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Jana & Brett | Aplins in the Alps

If you love traveling Switzerland, getting off-the-beaten-path, or having foodie experiences, then you're in the right place! 🙋🏻‍♀️🙋‍♂️We're Jana and Brett — Aplins in the Alps — and we help you TRAVEL SWITZERLAND 🇨🇭WITH CONFIDENCE. Learn how to maximize your experiences while minimizing your budget and planning time.

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5 Non-Obvious things to know about Switzerland

Email At-A-Glance Here's what's inside: 🤓 YOU taught us what we need to know ❓ 5 non-obvious questions + answers 🤑 Is its expensive to live in Switzerland? 💭 What's your reason for visiting Zermatt? 🛍️ What we're buying and reading Hi, Reader! When we first launched Aplins in the Alps, we met hundreds of you through our digital Consultation Calls. Spending hours screen-to-screen with you revealed your exact trip-planning questions. (☝️ That's partially how we decide our video topics!) Since...

Email At-A-Glance Here's what's inside: 😎 Repeat trips to the same place 🇨🇭 Zermatt is 🤑 ▶️ NEW VIDEO Cheap + Free things to do in Zermatt 🎆 July 4th...in Switzerland?! Reader, isn't it nice when you take a trip back to the same destination again? There's something familiar about the place that gives you a dose of confidence and relaxation. We always feel that way when we're riding the train to Zermatt. If the average hotel room in Zermatt costs 150–300 CHF per night, we've easily spent...

Email At-A-Glance Here's what's inside: 🥾 Best hikes (and walks) in Switzerland 🪣 Our summer hiking bucket list 🥵 Record temps in Switzerland ❓ Where would you like to hike in Switzerland? Hi, Reader! If you're wearing clean sneakers and nice clothes from dinner, or you have limited mobility, here are a handful of casual strolls: Lauterbrunnen Valley (paved, flat) Montreux promenade (next to the lake) Bürgenstock Felsenweg Along the cobblestone streets of Old Town Anywhere along a lake or...

Email At-A-Glance Here's what's inside: 🥵 Swiss summer forecast 😎 5 ways to beat the heat in Switzerland 🍦 Jana's favorite gelaterias 🥤 Switzerland's national drink Pick your preference: a Swiss vacation with gloriously sunny weather or non-stop rain, clouds, and wind. We're gonna assume that most of you choose the sunshine. (I know, Reader, weather is usually a boring topic, but we promise to keep it interesting!) 😎 2024 was the warmest year in Switzerland since the mid-1800s. The whole...

Email At-A-Glance Here's what's inside: 🤦 Don't be like these people 😆 Bet you can't watch this without laughing! *NEW VIDEO* 🚦Swiss roads 💙 What we're drinking and where we're hiking 🚲 I was riding my bike home from the store, sticking to the right side of the road. (By the way, how Swiss does that sound? ⬆️ "Oh you know, just a casual bike ride home from the grocery store. While gazing at the mountains. Breathing in the fresh scent of cow poo. Ahh, this is the life!") Up ahead, I noticed...

Email At-A-Glance Here's what's inside: 🥳 3 reasons to celebrate! #1 ▶️ 5 years of YouTube #2 👍 100k YouTube Subscribers #3 👫 14 years of marriage (📸 with flashback pics) ⛴️ Looking to splurge?! 5 years ago we uploaded our very first YouTube video. 👉 Watch old school Jana + Brett here. We published that first video hoping to get 50 views and help at least one person. Today, 100k people are subscribed to our channel. Dream job description: travel Switzerland and teach others how to travel...

Email At-A-Glance Here's what's inside: 📸 Pics from our Italian vacation 🇮🇹 ▶️ Don't skip THIS in Montreux! *new video* 🤓 Gruyère vs Gruyères ✏️ Roll call! Who do you travel with? 🍿 What we're reading and watching Hello, Reader, from Switzerland! 🇨🇭 We just returned from an ultra relaxing Italian vacation. (Well, minus the 24-hour stomach bug we all experienced the first week. And as relaxing as life can be with an energetic toddler. 😉) Matera, Italy — our favorite stop of the trip! When we...

Email At-A-Glance Here's what's inside: 💣 Truth Bomb ▶️ WATCH NOW: Go here if___. Skip this if ___. 👫 That's a lot of people... ❤️ Peek behind the scenes Truth bomb 💣 Not every destination is perfect for every traveler. When Brett's parents came to visit, Jungfraujoch was a can't-miss for his dad — but his mom wasn't interested. When my brother and his family came to town, some of them absolutely had to go paragliding — but the rest of them were scared preferred to stay on the ground. But...

Email At-A-Glance Here's what's inside: ☕ Since we can't meet for coffee, this is the next best thing. 🥳 Celebrating 3 years in Switzerland ❓ Can we ask you a 2-min favor? (Reviews!) 🤓 ALL Swiss Travel Guides are updated for 2026! Reader, have you ever wished you could sit down with us and pick our brain? 👉I bet your notebook would be filled with questions about train passes and timelines and restaurants. And I know we could easily fill an hour or two with answers and ideas! Clearly we cannot...

Email At-A-Glance Here's what's inside: 🤓 FIRST LOOK at our NEW 3-Day Guide to Montreux 🪪 Tip → Buy next weekend for a special launch price! 🇨🇭 3 days in Bern + 5 FREE highlights 📍 Save these Bern spots on your map ☕🍦 ❓ Have you used the Zürich Card before? Reader, have you ever visited a place and thought, "Wait… why haven't we spent more time here before?!" That was us, relaxing in Bern, just 2 weeks ago. But wait…before we tell you about our trip to Bern, let’s talk about another Swiss...