Switzerland

Switzerland has been on our bucket list for years, so our family jumped at the chance to visit after finding amazing flight prices through Scott’s Cheap Flights. However, it’s hard to know where to even start the planning process.  There are hundreds of amazing villages and towns all throughout the Swiss Alps, each one unique in its charm, accessibility, terrain, etc.  How would we narrow down where to stay and what to do?  More importantly, how would we afford to travel with two kids to a rather expensive destination?  If you’re wondering how a trip to Switzerland is even financially doable for families, head on over to our separate blog post here where we go into more detail regarding food costs, money-saving tips, etc. 

Details:

We immediately knew we wanted to spend a good portion of our trip in the Jungfrau Region.  There are two ways to think about accommodations in this area.  If you are looking for a remote, tiny village set on the side of a mountain, a relaxed town like Murren or Gimmelwald may be exactly what you’re looking for.  However, if you are looking for a centrally located spot where you can easily and conveniently explore the whole region, Interlaken can’t be beaten.  We chose to spend the first half of our 10-day trip at the Hapimag Resort Interlaken for this exact reason.  What we quickly realized about Switzerland is you can’t even start to look at a map and figure out how long it takes to get from one city to another. Often you have to travel what seems to be out of the way to get around the massive mountains. Pretty much all our train travel in the Jungfrau Region went directly through Interlaken which made it a great home base.  From there, we did ski school for the kids, traveled down James Bond-style from Schilthorn, and barely escaped with our lives down the longest sledge run in the world (a bit of an overstatement, but hilariously terrifying nonetheless; you can read all about this adventure on our Instagram post here.)

We spent the second half of our stay in Zermatt, but not before making a quick stop in Gstaad to spend the night in an actual Igloo!  This will definitely be an experience our family will remember forever and one that’d we’d definitely recommend for the more adventurous family.  During the remainder of our trip, we spent the majority of our time skiing in Zermatt and enjoying panoramic views of the Matterhorn.  Jon even snowboarded across to Italy one day but was heartbroken to find there were zero pizza restaurants open at 10 AM (Imagine that!).  

Notes and Tips:

• We traveled all over the country by train and had to take our stuff (4 backpacks, 1 carry-on suitcase) with us each time we changed where we stayed the night.  One of the best things we did regarding this was utilizing the train station locker rental.  For $5, we were able to store (for up to 48 hours) everything we didn’t need.  For example, before spending the night in the igloo, we consolidated what we needed into 2 backpacks, and left the other 2 plus the suitcase in the locker, making it much more enjoyable to get around and explore!
• Always choose to run card purchases as CHF as opposed to USD.  Use a card with no foreign transaction fees, and your exchange rate will always beat what is offered at the point of sale.

Gear:

• I’m so glad we bought our kids these Launch Pad ski harnesses, because I don’t think I would have ever had the courage to take them beyond the kid’s area otherwise. It was great to just let them wear the backpacks for the day, some areas they didn’t need them and we just tucked the straps in. However, if there was a sharp turn or dropoff, we could just pull the straps out quickly to make sure they were safe. By the end of the week, I could tell my daughter was completely in control the whole time and didn’t need it. That’s the best part of this product… when your kids don’t need it anymore! However, I can honestly say we would have never been brave enough to get her to that point if we didn’t have the harness as a transition.
• We take our Bagail packing bags on every trip and also used their portable luggage scale to make sure we wouldn’t have hold-ups at airport security.
• Waterproof winter gear was essential to making sure we all stayed warm and dry.  Ashley wore these mittens, snow pants, snow boots, and winter coat.  Jon wore these snow pants and LOVES this anti-fog wax for ski googles.  The kids wore these snow boots and gloves.

Accomodations:
Hapimag Resort Interlaken
Igloo at Iglu-Dorf
Alpharmonie Zermatt

Activities:
Grindelwald Sports Ski School and Rentals
Outdoor Interlaken
Glacier 3000
Thermalbad Zurzach

Restaurants:
Piz Gloria Revolving Restaurant at Schilthorn

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If you have questions or tips for traveling to Switzerland with your family, let us know!