Hello! I’m feeling overwhelmed and would love any advice and tips!
We are an Australian family of 4 (kids4&3) landing in Zurich at 6.15am in June for 3/1/2weeks.
The only thing I’ve booked is grindelwald for 5 nights from day 2.
1. Where should we stay the first night? Jump on a train and head straight to the alps or stay the first night in Lucerne or even an airport hotel (if we can get an early Check in!)
2. Where else should we visit /stay and base ourselves?
i want easy paced for the kids. My favourite area is Bernese overland, not sure if 6 days is enough?
where else? Zermatt? Ticino (andif so where)
lucerne? Valais region?

any advice is gratefully receive!

will probably do a mixture of train and car travel. I would love small villages woth the options to walk to bakery/coffee. Beautiful playgrounds.
oh and not sure whether air bnbs or I’ve even seen a few nice camping grounds(we would stay in chalet/cabins)

thank you so much. I’m keen to book our accommodation but need to decode towns/village
thanks bec

Do you have the Michelin Green Guide? if not, I would strongly encourage you to get one.

Whether to push on or stay in Zurich at the start of your trip depends on many things. Will you also be flying out of Zurich? If so, you'll probably want to put all your time in that city at the end of your trip. Do you plan to spend any time in Zurich? I found much to enjoy there, but it isn't a place that everyone wants to spend time. If you don't plan to spend time there, and are willing to push on, that can be a great idea -- you might be exhausted, but if so, you'll be exhausted no matter what! I trust you know your family and how they'll manage that adjustment.

You don't need a car in Switzerland, and it could create more problems than it solves. Almost every train station has lockers in various sizes and many have manned baggage counters, so you can easily get off a train for a bit of exploration whenever you want. Public transportation in Switzerland is awesomely comfortable and convenient. Spend some time browsing the Swiss rail website to see what I mean:
https://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html

Whether 6 days in the Bernese Oberland is just right or too much or not enough depends on what, exactly, you and your family want to do -- and none of us can answer that question! Only you can do that, by thinking through your priorities and back-up options.

I wouldn't recommend my itinerary to anyone, and particularly not a family with young children, but if you haven't seen it, you might find some useful information in my old trip report:
https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...thanks-983126/

June is a delightful time to visit Switzerland -- enjoy!

This blog describes walks, which ones are stroller friendly, playgrounds, activities.

https://swissfamilyfun.com/tag/berner-oberland/

SWITZERLAND WITH CHILDREN

As public transport is rather expensive in Switzerland, study carefully the sites about Swiss Travel Pass, Swiss Travel Pass Flex and Swiss half fare card: http://www.swisstravelsystem.com/en/home.html

Check the Swiss Travel System Family Card

The Swiss Travel System Family Card is issued at no cost to parents who wish to take along their children under the age of 16 at no cost. Please note that at least one parent has to travel with the child/ren. Some ideas (check opening periods, some places are closed in winter)::

historic steamboats on Lake Geneva: http://www.cgn.ch/horaires/pdf/AffA2-ete-10.pdf http://www.cgn.ch/eng/flotte

Swiss Vapeur Park Le Bouveret: Home - Swiss Vapeur Parc

Signal de Bougy: Signal de Bougy : la plateforme kids fait peau neuve ! - Parc Aventure ® Signal de Bougy |

Menhirs at Yverdon http://www.yverdonlesbainsregion.ch/...menhirs_clendy

Blonay-Chamby historic railway: :: Chemin de fer-musée Blonay-Chamby ::

Chillon castle: http://www.chillon.ch/en/

Gruyeres castle, cheese diary and chocolate factory: http://www.chateau-gruyeres.ch/e/mul...spectacle.html http://www.la-gruyere.ch/en/navpage-...FR-120085.html

http://www.lamaisondugruyere.ch/inde...=142&Itemid=56

Chatelard-Emosson (Mont Blanc area): http://www.chatelard.net/english/pages/descr_e.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emosson Electricity of Emosson SA

Zermatt-Gornergrat: http://www.gornergrat.ch/home/index.php Fotos Matterhorn & Klein Matterhorn http://www.zermatt.ch/en/index.cfm

Entirely walled city of Murten: ttp://www.murtentourismus.ch/en/navpage-DestinationsFR-MurtenFR-99305.html

http://www.murtentourismus.ch/en/nav...-MurtenFR.html

Medieval city of Bern: http://www.berninfo.com/en/page.cfm/Information http://www.kleinbahn-gurten.ch/

Swiss Village Park Ballenberg: http://ballenberg.ch/en/Welcome

Lugano and Swissminiatur: http://www.lugano-tourism.ch/en/291/default.aspx http://www.swissminiatur.ch/

Tamaro Park: https://www.montetamaro.ch/en/advent...fun-ticino.php

Seewen in the Jura close to Basel: m http://www.bundesmuseen.ch/musikauto...x.html?lang=en

Rapperswil: http://www.zuerichsee.ch/en/page.cfm...FamilyDRZ/1230 http://www.knieskinderzoo.ch/

http://www.zuerichsee.ch/en/page.cfm/SightsRZ http://www.zuerich.com/en/page.cfm/r...gion_zuerich_x

Rhine Falls Adventure Park http://www.rheinfall.ch/Attraktionen...ark?lang=en-US

Furka steam train http://www.furka-bergstrecke.ch/eng/train/timetable.php

http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/interests/family.html
http://www.takethefamily.com/where/s...ays-and-breaks
eParenting
http://www.reka.ch/en/rekaferien/Pages/default.aspx
http://littletravellers.com/destinations/areas/europe/family-holiday-switzerland

You may have a look at the links above

You may have a look at

Impossible to give you links to tons of kids friendly places, steam railways, adventure parks, playgrounds, etc, because Fodors always cancel them immediately