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Starting in Paris and then traveling to?

Posted by on

I am planning a summer trip in early July for my family of four - two adults, two kids - 12 and 15 years old. We want to fly into Paris (we've never been to France) for 4 nights, and from there take a train to Switzerland and stay in the Murren/Lauterbrunnen area for 4 nights and then Lucern for 2 more nights flying out of Zurich. We have never visited Switzerland either. We are a family that enjoys museums, window shopping, and eating delicious meals while also being an active family that loves hiking, being outdoors and the mountains in the summer.

We thought this would be a nice trip balancing between city culture and outdoorsy culture - similar to our trip to the Isle of Skye, Scotland and London last summer. The following are my questions:

-Since we have never been to France, should we stay in France and visit Provence and Burgundy instead of moving on to Switzerland? Will the kids enjoy visiting the small towns of France?

-What is the best and most scenic train route from Paris to Switzerland?

-Have I allotted enough time in each spot?

Many thanks in advance - I have already obtained so much information from reading other's posts.

Posted by
1882 posts

I am biased, but I would not miss Switzerland. Your plan to stay in Murren/Lauterbrunnen is a great idea. You can get a fast train from Paris to Zurich in 4 hours. From Zurich you have a 2.5 hour train to Lauterbrunnnen. The hiking and the vistas are not too be missed. I think your itinerary is a good one. Provence is nice, but if your kids enjoy hiking, Switzerland is a better choice IMO. Enjoy.

Posted by
194 posts

Darnit, I typed up a big long reply, saw a typo, then inadvertently clicked on "delete" instead of "edit". Oh well.

Yes, that's a great plan, and something we did a few years back (our kids were 15 and 18). Combining Paris and Murren/Lauterbrunnen area in one trip is the perfect combo of culture/big city and outdoors/natural splendor.

I'd just add that it might be a bit more direct to take the TGV from Paris to Basel, then Swiss trains to Murren/Lauterbrunnen area.

And do look into renting bikes in Wengen, taking them up by train to Kleine Scheidegg, and then riding back down on easy trails to Wengen. One of the best things we did on the whole trip!

And Lucerne is nice, but IMO, I'd steal a day from there to spend another night in Paris. Still not enough time, but I suppose there never is... : )

Posted by
28085 posts

Although we do not know your children, I think for a family that loves hiking, Switzerland is hard to beat. It is rather painfully expensive, however, and that applies to restaurants and transportation as well as hotels. But July can be very hot in Provence. I'd definitely choose Switzerland if my budget could stand it.

Four nights is very short for Paris; your arrival day will probably find you semi-brain-dead, but it's long enough to experience a bit of the big-city atmosphere and hit a few museums. Maybe pick two or three smaller museums and leave the Louvre (where you could probably spend three solid days) until a later trip. Paris is fairly east to get to, so you'll probably find yourself using it as a gateway on future trips.

Edited to add: Early purchase of your transportation (train or air) from Paris to Switzerland can potentially save you a lot of money. You may also benefit from buying some sort of Swiss pass--perhaps the half-fare card. One or both of you children may travel free within Switzerland; I'm not up on those details.

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