Planning Summer Vacation in Davos, Switzerland

amother

Tue, Jul 09 2013, 9:10 am

Hi. DH and I and our 4 month old baby are planning on going to Davos after tisha bav for around a week or so. We need help planning our vacation...where to stay, where to go, what to do??? We dont mind travelling an hour or so to get places as well...(we like all type of activities, but specifically looking for nice ideas that we can do with our baby as well)
Any ideas would be helpful! Thank you!

Mrs Bissli

Wed, Jul 10 2013, 10:20 am

There is a kosher hotel in summer, I think it's run by the same Levin family who has the kosher hotel in nearby Arosa. Chances are there may be other hotels that become kosher catering to jewish tour groups. Alternative is to stay in an apartment for self-catering. This is what we normally do when we go to Alps. We either find flats via personal connection, search on internet or get a list of property management companies from the local tourist office. The trick is to find something that is still available and have Sun-Sun (or mid-week) switchover.

Things to do: again the local tourist office (check website) is your friend. They should have a catalogue of activities for summer. Most swiss cities have good parks with children's playground. There are plenty of hikes and walks, look for something that indicates easily accessible with prams/wheechairs etc. To be honest, I think baby carriers (like BabyBjorn) is much more practical esp for a young baby. You may want to also inquire if they have local cablecar/ropeway/ski lift pass.

Other things you can do, again check what's on offer via tourist office. Usually farm tour, cheese factory, craft factory etc. Good for rainy days.

Outside of Davos: are you renting a car? If you have a car, I strongly recommend Bodensee near Konstanz (German/Swiss border), Mainau island is really beautiful with flowers and gardens. It should be about 2hrs drive. Also if you're flying via zurich, Rheinfal is really cool (literally as well).

amother

Wed, Jul 10 2013, 1:47 pm

There are two kosher hotels in Davos - Levin's hotel, the Sheraton Derby (check it out at levinarosa.com), and Gesher tours in Israel also has a hotel (see kosherhotelsdavos.com).

You could also try to get an apartment for a week and self-cater. You only need a 1 or 1.5 room apartment, so it shouldn't be too hard. Look at www.myswitzerland.com under accommodations. I saw a studio apartment for 430 Sfr a week and a 1.5 room apartment for 777 Sfr. There's a supermarket, Spar, that has an extensive assortment of kosher food and Levin's hotel does takeaway.

If I'm not mistaken, the cable cars and trains in the Davos area are free for overnight visitors. I think that includes Davos and Klosters. You don't really have to travel too far to have enough to do for a week. Look at www.davos.ch for ideas of what to do.

If you do self-cater, please do all Jews a favor and leave your apartment looking decent. You don't need to do a Pesach cleaning, but PLEASE don't leave trash lying around and dirty counters or toilets. You will pay a fee for cleanup after you leave, but that is supposed to mean changing linens, vacuuming and kitchen/bathroom cleaning. It does not include cleaning up your messes. Unfortunately, many people leave their flats looking like pigstys, or try kashering the stove the wrong way, break it, and just walk out, or change the furniture around and don't put it back. And the next time when nice people like us call them, they say, "Sorry, we don't rent to Jews. They're too destructive."

(This is not a personal attack on you, of course. It's a vent and an attack on all the inconsiderate slobs who have made it so hard for everyone else to get a vacation place.)