I am currently in the beginning planning stages for a two-week summer vacation in Switzerland in 2008 or 2009. I will be travelling with my family of four (myself, wife and two girls ages 12 and 8 who will be like 14 and 10 when we go). We'd prefer to spend one week each in two areas of Switzerland so that we aren't packing and unpacking the whole time. We have been to the Berner Oberland and spent about five days based in Lauterbrunnen (in 2006) and loved the area. While there we fell in love with Murren and are planning on spending one of our weeks based there, doing mountain hikes and train/gondola rides to the various highlight peaks in the area. We are looking for ideas for the second week. Like I said, we'd like to be based in one spot and do daytrips from there. We are a relatively active family when it comes to vacations but are open to any suggestions that anyone might have. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
Bob in Cincinnati, Ohio

Bob,
I think Untours (www.untours.com) might be what you are looking for. You can spend one week in the Swiss Heartland and one in Locarno in the Swiss Ticino.
In Switzerland children under 16 stay free.

We are staying in an Untours apartment in Kandersteg for two weeks in May. We are so impressed with all we've read and heard about Untours that we have a hold on one of their apartments in The Netherlands for next year.

You can read Untourists triplogs at www.untours.com/triplogs.html

Hi drexelius,

Can you tell us what things you're looking for for your second week -- more mountains, different mountains, rolling green hills, French ambiance, Italian ambiance, a lake, a city . . .?

Lots to recommend, but we can do better if we know what you're looking for.

s

Hi Bob---your girls will love Switzerland. We took ours for a 2-week hiking vacation when they were 12 and 15, and we will return next summer (2007).

We too love Mürren, and I always include a stay there. There are several apartments there that are good for families. But a full week might be too long. You might consider moving to Kandersteg for two of those nights---the location on the main north-sosuth train line gives you easy access to the Lake Leman region, or Zermatt, or other places in the Valais, and the eastern regions such as the Engadine. Our daughters' very favorite place in all Switzerland is a mountain hotel at the lake above Kandersteg:

www.oeschinensee.ch

(choose English if you like, then go to the summer photos). You get up there by chairlift (unless you choose to hike up). There is a Rodelbahn (summer luge) which the girls and even their much older cousins enjoy. You can rent rowboats or pedal boats to take on the lake. And there are several nice hikes, of varying grades, from there. Or you can rent bikes in Kandersteg and ride into the next valley, the Gasterntal, which is lovely and wild.

In the evening the cows graze on the lawn right by the hotel terrace. It's a pretty idyllic place.

Maybe divide the trip between 2 regions w/different languages (french-speaking, italian-, or german-)?