This post focuses on the itinerary we followed during our visit in and around Interlaken in Switzerland with kids.
This is part three of a multi-part blog series of our itinerary, tips and tricks from our epic Family adventure to Europe in the spring of 2023.
Our first part of the trip was Paris followed by Munich.
As I discussed briefly in my Paris post, this is the second time we visited Switzerland. The first was a whirlwind of a trip with the possibility of moving there due to a job that Dan was interviewing for.
Although that did not happen, it definitely made us fall in love with the country. And because of this, of all the countries we wanted to visit in Europe, Switzerland made the top three!
Switzerland (7 days)
Day 1: Thursday, March 30
After arriving by train from Germany, we arrived in Interlaken and walked about 10 minutes to our Airbnb. It was a great accommodation and the roomiest so far on our trip.
This was the street our Airbnb was on. Awesome Swiss architecture everywhere.
We found the local grocery store, CO-OP, where we stocked up on food to cover us for a few days. We basically did this every one to two days since we could only purchase what we could carry home by foot.
The views were gorgeous right outside of our Airbnb. Since we arrived early afternoon, we wanted to get out and start exploring ASAP!
Dan found a hike about a 10-minute walk from our apartment which was quite the workout! It was this Harder Kulm mountain that we hiked.
During the warmer months, there is a funicular you can ride to the top and eat at a restaurant. We were there just a few weeks before most things opened for the spring but we don’t feel like we missed out.
Our first hike in the Alps this trip!
The hike would take a least a few hours to reach the summit so we didn’t venture that far since it was going to get dark before we would have made it back.
And here are a few of the views we saw just walking around Interlaken on our way to the hike.
Pictures will never do it justice.
Transportation Around Interlaken
Interlaken is very walkable. The city has two train stations, Interlaken Ost and Interlaken West. We used both of them and they are only about a 25-minute walk apart from one another.
Since we knew we’d be exploring several small towns around Interlaken, we purchased a Swiss Pass card when we arrived on our first day.
Unfortunately, our Eurail only got us so far within Switzerland, but the Swiss Pass was needed for all the mountain excursion trains.
Day 2: Friday, March 31
This may have been my favorite day in the Interlaken area. We took a few short train rides up to Grindelwald (altitude: 3,392′). It was raining on and off but we were prepared with rain jackets and umbrellas.
We didn’t spend much time in the town since we wanted to get up to Grindelwald First.
This place was amazing and terrifying all at the same time. It was our first funicular ride of the trip and thankfully no one in my family was phased by the ride up.
We have one child that’s not a fan of heights so I was nervous about this. However, I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t phase them much at all!
This cliff walk was definitely a highlight for me. It was also much more terrifying than I thought it would be since I’m not afraid of heights.
We continued our exploring from Interlaken since the train excursion passes (Swiss Pass) covered all the normal train rides. Below is just one of the little towns we visited briefly – Wengen. Can you tell I love mountains?!
Day 3: Saturday, April 1
Today we ventured back on a 30-minute train ride up the mountain to Kleine Scheidegg where you can rent sleds and go sledging down the mountain. We were going to start at the top (Kleine Scheidegg) until we talked to a couple in their 20s who said they just did that route and it was terrifying since visibility was almost nil.
So with that information, we decided it wasn’t worth the risk since we had no idea what this sledging was all about.
We took the train down to the next station, Mannlichen, and rented sleds from a small ski shop (not easy to figure out where to rent).
Beginning here was a much smarter, albeit much more boring! There are a few routes you can take, which all overlap with skiers and hikers here and there, but we mostly had the trails to ourselves.
When I say boring, I mean we had to get off our sleds several times and walk since our own body weight wasn’t enough to get any sort of momentum.
Thankfully after a while, things got more exciting and we all got quite a thrill. It was a blast for the kids however, it was just so-so for us adults.
Although again, the views were stunning everywhere you looked, so I definitely had time to soak it up.
Tip: If you plan to go sledging and have 2 sled options (experienced/faster/wood vs. beginner/slower/plastic), definitely chose the experiences/faster one – it was much more comfortable and NOT that much faster.
And as you can see there was plenty of snow up in the mountains to crash on while you wait for the rest of your family to catch up! Here’s the 9 year old doing his thing 🙂
Day 4: Sunday, April 2
Dan and I woke up at a reasonable time and got out the door for a mini adventure – just the two of us. The rest of our family wanted to rest and it was well needed.
Unfortunately both my parents caught a horrible cold/virus at the end of our Munich visit and they were feeling pretty exhausted. Our kids also welcomed the break.
We ventured to the nearby St. Beatus Caves about a 20-minute bus ride from our Airbnb.
This was a must-see on Dan’s list. So I was happy to accompany him since I was up for just about anything in Switzerland.
From the entrance of the caves, this was our view of the gorgeous Lake Thun. As I said, amazing views everywhere!
There was so much to see and do in and around Interlaken. I would absolutely return!
After 3 nights in Interlaken, we packed up for our next and final destination to Switzerland!