Switzerland is too expensive!? Is it for real? | Day 10 of TMB from La Fouly to Champex-Lac


That day of Tour de Mont Blanc we hiked from the village La Fouly to Champex -Lac in Switzerland.

Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/kHBWldPb38I


It was one of the warmest nights that we had, we didn't even put on our warm hats which is a big deal because we've been doing it during the whole trip. We got up very early to be able to do the biggest part of the trail as early as possible. So we wrapped everything up and got on a trail.

We knew that it's going to be a hot day by how blue the sky was and the strong sunlight right from the morning. Also seeing the weather forecast for a week it was all clear and sunny days.

We wanted to get to the village Champex La Lac which was in 14 kms and the trail wasn't expected to be difficult.

First 7 kms till the village Praz de Fort were going downhill through the dirt car roads and some forest paths. We even met a snow on the way which was really unexpected - probably it got down from somewhere higher. Also there was a beautiful big waterfall that was coming down from the mountain rock.

Then we were going through the villages Praz de Fort, les Arlaches and Issert. And we noticed that local architecture was mostly houses made of wood, some were very old threatening to break down, sone very new. That was a speciality of the local villages and it looked very unique and cohesive.

Soon the fresh morning air changed to stuffy hot midday air, we passed through several fields with no shadow and were at the foot of the uphill for that day. It was 4.5 kms uphill with around 300m of elevation gain. It seems more than doable and easy but in reality was quite hard for us. Because of the heat and strong sunlight the cardiovascular activity was too intense and it was hard to breathe. So we had to stop every 1.5 km in a shadow for a break. This way we were able to do it. Thanks God the path was going in quite dense forest otherwise it would be close to impossible to do. Also there were several water sources which helped a lot to resupply. When we were walking in the sun even 100m were too much because of the hot burning sunlight and no wind whatsoever. So we knew that the rest of the days we will get up even earlier to escape this extreme middle day heat.

So having these little breaks at 16 pm we made it to the village Champex La Lac. It turned out to be quite a big village and the Lake was all surrounded by the houses which made it look less natural to us. We did a little shopping in the supermarket which turned out to be the same expensive one as the last one we bought from. The prices were triple as high as we would pay in France or Spain for the same products. So we just bought some cheese, yougurts, small chocolate bar and bread which was already 12 euros in total. So when hiking in Switzerland on a budget it would be appropriate to have some dry food supplies already with you so that you don't have to resupply that often. We had our snack at the side of the lake and a bit exhausted from the heat started to get out of the village.

We planned to be wild camping that night to save up some money and also because we didn't like the camping we saw, compared to the last one it was too small and crowded. So we left the village to explore the forest surroundings and it was challenging to find a place because of the amount of car roads and hiking trails all around. But we found one spot on a ski trail higher than a car road but unfortunately not surrounded by the forest - it was all open space. And also there was some hiking path going through but we just hoped that it is not in a lot of use. So we were having dinner and resting on our mats until the dusk then set up a tent and went to sleep when it's started to get dark. Because we wanted to start tomorrow's day very early as quite a high uphill was expecting us.

What is the most expensive country or place you've been to?

Switzerland has long had the reputation of being the most expensive country in Europe. When my daughter lived in Germany in the 1990s, it was a standard saying that Swiss chocolate is cheaper outside Switzerland. I thought this was a joke until I visited in the mid 1990s and again in 2000 and 2001. At least then, it was really true!

Switzerland is a beautiful country, though, and well worth the cost. If you don't have the money, though, best to avoid it. And be prepared to pay the cost of lodging rather than camping illegally. I noticed 20 years ago the influx of "camping sauvage interdit" signs in places my daughter and I had camped wild in the early 1990s.

Yep. My daughter currently lives in Geneva, and moved there from NYC, She got a bump in salary to compensate her for the higher cost of living there!

Yes, it is true till now. We just weren't aware of that before actually visiting it. We knew that it may be more expensive than other countries but still didn't expect it to be that expensive. We realize that you learn the best on your own skin. Well we didn't camp there to many times and hadn't seen any signs of prohibition there as of today. On the internet we didn't find any clear rule neither, it seems like it is tolerated to some extent but can't be completely sure.

Yes, salary rates are one of the highest in Europe as well that's why so many people taking advantage of it living in France or Italy and working in Switzerland if they can.