My husband and I are traveling taking our family to vacation in Switzerland for 10 days. We have a 20 month old and a 6 month old. We have traveled often with them and they do very well in city settings, but will the adventurous Berner Oberland be stressful with children?
Thanks for your help!
Danielle
You think your kids are not stressed by "city" travel, but WILL be stressed by clean air, quiet, and distant cow bells clanging in the alpine pastures???
At that age, the only possible problem I could imagine is if they're sensitive to altitude, or to rapid changes in altitude. For instance, the cable car from Lauterbrunnen to Grutschalp is steep and you go up quite a distance in a short time. I was aware of the dramatic altitude shift, so they may be even more so. And the Jungfraujoch is quite high up, and I was a bit woozy for the first half-hour or so after arriving there.
Otherwise, the Berner Oberland is as adventurous or as low key as you want it to be. There is paragliding on the one extreme, and scenic level walks on the other.
Because of the altitude factors mentioned by Harold, you might want to consult your pediatrician before taking the children to the high altitudes that you might encounter in parts of the Berner Oberland. This will help you plan to avoid any areas that are so high they might cause a problem. I've read that some children, of roughly the age of yours, can have a painful problem with ears adjusting to altitude changes, especially on the descent. The Jungfraujoch mentioned by Harold is over 11,000 feet above sea level (much higher than commercial airplanes are pressurized at). It can also be cold up there, with the temperature dropping about 3 to 4 degrees per one thousand feet that one goes up.
We've taken our children to the Berner Oberland when they were both that young (on two separate trips). They loved it. We didn't take them to any super high altitude places, like Jungfraujoch, just to be safe. We found a number of great hiking trails were we could push our jogging stroller and the toddler could safely/comfortably walk on his own (Murren to Grutschalp was one, Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg was another). The playground in Interlaken was easy to find and had great equipment for kids that young. Our toddler especially loved that he could watch the paragliders (he called them 'balloons') landing in the field next to the playground.
You will want to watch them carefully in places like Murren, as there are not a lot of barricades to keep them away from cliff edges, but we didn't find that to be too much of a problem. We took the Brienz-Rothorn Steam Train to the top of the mountain when our oldest was 2.5 and he loved every second of the trip. On a rainy day we went to Bern and visited the fountains (fountains are always a hit with our kids) and the Bears, which they loved. We went to the Ballenberg Open Air Museum on another rainy day and they had a great time seeing the animals.
If it gives you peace-of-mind (my husband would want to know things like this), we had to visit the hospital in Interlaken on one trip (not for the kids) and English was widely spoken and we were treated exceptionally well.
Enjoy your trip!
Oops, I forgot to mention that I would highly recommend a baby-carrier like an Ergo. We always took the jogging stroller for hikes because we could take both of them at once and still carry a day pack but there were many times when the Ergo was all we needed or wanted.
Head to Murren and then take the funicular up to Allmendhubel. Great restaurant, outstanding views and a brand new super kid friendly playground. Murren also has a nice sports center that is very kid friendly. We found switzerland to be very family friendly. And kids travel free with the free family card!.
