“Not Your Usual” Switzerland with Kids: Itinerary + Unique Experiences

First time to explore Switzerland with kids! Here’s a list of fun places we visited and fun things we did in Geneva, Interlaken and other nearby cities in between.

Itinerary

Now before I present our itinerary, a disclaimer: this is NOT the most efficient way to travel Switzerland with kids! Also, we are aware that we barely scratched the surface of this beautiful country. So if your goal is to get an overview of Switzerland, this is not the itinerary for you.

The reason we took this route was because we had roundtrip tickets to Geneva (so we couldn’t hop to one city after another and exit at the other end of Switzerland). Also, we will be traveling to Abu Dhabi after our Switzerland trip so we have a lot of luggage with us (hard to pack for 4 persons and 2 different seasons); it will be hard to keep transferring via trains with a ton of luggage.

That said, it was still altogether perfect for our family trip and I hope you get some inspiration from the places we visited! Here’s a quick rundown; more details below and on future posts!

• Day 1 – Geneva: Patek Philippe Museum, Bain de Paquis
• Day 2 – Leysin: Tobogganing Park
• Day 3 – Interlaken: GoldenPass Express from Montreux to Interlaken, explored Interlaken
• Day 4 – Interlaken: Niederhorn Mountain, explored Interlaken some more
• Day 5 – Interlaken/Montreux: explored Interlaken, GoldenPass Express Interlaken to Montreux, Dinner at Montreux
• Day 6 – Geneva: United Nations (Palais de Nations), Old Town, Reformation Wall, Patinoire des Bastions Genève

Favorite & Unique Experiences in Switzerland with Kids

1. GoldenPass Express Prestige Class Experience

Definitely the highlight of our trip was the experience of riding a panoramic scenic train from Montreux to Interlaken via the GoldenPass Express in Prestige Class. 

It was such a treat to see the ever changing but constantly beautiful Swiss landscape. You would think that a scenic train ride is something only adults would enjoy but the kids both agreed that the 3 hour ride went by too fast (I think Dylan just wanted more time to enjoy his cheese and aperitif!) Read more about our experience in detail here.

2. Tobogganing at the Tobogganing Park in Leysin

Around 2 hours away from Geneva is a place called Leysin and we went on a daytrip specifically for this Tobogganing Park! Also a place that deserves a separate blog post for sure, the Leysin Toboganning Park lets guests slide down ice slides of varying heights, in snow tubes.

The kids expected our Switzerland trip to be a winter wonderland and this place was as much of a winter wonderland as it could get. My youngest even said that going down one of the slides was just like riding Hyperspace Mountain at Disneyland 😉 That is a compliment!

You only get 1.5 hours per timeslot but it’s perfect for thrill-seeking kids and made our long journey worth it!

3. Playing at Niederhorn’s outdoor winter Playground

A 30 minute bus ride and a cable car ride away from Interlaken is Niederhorn Mountains. When you’re in Interlaken, you’ll most likely visit the big ones like Jungfraujoch and Schilthorn. But we wanted to go somewhere nearer mainly because we weren’t sure how the kids would react to really high altitudes (thin air, etc.) and we didn’t want to waste precious hours just transiting.

Basically, the kids just really wanted to play in the snow and Niederhorn was the perfect mountain for that.

But what surprised us was this beautiful outdoor playground right on the mountains! As you might know (if you’re a long-time reader,) my boys LOVE playgrounds and have played in playgrounds all over the world but this was the first time they tried one built in the snow.

Obviously they had a magical time!

4. Skating for the first time at Patinoire des Bastions Genève

Totally unplanned but what a surprise! We stumbled upon an ice rink as we were looking for a restaurant after visiting the Reformation Wall in Geneva. And get this; it was free! They let the kids rent skates for free as well and we only paid 2CHF for Mor’s.

The kids have never tried ice skating before so it was such a treat to be able to try it for the first time, of all places, outdoor in Geneva under fairy lights!

5. Carriage Ride at Interlaken

Before you tell me this is too touristy, please allow me to say it first: riding a carriage around Interlaken is peak tourist-y for sure — but we had more fun than we expected. And we have Dylan to thank!

The moment Dylan saw a carriage strolling around the streets of Interlaken, he’s been begging to ride it. We kept pushing it because it wasn’t really something the rest of us wanted to do but on our last day, we chanced upon an empty carriage and decided to take this opportunity to grant Dylan’s request!

And what a beautiful ride it was! It was so relaxing to be able to sit comfortably for 30 minutes, taking in the sights of Interlaken. That was when we realized that we didn’t really get to explore so much of the city since we were just going on foot the whole time. The carriage ride was a good overview of the town and we only wished we did it first upon arrival.

6. Fondue at Bain de Paquis

No trip to Switzerland is complete without fondue! There are so many good fondue places around the city but my favorite has got to be the one in Bain de Paquis — but wait! Not because it was the most delicious one we’ve tried (that honor goes to Cafe du Soleil!) but it was because of the beautiful setting and ambience of the place!

We were seated by the water with views of ducks and swans swimming happily from our picture window. It was nice to enjoy our dinner inside a warm, cozy, enclossed indoor/outdoor space (if that makes sense).

7. Tour at United Nations

Can’t believe I even debated about taking the guided tour — DEFINITELY DO IT! It’s hard to put into words how eye opening the experience was. But suffice to say that even my 9 year old son was so engrossed with the stories about the UN and we all left inspired.

This is something you shouldn’t miss when you’re in Geneva!

8. Sunset watching at Montreux

And lastly, an unexpected surprise as well was being able to witness the beautiful sunset in Montreux. We were traveling via the GoldenPass Express on the way home from Interlaken and chanced upon this gorgeous view. We were supposed to take another train to Geneva after stopping at Montreux. But we decided to stay for a few more hours to take it all in.

We found a restaurant at The Grand Hotel Suisse with panoramic windows! They had perfect, unobstructed views of the sunset so, that’s where we had dinner before we rode back to Geneva.

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So many more Switzerland stories I can’t wait to share. But for now, I hope you enjoyed that! It can be challenging to travel to Switzerland with kids but it’s also very fun! If you’re from the Philippines and wondering how the visa process went, you can read all about my experience in applying for a Shengen Visa via the Swiss Embassy (and some tips!) here.

RELATED POSTS:

• GoldenPass Express Prestige Class Experience
• Applying for a Swiss Visa in the Philippines
• 8-Day London Itinerary: Things to Do with Kids

(NOTE: THIS POST IS ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCE LAST JANUARY 2024)