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Swiss mt. attire

Are blue jeans acceptable dress for most restaurants and train travel?

Posted by
8257 posts

A definite yes for train travel. A yes for restaurants unless you are eating at a high end establishment.

Posted by
11247 posts

We wear jeans everywhere we go now. My husband favors nice tees during the day (Smartwool, Icebreaker or one of the nice 'wicking' fabrics) or a button down. He adds a sweater at night in cool weather, or changes to a polo to "dress up" when needed. If we are going to a concert, the button-down with dark jeans is the choice. If there's a dress code beyond that, we don't go there. :-)

Posted by
4324 posts

Turns out the Swiss have instituted a "fashion police" that patrols the major cities and stops and cites tourists at random. A small fine but annoying nonetheless.

So anyway, the way you travel should determine the way you dress. Are you going to fancy sitdown tablecloth restaurants? Then not only dark slacks but a sportscoat might appropriate. Eating in a Coop or Migros? Wear whatever you like. Mountain lodges? Dress warm. Standards are not what they were; we ate at a Michelin multi-star restaurant outside Beaune and some of the folks dining looked like they just came in from the fields after a hard day of harvesting and fence building. But in the end, it's money that talks most loudly.

Posted by
32517 posts

ah, let's, think about this answer.

Much as the difference might be between turning up at a McDonalds or local osterie, or the Top of the Mark or the Ritz in evening dress or a running suit, I think it depends completely on where and when.

Pretty much everything in the Lauterbrunnen Valley, I'd have thought jeans no problem. Now a 6 star hotel at Zermatt for dinner, maybe tend a bit more formal.

On the trains, nobody cares.

Posted by
271 posts

Yes, absolutely. I tend to wear a single pair of black mountain pants when on the road with an exact copy of them in my bag in case anything happens. In the last 6 years I have not had to get out my 2nd pair of pants. I wear Mtn Hardwear and they can pass for dressier than jeans but not really dress pants unless the restaurant is super dark. That being said, I saw several folks at a 2 Michelin starred restaurant last time in jeans--and they looked local. We spent about 200CHF so not a cheap place.