Our Switzerland Travel Guide, how to Road Trip across Switzerland with kids and what to do in Switzerland as a family. This is your ultimate guide to Road Trip Switzerland.
You can see more of this Journey on our Sky Surfers Family Travel Youtube Channel here
All you need to know about Switzerland Travel:
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We drove into Switzerland after our time in Austria and began the most special and memorable drive of our lives!
Places to visit in Switzerland?
We headed straight to Bern to explore the city before venturing to the most picturesque places on earth. Fun fact, did you know Bern is in fact the Capital of Switzerland and not Zurich? We braced ourselves for the expenses as Switzerland is known to be one of the most expensive cities in the world! However, we were ready and willing as this was such a bucket list place for us to visit!
We stayed 10 minutes out of town at Los Lorentes Hotel, Bern City for 3 nights. We got a room with a very functional kitchen and the bonus was this hotel is situated directly across from an Aldi Supermarket! Big bonus for some savings!
A main thing to do in Bern is visit the Bear Park. Bears have lived in Bern since 1513 and this park was created to keep them safe and provide a natural environment for the bears to climb, fish and play! Entry is free and they really are a sight to see! While you are in the area visit the beautiful old town and wander beside the stunning canal. There is also a small Funicular ride down the hill on your walk which saves you the effort and is fun for the kids! Our hotel gave us free tickets for this, so be sure to ask your hotel for your free City Ticket! You can also use this pass to hop on a tram and ride around the city! A great way to see the sights! Another interesting must see is Einstein’s House, this attraction gives visitors a chance to see where the great physicist completely revolutionized our understanding of space and time! We literally walked around in his lounge room and sat at his dining table! There are old photos on the walls and loads of interesting information about how he came to be a genius. Even our kids found this fascinating and it was a great learning experience for them! How cool! Don’t leave Bern without trying some Swiss Chocolates. These stores are everywhere!! We recommend 2-3 days in Bern.
Discover these amazing attractions at your own leisure or book one of the many guided tours of Bern City, Switzerland here
Next up head to Interlaken, approx 45 minutes from Bern and get ready for the beauty to start! Interlaken is a traditional resort town in the mountainous Bernese Oberland region of central Switzerland. Built on a narrow stretch of valley, between the emerald-coloured waters of Lake Thun and Lake Brienz and is full of beautiful old timber houses. Spend some time here exploring this beautiful town, taking in all of your surroundings. Wander around, grab some breakfast from one of the many cafe’s or pack a picnic as there are loads of grassy areas to sit!
Then make your way to Lauterbrunnen, 15 minutes from Interlaken. Lauterbrunnen is set in a valley featuring rocky cliffs and a roaring, 300m-high Waterfall. Nearby, the glacial waters of Trümmelbach Falls gush through mountain crevices past viewing platforms. There were literally waterfalls everywhere! A cable car also runs from Stechelberg village to Schilthorn mountain, for views over the Bernese Alps! Here we ticked off a bucket list moment and found the cutest cafe called Bergrestaurant Allmend overlooking the mountains for a famous Swiss Cheese Fondue for lunch!
You can see more of this on our Sky Surfers Family Travel YouTube Youtube here
From Lauterbrunnen you can drive 20 minutes up the road to Grindelwald, another must see place while in the area. Here there are many things to do such as hiking trails, Gondola’s and lookouts. You can do as little or as much as you like! We only drove through here to have a look at this picturesque village and stopped for a hot chocolate, then were on our way.
We spent 1 night at a town called Guttannen, in between Grindelwald and the Gelmerbahn (which is the next stop) to break up the road trip and get some much needed rest. We stayed at Hotel Guttannen. This was such a cosy place and came with a delicious breakfast!
Ok and now another highlight… 5 minutes from Guttannen is The Gelmerbahn (Mountain Coaster) with a maximum gradient of 106%, this single-carriage funicular is undisputedly the steepest in Europe. It was thrill seeking, terrifying yet the most beautiful thing we’ve ever done together as a family! A rollercoaster of emotions… literally!! This 12 minute journey takes you to the top of a mountain with a stunning lake and hiking trail around the lake. Pack a lunch, have a picnic and admire the views! Allow half a day for this and pre book! It is family friendly with a minimum age allowance of 6 years old to ride the Gelmerbahn. Book your Gelmer Funicular ticket here
From here we started to make our way out of Switzerland via the Furka Pass in the Swiss Alps (one of the most famous drives in the world) It was honestly the most breath taking scenery we’d ever seen! Snow was even melting off the mountains and creating waterfalls everywhere. It’ll be a drive we will remember for the rest of our lives and really confirms why we opt to hire our own car and road trip when visiting new places.
What do we do to stay connected while traveling? Have you ever received a huge roaming bill after a trip abroad? Have you ever lost phone service or connectivity while traveling – and found yourself desperately searching for free Wi-Fi? Have you wasted time anxiously looking for a SIM vendor at the airport? We experienced all of these things, this is why we use Airalo. Simply download and instal your digital data pack, depending on where you are in the world and you are good to go. This saved us so much time, effort and money when we arrived into a new country. We got off the plane and immediately had Internet! See more info here – Airalo ESIM
This ended our time here and we slowly made our way out of Switzerland and in to Italy. Before crossing the border we had one last stop at probably our most favourite Airbnb ever, situated right at the base of the Swiss Alps. We spent 3 nights here exploring the Italian influenced Swiss Town of Semione.
Love Road Trips? Read our article How To Road Trip Italy next!
Or discover more of our Europe Travel Blogs here
You can view our detailed Switzerland Itinerary, where to stay in switzerland and so much more via our Switzerland YouTube Episode.
