Best winter location in Switzerland for young kids
A traveler named Erin is planning a one-week trip from February 17th to 23rd, focusing on a family-friendly itinerary for four adults and three young kids. They want to ski for a few days while ensuring plenty of activities for non-skiers, and are considering Interlaken for its good train access and proximity to attractions.
- Choose Interlaken for a balanced experience; it has good train connections for both skiing and family activities.
- For non-skiers, look into nearby museums and shopping options in Interlaken, and check out the winter activities available.
- If snow on the ground is important, consider staying in a mountain area rather than the valleys of Interlaken or Lucerne.
- The Swiss Travel Pass can be beneficial for planning train excursions and exploring various towns and mountains conveniently.
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Hello! We are planning a one week trip in February (the 17th to the 23rd) and are looking for the best location and itinerary to keep 4 adults and 3 young kids (2, 4 and 6) happy. There are 3 adults and 2 kids that will definitely plan to ski for 2-3 days but 1 adult and the 2 year old that will not ski and will need plenty to do during the day as well. We’d also want dining out options. Likely booking an AirBNB style accommodation wherever we go.
I was leaning towards Interlaken as it seems to have the most convenient train travel for a variety of activities (skiing, train trips, day trips, etc). Also proximity to Lucerne, doable in a day for kids’ activities and museums. Zermatt was also discussed – but I would want to make sure there was enough to do for families besides skiing to consider. Lucerne was mentioned, but it’s not in the mountains and appears to be 3+ hours by train to the mountains (for skiing or sightseeing. Interlaken seems to be the middle ground. But very open to some advice on this. We’re all a bit divided on the best place to stay!
Any and all advice welcome and needed (especially for the kids) as our trip is coming up fast. Can’t wait to see this beautiful country in Winter.
thank you!
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Hi ERC81 and welcome to MySwissAlps!
I’d agree Interlaken (http://www.myswissalps.com/in terlaken) would work well for your group and its divergent interests. Skiing isn’t too far away and it has good rail connections for day trips as well.
What activities are you wanting for non-skiers? Winter activities (http://www.myswissalps.com/ac tivities/snow)? or museums, shopping etc.?
Zermatt (http://www.myswissalps.com/ze rmatt) has activities other than skiing but they are mostly outdoor focused . Snowshoeing, winter hiking, sledging etc. or general mountain visits.
Lucerne (http://www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne) is a very popular town and is not far from a few mountains – when you say 3+ hours to the mountains I assume you mean the mountains near Interlaken? (there are others). 🙂
Titlis and Rigi for example are fairly close to Lucerne and can work for skiing and other winter activities. Details about them can be found on the what to do tab on the Lucerne web page).
Use the Swiss railways timetable to plan trips between any town and or mountains. http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable.
If you are looking at train travel you’ll want to also look at rail passes if you haven’t already. Especially for non-skiers. http://www.myswissalps.com/sw issrailpasses
Hi ERC81,
One more tip: if you want to stay in a place with snow on the ground, then your best bet is somewhere in the mountains. Lucerne and Interlaken are both in the valleys and on or near a lake. Snow on the ground is not guaranteed there. But they are centrally located towns so it’s easy to explore a wide area from there. Lucas’s links provide you with lots of further details.
Thank you so much for the info and tips! The more I dig, the more I’m leaning towards Zermatt as it’s all right there (along with some non-Winter things for kids). It wouldn’t require a train trip every time we want to do something.
To answer some of your questions, we are looking for outdoor activities with kids and non-outdoor (like museums and other experiences). We are definitely all over the train excursions and the transit museum, also saw lots of culinary fun (with chocolate for the kids). Quick question — do the boat trips on the lake in Lucerne run in the winter as well?
And it looks like Rigi and Titlis for skiing are about 45 min from Lucerne city center? Is that a fair estimate?
Thanks! Erin
Hi Erin,
Yes, the boats on Lake Lucerne are running in the winter. Find a schedule link here: http://www.myswissalps.com/bo atlakelucerne/gettingt here
The timetable link on my last post can give you exact departure times and duration of train trips to all Swiss towns or any of the mountains as well.
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