budget in the Alps

going to the Swiss Alps this October (I know it's out of season) for about 13 nights. I'm trying to calculate a rough budget but I'm missing a few details. this is what I have so far:
* flight 570$ (already booked)
accommodation about 1340$. I'm going for the dorm beds and I found prices around 35-45$ so I'm taking a 40$

average.
food 1320$. this is the part I'm not sure about. I'm not planning to eat in restaraunts. hoping to get some sanwiches/snacks in the supermarkets. does 20$ a day makes sence? (assuming breakfast is not included, although in some hostels it is, and the occasional cup of coffee, I'm a coffee juncky).
*transport. obviously a big part of the budget. I calculated my intercity travels (Zurich airport-Lauterbrunnen-Kandersteg-Zermatt-Zurich) , plus the cost of a half fare card (110 CHF right?) and got about 320$. I have no idea what to add to that. I'm concentrating on hiking on this trip, so don't think there will be many cable cars trips. what about short train rides (to get from my base town to the starting point of the trail), special trains? I'm a bad planner and have a habbit of changing my plans on the way. how much would you add to the transport budget?

do you think about 2300$ will be enough for 13 days?

It will help if you quote in CHF, as whichever $ you are referring to (HK? CAN?) is probably moving quite a lot against the CHF at the moment....

We have no idea what kind of dollars you are talking about, Canadian, United States, New Zeland. Please use Euros on this forum.

Please use Euros on this forum.

normally I'd agree but an exception should be made for Switzerland which still uses the Swiss Franc. But yes, '$' doesn't mean much.

I meant US$. I already did the conversions from Francs to Dollars since it's easier for me. if you want I can write in Francs. $ is just what I'm used to when colculating budgets so it comes naturally.

This summer, the exchange rate EUR/CHF changed every week.
Actually 1 EUR corresponds to 1.16 CHF,
2 weeks ago 1 EUR corresponded to 0.99 CHF
in spring, 1 EUR was worth 1.30 CHF
Nobody can predict the degree of irrationality of the EU financial policy (which will of course influence the exchange rate EURO/CHF) in the next 2 months.

Only prices in CHF will remain valid in October.

Train ticket prices with half fare card:
ZRH - Lucerne - Bruenig - Lauterbrunnen (valid 1 day): 30 CHF
Lauterbrunnen - Kandersteg (valid 1 day): 16 CHF
Kandersteg - Zermatt (valid 1 day): 29 CHF
Lauterbrunnen - Kandersteg - Zermatt (valid 2 day): 42 CHF
Zermatt - ZRH (valid 1 day): 60 CHF
ZRH - Spiez - Kandersteg - Zermatt round trip (valid 10 days): 120 CHF
Spiez - Lauterbrunnen one way (valid 1 day): 9 CHF
Zermatt - Gornergrat (round trip): 39 CHF
Lauterbrunnen - Jungfraujoch (round trip): 83 CHF
Lauterbrunnen - Schynige Platte (round trip): 36 CHF

littlerunaway84, I am from the US and we usually write a dollar amont like this: $2300 not 2300$.

Also, the Franc has not been used in France for a number of years now, they are curently using the Euro ( € ).

#5 & 6 make some good points

I think you need to budget more for food. At the moment 1 US Dollar equals 0.78 Swiss Francs and if this continues, then $20 a day for food will not be enough. Even if you go the a supermarket and eat super cheap, a good sandwich will set you back about CHF 4.50. So unless you really only want to eat once a day, I don't think your food budget is high enough. Where are you planning to go hiking? That of course will make a difference to your budget. #6 makes a really good point about the flucutation of the currencies and mentions how much train travel costs, it really depends on your itinerary. Personally, I think you need have a bit more money on you. If the weather turns bad while you're here, a hot meal might be more on the lines than a cold sandwich! Plenty of hostels do have breakfast either included or for a small charge, but since you are trying to not spend much, book only the places that have breakfast included, otherwise you should add anywhere between CHF6.- and CHF 12.- for breakfast alone.

accommodation about 13*40$. I'm going for the dorm beds and I found prices around 35-45$ so I'm taking a 40$

What kind of accommodation are you looking at? In cities or out hiking? $40 is not a lot for out-there hiking, but may be enough for population centers.

food 1320$. this is the part I'm not sure about. I'm not planning to eat in restaraunts. hoping to get some sanwiches/snacks in the supermarkets. does 20$ a day makes sence? (assuming breakfast is not included, although in some hostels it is, and the occasional cup of coffee, I'm a coffee juncky).

That's not enough for food.

Quite frankly 20 bucks is one meal. Are you going to live off of supermarket sandwiches for 13 days?

Some food prices at Coop supermarkets at Lauterbrunnen and Zermatt:
Bread: 5 CHF/kg
Local cheese: 20 CHF/kg
Salami: 40 CHF/kg
Milk: 1.50 CHF/liter
Butter: 15 CHF/kg
Cucumber: 2 CHF/piece (in October)
Tomatoes: 3 CHF/kg (in October)
Mineral water: 0.50 CHF/liter
Sandwich: 5 CHF/piece
Swiss wine: 10 CHF/liter
count about 4 CHF for a non alcoholic drink (coffee, tea, coca, sprite, lemonade) and 1-2 CHF for a croissant in a restaurant

travelinstyle46: I already replied I made a mistake when I wrote the prices in dollars. what else do you want me to do? I was going to rewrite the post with CHFs but already got some great answers from other people. I don't expect you to waste any time on my question, feel free not to answer.

hey evescha: I spend a week in London eating almost nothing but sandwiches and was absolutely fine with that. if a sandwich is around 5 CHF, I think 25 CHF per day might be enough.

mredman: I found accommodation in all 3 towns I'm planning to to visit. dorm beds with shared baths. and yes, I'm fine with that, it won't be my first time. those were the prices, 27-37CHF (or atleast in that area, can't remember exactly).

neckervd: thanx for the list. most of those things I won't need (wine, milk and butter, stuff like that, I'm not going to cook my own food) but the other prices are very helpful.

I have to say something for everyone. I know the rates change all the time and especially the Swiss Franc is going up lately but I was obviously looking at today's rate since it's all I have at the moment. I'm not used to Francs and don't really get the value/price of something unless I convert it to a familiar currency and that's why I converted everything into US$.
of course I will have extra money in my bank account just in case. I'm used to travel as a budget traveler and found some places cheaper than everyone told me (London or Tokyo for example) and when I say that I can eat sandwiches for most of my meals I really mean it since I've done it before. I'm sure many will disagree but everyone does his traveling the way he likes it.

after taking your comments into consideration, I think around 1,900 CHF will be my budget. that should be enough. of course there are unexpected costs sometimes but that shouldn't be a problem.

No one is disagreeing with you - eat as many sandwiches as you like, so there is no reason to get uppity about it. We did try to give you advice, especially those of us who live in Switzerland, but hey, it seems you don't need it afterall. CHF 25 will not be enough for food per day, but hey, eat what you want finally. You just don't get it, how expensive food really is in Switzerland. But no one is stopping you.

OP, the best solution to your budgetary concerns is to sleep in city parks like a dimwit on another branch was planning to do.

Then at least your food will be taken care of.

can you explain it to me then? why whould one meal cost 15-20 CHF? cause I really don't get it.

cause I really don't get it.

Please don't be redundant. We already knew that.

I see there's no point going on with this thread or asking any question since obviously I'm not smart enough to understand your answers. I'll find a more helpfull forum. thanx for all those who gave me real good answers, I apreciate it, but insults is not my thing.

No one is insulting you. It just appears you do not understand the advice being given.

that's why I ask if you can be a little more specific because maybe I'm missing something. but this:

"cause I really don't get it.

Please don't be redundant. We already knew that. "

yes, for me it's insulting.

Okay, lets budget it this way. On the off chance, you do not have breakfast included in your hostel: a coffee costs between 3.50 and 4.50. A croissant will cost you another 2 Francs. So let's say that makes CHF 7.- just for breakfast, with only 1 cup of coffee and one not very substanitial croissant.
A sandwich will cost you, for a cheap one, CHF 5.- with not much in it, and a good one will cost CHF 7.50. A small bottle of water is another 1.50. Thank makes, taking the good sandwich option, CHF 9.- So that's CHF 16.- for two small and not very substantial meals. Now if you want to add a piece of chocolate to that, add another CHF 1.90 for a block of chocolate, milk, no frills. Fruit and yoghurt are also not cheap, starting at 50 cents a piece at a kiosk, cheaper if you buy a kilo, but a kilo of apricots costs between CHF 7.- and 9.- and apples around CHF 5.- for a kilo.
On the other hand, maybe you are one of those people who can get by with a tiny amount of food and still have enough energy for hiking.
Maybe if you see it this way, and try to understand we are not trying to undermine you, then perhaps you can now "get it."

I don't think you're trying to undermine me. I just think that our standards are a bit different and after traveling a bit myself I basically know how much and what kind of food I can get by with. but thanx for the prices you gave me here, it's actually very helpful.
btw, most of the hostels I found have breakfast included so that's good news for me.

Let me explain it to you. Your $20 = 15CHF roughly. Ten people tell you that 15CHF a day is not enough to eat unless you are planning to go on a starvation diet.

Now you came on here saying you weren't sure about the food part of your budget and you've been told repeatedly it isn't enough but now instead of saying thanks, I'll up my food budget, you seem to be arguing that it is enough. If you think it is enough, why did you ask about it in the first place?

Are you going on this trip to enjoy it or to survive it?

first of all I did up my food budget to 25 CHF, I just put it in my final 1900CHF budget.
secondly if you tell me it's not enough it doesn't tell me much, that's why asked if it's possible to be a little more specific so I know why it's not enough.

I'm going to enjoy it and if I go over my budget for good reason that's fine with me. but like I said in my previous post, people have different standards. for some sleeping on a dorm bed with shared bath is survival for me is absolutely fine, I actually like it. for you eating cheap supermarket food twice a day is survival, for me it's a very small sacrifice I'm willing to make to keep the budget low or spend the money on other things.

I don't want to be rude, I didn't ask what am I supposed to eat, I just asked how much will it cost. evscha gave me good information on that in his last post.

Actually, in "her" last post, but who's to know?

sorry

Actually, in "her" last post, but who's to know?

Bet I'd know ;)

That's why I always try to use s/he when referring to a poster.

To avoid confusion evscha, a picture of you in a bikini beside your name would solve the problem. ;)

If you click on pirates photo, the long hair might be ambiguous re sex but the beard pretty much rules out most women. If you click on my photo, the flat chest might be ambiguous but that's obviously the lower half of a handsome man's face you can see. (I cropped it that way to keep from being recognized. I really dislike groupies, it's so embarassing having them follow you around.)

I know I need to add a picture...:-) thanks for reminding me!

Edited by: evscha