[Anonymous]

20 January 2023 at 16:34:19 #828925

Hello! Hoping to have some insight from savvy travelers with toddlers. I have traveled extensively throughout Europe, but am a new mom looking to plan a trip to Switzerland when my son is about 20-months old (a totally different style of travel).

We recently had a trip to Italy and found that staying in 3-4 places in 12 days was too much with a baby, so are looking for 2 home bases for our Switzerland trip. The challenge is that we have too much that we want to see in just under two weeks, and we know train travel can be costly and take a lot of time.

Currently we are considering Lucerne, Interlaken, Bern, and Basel as homebase locations. We plan to fly in and out of Zurich from the US (so arriving after a long travel day with the toddler!).

These are a couple of our bucket list places (but are open to other advice on things to see with beautiful towns & scenery, what’s worth the hype, what can be skipped, etc.):

-Lauterbrunnen & Grindelwald

-Lucerne

-Colmar, France (we understand this might only be possible if Basel if a homebase…)

We’d also like to be based in places where we can enjoy “down” days. With a toddler, I know we won’t be taking day trips every day, so having a lot we can do as a family in one place is important.

I feel at a complete loss and would love any advice!! Thank you!

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[Anna]

Reply 1 of 3 • 20 January 2023 at 18:35:45 #949925

Hi Linfrench,

Welcome to MySwissAlps.

I understand your concerns. When my children were younger, whenever we travel I always choose a hotel that is close to the train station or supermarkets. You won’t go wrong if you pick a base in Zurich, Lucerne, Interlaken or Bern. These are major cities with excellent transport network and if you choose a hotel near the train station, you can plan day trips much more easily. Shops at the train stations also tend to stay open longer in case you need to get something for yourself or the little one. My personal recommendation would be Lucerne and Interlaken if you want to experience what is uniquely Swiss. These regions have lakes and mountains, and for down days you can explore old towns and small villages. In Lucerne, you might be interested in taking your toddler to the Swiss Museum of Transport.

Useful links to search for accommodation:

• Lucerne: http://www.myswissalps.com/lucerne/hotels
• Interlaken: http://www.myswissalps.com/interlaken/hotels
• Bern: http://www.myswissalps.com/bern/hotels
• Zurich: wwwmyswissalps.com/zurich/hotels

Let us know if you need more information.

Regards,

Anna

[User]

Reply 2 of 3 • 20 January 2023 at 19:27:36 #949926

Thank you so much for the help! Do you think it would be too much to stay 3 nights in Basel, 4 in Interlaken, and 4 in Lucerne? So going from Zurich -> Basel -> Interlaken -> Lucerne -> Zurich?

[Anna]

Reply 3 of 3 • 20 January 2023 at 21:19:35 #949927

Hi Linfrench,

I would skip Basel and just stay in Lucerne and Interlaken.

You can plan a day trip to Basel easily from Lucerne (1 hr by direct train). You can check train schedules on the SBB timetable: http://www.myswissalps.com/timetable

Regards,

Anna