Nov 10, 2016 08:06 PM
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Switzerland is a landlocked country famous for its mountains and Zurich is beyond doubt one of most beautiful cities of the world. Your Zurich experience begins at the airport itself. It is one of most modern, well-planned and beautiful airports. The immigrations and customs process is extremely smooth. For going to the city one may catch the bus or the train. Trains start from the airport itself, infact one only needs to go a level below to the train station. The trains may well be out of a dream. Fast, clean, and beautiful. The map of the route is displayed on every cabin.
The city is beautifully built around the lake Zurich. The shopping complexes around there are absolutely out of this world. All kinds of goodies are available here, but Switzerland is mainly famous for its watches and chocolates. Do sample the chocolates even if you find the precision Swiss watches too expensive to buy. The hotels in Zurich are reasonable and provide value for money
Cost of living: Rents are upward of 1500 franks. I was paying 1700 per month for a fourth floor(no lift) apartment with two bedrooms. There is no second-hand market concept here. The simple furnishing came to 4000 franks. For tourists, a single room in a hotel will cost about 150 franks a day. A vegetarian family like mine spent about 1000 franks for food(two adults and two kids), as eating outside is tough here for vegetarians. Taxis and renting cars are very costly. All places are connected by rail and bus, and I would recommend that it is economical to use trains, boats, trams and buses to all places.
The Visa Process;Switzerland has still not joined the European Union. Therefore a Shen gen visa is not valid for Switzerland. However even though you need to get a separate Swiss visa the process is a breeze. A simple invitation letter even for a 2-3 day meeting would get you at least a month’s visa. On my very second time, they gave me a visa valid for 3 months, and the third time valid for a year. It was also valid for multiple entries and a total stay of 90 days. That is how liberal they are. So it might be heaven, but the getting in process is as simple as can be.
