Cheap Eats in Switzerland

For the financially savvy travelers, it is pretty important to know where to have cheap meals in order to maximize the travel funds for other things more worthy to spend on. Cheap eats in Swiss refers to main courses priced at CHF10.00 or below, or a meal with drink (sometimes with sides) for less than CHF15.00.

Some of the cheapest food you can find in Swiss are from the local supermarkets. You can purchase fresh ingredients to make your own sandwich or pay a little more for cooked food at very economical pricing. Two major supermarket chains in Swiss are COOP and Migros (details here). But do note that extremely cheap food sold here are sometimes very low quality.

COOP at Interlaken West

Migros at Geneva train station

COOP - Half roast chicken CHF7.00 - 8.00, quite good and worth buying

COOP - Sushi CHF15.90, taste horrible and not cheap!

COOP - Maki CHF8.95, taste horrible too!

COOP - Swiss apples CHF4.95, very sweet and crunchy

Migros - Choc croissants & Popcorn, not nice!

Train station kiosks are another cheap option to grab a quick bite like sandwiches, burgers and other hot snacks and drinks. At larger stations, you get more variety like Asian and Halal food. Passengers are allowed to dine onboard the trains, just be sure to clean up after the meal.

Sandwich Company at Bern station

Simple sandwich for <CHF4.00

Food stall at Brienz station (Halal), Burger from CHF8.00 to Pizza from CHF12.00

Chicken wings w/ spiced fries CHF13.00

Beef burger CHF8.00

Food kiosk at Interlaken West station

Giant XXL beef burger CHF8.00 & Chicken burger CHF6.00

Calamari CHF10.50

Chicken nuggets CHF8.00

Suan Long Chinese cooked food stall at Zurich station

The chef is Chinese, you can literally smell the wok hei when walking past this stall!

Extremely delish Fried rice w/ chicken & vege CHF9.90, portion big too!

Sing Chow beehoon w/ prawns CHF 20+, generous portion and lotsa wok hei!

Thai curry chicken w/ rice, very nice too!

In larger cities, there is Manora Restaurant at Manor Department Stores. Very popular with the locals cos they have good variety, freshly prepared (upon order) food at low prices (most main courses are between CHF10-15). They operate similar to Marche in SG, order and pick up your own food and drinks, then proceed to cashier for payment before finding a seat at the dining area. Another plus point is they provide good quality free wifi for all diners.

Manor near Geneva station

Manora at Geneva

Pasta station, pick your own ingredients, choose your pasta and sauce.

Manora Geneva

Savory Crepe CHF8.90

Pasta w/ prawns CHF16.00

Orange juice CHF5.10

Manor near Zurich station

Manora Zurich

Pasta w/ prawns CHF17.30 and Grape juice CHF3.90

Assortment of cooked food with rice and salad CHF15.90

Switzerland has a steady stream of Arab visitors so you'll find Kebab shops almost everywhere selling Halal delights at reasonable prices. We ate once at a shop near to our Zermatt hotel.

Chicken kebab CHF8.00 - 9.00, very nice.

Beef burger CHF8.00 - 9.00

And of course, there are the Fast Food chains but I'm gonna write about it in another post. The above info should give you a good idea on how much to budget for meals in Switzerland (for the price conscious bunch).