Itinerary Check for Family of 4

For Grindelwald from Wengen, we took the tram up to Mannlichen, another short stop for the playground to do the cow slide, again, and then the Cow trail down toward Grindelwald. The trail has a lot of kid activities along the way as you go down. The kids loved it. There’s a tram you meet halfway down to take you to the main lodge then bus into town. In town, we had lunch then took the tram up for the toboggan run. Coming back we took the high speed lift to Kleine Scheidegg and the train to Wengen. Wengen has a lot of marble runs throughout town and also a public pool. Souvenir marbles can be found at the Visitors information center in the middle of town. We did two chocolate tours. I liked Maison Cailler the best but the Lindt tour in Zurich was still good. We took the bus to the factory and the boat back.
Also, our grandkids are really into soccer so we had to visit the FIFA museum in Zurich.

I think in general it’s a good plan. Personally if it were me I’d reverse the itinerary to do 6 nights Wengen > 5 nights Luzern and skip Zurich altogether by using the 1 hr direct train from Luzern to the airport, but if you really want to see Zurich, your plan is fine.

I recommend looking at SwissFamilyFun.com for great family ideas.

I’ll give a few additional recommendations on your Wengen portion. Mix around the days based on weather…

June 26 — Train to Wengen, check in, enjoy marble runs in the village and explore (small playground in town, outdoor swimming pool, shops, etc)

June 27 - Mannlichen playground > Kleine Scheidegg in the AM > train to Grindelwald > Pfingstegg in the afternoon

June 28 - Wengen > Lauterbrunnen > walk or bus to Stechelberg > cable car up to Schilthorn > optional Birg Thrill Walk > Mürren > Allmendhubel funicular to flower playground (nice lunch spot) > Mürren exploration > easy walk down to Gimmelwald (or cable car) > cable car to Stechelberg > bus to Lauterbrunnen > train to Wengen
Note for your Mürren day, the route to Mürren via Grutschalp will be closed for construction during your travel dates

June 29 - Lake Brienz + Giessbach Falls + optional Trummelbach Falls on the way home if you have time

June 30 - Weather buffer day for all of the above OR biking the valley (kids are too young to rent e-bikes from Imboden) OR Schynige Platte open air cog train to alphorns, alpine garden, kids trail, etc. OR Mannlichen to Lieselotte Kids Trail.

Depending on time on day one. The Lindt chocolate tour is south of Zurich and they have lockers.

Weather may mix up your plans. A good poor weather day plan would be to add on to Giessbach Falls destination is Reichenbach Falls and Aareschlucht. They are a short train ride from Brienz to Meiringen.

Pilatus toboggan can have an hour plus line and playgrounds very busy so starting from Krens early will help. Your children will have fun walking through the tunnel hikes on Pilatus. Note if the train down has a long wait, you can buy a reservation while at Pilatus.

Not a destination like Pfingstegg and those activities. but there is a small park along the way in Grindelwald if your children need to take a break after the train ride.

I am a big fan of Schynige Platte and less of the crowds at Stechelberg to Birg cable car. However, Mürren and walk down to Gimmelwald should still be done as it has some of my favorite Swiss views.

I have done trips with the STP, just the half fare card and just the BO pass. All options worked for me on my different itineraries. What I didn't see a big convenience using the STP over the other options as you still need to use the SBB app to find your transportation. The BO pass with the bar code in my phone was the most convenient.

This is all super helpful, thank you everyone!

Dave, good call about having to use the app anyway to plan all travel...might as well also buy the tickets per trip in there if it's less costly than the STP. I'm in the process now of itemizing up all of our costs in a spreadsheet to see which passes make most sense. My initial thought was to just get the STP even if a couple hundred bucks more...but I may not do that now based on your thought here.

Wanderweg, excellent insight! Think we will tack Pfingstegg onto Kleine Scheidegg which then opens up the possibility to do Schynige Platte now.

If your kids are expecting to enjoy a marble run like the one in Hasliberg, they will be quite disappointed with the small runs in Wengen.

Swiss Family Fun’s video of the Hasliberg run:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ebXrbBpRbyo

There are other things in the Meiringen area that can make it a fun day trip, if you do decide to go with this option.

It sounds like Seebodenalp is also a good choice, but the Wengen marble runs would be more of a ‘great addition to’ rather than a ‘replacement for’ these larger runs.

Yeah definitely, SwissNomad. We are absolutely going to do either Hasliberg or Seebodenalp for sure. Leaning Seebodenalp just as it's much closer to Lucerne. Watched a youtube video of the marble run there. Hasliberg looks SLIGHTLY better but not by much...cool looking runs at Seebodenalp too that I'm sure the kids will love.

Yes, that's definitely closer. Good choice!

If you do go with the Swiss Travel Pass, you get the most bang for your buck if you do things that the Pass covers. Mt. Rigi and Mt. Stanserhorn in Lucerne are both fully covered and two of my favorites.

https://www.myswissalps.com/details/swiss-travel-pass-validity/

Yeah, good thing to keep in mind.

I'm in the process of pricing out everything on a spreadsheet now to see what makes most sense. Will let you all know the results!

Hello Again all - thank you for your help! I crunched all the numbers and (assuming my calculations are correct) am surprised to see the STP only makes most sense for us. HFC only is slight less (just $25) but not having to buy actual tickets is def worth $25 for 11 days.

Would anyone mind checking my spreadsheet real quick to see if you spot any errors or miscalculations.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wfvIMLKbhqFqilhDblJerb1tb5Bmwt0L5deDE3zi_S4/edit?usp=sharing

Costs there are all for our family of 4 and based on our likely itinerary. Kids are 8 and 6. Uses the 15 day STP, 4 day Lucerne Pass, and 6 day BO Pass in calculations.

Prices in US Dollars based on current exchange rate. So not precise, but very close.

I just skimmed, but note that some mountain excursions you get 50% off of with the STP - for example Schilthorn you had $110 but with the STP Mürren to Schilthorn RT is 45.70 chf.

Sorry, that is way more math than I want to do. :-) Keep in mind too that you’ll probably use the Pass more than you think you will. For example, you might be up and down from Wengen to go eat a meal down in Lauterbrunnen or up in Murren.

The convenience is always worth it for me.

I don’t want to throw your numbers off, but the last two times I have gotten the 1st class Pass. There is just more room for people and luggage. Second class can very crowded in June.

Thanks, all! Yep, I THINK I calculated it right wanderweg. The approximate $110 is taking that half off with the STP fare (47.50 chf) and just doubling it for both my wife and I.

Looks like a great trip! The boat ride on Lake Brienz was a highlight for my kids, especially since we were socked in by clouds for most of our time in Wengen.

We really enjoyed the forest hike from the boat dock to the Giessbach Hotel. The funicular looked cool but the forest was beautiful. :)

Thanks for the catch @SwissNomad!

A typo or auto correct occurred for you @Katherine, I think you mean Lake Brienz; and I totally agree, the walk up to Giessbach Hotel through the forest is very lovely and I much prefer it to the funicular. There is a great photo spot right at the beginning of it on the bridge with waterfall behind, different from what you find above as here the waterfall is very close to the bridge.

Note that in Switzerland it is normal to just expect people to use common sense and not go right up to the edge of the waterfall area. This is changing in more tourist heavy areas, with more fences and signs going up, but still, when hiking around this waterfall be sure your kids enjoy themselves while being aware of the dangers and stay on the path.

In my opinion, one can never experience too many mountain areas. Each has its own personality. And with moody mountain weather, you may not have clear weather everyday. So if the morning is clear, and the summit cameras show clear skies, go!
Regarding passes, I always choose the STP for the convenience, and I agree with Carrie, once you have it, you'll find more uses than originally planned. And do note, that the prices displayed on the SBB app assumes one has at least the Half-Fare card, so double that price for accurate cost planning. I haven't traveled with children, but I believe the one pass covers minor children .
Look into Mt Stanserhorn, outside Lucerne. You can ride the open air Cabrio cable car, which I think the kids will love. It's completely covered by the STP, ( along with Mt Rigi travels.) We did Rigi in the morning, then saw the sunset from Stanserhorn.
Ride the revolving cable car to Mt Titlus. It's incredibly beautiful , and the kids should have snow to play in. Again, if you have clear skies, maximize the day!
In Murren, you have a great playground at the top of the Allmendhubel funicular, with fantastic views and wild flowers.
You have done a great job researching and planning.
Have a great trip in this beautiful country. I'm jealous- it's time for me to return!