Snowy Alps, lakeside Airbnbs and road trips: an 8-day Swiss holiday for ₹1.5 lakh per person

Summary

A family of five from Noida spent ₹7.84 lakh on a winter holiday in Switzerland. Affordable flights, countryside Airbnbs, a rental car and home-cooked meals helped keep costs in check.

Switzerland may not be the first destination that comes to mind when planning a budget international holiday, but it is among the most sought-after destinations for a snowy winter getaway. Travelling as a group, finding reasonably priced flights and making smart choices about accommodation, transport and food can help keep expenses in check, as a family of five from Noida discovered.

Anu Arora, an education counsellor, and her family travelled to Switzerland in late December 2025 and spent ₹7.84 lakh, or about ₹1.57 lakh per person, on flights, accommodation, transport, food, sightseeing and other essentials. Although Christmas and New Year are peak tourist periods in Switzerland, the family found airfares from India relatively affordable.

“When we compared destinations for our year-end holiday, flights to Switzerland were cheaper than to many other countries, at around ₹50,000-60,000 per person. These fares were broadly in line with our budget and about 35%-45% cheaper than summer rates,” she said.

Beyond savings on flights, the family kept expenses in check by renting a car instead of relying on public transport, staying in countryside Airbnbs rather than hotels, and cooking most of their meals. These choices allowed them to enjoy a Swiss winter holiday without spending excessively on transport, restaurants and sightseeing.

As part of Mint’s travel series, Arora shares how her family planned its winter holiday in Switzerland, breaking down the costs and the choices that helped them save.

Flights and visas

We had visited Switzerland before, but never in winter. This time, we wanted to experience the snow-covered Alps and Christmas markets. Since both my children and daughter-in-law could take time off during the year-end break, we decided to travel together.

While comparing destinations, we noticed that airfares to several countries were particularly high during the holiday period, whereas Switzerland was an exception. Direct Air India flights from Delhi to Zurich were available for about ₹50,000-60,000 per person, compared with around ₹80,000 per person in the summer months.

We spent ₹2.68 lakh on return flights for five people, averaging ₹53,690 per person. Flights were our biggest single expense, accounting for about 34% of the total trip cost.

Switzerland is expensive throughout the year, so we felt the additional cost of travelling during New Year was not substantial enough to change our plans. We applied for Schengen visas through VFS Global in New Delhi. Getting appointments was easy, and we received our visas within four days of applying. This was much quicker than what we would typically expect during the busy summer travel season. Only four of us needed visas, which cost us about ₹48,000, as one of us already had a Schengen visa.

Prices across the major expense heads, including accommodation, transport and eating out, are similar in winter and summer, as both are peak tourist seasons. The additional expense we had to budget for this time was winter clothing. We spent ₹35,000 on winter jackets, snow boots and other winter gear purchased from Decathlon in India.