own an amazing landscape and they know it. They control it, effectively holding the tourist to ransom; you wanna see it, you pay the price. Such natural beauty should be for as many to appreciate, enjoy and learn from as possible, not just a commercial asset to bleed every franc from every visitor. It means it becomes so exclusive, but perhaps that is what they want. GDR
But perhaps their economy doesn’t need to rely on tourism that much. By setting up a competitive tax system, they can encourage wealthy people from other European countries to come and live here so they evade paying in their home countries.
We love Switzerland, but perhaps we won’t come back until they have more reasonable prices (maybe never). And not because we can’t afford it, but because after this years travel we have been able to better appreciate the relationship between value and price. We have been able to compare quality of goods and prices in different countries. There should be a limit you pay for things, no matter how good they are. Switzerland is not good value for money. Luckily the world is big enough with plenty of wonderful places to visit and much more affordable.
So our recommendation, vote with your feet, and do not visit this country, or buy its goods until they are more reasonably priced. GDR
Anyway, that was mainly our conversation since we left Grindelwald.
Dora is going on a train again.
We need to cross the mountains that divide North and South of Valais.
The train costs €30, but driving around the mountain range will cost more in fuel and time. So going on the train makes economic sense.
This is probably teh best value thing we have found here, still nearly double the cost of the one in Austria. GDR
This train is different from the one we took in Austria. We can stay in the van, so we can have lunch.
The journey through the tunnel is also shorter.
We soon reach the other side.
They seem to have a better system than the Austrians in fitting as many cars as possible. We never understood why in Austria, they left big gaps between cars, leaving a long queue of them behind, waiting for the next train 
Here we are. We now have a 40 kms drive to Fiesch.
Once we get there, we will need to plan the logistics for our two days walk along Aletschwald,the biggest glacier in the Alps.
It is 17.00, the cable car is still running. There, we get information of timetables and prices of public transport for the entire valley. We are also given a trekking map. To our delight, we find out that there is also Via Ferrata in Eggishorn, the highest peak of the area.
So, we have to do a bit of research online to book the hut where we will stay the night. Our sim card doesn’t seem to work, we may not have good reception in the valley, so we are going to have to go to the nearest cafe bar to abuse their wi-fi. But when the time comes to pay the bill, it feels more like they have abused us instead; a beer and a glass of juice has cost us €8.00. See what I mean with Swiss prices?
Anyway, enough of moaning. At least we have been able to book accommodation and transport for our two day walk. But we have postponed our walk for a day, as tomorrow we are going to do the Via Ferrata.
SM
