Switzerland, the neutral Central European nation, has been a bucket list for most of us. When we speak about Switzerland, the first thing that comes to our minds is the snow-covered alpine towns. As this is the first time any of us has travelled to Switzerland, we stuck to the “traditional” tourist towns and cities. We will start our journey from Geneva and end our journey in the same city. For the next 13 days, we will be basing ourselves in five cities (Bern, Luzern, Interlaken, Zermatt and Zurich) and visit six mountains.
Our Swiss journey began with a 17-hour flight from Singapore with a 2½-hour transit in Jeddah. After deplaning, we followed the signs hanging from the ceiling of Geneva airport, which pointed us to “arrivals”. As we neared the immigration counters, we saw two queues forming. We joined the longer “international traveller” queue, which was piling up and didn’t seem to move at all (the other queue was for EU and Swiss citizens). We only saw immigration officers stationed near the immigration counters directing people to the correct line. We were glad we did not join the shorter queue, as it might be back to the start of the queue for us. Before arriving in Switzerland, we were expected to register our biometric data with the Entry/Exit System. However, it does seem to be the case today. Instead of directing us to the registration machines, we were told to queue for manual immigration. I asked a staff member at immigration and was told that the EES was in effect at Geneva airport, but they shut it down due to the long line. Despite the long queue for manual immigration clearance, we were not complaining. At least we get our “final” Switzerland border passport stamp (before it’s phased out).
After spending about 1 hour in line at immigration (a stark contrast to our experience at Vienna airport just 1 year ago), we headed to the carousel to collect our luggage. The brief moment of peace after clearing immigration ended at the luggage carousels. Geneva Airport felt like a fish market, where people were frantically looking for their carousel and luggage. We eventually found our carousel and collected our luggage. We headed to the train station, located in a separate but linked building on the left side of the arrivals hall, for our train to Bern. Rising from our lesson learnt last year in Vienna, where we spent 1 hour sitting around waiting for our train to the city, we decided not to purchase the train tickets in advance, as we had no idea how long immigration would take. I am glad we did not purchase train tickets in advance, as the immigration process in Geneva took longer than I planned for. We bought our tickets at the SBB counters for the 4.25 pm train to Bern. After getting the tickets, I realised the staff sold us a day ticket instead of a point-to-point ticket, which costs CHF 10 more, even with our Half Fare card. We should have used the machines or the app to get our point-to-point ticket. There was an hour before our ride, where we used the time to shop in the supermarket at the train station while waiting for our train.
Train to Bern
The uneventful train ride to Bern took about 1½ hours. Trains from Geneva Airport to Bern had only a small luggage rack, suitable only for cabin-sized luggage. We found seats on the lower floor of the double-decker train. Due to a lack of luggage space for larger bags, we had to place our luggage at our seats, trying not to obstruct the aisle. The train got crowded at Geneva, and it was becoming embarrassing that we were taking up additional space and partly obstructing the walkway. Fortunately, the Swiss were accommodating and understanding. Instead of making noise, they seem to understand our situation and work around our issues. As it was getting dark, we could not see much of the scenery between Geneva Airport and Bern.
Arrival at Bern
As guests of Bern, we were given unlimited rides on local public transport via the Bern app (available for download here). As we did not receive any codes before our arrival, I read that we could get free transport to our hotel using our hotel booking and prepared it in case of an inspection on the tram. Swiss public transport uses the honour system, where drivers do not check for tickets. It is easy to find the tram station coming out from the underground Bern Bahnhof, but we were confused about the direction the tram would travel. We initially stood at the tram stop, only to find that the trams were going in the opposite direction. Upon realising that we were on the wrong side, we hurried to the opposite stop and hopped onto the tram on the other side of the road. The tram ride from Bern train station to our hotel took about 6 minutes, with very frequent trams running between the two stops. At our hotel, the staff gave us a code to activate our guest card in the Bern App, which officially granted us complimentary transport within the city.
After settling down in our rooms, we headed out to the edge of the old town for dinner, which is only one stop across the river near our hotel. Walking on the Kornhausbrücke bridge over the River Aare in the northern part of Bern, we were treated to the night skyline of the city, spotting the Berner Munster towering over the city. Incidentally, we walked past the Bern Opera House, at the edge of the city, by the River Aare. As we waited for our dinner, I spotted the Zytgloggeturm right outside the McDonald’s where we were having dinner. I told my friends this was one of the world’s oldest working astronomical clocks, a sight we will see tomorrow when we officially tour the city.
The clock, despite being built in the early 13th century, still shines with its colourful facade even at night. There are two faces to the clock: one that tells time, facing Main Street, and the other, with both the clock and the astronomical face, showing the day of the year and aligning with the star signs. We were fortunate to witness the striking of the bell at the hour, during which we spotted the mechanical movements of the puppets installed on the astronomical side of the clock. As it was getting late and we were tired after a full day of travelling, we headed back to the hotel and rested for the night. We will see more of the clock (and the city) tomorrow before heading to Luzern.
