Mountains, long winding roads, potential snow (season dependant), long car journeys with small whining children - the thought of all of these things is enough to put a person off going on holiday in Switzerland with their kids.
Before I visited Switzerland, I would have also been overwhelmed with those thoughts. In actual fact, a mountain road trip is one of the best holidays I have ever done with my small children, and I will tell you why in this blog.
Travelling mountain areas with kids is a lot easier than you think its going to be. The roads are well maintained, normal roads that just wind up and down mountains. Yes, the journeys are longer due to this, but they are some of the most scenic routes you will ever drive, and you may even add more time to your journey wanting to stop for photo opportunities every half hour!
Do I need to travel around on holiday in Switzerland, cant I just stay in one place?
There are some insanely beautiful towns in Switzerland which you could just spend a weekend at and not visit anywhere else. However Switzerland has so much beauty, that to see its full glory, I would recommend hiring a car and driving to all the places that interest you depending on the length of time you have available. No doubt it wont be the first and last time you visit Switzerland on holiday as the beauty of it really does capture your heart, you'll want to return and see more.
It's possible to also get a train around Switzerland, which is also along very scenic routes however I am inexperienced in this to advise the best way to travel by train.
For our family, with such small children a car was so much more convenient for being able to have all of our stuff and be able to stop along the route when we need to.
What activities would interest my kids on holiday in Switzerland?
The majority of the trip will definitely be for the adults interests in terms of nature and sight seeing, however going on holiday to Switzerland (and Europe in general) is so family friendly, that they think of the children at most attractions.
I will create another blog with a more in depth Switzerland itinerary / things to see, but to give you a few examples:
Grindelwald First - is a popular mountain top experience which has an array of activities on offer, including zip lining, panoramic walks, mountain cart rides and trotti bike rides. The adults will want to visit for the spectacular views, and possibly the zip line experience which is what we went for (taking turns on it). To reach the top you take a cable car ride, but the first stop on the cable car route is a stop for a play park for the children.
Most mountain activities have play parks built for the little ones, which for us was a nice surprise as we brought the kids electronic tablets, thinking we would have to distract them at times while we enjoyed our day. We visited this attraction in the summer months, so in Winter the activities for children would be of a different variety.
We also visited Engelberg during the winter, we had full snow and cold weather. We visited with friends and the men in the group wanted to ski so we went to Mount Titlis. As we had the kids in tow, I was concerned about what I would do with them during the hour the guys went skiing. But there was a pleasant outdoor terrace with a bar and DJ overlooking a part of the skiing area so you could watch, but inside the bar area they also had a small play area which was perfect for small ones to take a short break from the outdoor weather and activities.
At Mount Titlis there were a range of snow activities for kids also, including sledging, sliding down in rings and also snow-mobiling. So, it was a really family friendly day out.
Other activities in Switzerland in the summer months include outdoor Lido's. A huge majority of the lakes in Switzerland are ones which allow swimming. We have visited two Lido's around the Canton of Lucerne - one being Lucerne Lido and the other being Weggis Lido. They are both sectioned off for safe Lake swimming and have kids play parks and a separate swimming pool area also.
Lastly, as another example even a river gorge attraction had a play park built outside for the children. Aare Gorge is a stunning attraction where you can walk along a path and view a natural rock river formation. This is the first time we have experienced our kids telling us they are bored, but after seeing as much as we wanted to see, we finished in the play park outside the attraction which balanced the trip nicely, giving us our sight seeing fix and them their playing fix.
So, would I recommend taking small children to Switzerland?
Absolutely, considering we have been on holiday to Switzerland 4 times without second thought, I would 100% recommend visiting Switzerland with small children. It truly is one of my favourite countries and we have had some amazing trips as a whole family there.
Keep an eye out for my next blog on things to see and do on holiday in Switzerland! And don't forget to subscribe to my mailing list so that you can see my future blogs, and follow me on instagram - @travelling_harts
Kasia x
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