Travel to Germany and Switzerland with a large group

You should have no problem getting around, it is just keeping everyone together. And finding lodging for such a group, you will need to get your lodging finalized well in advance.

There are many group transport deals in Germany, usually for groups up to 5 traveling together, so 3 tickets would do it.
The train from Munich to Zurich has group rates when bought in advance with seat reservations included.

In Switzerland you can buy group tickets for a discount up to 72 hours in advance. I once had to move a group of 66 people from Zurich airport to Wengen at a moments notice when my charter bus failed to show up. They still gave me a group rate, but they said "We cannot give you your own train car." We all made it.
https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/tickets/group-tickets-switzerland.html

We traveled by car with a group of 6 by car through Germany and Switzerland last summer. It is not easy. Finding lodging was a huge challenge. It is very hard to find hotels that sleep more than 2 in a room. You will need to figure out what the groupings will be for lodging, then find places that can accommodate. This may be difficult on short notice. Apartments are an option, but don’t expect a single apartment to accommodate your entire group. Maybe multiple apartments near each other would work.

Switzerland is VERY expensive. Budget $300/nt for a very basic room that sleeps 2. You will want train passes to get around and see the best scenery. They are expensive, but there are discounts for kids. Food is also very expensive: $25 equivalent for a basic burger & fries. Grocery stores are more affordable and have good pre-made meals.

I don’t envy you this task. It can be very stressful managing a big group, different sleep schedules, food preferences, energy levels, interests, etc. Best of luck to you.

When you say “shortly before it expires” do you mean that you have to make the booking soon but the actual travel dates can be several months ahead/next year? If so, it sounds like a challenge but doable if you can plan and book lodgings well in advance. Probably a good idea to brief all the adults well beforehand so that they all know the travel plans at each stage and they know what to do and where to go if hey get separated from the group. Good luck, this could be a wonderful memory for you all!

Thank you all for your thoughtful feedback. When I say shortly, I mean i have to make the travel purchase shortly, but it can be for a year out. So my plan was to get the tickets for August 2025, which would give me time to make plans.
My thought was to get Airbnbs. It looks like there are plenty of good options in Munich and Switzerland that would easily fit our group. But then the question is, how do we get such a group from the train station to the Airbnb?
Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate it.

Hi West Michigan from another West Michigander!

I think your trip is doable. If it were me I'd need a spreadsheet to keep track of the logistics. And there would be a huge amount of logistics. I bet you know that.

Not knowing what your budget is or how much international travel your family members have done, I would suggest perhaps purchasing Deutschland tickets (E 49 this year) for the adults and Swiss Passes for the adults in Switzerland. I do not know how that works with children. Perhaps someone else here will chime in. The reason I suggest this is if some individuals don't want to do a particular activity they could choose another. For example, say you were in Brienz Switzerland. Some want to go to Ballenberg, the open air museum, some want to take a boat on the lake, others want go to the beach in Brienz. With the pass everyone could just go their own ways. The pass is good for some 400 museums, and on boats on most lakes and public transportation in most towns. That would eliminate the hassle of buying tickets every time you want to take public transport. And if you choose Air BnBs close to the public transportation that would solve that issue.

Public transportation is so easy once you get started. I have found in Germany the app will direct me how to walk from the bus/train stop to where I want to go. It's great! This may be true for Switzerland too but I can't remember. To research the public transportation options I would suggest installing the DB app (Germany) and the SBB app (Switzerland). I have found them to be invaluable. At first I saw no point in my husband putting them on my phone. I use them multiple times everyday when we travel. I'd put them on everyone traveling's phone in case someone misses a train or bus they can use the app to find their way again.

I have also found using Google Maps to help me research locations for lodging and restaurants, grocery stores, etc.

As a non-minimalist packer who is attempting to lighten her backpacks due to spinal degeneration problems, I will say you might consider invoking a "you pack it, you carry it rule for all, except maybe the granddaughter. There are those on this forum who weigh everything they pack. I'm not there yet, but did weigh a few items while packing for a trip to Bavaria I'm taking in a couple weeks. You likely do not want to be the one to figure out each time you move location how to get everyone's "stuff" from place to place. Would be helpful if everyone knew the expectation from the beginning.

We have been to Geneva many times. It is expensive to stay in Geneva these days (always has been but in our younger years my husband traveled there for business and his company paid for the hotel). Some on the forum don't care for Geneva but I have a soft spot for it. The old town is nice. There are many things to see there. I'm sure the Reformation Wall is on your list. Geneva has an excellent public transportation system. You could stay outside of town a ways and take public transportation in if lodging is too expensive right in town. I took a tour of the Red Cross Museum one time. I enjoyed it. It wasn't a really uplifting experience but not as somber as touring a concentration camp. We also enjoy the Wednesday and Saturday flea market at Planpalais. I've purchased a lot of kitchen items I use everyday at that flea market. It's an opportunity to mingle with the locals and people from many countries and I enjoy my funny conversations with French speakers even though my French speaking is at a 4th grade level : )

There is a wealth of info on trip planning and packing on this forum. You may already be well aware of this. I have benefited from this group's wisdom in so many ways.

Whatever you decide to do, I hope you will come back here to ask questions and pick our brains. And please write a trip report for us when you return home! Happy Planning!

Traveler Girl

(Man, this website is pure gold!) Thank you TravelerGirl for that response. That is very helpful!

This sounds like a great possibility for your family. We’ve needed to book rooms for 48 people on 3 different semesters in Munich, Geneva and many other cities in other countries. We found it helpful to pinpoint some hotels fairly close to the city centers and email the hotel directly with our specific room configuration requirements, ie, 3 quads for ages x, x, x, x, 2 doubles for ages, etc. Chain hotels aren’t going to have such a variety of family room configurations but some of the city center older hotels will. You can also feed this data into booking.com but I think if you try both methods you can evaluate what works best for you. I suggest hotels as another source to apartments as city center hotels will likely have great transportation and walkability right outside of the front door, may provide breakfast so factor that time and cost into your pricing and have someone at the desk who can give general help. We found that our hotel budget in Switzerland was at least 50% more than Germany. Switzerland may be a good country to base yourselves in towns that have abundant vacation apartment rentals. Hope you can see from family members if this trip can happen for them in august 2025 and try to book lodging that can be modified or canceled without a penalty.

Just be aware that August is THE month for vacation for Europeans. Paris virtually shuts down, and Italians head for the beach or the mountains. Not that July is low season by any means, but August is super busy.

August is my least favorite month to travel, but that doesn't stop me.

You can do this. But, you'll have to be flexible, and realize keeping everyone together isn't going to happen. That's okay, you'll find some good experiences that way. You can find AirBnB, but even then you'll probably want two, and they probably won't be right next door. Or plan on 4-6 hotel rooms, and even those may be in different hotels. I think this is good, you find it helps to sometimes be able to have time away from each other, and the ones under 25 will probably demand it.

Any big city can easily take on 12-13 more tourists. And the public transportation is easy to use. German isn't that difficult and even if you only know a couple dozen basic words you (and the whole family) can get around without trouble. English is a fairly common second language.

I'd plan on using trains as much as possible, because with luggage you're talking 4 rental cars and that's 4 drivers who have not driven like they do here.

This can be done, and I think it would be a great experience for anyone who hasn't been here. I suggest sitting down and making a list of no more than 8-9 things (or places) you HAVE to see, and then building an itinerary around those. That's the starting point. Good luck, and have fun.

Thank you for the responses. This is all very helpful.
We are flexible on when we can travel there next year, we could do June, July, or August of 2025, but knowing that August is the busy month, maybe I'll look at June or July.
It seems like Iceland Air plays games with pricing when you choose roundtrip or one-way, so that should be interesting.

Any big city can easily take on 12-13 more tourists

@KGC nailed this regarding your concern about the size of your group. IMO you simply need to break into smaller groups for local travel, accomodations, and dining. Plan who travels with who, who eats where and with who, where to meet if doing your own things, etc. and all will be fine.

I have traveled with my adult childern and a grandchild. My group is only 7 in total, yet we don't do everything all together all the time...couples get date nights, someone does nap time babysitting, in a VRBO someone takes charge of shoping and cooking, etc.

"I don't want it to be unsafe or uncomfortable not knowing how to get around."

Safety is a low-level concern. Getting around is a huge one these days. Even if you did will in this way 20 years ago on your own, things have changed. And you have 12 people to bring along.

Train outings from Munich? At present, the D-Ticket craze has sparked heavy ridership; even a family of 3 struggles to find seats together. Will 13 of you even be able to be in the same train car? Train travel is unpredictable... Delays, cancellations, missed connections, replacement buses, etc. have become normalized. Even very-experienced users of the rail system (me for example) who are very familiar with how the system is supposed to work, who know how to plan "around" the pre-announced difficulties, and who speak/understand fluent German are sometimes finding it difficult to deal with the often-chaotic circumstances on the ground. The warm months when tourists swarm into Bavaria only amplify the problems. Many Germans themselves have reached their wits' end and are angry.

Lodging? Multi-bed rooms are somewhat scarce, more scarce if you are trying to locate multiple units near a train station for your outings. Your best bet might be a DJH youth hostel, where family rooms with private bath and with 2,4,6 beds each can be found. The trick is finding one with adequate public transport nearby.

https://www.jugendherberge.de/en/bavaria/

Taking a family of this size - which also includes in-laws and girlfriends - will demand much from you as the tour director. And there will likely be some interpersonal consequences, if your family is like most families. You've at least spent time abroad before, but will the others succeed in handling the stresses that come with jumping into a different culture?

We are a supportive group here, and I like to be that way too, but I'm finding it hard to be optimistic about this situation. Call me risk-averse, but a domestic trip for 13 will likely be more manageable and enjoyable for all.

Good that you had the language as your major. and spending a month there as part of the immersion experience. You should have basically no problems communicating and reading in German. I don't buy the analogy of "riding a bike", that depends on who is saying that, similar to that other trite useless saying... you use or you lose. Totally immaterial.

Bottom line here: Go with the family. Don't let groundless concerns deter you from doing this trip. The family members will be depending on you to provide the linguistic "cover."

I was back in Paris last summer in Paris in August after years and years of having not scheduling Paris for August. Expect it to crowded, very crowded, and most likely hot, depending on your heat toleration.