Without encouraging you all to drink like crazy (Remember now: use alcohol responsibly) I figured I really should tell you about the whisky ships.

To me that sounds like a cue for an old film, where a ship carrying a cargo of whisky ran aground on the islands north of Scotland. And all the local villagers were trying to remove the cargo while the customs officers tried to stop them. The film is called Whisky Galore if you’re really curious.

But no, it’s an opportunity to go and taste whisky and cigars, on a boat moored at the end of Bahnhofstrasse in Zürich.

Basically, you turn up, go in, collecting your tasting glass, and then the nice whisky merchants let you try lots of different single malts. Or blends if you prefer, but I don’t do blends.

Neither do I smoke cigars, but apparently they are on offer too. Clearly, I’ll be better off in the chocolate and coffee section.

The whisky ships are open from 27-30 November. Opening times are a bit complicated, but if you work on the theory that it opens at 16:00 you won’t go far wrong. Closing time is 23:00, except on the final day (Sun) when they will sling you off at 20:00.

Entry is CHF 12, although you can pay an extra CHF 5 to get into the chocolate and coffee tasting areas.

www.whiskyship.ch

Photo: Flickr chi-ryu

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

Obviously I don’t know whether you like cheese or not, but the Swiss are pretty keen on it.

Especially in the winter when you melt it and dip bread in it. Yum.

To be honest I try to eat fondue only once a year, or at least have some form of novelty to make it appetising.

Enter the fondue tram. Travel round Zurich’s tram line for a couple of hours, whilst trying not to spill melted cheese on your trousers (OK, I know my audience is mainly American and I should write “pants” but I just can’t bring myself to do it, sorry).

For a fixed fee of CHF 89 per person you get a welcome drink, a starter and as much fondue as you can eat. Plus coffee. Wine and other drinks are billed separately.

The tram runs from Bellevue and sort of loops round before finishing back there.

There’s no fondue tram on Tuesday or Thursday; and it there are two sittings on other days.

Start times from Bellevue are 17:30 and 20:15. One hour earlier on Sundays.

Reservation necessary: 044 434 44 34 oder fonduetram@vbz.ch.  

Photo: Flickr Aidan McMichael

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

Zurich is one of those places where are there are lots of restaurants, so it was a very pleasant surprise to discover that there is a dining out guide in English that covers most of the good ones.

zurich – dining out guide covers restaurants based on the type of food: Asian, French, Gourmet, Italian, Meditarranean, Eclectic etc.  Each review (there are about 100) consists of a stylish photograph, and well-written text describing ambience, specialities and usually some background – for example about the owners.

Restaurants have been selected for quality of food service and offering. As with most guides it gives price, location and opening information. It’s a very pleasant read too, even if you do end up feeling hungry!

The guide is not restricted to the city, also covering restaurants out along the lake, in Horgen for example. It’s certainly given me a few new places to try.

The book is stylish and well laid-out, and well worth the CHF 26 price tag.

Order from http://www.andes.ch/dining

Photo of the famous Hiltl Vegetarian Restaurant : Flickr Joi

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

We’ve been having some lovely summer weather here in Switzerland.

So, of course we want to be outside, eating drinking and generally socializing. So over the next few days I’ll be looking at a few options,  some of which, like Floss in Zurich are relics, or rather remnants, of the EM infrastructure.

Floss is run by the people that run Mascotte, a club down at Bellevue known for its comedy nights, bands, karaoke from hell, and of course, the normal clubbing nights.

For one month only, they are running the VIP barge from the EM as a lounge bar/restaurant.

The food is limited, Thai Curries or Iroquai sausages mainly, but it’s about seeing and being seen.

Floss opens at 10 in the morning – if you work nearby and fancy a coffee, and around 19:00 live music is on the cards. It stays open until midnight, and as I mentioned, runs for a month, until 3 August.

Reservations can be made if there are more than 20 of you, otherwise it’s turn up and squeeze in.

Photo and info: www.mascotte.ch

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

Seebad Enge is another option for summer night lounging in Zurich.

It’s amazing what can be done with a few coloured lights and some chilled out sounds. And the approach often seems to be to take an open-air swimming pool and turn it into a trendy late-night zone.

Well, hardly late-night, it closes at 24:00. We can’t have the locals being kept awake…

The restaurant serves the usual salads and grilled foods, washed down with beers and drinks from the bar.

The location is good too, out by the big jet d’eau-style fountain. Get there early, especially at weekends if you want to find somewhere to sit! 

You can also rent the place if you’re having a big celebration, check out the website.

www.tonttu.ch

Photo: Flickr – araki

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

 Summer is arriving rapidly now, and it’s time to find those cool haunts in the city.

The lake is obviously one place to look, but the rivers are equally interesting.

Down at Oberer Letten, Halfway between the main station and Escher Wyss, is a place to swim in the river by day, and relax listening to cool sounds by night.

Grilled food, chilled drinks and lots of people watching. Perfect.

I’m relaxed already.

Photo: Flickr: manimmac

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

Nine out of ten people like chocolate, the tenth is a liar; as the saying goes.

Well, Swiss chocolate is world-renowned so I figured I’d better start featuring it.

The first tip, is just to look around your local town for a confisseur or bakery.

Many make their own chocolates, and many of their products are seasonal – I’m expecting to see chocolate May beetles in the shops any time now.

So whether you go to Sprüngli in Zürich, Blondel in Lausanne (see pic above) or a less famous one like Himmel in Baden, don’t forget to try as many different types as you can on your visit.

It’s a really good way to get a feel for local differences and traditions. Just ask when you’re buying.

Isn’t it nice to have an excuse?

Photo: Flickr – ellengwallace

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

I keep stumbling across the fact that some Americans apparently think that “Swiss Cheese” is a particular type of cheese, close to what we in Switzerland know as Emmental.

So when I found a type of cheese that I hadn’t heard of before, and discovered you can can go and see it being made, I felt I had to tell someone.

L’Etivaz is a cheese made from raw milk, and is apparently produced over a wood
fire in chalets in the Alps at altitudes of up to 2,000m (7000ft).

If you visit the Maison de L’Etivaz, you’ll be able to visit the cheese aging cellar, taste the cheese (obviously) and if you want, get to see a slide show.

As the website is only in French I have no idea if they do the tours in English, but this is Switzerland, so they are bound to!

Open from May to September, and as they open at 07:30 through until 18:30, they are either desperate or expect a lot of visitors.

Either way, it deserves your support.

Tel. +41 (0)26 924 70 60, www.etivaz-aoc.ch

Photo: Flickr: doozzle

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

If you’re curious about food, and based on the motto “You are what you eat”, why wouldn’t you be, then the Alimentarium Food Museum may be for you.

It’s run by the Nestlé foundation which might antagonise some of the campaigners in the baby-milk debate but I like their chocolate so they’re ok with me.

Their idea is to cover everything to do with food: its history, its origins and uses, in a fun and interactive way.

The permanent exhibition covers the various aspects of food and nutrition as they affect all of us, apart from (presumably) African babies on Formula.

The museum is on the shores of Lake Geneva. Always worth a trip just for the view.

Alimentarium
Tel. +41 (0)21 924 41 11, www.alimentarium.ch

Photo: Flickr – imago incidentally it’s an apparently edible form of nightshade.

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler

Meat is Murder used to be the cry of the Vegetarian brigade, but in Zurich there has been no need for that for, well, ages.

Zurich is home to the Hiltl Restaurant, which is the oldest vegetarian restaurant in Europe, having opened it’s doors to the public back in the 19th century.

It’s just had a bit of a makeover, but the traditional vegetarian buffet is still there, along with a selection of fantastic dishes.

It’s so good we take even pure carnivores there, there really is something for everyone, and they also do a party service, which I’m happy to say I used on my relatively recent "round" birthday.

There’s also a bar/club, and there are cookery schools should you wish to educate yourself.

It’s also excellent value (Meat is Expensive – would be a better battle cry in Switzerland) so if you are on a budget, take your taste buds along for a treat.

Hiltl is at Sihlstrasse 28, and close to Pelikanstrasse so can be easily reached from any tram that goes down Bahnhofstrasse.

It’s also likely to be open, from 6am to 4am on Fridays and Saturdays, and from 6am to midnight all other days.

www.hiltl.ch

photo: 404

Post from: The Switzerland Traveler