loriyoungwhite

Digybog - I have a few questions about a potential June 2010 trip to Lauterbrunnen. It will be me, my husband, and 7 yr old son. If we go for a week and stay in Lauterbrunnen, will there be enough to do? Or, should we consider adding another location to our trip?

I do want to keep this trip enjoyable and not too much moving. And, my son is not a real rambunctious kid - so we do not need tons and tons of activities to do.

I have been to Lauterbrunnen a few times and thought it would make a nice family destination with pretty scenery and hikes. But am concerned about getting a little bored towards the end of the week...

Digbydog

Lori--I have never been to the area for more than 4 days, but I think there would be enough to do for a week. Just the trip to the Jungfraujoch would take a day. I have never had time to visit Meiringen on Lake Brienz, but it sounds interesting. It has the Aare Gorge and Reichenbach Falls, which is in a scene of a Sherlock Holmes novel. Or you could visit Giessbach Falls in Brienz, which you reach by boat and funicular. There are so many hikes in the Berner Oberland and little restaurants where your son can use the bathroom and have a snack or lunch. My youngest son still says the Berner Oberland is his favorite place he has ever visited!

jan3t2005

My husband and I are leaving for Austria & Switzerland next week and look forward to doing some hiking. What are the trails like and did you have hiking boots? (I'm hoping I won't have to bring full-on hiking boots) We live in the western US, so are used to more rugged national park type trails.
I enjoyed reading all the entries!

Melnq8

Dibgydog -

Enjoyed your report and glad to hear you had nice weather. Looks like we have another Switzerland fan!

Forgive me for jumping in here, but I thought Jan3t2005 might like to know that if she's looking for specifics on hiking trails in Zermatt and the Berner Oberland, I have a very detailed trip report here on Fodor's outlining several we took back in April - just click on my name and look under April in the Alps. We took different hikes than Dibgydog, so it might give you a few additional ideas.

Regarding hiking boots, we pretty much live in ours when we're in Switzerland, but I wear the low cut variety. Some trails are paved, others are fairly rugged, it just depends on where you go.

Digbydog

Jan--I had an old pair of low cut hiking boots that I threw away after the Swiss portion of our trip, as we were heading on to Italy, where I didn't need boots. My boys, however, were in gym shoes and were fine on the trails.

jan3t2005

Great! That's what I wanted to hear, no heavy boots then. Thanks (or Danke) for the info Digby and Mel, will also check out your trip report.