Triptease: Swiss bliss

Magical snow-capped mountains, sinful fondues and picturesque countryside are only a few things that define the alpine haven

When temperatures in India stay stubbornly stuck above 30 degrees centigrade, you know it’s time to make a getaway to cooler climes. My choice of escape? Mountainous Switzerland!

Touchdown in Zurich, a four-hour picturesque train ride via Chur, and we were in the very chic St Moritz. Its designer boutiques on the sophisticated Via Serlas are a shopper’s delight if you have megabucks. Its elegant, upmarket hotels convey a regal appeal. All of this, including the expanse of Lake St Moritz ringed by forested walkways beckon the rich and famous, rightly lending the town the epithet ‘the cradle of Alpine tourism’.

We stayed in a graceful family-owned property, and dined early at the nearby Hauser Restaurant, which lived up to its reputation of serving the biquitous rösti, Switzerland’s famous potato side dish, without which no farmer’s breakfast was said to be complete.

A joy ride to Zermatt: The next morning, after a sumptuous breakfast that amply catered to our vegetarian taste buds, we boarded the iconic Glacier Express — a bucket item on my wish list. Said to be among the most famous railway journeys in the world, this seven-hour day trip winds through quintessentially Swiss landscape — breathtaking views of mountains, deep gorges, 91 tunnels, 291 bridges (some of them seemingly suspended in air), and lush-green valleys.

We reached Zermatt by 5 pm — a picture-perfect mountain resort where every building sports geraniums in endless rows of window boxes. The majestic Matterhorn loomed up ahead on a clear day, stark in its grandeur.

Much to our delight, our hotel room accorded us unchallenged views of the Vispa river that flows through Zermatt. To prevent air pollution, Zermatt allows only electric/battery-driven vehicles. If you take care to book ahead, your hotel will organise a station pick-up. But Zermatt is so small that the walk from the station to any hotel in the town shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes at the most. As we strolled down the main street, we breathed in the crystal crispness of the air. Delighting in the gently winding alleys and the little stores, we ended up indulging in some gifts shopping.

White magic at Matterhorn: The next day saw the sun shining benevolently on a partially-clouded Matterhorn, which soon dispersed. The hide-and-seek nature of clouds followed us through our cable car journey up to the Matterhorn Glacier (elevation: 3,883m), which, by the way, was choc-o-bloc with Indian tourists.
As we rode up, the slate-brown rocks punctuating the whiteness of the snow looked like an impressionist painting, while the gentle tinkling of cowbells far below lent the perfect bucolic touch.

Do watch out for signs of high altitude sickness though. Walking on the glacier felt surreal —  everywhere we looked there was nothing but an expanse of mountains and snow, peppered with some mountaineers in the distance walking by the side of a precipitous rise. Soon our feet were frozen even through our sturdy shoes, and we opted for a warming lunch of soup and breadrolls at the glacier restaurant before reluctantly making our way back to Zermatt, from where we caught an evening train to Zurich.

Sugar rush in Zurich: Our first day in Zurich started on a bad note when we checked into our hotel. The rudeness of the staff was unwarranted. The room was tiny, the bathroom tinier (1 sq. metre), and the bed sheets, dirty. We wanted to shift out, but were told that our pre-paid five days there were non-refundable. At 8.30 am the next morning, we woke up in terror to find a housekeeping staffer in our room.

Apparently walking into rooms, without knocking, is de rigeur in this hotel if you don’t put the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on your door. When the AC conked off on the second day, instead of trying to fix it, we were asked rudely why we needed to use the AC at all! The nightmarish hotel experience notwithstanding, we made the most of our Zurich stay.

First on our menu was Viator’s Chocolate and Sweets Walking Tour of Zurich’s Old Town. Our well-informed tour director, Christina Frey, introduced us to the world of Swiss chocolates and took us on a lip-smacking journey starting from the famous Confiserie Sprüngli caféin Paradeplatz, one of Zurich’s main squares. Over the next 2.5 hours we walked through Altstadt (German for old town), which grew organically on both sides of the Limmat River, past Roman excavations, churches, over cobbled streets, and tried truffles, Luxemburgerli macaroons, madelines, pralines, nougats, and artisanal hand-made chocolates, ending with a sinful hot chocolate in a 200-year-old tea room.

We took in leisurely walks on Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich’s main shopping street, where we window-shopped till we dropped, before stepping into the city’s two department stores, Jelmoli and Globus. We also found our way to the buzzing farmer’s market in the indoor Market Hall, where we were tempted to buy some local cheeses.

We also took an organised coach tour to Liechtenstein, a constitutional monarchy. The 79 km distance was punctuated by a pit-stop in Rapperswil, before reaching Vaduz, Liechtenstein’s pleasant capital. We lazed in the town square, sipping on coffee and ate the best savory cheese cake ever. We looked up at the castle, where the flag flies if the Prince is in residence, but it was not. A trip to Switzerland isn’t complete without a fondue meal, and our choice was Felsenegg Restaurant, perched atop a hill, to which one has to take the aerial cable car. It was the perfect cherry on the cake.

The writer is a fashion designer