What are the entry requirements ?

Passport and visa service

Entry to Switzerland  (Federal Department of Foreign Affairs)

For further information

List of diplomatic and consular representations of Switzerland

Contact your embassy

What time is it ?

Current local time

It is %T:%M %A in Geneva, Bern, Lausanne

Summer time

Yes

+1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October.

What is the spoken language ?

Official language

Switzerland has three official languages: German, french and Italian and four national languages: German, french, Italian and Romansch.

Other languages spoken

Serbo-Croatian , Albanian, Portuguese , Spanish , English.

Business language

Widely used.

Getting some knowledge

GERMAN:

 Yes = Ja

No = Nein

Thank you = Danke

Hello = Guten Tag

Good morning = Guten Morgen

Goodbye = Auf Wiedersehen

I do not understand = Ich verstehe nicht

How much does this cost ? = Wieviel kostet das?

I would like to buy. please = Ich möchte kaufen.

Do you accept the credit card? = Akzeptieren Sie Kreditkarten? Nehmen Sie Kreditkarten?

Where is...? = Wo ist?

Airport = der Flughafen

Train station = der Bahnhof

Post office = die Post

bank = die Bank

Police station = Polizeiwache

Pharmacy = die Apotheke

One ticket to. please = Eine Fahrkarte nach,

Would you have any available rooms for tonight ? = Haben Sie noch ein Zimmer frei?.

Free translation tools

Eurodicautom - The European Union Dictionary (12 languages available)
Babel Fish - Free English-German-English translator of texts and web pages
Leo - German-English-German dictionary with over 300,000 entries
Babel Fish - Free French-English-French translation of texts and web pages
Grand dictionnaire terminologique - Free French-English-French dictionary with 3 million terms
Lexilogo - Free dictionary arabic-french-arabic and arabic-english-arabic
TV5 - Free translation arabic-french-arabic and arabic-english-arabic
TV5 - Free translation arabic-french-arabic

What is the local currency ?

Domestic currency

Swiss Franc

ISO Code

CHF

To obtain domestic currency

There are ‘bureaux de change’ at train stations and banks.

Possible means of payment

Credit/Debit Cards and ATMs : American Express, Diners Club, MasterCard and Visa are widely accepted. ATMs are widely available.

Traveller's Cheques: Pound Sterling, US Dollar, Euro or Swiss Franc cheques are accepted at airports, railway stations and banks. To avoid additional exchange rate charges, visitors are advised to take traveller's cheques in Pounds Sterling, Euros or US Dollars.

Exchange rate on

Automatic Teller Machines (ATM)

To find out the locations of ATMs in in Switzerland, click on the link to your credit card: Visa, Mastercard or American Express

What is the climate ?

Type of climate

The Alps mountains cause climatic variations across the country. In the higher Alpine regions temperatures tend to be low, while the lower land of the northern area has higher temperatures and warm summers.

The temperature can go as low as -10 degree centigrade during winter and during summer it reaches up to 25 degree centigrade.

For further information

MeteoSwiss

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Last updates: May 2012