A YouTuber by the name of Brett Conti released a video where he attempted to stay in the largest city in Switzerland, Zurich, for 24 hours with only 90 Swiss francs. As the city is ranked as the fourth most expensive in the world, he immediately ran into trouble.
The YouTuber says in the intro that he has a total of 100 US dollars (90 Swiss francs) which he can use to get food, transportation and accommodation for 24 hours. He says that he has done the challenge in many locations around the world, but claimed Switzerland may be the hardest challenge yet.
This is no surprise, as Zurich has been ranked as the most expensive city in Switzerland, and has even earned the global accolade on numerous occasions. “After all of the countries I have travelled to, Switzerland is the only one where I notice a substantial price difference. I mean, they don’t call it the perfect country for nothing,” claimed Conti.
Starting the challenge, Conti did not help himself by immediately heading to the old town, and identifying one of the most expensive cafes in the city. After blowing 17 percent of his budget on one coffee and a croissant, he then managed to redeem himself to residents by using one of the 1.200 fountains in Zurich for some free, fresh and clean drinking water. However, he continued to pay above and beyond by mainly sticking to the Altstadt and the budget no-go-area of Bahnhofstrasse.
After failing to find the free bike scheme Züri rollt (which can be found in Europaallee), the entrepreneur and vlogger managed to spend five dollars on expensive chocolate, blew his mind with the price of McDonald's, and marvelled at the 22 dollar price for lunch. In the end, he finally admitted defeat, going to the budget supermarket Denner for dinner. He did manage to find accommodation in the city centre, choosing to stay in a "capsule hotel."
Prices in Zurich are high, but this is usually cancelled out by the high salaries that are offered by jobs in Switzerland. However, tourists should be warned that trying to get around on 100 dollars a day in Zurich may not give you the best experience.