Hi everyone, I'm not actually in Switzerland but I'm not far either. I'm US military stationed in Germany and plan to travel to Switzerland a good bit so figured I'd start here..

I've spent about a year and a half in Germany and traveled to a lot of European countries but haven't spent anytime in Switzerland yet so I was curious if there are any Swizz-specific things I should keep in mind while I'm there. I'm currently stuck resorting to rail travel but that may change soon,how are the trains compared to Germany?

Last question for now, how accepted are those of us who speak only english fluently in Switzerland, here in Germany mostly everyone speaks english and they're usually ok with doing so as long as you make a valid attempt at German when initially approaching them.

Thanks in advance!

1st off, welcome

Your query was such a nice, juicy slow pitch right over the plate I just have to take a swing at it

From one Yank to another, having lived both in Germany and Switzerland, I have to say that while many, many people here are frendly and tolerant to our mangled attempts to speak local, it also seems that some Germans and Swiss are stuck in a never ending contest to see who has the biggest stick stuck up their rears

You know the type back home who seem to be forever in the mode of waiting to be insulted ? They're HERE TOO !!!!

The number of times I've had someoene repeat back to me exactly what I just said, the same way I just said it, and after I say "Oui" (I'm in the French speaking region) they have the look on their face like "why didn't you just say that the first time"........

Having said that, for the most part if you're making the attempt to communciate local you will usually be treated ok.

Keep a sense of humor and you'll do fine.

Welcome to the forum! The trains in Switzerland are probably the best in the world. They are ALWAYS on time, clean and run frequently. You can get pretty much anywhere in Switzerland by train and if a bit farther out then train + post bus. Check out www.sbb.ch to see what deals are one, example at the moment you can go to Ticino with a 3 day pass for only 49chf (although that might be based on a half fare card).

Enjoy your travels!

Yeah right! Pink shades much?

Cost a oh my god amount of money to get from A to B though, bring your credit card to operating tempratures beforehand.

We took a train yesterday. Was 20 seconds late arriving. I don`t know how I`ll manage.