My Top Ten Swiss Experiences of 2020
How do you sum up an unprecedented year?
I remember back in April, during the first lockdown, when they cancelled the summer Olympics. “Huh, that’s probably a little premature,” I thought.
Well.
We all know how that turned out. What a year. It was a hard year for plenty of reasons, both globally and personally. I struggled a lot. I cried a lot. I doom-scrolled A LOT. I felt further away from friends and family then I ever had before. But, I started a blog tradition that I plan on keeping - writing up my top ten Swiss experiences of the year. 2020 included.
And so keeping with tradition, I wrote up my top ten experiences here in Switzerland. They aren’t necessarily the most exciting experiences (though some are), or the most ground-breaking (though some felt like they were), but they are the bright things in a not-so-bright year. And documenting these ten things was just another reminder that this lost year wasn’t entirely lost. Not at all.
It’s a bit long, so grab yourself a beverage and a snack before settling in.
1. Snowshoeing
I’ve never been a winter girl. The cold, the darkness, the hibernation - it’s tough for me. Snow is beautiful and magical and unlocks all sorts of childlike wonder, but my real problem? Lack of excitement for winter activities. Everyone says that the key to surviving winter is getting up into the mountains. But ski aficionado I am not, and I can only do so many winter hikes without starting to feel a little lame and unadventurous. So, this year I really tried to embrace the winter season by getting myself out there and trying new snow sports - starting with snowshoeing. And after just our first foray snowshoeing up in Engelberg, I was officially hooked! So much so that on the train ride home, Raunaq and I were already researching the best snowshoes to buy. It’s athletic, adventurous, and allows me to get immersed in a dreamy winter world. Slowly, but maybe surely, it’s helping me become a winter person.
Sadly, the 2020 winter snow season was fairly...un-snowy, particularly at lower elevations. So while I didn’t get to snowshoe as much as I hoped for, I’ve got my fingers crossed for lots of adventures in 2021! Word on the street, though, is that pretty much every single shop is sold out of snowshoes at the moment, given the sports’ COVID-friendliness (socially-distant and no gondola necessary!). May the odds be ever in your favor of scoring a pair.
2. Tschäggättä
Switzerland has its fair share of festivals, featuring everything from flower-adorned cows (Alpabzug, which celebrates the cows seasonal descent from the mountains) to techno (hi, Street Parade) to exploding snowmen (looking at you, Sechseläuten) to, um, chasing Santas around the city with whips? (Klausjangen). But Tschäggättä, an old tradition from a remote Alpine area in the Lötschental Valley, is hands-down the best festival we have been to yet. I saw pictures of this festival last year, and we decided to make the trek to the town of Wiler to see it in person. And it completely exceeded expectations!
So what is Tschäggätta? During Carnival/Fasnacht week in late February, locals dress up as the "Tschäggätta,” the mythical creatures that terrorized the villages in Lötschental legends. The Tschäggätta wear elaborate and grotesque masks, that are intricate and hand-carved and different every single year. They also wear old clothes, with sheep skin or furs over their back and chest, and dangle a huge cowbell from their belt. Most brandish a pitchfork or huge walking stick to complete the look. Oh, and then they roam the streets of the Lötschental valley nightly during Fasnacht, to jump out of bushes and alleys and scare the living daylights out of anyone that comes past (sidebar: if I ran into one of these guys alone in the mountains in the dark I would FREAK out!).
We went during the official Carnival procession, which is an afternoon when all the Tschäggättä parade through Wiler to show off their costumes. The craziest thing is that they will come right up to you, and scuffle with you for a bit. It’s not a festival for the faint of heart! Even the little kids in their monster costumes will try to scare you. We got “attacked” more than once. My screaming definitely made me a pretty obvious target, ha, but it’s all in good fun! There are different Fasnacht celebrations all throughout Switzerland, but this one was really extraordinary. Click here for some video proof.
It’s a bit wild to think about this festival now, in COVID times. I think we all have a memory of the “last normal.” The last dinner, the last concert, the last worry-free group hang. And for me, this is my last (although not entirely normal): an entire parade where strangers come up to large crowds of more strangers, and rub their non-sanitized paws all over their faces. It’s actually kind of incredible that this didn’t turn into one of the first super-spreader events of the pandemic. Needless to say, I’m sure the parade won’t be happening this year, but put it on your list for 2022.
3. Hiking the Edelweissweg
Zermatt is well-known as home to the Matterhorn, and there are plenty of trails in the area that will get you a Matterhorn-view for far less effort. But the Edelweissweg feels wonderfully wild. There are no mountain trains, no gondolas, no cable cars. With the phenomenal views of all the 4,000-meter peaks in the area, it would be an epic hike **without** the unparalleled views of Matterhorn. But you get that, too.
Every single stage of this trail is wonderful. The first initial climb from Zermatt to Trift cuts up through the mountains, along the Triftbach river. Numerous rare alpine flowers blossom along this path, including the elusive wild edelweiss. After about 850 meters, we reached the charming pink and blue Hotel du Trift, sitting in the high alpine valley surrounded by a stunning cirque of high peaks and glaciers. And the subsequent climb to the high plateau above Trift was probably one of my top Swiss experiences to date: the extraordinary moment when I reached the Höhbalmen plateau, and the world’s most famous mountain suddenly appeared right in front of me. It’s unforgettable. The trail continues along the Höhbalmen plateau, then cuts parallel across the mountains high above the Zmutt valley, with the ever-present Matterhorn drawing closer and closer. Like, reach out and touch it close. The final segment of the hike drops down through pretty meadows along the north side of the valley, through streams, glacial waterfalls and the tiny wooden hamlet of Zmutt.
It’s a side of Zermatt (and the Matterhorn) that tends to get overlooked...and it’s just SO good. We went on a lot of epic hikes in 2020. But this one was the very best.
P.S. As the name suggests, this trail is also famous for being home to the elusive edelweiss. But just make sure you know what you are looking for. I didn’t really have much of an idea as to what an edelweiss really looked like, beyond it’s white petals and yellow center, and so excitedly told my friends that we had spotted SO MANY EDELWEISS on the trail. However - upon closer inspection of my photos, it turns out they were all daisies. Whoops. So, I now have dozens of portrait-mode pictures of daisies on my phone. Clearly, I did not miss my calling as a botanist. But hopefully, you’ll have more luck than me!
4. Discovering Lavaux
We’d been to the French region of Switzerland before (in fact, we make an annual absinthe pilgrimage to Motiers), but this summer was the summer we discovered the Lavaux region in Vaud. And oh my god, it is dreamy. Like, an actual dream. Lavaux is one of Switzerland’s wine-producing regions, and easily, EASILY, one of the most picturesque spots in the country. Naturally, Raunaq and I were there to hike. We started in Lausanne and ended in Vevey, which amounted to a sun-drenched, five-hour, twenty-kilometer stroll along the lake and up through the terraced vineyards.
Along the way, we passed through the old traditional wine villages of St-Saphorin, Rivaz and Epesses, terraced vineyards on one side and the turquoise, ocean-esque Lac Léman below. Some of the towns are so perfectly quaint, I still find it a bit unbelievable that they actually exist at all. On the other side of the lake is France, and beyond that, the French Alps. We wore our bathing suits, and stopped at the lakeside to swim more than once.
Because even beyond the insane beauty of this place is the certain ““je ne sais quoi” in the air. It just feels so...French. The whole vibe is leisurely and deliciously sun-drunk, laid-back yet vibrant, and impossibly cool. An international trip without ever leaving the country.
5. Embracing badi life
It seems that every year, I fall deeply, madly, furiously, in love with a certain aspect of Zurich summer life. My first summer, it was lake life. The second, Limmat life. And this summer, it was badi life. As much as I loved the concept of badis, I was always a little hesitant to actually pay to go to one. Am I cheap? Maybe (certainly). But we also live within a five-minute walk to the lake with excellent swimming spots, so it just never really made sense to pay for something I could do for free. BUT. I was wrong. So wrong. Badi life, I finally realized, is so very worth every cent of the 8 franc entrance fee.
If you don’t already know, badis are essentially public “baths” or swimming areas, where you can come swim, cool off on grass beaches or wooden decks over the water, sunbathe, socialize, eat, drink, and simply enjoy being outside in the warm weather. Badis are Swiss institutions (they feel far more Swiss to me than watches and banks), and badi culture is beloved and practically cult-like. Everyone has their favorite.
I started going to Seebad Utoquai by myself over lunch in the afternoons. I’d bring a book or some school reading, jumping in the lake when it got too hot, and it was a lovely way to spend a few hours. But it wasn’t really until I brought Raunaq, and we stayed all day, that the appeal of badi life finally clicked. It really feels like you are at a resort. And once you settle in, it’s not hard to see why.
There’s the convenience of having a cafe that serves delicious food and cold drinks. Even though, like so many places, you can bring your own snacks and drinks, there’s something about Gespritz in an actual glass that really sets the tone. Or there’s the two-story wooden decks themselves, built on stilts right over the water, with upper sun terraces and lower cafe decks, that we wandered up and down between throughout the day. Maybe it’s the feeling of swimming out to one of the floating platforms and lazing about in the sun, right on the lake. And then there’s the atmosphere - it’s quiet, but not silent - like no one wants to disturb anyone else’s peace. It’s impossible to leave without feeling completely relaxed. You’ll see it when you wait in line to get in - every person who walks out looks like they are fresh off a two-week vacation. It’s an oasis in the middle of the city. Lake life (and our little island) will always be my first love, but badi life certainly had her moment this summer.
6. Staying in a hütte
Another item that has been on my Swiss bucket list since we arrived - stay overnight in a mountain hut. Basically, it’s a hostel for hikers and mountaineers, and yes, it’s just as amazing as it sounds (for anyone who likes hiking or mountaineering, at the very least!). For a relatively reasonable price, at a mountain hut you get a dorm bed, dinner, breakfast, and best of all - sunsets and sunrises over the Swiss Alps. Or ok, maybe the best part is that you get all the benefits of staying in the mountains without having to lug any of the heavy camping gear. There are literally huts all over the mountains. It’s an incredible system. Honestly, the only downside is that you need to reserve in advance (for most huts), so it’s always a bit of a gamble on the weather, and of course, things get booked up quickly.
But, we were able to score a few free spaces at the Capanna Cristallina, while hiking stages 2 and 3 of the Sentiero Cristallina in the Ticino Alps (thanks for the rec, Shannon!). And it was such a cool experience, from start to finish. I loved it all: how everyone left their dirty hiking boots in the mud room and wore house shoes inside, the hearty dinners, the super cute and friendly hut dog who Raunaq become best friends with (naturally), the STARS, chatting with other hikers and outdoor enthusiasts...and the fact that it really was just like staying in the hostels of my youth, except that everyone was in bed by 10pm and out the door the next day by 7:30. The best. And the hut itself was fantastic. I’d heartily recommend it!
P.S. While we stayed here over the summer when restrictions were loosened, they still did have plenty of COVID precautions in place (only 50% capacity, requiring everyone to bring their own sleeping sacks and masks, partitions between tables, etc). So, I can’t wait until I can get the true hütte experience: sleeping in one long bed with 10 pillows and 10 other strangers.
7. Seeing the golden larches
Before moving to Switzerland, I had never even heard of the golden larch. Given that it’s already been established that I’m no botanist, this probably isn’t surprising. But now, it’s my personal mission every fall to see these extraordinary trees at least once. And I’m very dedicated to the #fallcolor cause.
This year, the destination was (once again!) the Lötschental Valley. I didn’t mention this above, but it’s also known as the “magic valley,” tucked deep in the mountains between the Bernese and Valais Alps. It used to be completely cut off from the rest of the country in the winter, and the remoteness of the Lötschental created a wealth of tales, legends and myths (see: Tschäggättä). And for me, the magic came in October, in the form of the golden larch. The Lötschental has one of the biggest larch forests in Switzerland, and when the entire valley is aflame with the larches in peak orange and yellow, it’s jaw-dropping. The colors feel too bright to be natural, but somehow, they are. And there was a moment when the sun hit the trees just right, and I swear, they looked electric. Special shout-out to my hiking mates, who put up with my exclamations of “peak yellow!!!” every 10 steps or so. I get very excited around fall colors.
We also came across a very crafty black-nosed sheep on this hike. We thought he was following us because he liked us, but turned out he was just making his way to a section of broken fencing so he could make his great escape. Side note: does anyone know what to do when you come across an escaped farm animal and no farmer in sight? Asking for a friend...
8. Searching for pumpkins
The second I felt the seasons start to change in early October, I had (along with a need to see the larches) a hankering to make pumpkin bread. Which honestly, is a bit odd for me. I used to bake all the time when I was younger, but the habit completely disappeared at some point during my early twenties. However, thanks to coronavirus and quarantine, baking came roaring back into my life mid-April (right around the sourdough starter/ Tiger King phase of lockdown). So deciding to bake wasn’t all that weird come October. But it turned into this increasingly desperate search for the key ingredient to pumpkin bread: Libby’s pumpkin puree. That try as I might, I simply could not find in Zurich.
I think that everyone who has ever moved to a new country can relate to this. Trying to find something that is a completely normal item in their home country, but impossible to find in their new country. But it was surprising to me, because it’s not something I tend to do. I don’t even have a super strong connection to Libby’s. It’s just something that I remember always being in our cupboard when I was growing up. It just reminds me of home. I think the one thing we all seem to understand this year - wherever we are in the world - is what it means to miss people, and the way that things used to be.
So I understand why we do this. Why we crave to find the things that have the power to transport us home. Things that represent certain times in our lives, or certain people, or just one certain memory or even an emotion. Why we search so hard to try to find these things in places where they might not even exist. And if they don’t exist, why we try to replicate them as best we can. It’s home.
Oh, and I eventually did find that can of Libby’s after all!
9. Zürich as our backyard
It might seem like we did a lot outside of Zürich this year, but in reality - we, like everyone, spent more time in our city than anywhere else.
I lost count of the amount of times I hiked up Uetliberg, and we discovered “new to us” local trails. The lake was our savior in the summer. Raunaq started incorporating lunch-time swims into his routine, and I don’t think there is any chance of getting him back into an office now. We ordered delivery for the first time...ever (spoiler alert: it was Dominos). Don’t worry, we quickly upped our take-out game, and started ordering local beers, local (better) pizza, even gelato. We now know all of the different non-Swiss grocery stores to get all of the non-Swiss hard-to-find ingredients for cooking, and now have our favorite weekend bakeries and our favorite specific treats we get from each of them. I found my stride and learned to love running. And somehow in the time of social distancing, we stayed connected with old friends, made new neighborhood friends, and even turned some Instagram friends into real ones.
I don’t know. Zürich just become more of a home, in all those little, non-eventful details that together make a place a home. And that felt really nice.
Confession: we still order Dominos sometimes.
10. Seasons!
It is a truth universally acknowledged that if you drop a California girl in any place that has “real” seasons, she will never stop talking about it. So here we are. Seasons might not be an experience unique to Switzerland...but they were a favorite experience this year nonetheless. But it was more than just fall. I was so, so grateful to have something visual that marked the passage of time, in this year when every day started to bleed together.
Springtime was promising. It’s always been that eternal symbol of rebirth and growth - the reminder that even things in hibernation can come back to life. Raunaq and I dragged out our electric grill and picnic chairs from storage, and started having barbecues and happy hour dance sessions on our balcony the minute the weather started warming up. And all the flowers and blossoms really livened up our daily walks.
Summertime was fun. In Switzerland and across Europe, it was a brief respite and a return to a semi “normalcy”. We all flooded outdoors, to the lakes and to the rivers and to the mountains, sweated through two heatwaves, and drank up every hot summer day and warm summer night. Raunaq and I hiked as much as we could. Everyone exhaled a little bit.
Autumn was vibrant. Like, really vibrant. The second surge was upon us, but at least we could still all be outside, and the daily walks were just as colorful as the springtime. And the fall was gorgeously, luxuriously, drawn out, moreso than I remember in previous years. Maybe because I was outside every day to watch (what felt like) every leaf turn. We hiked even more, stretching out the late-season hiking as far as we could. I took approximately 1000 pictures of fall foliage. And Raunaq learned that “leaf-peeping” was a real term, and an even realer activity.
And then it was wintertime. Zürich got its first snow on December 1st, which felt appropriately poetic. I switched out my summer hiking boots for my winter hiking boots, and finally bought one of those massive, sleeping bag-esque puffy jackets. The Christmas markets were cancelled, but the lights were still up all over the city, conjuring up a ‘merry and bright’ atmosphere, giving me just the tiniest bit of relief from the anxiety and fomo and exhaustion from constant changes and unknowns. It was not the same. But thankfully, there was still glühwein. So I bundled myself up in my sleeping bag jacket, and swapped my daily day walks for night walks through a lit-up city, mulled wine in hand. And I knew it was going to be OK.
Ten Swiss experiences for one helluva 2020.
But how, really, can we sum up an unprecedented year?
Do we sum it by what we lost? Or by what we found? By the hours of Zoom calls? By the expansive open skies, or the four apartment walls? By the amount of wine consumed? By the number of solo silent discos? By the time together, or time apart? By the closed borders? By the unique reconnection with friends, family, and our fellow humans, or by the loneliness and isolation and despair? By the mountains, or by the valleys? Do we sum it up by the challenges? Or by the victories? By the grieving? By the joy? By the extreme ugliness, or the exquisite beauty?
I guess we sum up all of it, right? These ten experiences certainly weren’t my only experiences, but they were some of the happiest. And as I look back and reflect on the unprecedented year, they are the things I most want to remember, the things that kept me sane, and the things that made me grateful to live here in Switzerland.
So here’s to a new year and new experiences. Wishing you all health, happiness, hope, and of course, plenty of outdoor adventures in 2021!
