Please sign in to post.

Help with my itinerary for Switzerland 2 weeks with children 6 and 9

Posted by on

Hello everyone,
I am really excited to go to Switzerland in July 2025 with my family of four (2 adults and 2 children aged 9 and 7). We will be driving to Switzerland from the first leg of our trip in the Schwarzwalder region. The accomodations have already been booked, but I have some specific questions about the planning of the day trips. I will buy the Half fare pass for 2 adults and the family card will be free for the children. I have calculated that with the things we want to see, this is the most economical thing to do. We love to be active and see loads of things

Here is our itinerary:

Day 1-4: stay in Luzern (in an appartment near Stansstad:
day 1. Arrival in Lucerne via Schwarzwalder region in Germany. Include in the road trip: Rhine falls and stein am rhein.
day 2. Day trip to Mount Pilatus (Golden Round Trip, Dragon Trail hike, playgrounds).
day 3. Exploring Lucerne (Transport Museum)
day 4. Excursion to Engelberg and Mount Titlis. Stop at trubsee for playground

Day 5-9: stay in an appartment near Grindelwald. (the days are not fixed, we can see what the weather is like)
day 5: Drive from Luzern to Grindelwald via Furka pass en Grimselpass. Stops at Rhône Glacier, Giesbach Waterfalls, Harder Kulm.
day 6: Trip to Männlichen, Royal Walk, hike to Kleine Scheidegg, then up to Jungfraujoch.
day 7: Day at Grindelwald First. Hike to alpbachsee. First Cliff Walk, downhill Trotti-bike ride, Glacier Gorge Walk. If time allows: Pfingstegg toboggan.
day 8: Visit Mürren, Allmendhubel, Birg Skywalk & Thrill Walk, Schilthorn, Trümmelbach Falls, see staubbach Waterfall.
day 9: Meiringen, Magisalp-Bidmi scooter ride, wooden marble run, go back up for the dwarf route. Aare Gorge, Reichenbach Falls.

Day 10-13 stay in Lausanne (pully area)
Day 10:Drive from Grindelwald to Lausanne, with stops in Gruyères (castle, chocolate factory)

Day 11: Day trip to Montreux. Boattrip from Lausanne to Château de Chillon, walk along the promenade to Montreux. Go with train to Vevey and then back with train to Lausanne.
Day 12: Day trip to Zermatt.Gornergrat bahn. I dont want to go up to Matterhorn.
Day 13: Drive back home

I have a few questions about our itinerary:
Question 1:
Day 2: If I stay near Stansstad, do I have to start the golden round trip in Luzern or would it better to start in Alpnachstad and end with the boattrip from Luzern to Alpnachstad? Or is the golden round trip even worth it if I can go to Alpnachstad and get the cogwheel train up and down from Alpnachstad. In other words: is the rest of the circle worth it?

Question 2:
Day 5: is it possible to do all these activities in this roadtrip? Could I add something more? Like the Aaresclucht?

Question 3:
Day 6: I really want to do the Mannlichen-kleine scheidegg route in this direction (not the other way around). But this will mean that we can do the Jungfraujoch later in the day. I have read it is better to do it in the morning to beat the crowds. But that would leave me in Kleine Scheidegg to do the panoramic trail in the wrong direction. What is your advice: just do jungfraujoch in the afternoon, or hike from kleine scheidegg-Mannlichen and then the " right way" back rfom Mannlichen to kleine scheidegg?

Question 4:
Day 7: How strict are the height requirements at the Grindelwald first activities? My kids are 1,28 and 1,38 cm. We could only do the trotti bike, but would love to the mountain carts also. The height requirement is 1.35.
Also will we be able to do all the activities in one day?

Question 5:
Day 8&9: Is there enough time to do everything on the list?

Question 6:
Day 12: is this feasible from Lausanne? It is a 2 hour ride. Would you recommend it?

Question 7:
An overall question: What do you think of the itinerary? Am I rushing, or do I time to put more activities in?

Posted by
740 posts

Overall, I think your plan is possible with perfect weather. You won’t get that, so you should research some options in each area for rain or heavy clouds, just in case Mountain views are obstructed, in which case paying for something like Jungfraujoch doesn’t make sense.

I don’t drive in Switzerland on purpose, because the transportation system is so great, so all I can say is that on your driving day, you’ll have to be flexible with what you fit in based on how long it takes to find parking, etc.

day 6: Just do Jungfraujoch in the afternoon. It’s worth enjoying Mannlichen and the walks leisurely and actually if you go later in the afternoon the trains yo are typically less crowded. The busiest ones are between 9-1. If you go towards the end of the day your ride up should be fine. The trains back will be crowded but that’s just the way it is. You only need a couple hours up there to see the viewing platform and maybe walk through the ice palace to the snow if that interests you.

day 7: If list a height requirement and your kid looks on the edge of it they may measure, they may not, hard to predict. In July the lines for activities up at First are nuts. Sometimes 4+ hours. I was up there in July and lines for every activity were 2-4 hours. Your ability to complete your list for this day depends on how long you wait for adventure activities and how much time you take doing Bachalpsee (it’s a 2 hour hike + time there). Make sure to purchase your ticket up to First on your phone and don’t add waiting time by trying to purchase your ticket in person in the line (left side is purchasing tickets, right side already has tickets) Either way you’ll wait in line to even go up to First, but buying a ticket there will make it even worse.

day 8: Grindelwald > train Zweilutchinen > train Lauterbrunnen > bus to Stechelberg > cable car Schilthorn > Cable car Birg > Cable car Mürren > Funicular Allmendhubel > optional Blumental flower trail back to Mürren or ride back down > Explore Mürren > optional scenic easy walk down to Gimmelwald > cable car to Stechelberg > bus or walk the valley to Lauterbrunnen with optional stop at Trummelbach Falls (line will be 30+ minutes long) I wouldn’t rush your time at Schilthorn/Birg/Murren/Allmendhubel to make it to Trummelbach, which has become a tourist trap. Trummelbach is a good rainy day option.

Posted by
56 posts

Hey Familyof4,

We are a family of 5 who rented a car and drove in Switzerland last summer and that was a lesson learned for us- we won’t do it again. The public transit is marvelously efficient and drops you anywhere you’d like to go. The Swiss train app and website include the cable cars, funnicilars, and local buses it sometimes takes to get to your preferred destination.

Jungfraujoch, in our experience, is crazy crowded especially if the weather is good. Not sure about Schilthorn because we didn’t try to go up there.

Day 8 & 9- Almendhubel is really fun for kids and parents. Highly recommend sitting on the cafe looking at the mountains while your children run all over the playground. It’s easy to get to but the Grutschalp cable car from Lauterbrunnen station is pretty packed.

The advice regarding weather is very good. We stayed in Murren for 4 nights and had 3 very rainy days. We made the best of it, but it wasn’t until our departure day that the clouds cleared and we saw the Jungfraujoch in entirety.

Posted by
3 posts

Thanks for you suggestions. We come from the Netherlands, and we will be travelling with the car to Switzerland. For us it will be much more convenient.

Posted by
21749 posts

I'm sure you know about getting a Swiss vignette.

Add Reply

Please do not reply to violations of our Community Guidelines.