The Most Perfect Country on the Planet | Switzerland

Summary

The video documents a week-long trip through Switzerland, known as one of the most expensive yet awe-inspiring countries. It captures the adventures of two travelers as they road trip to cities like Interlaken and Grindelwald, highlighting popular activities like hiking up mountains, paragliding off cliffs, and speeding down on trotti bikes. They emphasize Switzerland's postcard-perfect landscapes with turquoise blue lakes and villages that resemble Disney sets. Despite the high costs, they conclude Switzerland lives up to being an ideal, fairytale country with top-notch quality across food, infrastructure, and engineering.

Takeaways

• 😊 Switzerland is praised for its clean water, beautiful landscapes, and high quality of life
• 💸 However, it is also one of the most expensive countries to visit
• 🚗 To save money, the travelers rented the cheapest car available at $180/day
• 😋 They sampled various Swiss delicacies like chocolate, cheese fondue, and beer mixes
• 🚠 They rode cable cars and trains to reach high mountain peaks across the country
• 🏔 At 11,000 feet, they were at the highest point in Europe on the Jungfraujoch
• 😱 They cycled down a mountain and went canyoning, rappelling down waterfalls for adventure
• 🛫 They paraglided off a mountain, admiring stunning aerial views on the way down
• 🏨 Accommodation prices varied greatly, from $300/night to more affordable options
• 👍 Overall, Switzerland met their expectations as an idyllic, fairy tale-esque destination

Q & A

Why is Switzerland so expensive?

Switzerland is expensive mainly due to the high salaries and standards of living. The average salary is around $125,000 annually and the minimum wage is $25 per hour. This allows the Swiss to produce very high quality products and services.

What makes the water so blue in Lake Brienz?

The turquoise blue color comes from minerals dissolved in the water from the glacial melt and rocks. This gives it a bright, vivid blue appearance.

How high is the highest point in Europe that they visit?

They visit the Top of Europe, which is 11,000 feet high. At this elevation, you can see incredible panoramic views of the Alps.

What adventure activities do they partake in?

They go trotti-biking (riding downhill on tricycles), canyoning through mountain rivers, cliff jumping into canyons, and paragliding off of mountains.

Why does the video creator make his friend Haley go first for many of the activities?

Partly for safety reasons to test out the equipment, but he also admits it's a good excuse to avoid going first himself.

How much did a basic hotel room in Interlaken cost?

In Interlaken, a basic hotel room shown in the video cost $300 USD per night.

What did they have for a typically expensive Swiss dinner?

They had Swiss cheese fondue, which cost around $120 USD for two people.

How far did they rappel down the cliff?

They rappelled down a 150-foot cliff to go canyoning through a canyon.

Why is Switzerland known for being neutral?

Switzerland has a long history of neutrality in conflicts. They refrain from taking sides in wars, even if it means defending their borders aggressively.

What things does the video mention Switzerland ranks highly for?

The video says Switzerland consistently ranks at the top for quality of life, most expensive country, cleanest water, and more.

Outlines

00:00

😍 Exploring the magical lands of Switzerland

The host starts their journey in Switzerland by driving through enchanting small towns. They highlight the expensive costs but worthwhile views and adventures including visiting Europe's most beautiful street, seeing unbelievably blue lakes, and learning some German phrases.

05:00

⛰️ Adventuring to the top of Europe

The host travels to Jungfraujoch, the highest point in Europe at 11,000 feet. They ride a tram up and visit an ice palace inside a glacier, experiencing freezing temperatures. The host plays tricks on their travel companion inside the cold, confined glacier.

10:00

🚴‍♂️ Mountain biking down trails in Grindelwald

The host goes mountain biking down trails in Grindelwald after taking a tram up a mountain. They fly down at high speeds and have to brake carefully. Afterwards, they try a traditional Swiss beer mixed with sprite.

15:01

🪂 Propelling off a cliff and canyoning

The host goes canyoning, which involves propelling off a 150-foot cliff into a canyon while wearing a wetsuit. Their travel companion goes first to test it out. Afterwards, they discuss running off a mountain to go paragliding.

Keywords

💡Switzerland

Switzerland is the country being traveled and documented in the video. It's described as having perfect, clean water, unbelievable landscapes, and an extremely high quality of life. However, it's also one of the most expensive countries. Examples of prices mentioned include $180/day for a rental car and $125 for a cheese fondue dinner.

💡landscapes

The landscapes in Switzerland like the lakes, mountains, and valleys are mentioned frequently as being beautiful and picturesque. Specific landscapes named are Lake Brienz which has bright turquoise water, and the mountain peaks in Grindelwald covered in snow.

💡activities

Numerous adventurous activities done in Switzerland are highlighted such as canyoning through mountain rivers, paragliding off mountains, and mountain biking. These risky, thrill-seeking activities contrast with the country's reputation for peacefulness.

💡views

The incredible, almost unbelievable views and vistas across Switzerland's natural landscapes are constantly remarked upon. Specific stunning views mentioned include mountain peaks, waterfalls, and even just Swiss villages.

💡elevations

Switzerland's high mountain elevations allow for activities like hiking to the top of Europe at 11,000 feet. The high altitude causes physical effects like feeling woozy. Being at high elevations also enables spectacular views.

💡prices

Extremely high prices for normal goods and services are emphasized, like $300/night for a basic hotel room. Multiple expensive purchases are highlighted as illustrations of Switzerland's sky-high cost of living.

💡water

Switzerland is described as having the cleanest, purest water in the world. Examples given include drinking from public fountains fed by mountain glaciers and using high mineral water for activities like canyoning.

💡quality of life

Switzerland is ranked first in studies assessing quality of life across countries globally. Contributing factors likely include stunning nature, clean water, developed infrastructure, and financial prosperity.

💡neutrality

Switzerland's neutral foreign policy is noted, not aligning with any sides militarily. It's suggested they maintain internal peace partly by isolationism, like being willing to destroy infrastructure to avoid armed conflicts.

💡fairy tale

Comparisons to fantasy fairy tales are made at several points to emphasize Switzerland's natural perfection. The country is called a "real life fairy tale" and specific places are compared to Disney movies or amusement parks.

Highlights

Switzerland has been voted as having the most beautiful streets in Europe

The blue water in Lake Brienz is from snow melt and minerals giving it an incredible turquoise color

Switzerland has the cleanest drinking water, available from fountains around the country

The average salary in Switzerland is nearly $125,000 with the highest minimum wage at $25 per hour

Everything made in Switzerland is top quality - food, watches, trains due to Swiss engineering

A cheese fondue dinner for two with wine was $120 USD

Swiss trains and infrastructure are like a giant amusement park

The Jungfraujoch is the highest point in Europe at 11,000 feet with incredible views

Grindelwald has adventurous trotti-biking (tricycles) riding down the mountains

A Swiss beer mixed with Sprite is a traditional drink for people who don't like beer

Hotel rooms with views of waterfalls can be inexpensive outside main cities

Canyoning involves propelling down a 150 foot cliff and swimming through canyons

Paragliding involves running off a mountain with an expert guide and gliding down

Switzerland looks straight out of a Disney movie with adventures and landscapes

Switzerland is near perfect - beautiful country with highest quality of life

Transcripts

[Music]

switzerland is perfect from having the

cleanest water to the most unbelievable

landscapes

switzerland is a real life fairy tale

it's constantly at the top of the list

for having the country with the highest

quality of life but also the top of the

list for the most expensive on top of

all this switzerland is a neutral

country they don't pick sides in wars

and they remain peaceful by any means

necessary

even if that means they have to blow up

a bridge after traveling this magical

country for the past week i wanted to

share with you all what traveling the

most perfect country on the planet is

like

well hello guys from the wonderful lands

of switzerland so for the next week

we're going to be traveling around

switzerland and i am so excited the only

one thing that i'm not excited about is

how expensive this country is

the beauty really does come with a price

like this rental car right here was the

cheapest rental car that they had and it

is still a hundred and eighty dollars

per day also we have not slept in over

36 hours now since we flew in from new

york city to here to switzerland and now

we are going to be road tripping for the

next couple hours all the way down to

interlaken where we're gonna explore

some lakes and some mountains some

valleys and do all these adventurous

activities that switzerland has to offer

so starting right now

let the adventure

begin

here

[Music]

quick stop and learn to get some

chocolate swiss chocolate

chocolate secured

going on a switzerland road trip should

be on everyone's bucket list every

little town that you drive through just

feels like an enchanted village we just

made a quick stop in this town called

brilliant and it is just so cool

exploring walking around seeing

restaurants that are almost older than

america oh and also supposedly the most

beautiful streets in all of europe

so this street has been voted the most

beautiful street

in all of europe

with every streets not only in biens but

in all switzerlands i don't know how

they do it it's just perfect

[Music]

i've seen so many photos of switzerland

where i just figured that they

photoshopped and lightroomed the water

to look more turquoise than it actually

was but coming here now to brienne's i

believe this is even the brienne's lake

where the water is really that blue

confirming the blue ass water and we

learned that it is from the snow melting

from the glaciers and the minerals from

that and on the rocks just come here to

the lake and give it this incredible

turquoise blue speaking of clean water

switzerland has the cleanest water on

the planet where you can just drink from

these random fountains around the

country it's really good

one of the great things about

adventuring around switzerland is that

everywhere you go you have these

fountains with super fresh water

and to make that even better

always have to throw in some liquid iv

so liquid iv is a must have when going

on adventures each packet is bursting

with fresh natural flavors and it tastes

delicious this new strawberry hydration

multiplier is definitely my favorite it

has more vitamin c than an orange and as

much potassium as a banana helping you

stay hydrated and energized in a great

tasting way also i highly recommend it

as a hangover cure if you want to try

liquid iv hydration multiplier you can

use my code in the description for 25

off their entire site if you are going

on an adventure and need a lot of energy

i do highly recommend a liquid iv since

it is also super delicious

[Music]

so far we've learned one thing about

switzerland that house farts

means exit

i'm gonna be fluent in german in no time

house farts outsparked mouse farts

[Music]

good morning guys from the beautiful

interlock in switzerland after our super

long travel day yesterday we made it

here at around 10 p.m and just passed

out like a ton

of bricks but there's nothing like

waking up in a new place and just being

amazed by all the incredible sights

especially from your hotel window

and before we do get on with our

action-packed day i did want to show you

guys what 300 a night gets you here in

interlock in switzerland

check this out

yep

that's it

so today we are checking off a bucket

list item we are heading to the top of

europe it is the highest point in the

continent where you have to take a 45

minute tram ride all the way to the top

but you do get incredible views

like this

[Music]

and highly recommend if you are doing

this

grab a lint mocha where it's a

cappuccino with a fountain of lint

chocolate that they put in it all right

well we are officially the highest

people in all of europe haley do you

feel do you feel high

i am super high right now

no honestly do you feel

the altitude

i feel the altitude i guess i'm a little

used to it now we've been up here for

like five minutes

but when we first got up here it was

like a little woozy

yeah i can definitely feel that that we

are pretty high i think right now we are

about 11 000 feet so we are able to just

overlook all of the alps and get these

incredible views of the top

of the mountains of switzerland so next

up we are heading to the ice palace i

believe we go inside of a glacier just

into freezing ice cold rock

we definitely did not dress properly for

this we are just in a little sweater

haley has this super thin cardigan on

and we are about to freeze it's probably

zero degrees celsius right now

[Music]

this is literally

ice right here

it's so cold

this is so cool though

literally so cool

haley i got a hundred swiss franc

if you lick it 100

[Music]

hopefully your tongue doesn't get stuck

to it

like in that movie

[Music]

are you serious

[Laughter]

imagine

starting to feel a little claustrophobic

oh my gosh

this is insane

wow

hey haley

ellie we're not going to let you do this

at least you hit me the first one she

threw off camera she hit the woman

behind me

she doesn't have that good of aim

you move

so now i wanted to show you guys what a

dinner out here in switzerland can cost

you so we came here tonight to the top

of the met which haven't tried the food

yet but these views are just miraculous

this whole entire country just looks

like one a giant amusement park we have

the church bells going right now there's

trains going around everything is just

picture perfect but now we're gonna see

what we get here for dinner haley made

us get the cheese fondue so

hopefully

this is gonna be worth it i think it's

like 65 bucks so better be good i'm

coming for you haley

[Music]

so cheese fondue for the first time ever

having it

that was pretty darn delicious hayley

the food you never steer me wrong i

don't but with my wallet

sometimes yes

so the total meal for the two of us was

just getting one cheese fondue and a

couple glasses of wine came out to

around 120 usd but surprisingly wine as

i guess in europe is a lot cheaper than

in america it's only about five dollars

a glass

so it's just that cheese fondue that uh

really did us dirty like that

i'd still say totally worth it though it

was something to do it was an experience

and it was

delicious

it was like it really was it really was

good call

you're welcome

after looking up why switzerland is so

expensive i learned how the average

salary in the country is nearly 125 000

with also having the highest minimum

wage of 25 dollars per hour on top of

all this anything from switzerland you

can guarantee it will be top of the line

quality whether it's food or watches or

trains the swiss are magicians when it

comes to engineering

[Music]

guten morgen from grindelwald

switzerland today we have another very

exciting action-packed day where we are

taking the tram back up to a different

mountain and then going to be trotty

biking down it's kind of like these

crazy little tricycles that we're

literally gonna be taking down the

mountain i don't know how but we're

gonna figure it out soon

now to get down the mountain there are

three stages with the first being

flying

so now for the first part of the way

down

we're going to be flying

this is insane

are you nervous

yeah

oh my gosh

i just want to stay until the morning

[Music]

and

guys the swiss do not mess around i

thought it was going to be kind of this

rinky-dink little bike that you wouldn't

be able to go too fast on but boy was i

wrong we were flying down the mountain

it is so hard to break you're going so

fast also you're going through these

clouds where you can possibly fall off

the side of the mountain

luckily both of us are still alive and

now celebrating

with some swiss beer

some

traditional swiss

mix with spray

which i've never heard before i've never

heard of this either but haley's not a

big beer drinker so they recommended her

to get a beer mixed with sprites

never heard of it it's not bad not bad i

mean you really have a sweet tooth so i

feel like this is perfect for you

i can't help but spray your beers

both in one in one drink

whoa this is right over here wow that's

actually really good i thought it would

taste funky but

not a bad combination

so we made it safely down the mountain

even though the roads were soaking wet

and we were going through the clouds it

really did just add to our adventure but

we're back safely in grindelwald and

also how to make a quick stop

not a coffee cart but they got a coffee

vending machine

switzerland really is a ahead of the

game got a cappuccino it's like eight

bucks

some pretty good coffee

so you guys saw what 300 dollars and i

gets you in interlaken but now we are

just a couple miles away in a town

called lauterbrunnen which is much

smaller and also much cheaper so when i

was trying to find one of the cheaper

hotels this is what we got we had no

idea that we would have this balcony and

this incredible view

of the waterfall

so i guess there are some deals out

there in switzerland hard to find how to

book this hotel last night but you know

they're out there

switzerland really is just like one

giant amusement park today we skipped

the coffees and are getting a shot

of life espresso since we're gonna be

propelling off of a cliff into a canyon

and then going to be canyoning around

all of these swiss mountains and yeah we

got the uh wetsuits on since

it is pretty darn chilly up here a

little afraid of how cold this water may

be

let's do this

also i wanted to give a huge shout out

to outdoor interlaken for help making

this trip so memorable very memorable

for this one since she

is not looking forward to this cold

we're suited up like we're like

diving into antarctica

so this is what we're gonna be

propelling down

150 feet

straight down

and luckily

haley's going first to test it out it

needs someone to test the rope you know

yeah she's always makes for a great

stunt dummy that's gonna be you

just like that

well we have to do that because i am

going to film her with the camera and

then leave it in the car and then we'll

pick it up at the end of our adventure

but yeah also makes for a great excuse

to have haley go first you got this

let's

i do feel really bad making her go first

but

oh well good luck haley look at that

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

wow

that was incredible

get up here

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

we are going to be running off a

mountain and paragliding

all the way down

haley how you feeling about this one i'm

watching this guy land

haley's just been watching for the past

five minutes

quietly

she ate it she ate it that's gonna be

you i'm not gonna land nicely

are you nervous at all i don't know i

think i'll be fine i know when i get up

there i'm gonna be

backing out

when he's like all right run off the

cliff

i am not letting you even if i have to

throw you off that mountain haley we are

just in this random backyard

where we're gonna be running down this

mountain

and hopefully be flying away

haley is ready

no she's not she tried backing out in

the van and then right now she's like a

little scared a little

like how far out down do you have to run

don't

trip

if i trip

you're coming back again

all right we're about to get harnessed

up

and fly away

i'm so excited uh so excited

let's do this

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

let's go

[Music]

that was amazing

what did you think are you glad you did

it

you liked it yeah

did you watch me flipping in the air

after traveling switzerland for the week

i would still concur that this country

is near perfect from the adventures to

the landscapes this place looks straight

out of a disney movie

if you guys did enjoy watching this then

make sure to hit that subscribe button

and we will see you next week

[Music]