My wife , 2 kids 11&9 and I are travelling to Switzerland for the first time arriving from cologne on July 11. We would love to have mix between historical and scenery trip so we decided to visit Zurich and Zermatt
We would love to hear if anyone has a rough sketch of an itinerary or just suggestions. The kids are so excited to be on one of these mountain lift and glass top train.
Thanks in advance
We are departing back to Chicago on July 16th
Rather than Zürich, you might consider spending some time in the Berner Oberland. The scenery is absolutely incredible and there are some spectacular mountain lifts such as the ride to the Schilthorn and Piz Gloria, which is a revolving restaurant at 10,000 feet on top of a mountain. It's where the James Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service was partially filmed a number of years ago. There's also the Jungfraujoch, which involves a trip to the highest rail station in Europe, on a railway line that was started in the late 1800's. Another location in that area is the beautiful city of Lucerne, and from there you can take a trip on a boat, then a very steep funicular to the top of Mt. Pilatus, and then travel down by two cable cars. The views from there are spectacular!
If you're not already using it, you might find it helpful to have a look at the Rick Steves Switzerland guidebook, as there's a lot of good information there.
Be sure to budget accordingly as Switzerland is very expensive!
Yep head to the Berner Oberland as soon as you can. Catch the train firstly to Thun and head straight to the wonderful castle (I think 11th century). It's a stunning town on a beautiful river and lake with great views of the Alps.
History tick.
From there unto the extraordinary Lauterbrunnen Valley. There aren't many more beautiful places on the planet.
My favourite place in the World is the little mountain village of Gimmelwald up above the valley. A couple of kms further up is a bigger village Murren which is very beautiful and a good option for accommodation. Up above is the Schilthorn. All of this is accessible by a spectacular gondola ride.
Scenery Tick.
On the other side of the valley is the magnificent trio of Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau. A spectacular rail journey will take you to the Jungfraujoch.
On this side is the village of Wengen also a good option for accommodation.
Scenery Tick.
Zermatt.
I'm guessing the aim is to see the Matterhorn. Jump on the Gornergrat train up to an amazing station high in the Alps. On a clear day the views are truly magnificent. You can see nearly all of the Swiss Alps many 4000 metre high peaks from here. Alpine views don't get much better than this. The view of the Matterhorn from here is brilliant.
Scenery tick
For some interesting history there is a very informative little museum in Zermatt.
History tick.
Usually I'd advise a visit to the cemetery too but that might be a bit dark for the kids.
Agree with skipping Zurich. It's OK, but its another big cosmopolitan business center. My first choice is always Luzern, which is only about 1.25 hours by train from the Zurich airport train station, so you can go directly there. There are plenty of mountains to visit there, and some kid-activities on top.
If you want a city with history and charm, I’d recommend Luzern or maybe Bern or Thun. Zurich is an international banking city and just not that exciting. Take advantage of what makes Switzerland so breathtaking and prioritize being in or near the mountains.
