You say two days, is this three nights or two nights? In either case I would suggest Berne, you can be in Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald within a couple of hours easily and if the weather is bad you can be under cover exploring the old town in Berne itself. Or you can take the bus to Berne's mini mountain Gunten and see what is going on in the wayof sledding there. That may be difficult even in Grindelwald because of lack of snow you would then have the choice of going higher to Kleine Scheidegg and enjoying the snow there.

None of these cities have what you want - they are not in the mountains. You need to head into the mountains to an actual winter resort. You can do this from any of these places - but it will take a couple of hours to get to a resort where there is a guarantee of snow and thee facilities. (That is assumng you are coming Christmas or after. If early Dec you may not have a lot of snow in the lower villages - it varies by year - and might have to head for the higher mountains where there is snow year round.)

Agree - do you have 2 nights there - 2 full days coming off an overnihgt train - or just one night.

Sorry for the delay as we do not have wi-fi at present. We plan to take a Thursday night train and arrive Friday morning. Stay overnight Friday and Sat and depart early Sunday. These cities are my only choices as they are stops on the overnighter. A nearby town may work if it is not too far away....perhaps Lucerne? Maybe we should save the sledding for Germany? This will be in early December. We are just looking for something completely different for us and the kids as we will have been on the coast of Spain beforehand. We also don't get much winter back in the States!

You won't find sledding in any of these cities - and in early Dec might not get any snow either. The same is true of Lucerne - these cities are all in the valleys. The same is true of Germany.

For guaranteed snow you need to go into the mountains - how high differs by date and year. Depending on how early the winter is you might get snow in the lower villages - or you might have to go fairly high in the mountains. Traditionally skiing holidays start around Christmas - in the mountain resorts. You can probably get to someplace with an hour or two of the cities that might have snow. But you won;t be sure until you go.

Have a look at weather averages for the cities - including precip.

Maybe we should completely forgo the snow idea...if we get some, we'll just consider ourselves fortunate!

We will have been in big cities so we were looking for a stop off in a quaint, Swiss village with mountain views. Trying to stray not too far from our train route.

If this is your first time in Switzerland I would stop in Lucerne, it's beautiful, nice shopping, scenery and you could take the kids for a boat ride on the lake. Also make sure to see the lion monument, I can't remember the name at the moment but it's famous and the most moving I have ever seen. You may find a regional train going into the hills to a few small villages as a bonus. Google Lucerne and plenty of options will pop up. I like Geneva, don't care for Berne and Zurich is a complete rip off, Lucerne would be far more manageable and a nicer short stop in my opinion.

Thank you! I will definitely look into Lucerne a little more. I've read a lot about other towns, but they seem to stray to far from our path and make for an extra long trip to Germany.

The places you have mentioned - including Lucerne - are all cities - not quaint Swiss Villages. Lucerne is cute and has several interesting things to see and do - but it's not a village of any sort.

You need to go outside the cities for that. And I'm not sure if lake steamers run in Dec - so you may have to train to them - or rent a car and drive. There are a number of villages within an hour or so of these cities - which can be quaint and may have snow - but ascending one of ht emountains - for instance Mt Pilatus from Lucerne gives you a much better chance of snow. We went up in late May and there were still some patches of snow in places - although it doesn;t have a glacier.

Go to Geneva then take the train out to Vevey (it's just one hour). It's right on Lac Leman, so while you aren't IN the mountains there are amazing views out over the lake to mountains in the distance. You can walk to a hotel from the train station. Saturday morning there is an open air street farmers market that would be fun for your family to go to. This is the french-speaking part of Switzerland, and I find it incredibly charming (even though you aren't in the mountains and likely won't have snow at this lower altitude)..

For kids that age, I'd go to Luzern. My son LOVED it at that age! Tons of stuff for them (and you) to do in a couple of days, including a really cool Swiss Transportation museum that is designed for kids with one of the largest mini train sets in Europe!

http://www.verkehrshaus.ch/en/


Kids also like Berne. The Berne bears for one thing. The zoo for another. There is tobagganing (sledding) close by in Wiriehorn. See:

http://www.ausflugsziele.ch/schweiz/ausflug.asp?Linkid=1117

I thought the Berne bears were pretty cruel actually, all concrete and no natural surroundings unlike our lovely zoo. Also you could hardly call Lucerne a large city, it is quite a different scenario from Berne, Geneva and Zurich, although Geneva is not all that large it hasn't the prettiness of Lucerne.

I have looked at both and Vevey and Montreux and they both look ideal! The kids would love the chocolate factory I read about! It's just that it is a couple of hours further to where we are going in Germany and our time there is limited too. Mt Pilatus looks wonderful and the toboggan hill in Wiriehorn would be amazing!

Thank you for your suggestions and I think we have narrowed it down to Lucerne or Vevey/Montreux. Are there any hotels in these locations that may be more accommodating than others to a family of 5?

I would also recommend Lucerne over Geneva even though I have spent a summer in Geneva. Lucerne also allows easy access to the nearby mountains around the lake Lucerne. Even though it's not a village, it has a festive intimate village like atmosphere in its cobblestone alleys and river bridge. It sometimes feels like a movie scene and yet at certain times of the day there is a certain serenity that can suck all your troubles away.

I love Vevey/Montreux. To me it would be worth the hour detour from Geneva. There's also Chateau de Chillon (Montreux) there which is incredibly cool and I think would be great for kids to visit. I don't know any of the other places you're considering so this is a one-sided vote just because I think Vevey is such an amazing town to visit.

http://www.chillon.ch/en/promenade.html
http://www.montreuxriviera.com/en/culture_leisure/Markets

They both look lovely! I went to Lucerne as a teenager with my parents and remember how idyllic it was. Thanks also for the links to Vevey and Montreux - the castle does look amazing! It will all depend on how much time we have. I wish we could do both, but at least I have it narrowed down to two great cities. Thanks for all your suggestions!

I'm not saying it's a perfect fit for your itinerary, but since Geneva was on your list intially, the Vevey/Montreux area is truly just a teeny bit more than 1-hour train ride out of the way from Geneva. With extremely regular times and efficient service. If you're coming/departing via train do check Lausanne as well as Geneva, it's a major train hub for certain routes and is even closer (right along the lake but between Geneva and Vevey/Montreux).

We actually did a trip when our kids were about 10-12 to Geneva, Montreux & Lausanne. We drove and made a stop at Vevey and the tiny Chateau de Chillon. They were all OK but was not that great possibly because the weather was overcast. The beauty of the lake depends a lot on the weather. Our kids highlights were visiting the cheese village Gruyere and medieval walled town of Murten possibly because they were fun to visit even in an overcast weather. I would only recommend Chateau de Chillon if you're not going to Germany the land of dream castles.

Now that I think about it, I'd recommend Geneva or Lausanne in sunny weather and if you would rent a car as your kids may enjoy visiting Gruyere or Murten. I always feel that Geneva is the most unswiss like city, more like a city for the UN and international organization headquarters, but during a sunny weekend or the summertime, I remember how fun the promenade was with college students hanging out playing the flute or guitar. There is a small old town (comparable to the old town in Zurich) to get a bit of the tradtional swiss culture in Geneva. You can also drive south to Yverdon on the french side of Lake Geneva.

That said I prefer Lake Lucerne over Lake Geneva/Lausanne simply because the mountains are a lot more dramatic, steeply dropping into lake Lucerne, the views are more jaw dropping, especially near the Pilatus area. I always drove but you can take a lake boat steamer to Pilatus to enjoy the lake then continue the gondola up to Pilatus where there is a fun rodelbahn (google for pictures) for your kids to enjoy, you really don't need car in Lucerne. We're actually heading there again next week without our kids.

Don't want to put a dampener on it but often at that time of the year Geneva is bathed in fog with nothing to see. So up in the mountains if you go there might be your only choice. I still plug for Lucerne. Have a good time.

Just realize that the original poster is going in the winter, so there's probably no lake boat service but it's still possible to go to Pilatus for some snow fun in the Alps: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/switzerland/central-switzerland-and-berner-oberland/lucerne/activities/day-trips/mt-pilatus-winter