7 Days in Switzerland with Kids
This is the perfect itinerary to spend 7 days in Switzerland with kids. It covers the top tourist places in Switzerland and the best places to visit in Switzerland with kids. Mountains, fun in the snow, boating in a lake, amazing and fun museum, castle visit, cog wheel trains, cable cars, Chocolate and cheese tours, some bit of fun history, old astronomical clock, monster fountains, breathtaking drives, terraced vineyards and a walk in a car-free old Swiss village – what more could you ask for?
Itinerary for best places to visit in Switzerland with Kids (especially relevant if you’re renting a car to move around within cities in Switzerland)
Day 0
Stay: Engelberg
Itinerary: Land in Zurich and drive to Engelberg; Rest in Engelberg
Day 1
Stay: Engelberg
Itinerary: Mt Titlis – This is one of the best places to visit in Switzerland with kids. The journey to Mt Titlis begins from Engelberg. You take 3 stretches of cable car to reach at the top of Mt Titlis. You can take the tickets to Mt Titlis, same day in the morning after checking the webcams (at https://www.titlis.ch/en/live/webcams ) for how the views are and whether you’ll be able to see anything at all.
At Mt Titlis, you can do snow scooter, snow sliding, Cliff walk and a ride in the Ice Flyer (an open cable car that takes you over the cliff; Its safe to do even with kids) apart from obviously enjoying the breathtaking views at 10,000ft above sea level.
See here to know more about the best way to have a day trip to Mt Titlis, activities to do, how to reach and save on tickets.
Day 2
Stay: Engelberg
Itinerary: Mt Jungfrauhoch – Another one of the top tourist places in Switzerland. Drive from Engelberg to Interlaken. Take the train from Interlaken to Grindelwald, Grindelwald to Klein Scheidegg and there to Jungfrau. Make reservation in the last leg as there are huge queues and there is a possibility that you don’t get a seat and hence have to wait for the next one. Reservation costs $10 per head incl. children but worth it.
Make sure to take the other route while coming back – Klein Scheidegg to Lauterbrunnen to Interlaken. The route is very scenic with a lot of small streams or waterfalls. The drive from Lauterbrunnen to Interlaken is also extremely scenic.
In case after checking the webcams you realize that the views aren’t clear (https://www.jungfrau.ch/en-gb/live/webcams/), you can plan a trip to Mt Pilatus instead.
To know more about Junfrauhoch, check my detailed post.
Day 3
Stay: Engelberg
Itinerary: Travel to Lucerne Transport museum and the city tour of Lucerne including a boat ride on Lake Lucerne.
Lucerne Transport Museum: Although this may not feature in the top tourist places in Switzerland, if you are with kids, this is a must do. And within the museum, Must do the Space section and the ride about how astronauts feel in the space; Helicopter simulation ride, Some of the movies in their planeterium are pretty good too. Kids will also like the construction zone, driving the car zone and the chocolate tour. Reach by 10am to wrap it up by 4pm. See here to know more on how to make the best of your trip to museum.
Lucern city tour: Walk along lake lucerne and its wooden bridge (the chapel bridge) over the Reuss river: This is the most famous bridge in Switzerland and very picturesque. It also contains a number of paintings in the roof that dates back to the 17th century.
In the evening, take the 1hr Lake Luzern boat ride (with audio guide included). Check the one that’s available with Swiss half fare card. Make sure to carry light jackets as it gets a little windy and chilly on the boat ride in evening for kids. You can preferably take the one at 5:30pm after visiting the chapel bridge.
The Old Town (Altes Rathaus, Weinmarkt, St Peters)
The Musegg Wall: This may be difficult with small kids as its a steep climb so you can skip this. It is the old castle wall with different watch towers. One of them is the tower of clocks, housing some of the oldest clocks from 13th century onwards)
Lion monument & Gletschergarten (we skipped the glacier garden as the kids were already tired from their mini hike to Musegg Wall).
Hacks for your Swiss Trip: Through this post I have you all covered on best possible experience in best possible price.
Day 4
Stay: Montreux or Geneva
Itinerary: Travel from Engelberg to Montreux or Geneva via Bern. Sightseeing in Bern.
Bern: Entire old town is WHS. Visit the following –
Zytglogge – 15th century astronomical clock tower with beautiful detailing. Preferably see the Zytglogge at 11am or 12noon when there is a lot of action when the clock chimes.
Just take a walk beneath the winding medieval arcades, its lovely especially on a sunday as all the shops are closed so there is no traffic or hassle.
Do the historical fountains tour in Bern using the free app GPSmycity. You can download the free walking tours that you can do at your own leisure picking the places you like and reading or listening to the history and importance of those places.
Visit Einstein’s house and catch lunch at the Einstein cafe
Take a look at this detailed post on Half Day in Bern
Day 5
Stay: Montreux or Geneva
Itinerary: Visit the Swiss Riviera – Chateau De Chillon, Lavaux Terraced Vineyards and Geneva evening tour
Chateux De Chillon (Montreux) – Kids will like it as it’s a very old castle and hence nothing to bother the kids with not touching etc. Also the castle ticket includes a small treasure hunt for kids which is fun for them and keeps them interested and busy. We decided not to take the audio guides as the booklet which they give has enough information to keep the interest and still finish it in a couple of hours before the kids want to move to the next interesting thing or place.
Lavaux Vineyards (Vevey, close to Montreux) (Rivaz Vinorama – wine tasting tour and dinner) – for a wine tasting tour you’ll have to book in advance. Also these tours happen on specific days so you’ll have to plan ahead for the tour you want to have. You can find most of the information on wine tasting tour days and timings here.
If you’re staying in Geneva, you can drive in the morning to Montreux and Lavaux. Drive along Lake Geneva is very scenic. You can do Geneva city mini tour In the evening: Visit Jet d’eau water jet (140mtr high) – works till 11pm in the night, Pont Du Mont Blanc bridge
Flower clock (l’horlogue fleurie); 6000 flowers and small plants; working clock; Broken chair sculpture to protest against the use of land mines near UNESCO building
Check this detailed post on enjoying the Swiss Riviera with kids.
Day 6
Stay: Montreux or Geneva
Itinerary: Day Trip to Zermatt Village including a cable car ride to Matterhorn
Day trip to Zermatt village: Zermatt village tour and the view of Matterhorn (the Toblerone mountain). Zermatt is a car free village and its perceptible in the air. Do the Zermatt village walk (takes 1 hour) to get that iconic aerial view of Zermatt town with the Matterhorn in the background.
You can also evaluate doing the Glacier express from Zermatt to St moritz (morning to evening journey) – panoramic train. Although we did not do it as we had experienced this during our drives already.
Day 7
Fly Out of Zurich
Itinerary: Montreux to Zurich via Gruyeres (Cheese factory and Callier Chocolate Tour), Zurich City in the evening with Rhine Falls
Callier Chocolate Tour: Based on your interest, If you have done the chocolate tour at the museum and don’t have time for another one you can skip the one at Callier. If you had to choose one, I would highly recommend the one at Callier. We did both and our kids still loved it. My elder one (8yrs) really liked the last part of the tour where the audio guide talks about how different chocolates sound, taste, melt in the mouth and after taste – something very different from the regular chocolate factory tours. The other part which was pretty fun and interesting was the history of chocolate and how it was during old times (French revolution et al). Make sure to book the Chocolate tour at Callier in advance (online) as walk ins can have a waiting of upto 3hrs sometimes. After the tour there are a lot of chocolates that you can try and feel free to have as many as you like of the ones like.
Gruyeres Cheese factory tour: If you’re not a cheese buff, You can skip it. While we did it, i don’t highly recommend it. The actual cheese making happens till only 2pm after which you can just listen to the audio guide and see the factory but nothing much happens.
Rhine Falls: The Niagara of Europe, worth seeing. Preferably see it before even entering Zurich city as in the evening, you will face a lot of traffic and long traffic congestion in that direction – probably when people leave from work. After Rhine falls, you can return back to Zurich, and visit Bahnhofstrasse: the most expensive shopping street in the world; Try the chocolate barks at Laderach, chocolates and macaroons at Sprugli, Cheese and Chocolate fondue at Swiss Chuchi;
Do a Zurich city tour using GPSMyCity app and head to the airport in the evening.
