Budgeting for food

I can only speak to the food cost, as activities are all over the place. Restaurant food in Switzerland is expensive, no question. I see the “Best of Switzerland” 12-day tour includes all breakfasts and 6 other meals, but that could be either lunch or dinner. One experience is a cooking class on a boat, so that is one dinner at least.

I will just post three menus for popular lunch and/or dinner restaurants around Müerren they ca look over:

The popular Stägerstübli restaurant, with very traditional Swiss cuisine:

https://www.staegerstuebli.ch/download/pictures/4b/x87hhrmrv0z2f787smvxo5enlxy787/stuebli_menukarten_bild_05-2024.pdf

The restaurant in Eiger Guesthouse, which I believe is recommended in Rick’s Switzerland guidebook:

https://eigerguesthouse.com/en/speisekarte/

We have never eaten at either of those, but we have at the next two:

The restaurant at the top of the Allmendhubel funicular (might be lunch only; I don’t know if they stay open for dinner).

https://schilthorn.ch/cmsfiles/posts/documents/allmendhubel_speisekarte_sommer_2024_e.pdf

There is also a popular Asian casual place in town, Tham’s Chinese Restaurant, but I cannot find an online menu. It is a good alternative for those needing a respite from meet and cheese.

There are lots of other options in the various hotels; each one has a restaurant and they tend to offer more “gourmet” dinners.

We actually rent an apartment iin Mürren and cook dinner “in”. We stop for lunch at a mountain restaurant on our hikes. Prices for food in the little Mürren Coop grocery are not much higher than we pay in the US for similar items, at least not for chicken, vegetables, fruit, etc. This makes picnicking a good option for lunch if you like.

I was on the Switzerland tour in June but I'm not budget oriented, so don't have number amounts.
I will mention that every location on the tour was near a Coop supermarket, and they were a great resource for picnic supplies like sandwiches and salads at decent prices. I used them often.

This is a little silly, but for some strange reason its not a bad barometer. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/big-mac-index-by-country

Using the index, then for a very general rule, what ever sort and type of meal you would eat in the US will cost 30% more in Switzerland. Might actually be 25% or 35% but it gets you in a range for planning. Of course thats only if you dont go looking for U.S. unique things like USDA Angus. Then its real $$$$$$ And of course you can eat down the scale a bit and maybe get by for 20% more.

Slightly off topic, but related in general. One way to make your budget go as far as possible is to eat a large breakfast if it is included in the price of the room. Have you main meal of the day be lunch which is usually less expensive than dinner. Picnics with cheese, bread, meats, and small tarts are also money saving ways to still eat well.

Coffee is $5-6 per cup, and there is NO SUCH thing as Free Refills on coffee. tea or sodas, so be prepared.
You can buy these things for a reasonable price at the grocery stores (Coop, Migros, Manor, Volg).
Yes, have your big meal with lunch specials, as intended there!
As a generality, I would budget 15-30 chf for lunch and 28-50 for dinners in restaurants. Meat is EXPENSIVE. Of course, bakeries and grocery stores have many prepared foods costing less.

I will add that you will pay for even a glass of tap water in most places in Switzerland. No free water of any kind. They view it as you are paying for using the glass and the effort of the waitstaff to bring it. So please do not ask for an empty glass and fill it from your own water bottle.

Another no-no is sitting down at a mountain hut restaurant and ordering a beverage, then eating your own picnic food. When we stop at a mountain hut for lunch while hiking, I drink my water before we sit down, and enjoy a water-free meal. But the good news is it is OK to just order soup, or a salad—-my usually choice as I do not like a heavier lunch when hiking. That way my mountain hut lunch is usually 10 CHF or less.

Here is one example: while in Lucerne we stopped for lunch. Ordered a basic pizza (approx. 12") and a large bottle of water. The cost of that meal converted to about $30. We quickly learned to purchase lunch picnic supplies at the COOP grocery. Our hotel in Wengen offered their guests an excellent 4 course dinner for 35 CHF. Based on that type of dinner at other establishments, it was a bargain.

Another no-no is sitting down at a mountain hut restaurant and
ordering a beverage, then eating your own picnic food.

That's in bad taste every place in the world.

I think there are a lot of ways to dine in Switzerland at a reasonable cost. However, if you or family members need to eat in sit down restaurants you can expect prices to be about 30% higher than the US. I find that my dining habits change while traveling. In many Swiss towns there are more and more street vendors and also casual restaurants have become more available for meals like pizza, burgers, etc.

Honestly, if you are taking a tour, food costs are the least of your expenses since you will be fed half the time by the tour operator.