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Hello,
My husband and I are traveling to Switzerland with out 11 year old and 5 year old. I have a few questions, hoping someone will be able to answer them all. Thank you in advance.
1. I have bought 8 day swiss pass for myself and my husband and have ordered family pass for my children to travel free with us. The pass offers discounts on mountain excursions. We are doing Jungfraujoch and Matterhorn Glacier Paradise (may be Gornergrat too) for sure. I got confused if my children will need passes as well or no. My 5 year old will be free but I was confused about my 11 year old. Some queries in this forum said, kids up tp 16 years are free with Swiss pass parent. Can you confirm please?
2. Should I buy the mountain excursion passes now before we get there or would I be ok buying the passes the day of visit?
3. We will be home basing in Interlaken. Is it possible to take a day trip to Montruex and then head to Geneva and come back to Interlaken in 1 day. Planning to visit Chateau du Chillon in Montruex and the 40ft fountain in Geneva. With kids I don’t expect to visit a lot of sights but also don’t want to be rushing.
4. What kind of clothing to pack? I will be bringing hoodies and jackets along on mountain days but is normal summer clothing (dress, shorts, half sleeves etc) ok for city days? We will be in Switzerland from July 19 to July 25.
Thank you – TMSINGH
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Hi Tmsingh2005 and welcome to MySwissAlps.com!
If you have a Swiss Travel Pass you can get the Swiss Family Card for your 11 years old for free. With that pass she/he can travel for free, see the validity map here: http://www.myswissalps.com/swissfamilycard/validity.
Children under 6 years old can travel for free with their parents, no pass is needed.
You can get the mountain tickets on the spot. There is no obligatory seat reservation, except for some of the panoramic trains. If you want you can reserve your mountain tickets in advance too (1-2 days max), but not too early, make sure to check the weather forecast first.
Visiting Montreux from Interlaken is doable, you can travel by the Golden Pass: http://www.myswissalps.com/goldenpass. If you want to visit Geneva on the same day, you should travel via Bern to Montreux. That route is less scenic but faster. Interlaken – Montreux – Geneva takes at least 3,5 hrs one way via Bern. For the details please see the timetable: http://www.myswissalps.com/timetable.
In July usually it is hot in Switzerland, with some storms. In the mountains is can be also warm. Do not forget the sun cream! More about clothing and weather: http://www.myswissalps.com/weather, http://www.myswissalps.com/hiking/preparation (‘Clothing and shoes for spring, summer and fall hike part, even if you won’t hike) and http://www.myswissalps.com/besttimetovisit.
Take care,
Ildiko
Learn more abot the places you plan to visit:
Hi Ildiko,
Don’t forget that Interlaken – Geneve is nowadays just as quick via Visp because you zip through the base tunnel from Spiez. Journey time is usually 3h16. As you will realise this also means you ‘automatically’ go via Montreux on the Visp – Geneve IR train
Interlaken – Chillon – Geneve and return in one day is possible but quite long and you would need to start early. Its up to you whether you think it is doable with your family.
If you go via Visp, as I have mentioned to Ildiko, you will see the scenery of the Rhone valley and Lake Geneva. The Visp – Geneve train passes by the Chateau de Chillon, so even if you didn’t stop you would see it.
If you wanted to stop off you would need to change to a local train and get off at the station called Veytaux-Chillon
The following is one example of how you could do the trip in one day:
Interlaken Ost 07.30
Spiez 07.51 change
Spiez 08.05
Visp 08.31 change
Visp 08.35
Aigle 09.36 change
Aigle 09.42
Veytaux Chillon 09.51
Veytaux Chillon depart at either xx.03 or xx.51 past each hour, changing once in Lausanne – journey time to Geneve around 1.5 hours
Return Geneve – Bern – Interlaken on Inter city trains, changing once at Bern, journey time varies between 2h44 min and 2h59 min
Thank you so much for the replies. Weather is the main reason I don’t want to book mountain excursions in advance. I have wiggle room in my plan to move mountain days here and there so we get to go on a good day. I appreciate all the help.
TMSINGH
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