The third leg of our trip was to Switzerland. In some ways getting to Murren from Paris in one day was exhausting, but considering we took...

2 metro trains
train to Basel
train to Interlaken
train to Lauterbrunnen
post bus to Stechelberg
gondola to Gimmelwald
final gondola to Murren

...I think it went pretty well. The Swiss rail system is as good as they say it is.

Day 1:
I had agonized over which passes to buy, and in the end we bought 3 4-day Flexipasses and then the Swiss Card (free) allowed our 15 year old to ride free with us. I don't even want to know if I saved money or not, but I will say that the ease of using the Flexipass was worth it. We had a reservation from Paris to Basel (which we had to pay for) and then in Basel we activated the Flexipass and rode the rest of the trips on that. I was surprised that even the gondola to Murren was covered.

The train from Paris to Basel was not crowded, so we each took our own little section and everyone napped. The scenery was beautiful so I spent much of the 5 hour trip gazing out the windows, but I don't think the girls cared -- they just plugged in the ipods and closed their eyes. It was actually a nice break from the activity of Paris.

On arriving in Murren, we wandered down the street and found Chalet Fontana. The proprietor, Denise Fussel, couldn't have been nicer. She greeted us with a beautiful smile and a quick tour and then showed us to our rooms. It instantly felt like we were staying with an old friend. Our room was on the 2nd floor and had three big windows that opened out to the main "street" and a view of the mountains. I don't know if I can describe the beauty of this area -- think Sound of Music and the most beautiful postcards you have ever seen -- the mountains were capped with snow and the meadows were full of wildflowers. The weather was sunny (we got lucky) and actually hot in the afternoons.

We were starving so we wandered down the street and found a few cold beers and some delicious fries at Edelweiss. The bonus was the fabulous view. We then walked down to Hotel Eiger, which was just setting up dinner (I think it was about 6:00 p.m. -- even the grandparents don't eat that early but we were still starving!). We started with cheese fondue and then had the meat / shrimp / chicken fondue in broth. They brought out a huge tray of condiments and a plate of meats for each of us, and then when our plates were almost clean they loaded them up again. None of us could finish. The dinners were pricey (50CHF each) but it was something we had to try and it was delicious. After dinner we wandered back to the hotel and crashed.

Day 2:
We had agreed with the girls to meet at 9:00 for breakfast. My husband was awake about 6:00 and about 7:30 he wanted to wake the girls up and get going. The sky was perfectly clear outside and we were going up the Schilthorn, so he was raring to go while it was still clear. I talked him out of waking them up (they would not have been happy) and instead we went for a walk through town. The air was crisp, I took about a thousand pictures (have I mentioned how beautiful it is?) and by the time we returned the girls were awake.

We took the gondola up the Schilthorn. It was a little cloudy and cold at the top (we all wore jackets) but there were still great views. You couldn't see the three peaks, though, until you got to the 1/2 way point (Birg) and then you could see them as clear as day. It was gorgeous.

When we got back to Murren we took the Allemandhubel Tram up the hill and started off on the North Face Trail. The girls, both athletes mind you, were moaning and groaning about going on a hike. However, the scenery (and a fairly easy route -- until later) prevailed and it was fabulous. One of the high points of the trip.

Our one glitch was the "sprutz" (waterfall) that everyone kept telling us about. Of course we wanted to see it. We followed the instructions that everyone had given us and found it pretty easily. What no one thought to tell us, however, was how to get back on the North Face Trail after this little detour. Bottom line was we ended up just above Gimmelwald and had to hike back uphill to get back to Murren. The girls were in jeans and they were roasting. I'm out of shape so I was huffing and puffing. It turned our "easy" hike into a somewhat more challenging one, and we were exhausted when we got back to town.

Fortunately, the bakery had warm bread (fresh from the oven) and local cheeses and salamis so we had a picnic for lunch. The Swiss chocolate, which we were just starting to discover, topped off a wonderful meal.

Dinner was just across the way at Stagerstubli. It was wonderful -- I had a lamb filet that was delicious. After dinner we wandered around town and heard an alpine horn. We followed our ears on to the patio of the Hotel Eiger and sat down to listen. When they told the kids to come up if they wanted to play the horn, our girls went up and took their turn. It was only later that we realized that we had "crashed" a Rick Steve's function, but no one seemed to mind.

Our two nights in Murren rank up at the top of our trip's highlights. The town itself seems very sleepy in the summertime, and if you're looking for "action" you're probably not going to find it here. However, I can't imagine a more beautiful or serene place to visit. I hope we get to return someday.

Day 3:
We said good bye to Denise and started out on the trek to Lucerne. Two gondola rides, the post bus, and two trains got us to Lucerne. We used the second day of our Flexipass. We checked in to the Hotel Des Alpes, rested a bit, and then set out through the town. We were staying right in the middle of town so everything was just out our back door. We shopped some of the stores. We stopped for a beer at the brewery right on the river. Since we were dragging a bit, we decided to take the little city train that makes its way through town. I enjoyed the ride, and it was a good way to get an overview (without more walking) of Lucerne. We then found the Coop, discovered the groceries in the basement, and bought refreshments to enjoy on the balcony of our hotel room.

For dinner we ate across the river at Restaurant Rossini. Everything we ordered (including pizza for one of the girls) was delicious. We then walked around town, found a creperie and got some crepes (the girls) and found gelato for my husband and me. It was hot in Lucerne, and there was a fan in our room when we checked in. We left it on all night -- it was cool outdoors but the rooms were a little bit warm...probably something that doesn't happen too often, but if it had been hotter I would have wanted A/C.

Day 4:
We gave the girls the option of going to the Farmer's Market with us (it was Tuesday morning) or sleeping in -- guess which they chose? The breakfast at the hotel was good and we went to the market and bought a picnic lunch. We then caught the 10:00 boat heading for Alpnachstad. We automatically purchased 2nd class tickets, but soon realized that the top level of the boat was 1st class. When the ticket taker came around I asked how much to "upgrade" and for 16.50CHF(for four) we were able to keep our seats up top. I think it was well worth it.

The trip up Mount Pilatus on the cogwheel railway was very impressive, and a little scary (very steep). We ate our picnic up top and then rode down the gondola towards Kriens. We got off at the stop with the ropes course and the alpine slide. The alpine slide had been a "must do" on our lists, and had probably helped entice the girls to ride the boat / cogwheel train vs. staying in town and shopping. The slide was fun. We had done them before. I'm not sure that I'd plan a trip around them, but it was a nice break from sightseeing. At least as fun as going down was being towed back up to the top on the sled (backwards) through the meadows, past the cows, with a beautiful view to admire. We then rode the gondola the rest of the way down, walked over to the bus stop, and hopped on the bus for town.

By the way, you buy one ticket for this entire loop at the boat dock (in front of the rail station) so you don't need to keep purchasing tickets. That was a nice feature, although in using my railpass to get the discount the ticket person stamped it (which would have used a day and which we didn't want to do) and when I told him we didn't want to use the day he had to put a special stamp in the back of the pass. This didn't turn out to be a problem but you have to be paying attention.

Lucerne feels very safe, and we were able to let the girls go for gelato and wander around that afternoon. My husband went back to Coop for more beer, and I took a few hours for myself and wandered through the stores. It's not easy spending 24/7 with anyone, and I think we all needed a break by this time. I know I did. Dinner was at Restaurant Fritschi -- the building with a mural covering the whole side. The dinner was good, but the highlight was chocolate fondue -- yum!

Day 5:
We checked out and found the train for Lugano with one transfer in Arth Goldeau. I had heard so much about the William Tell Express, and I don't know if by this time I was just used to the scenery but it was just another train ride. It was hot when we got to Lugano, and I was so glad that we had decided to splurge and stay at the Grand Hotel Eden. The A/C was much needed. The balcony was great. And the hotel was enough away from the downtown (it's actually in Paradiso) that you can sit out at night and watch the lights of the town. Yet it's close enough to town for a nice stroll.

The hotel had an indoor pool and a floating deck on the lake. We just lounged around that afternoon, I had a great massage, the girls sunbathed and swam in the lake, and everyone was happy. We walked into town for dinner at La Tinera -- hard to find, but dinner was great (osso bucco, risotto, and sauteed spinach were wonderful and they serve the wine in ceramic bowls - fun). We stopped on our walk back for gelato. The promenade is hopping in the evenings, and this town is at its best.

Day 6:
Our plan today was to take the tour train to the furthest point from us (closest to Gandria), walk to Gandria, look around, walk back to town, and finish the train's loop. However, the walk to Gandria was much further than we thought, and by the time we got there we were cranky. We checked on the next boat back to town, stopped to shop at the little ceramics store and had drinks while we were waiting. In my opinion, the town of Gandria is really at is best when seen from the water, and only upon leaving it did we fully realize the charm of it. Unless I missed something, there's really not much to do in the town itself.

We spent the afternoon at the hotel, just sunning and swimming and relaxing. We were starting to wind down and be ready to go home. We had dinner in town at Mango Pizzaria -- the pizza was just ok, but the waiter was very friendly and the outdoor tables were fun. Walked back and got, you guessed it, gelato for dessert.

Day 7:
The girls and I went shopping in Lugano today. There was a market (it was Friday) and we bought some jewelry from one vendor, souvenirs at the Manor department store, and chocolate for our friends at Coop. We then walked back and "hung out" at the hotel for the afternoon. My husband set off to find the town of "Dino." He was going to rent a bike, but never found the bike rental that everyone said was at the train station. He then hopped a bus and the driver helped him with where to get off. Instead of catching the connecting bus, however, he ended up walking to find the town. He found it (not much there), found the bus back, and returned with pictures.

Our last dinner was at Locanda Bottegia. We took a cab here (close to our hotel but not easy to walk to) and had a wonderful meal. By this point in our trip we had given up on ordering tap water to drink, and were just paying for the big bottles of chilled still water. It was just so much easier and we got larger quantities and colder water. In the big scheme of things we just chalked it up to being in a foreign country.

Day 8:
The cab that we ordered was late, and expensive, but we made it to the train station in time to catch the train for Zurich. This train was much nicer than the one coming down to Lugano -- it had air conditioning and reclining seats -- and all the towns along the ride looked better from these windows. We hopped the train from the train station in Zurich to the airport. What happened between this point and the time we actually got home was a United Airlines / Swiss Air mess. The bottom line was that we didn't get on our plane that day, had to spend the night in Zurich, and finally made it home at midnight the next night. We were so ready to be home on Saturday that it was very disappointing, and we're still trying to get the airline to compensate us, but in the big scheme of things it certainly didn't ruin our trip.

All in all, this was a great vacation for our family. We had a little bit of everything -- cities, museums, celebrations, hiking, shopping, and sunning / swimming. Switzerland is a wonderful place for families, and there are many things that we could have done had we stayed longer in any one place. Thank you for letting me share our experiences, and thank you again for all the good advice I gathered from this site.

what a great trip! You really balanced out the sights and activities for your family. I just wanted to suggest for anyone reading this and looking for a kid-friendly trip, that the ropes course at Pilatus is fabulous, and not something to be found in many places! Go to Pilaus.ch, to see what to expect. It does take a few hours, though.

Great Trip Report!

<<<<>>>>We checked in to the Hotel Des Alpes, rested a bit, and then set out through the town.<<<<>>>>

What were your impressions of the"Des Alpes"?

I'm booked there later this summer.

Hello lady_di, I just saw your three part trip report and so enjoyed reading it all in one sitting.

Thank YOU for sharing your family's experience..I so enjoyed travelling along with all of you. And I do love reading trip reports when children/teens are involved. It brings back so many beautiful memories of travelling with our daughter.

I am sure you all will remember this family trip forever and I hope that you will have more trips together.

I did chuckle when you posted about the third leg of your trip to Switzerland, I would imagine you were all exhausted, you had a lot of travelling. But you all survived it!! Your teens sound like good travelling companions, that is nice. Thanks again for a lovely and fun report.

Sunstar -- We liked Hotel Des Alpes in Lucerne -- wouldn't want to be there in super hot weather (no A/C) but we had a (tiny) balcony overlooking the river and the famous wooden bridge and when we sat out there we could hear street musicians (classical) which was wonderful. The breakfast was very nice too, and the central location was fun for our first trip to Lucerne -- you could basically walk out your door and have everything at your disposal.

Having said all that, I think we agreed that if we went back to Lucerne we'd probably stay in one of the outlying towns -- passing them on our boat ride made us want to explore. I think you'd get more of the feeling of the lake if you stayed away from the main town.

We stayed in Vitnau, and thought it was unbelievably beautiful. Even for those staying in Lucerne, I would definitely recommend stopping here or in Weggis, at least for an afternoon to swim in the lake! I just laughed when I went in the water, because I could not believe I was swimming in such an incredible setting (mountains, villages, water, wow!). There is a small public park right near the boat landing in Vitznau, so a day tripper could wear or bring a bathing suit and go in the water from there! (you can always change in the restrooms at the boat landing) not sure the situation at Weggis, but probably could do the same.

Marking for future reading...lunch is almost over.

Skatedancer -- those places sound wonderful. What a beautiful setting.

Lady Di, thank you for the information on the Des Alpes.

I remember seeing that hotel on some previous trips, but I never stayed at the "Des Alpes".

If memory serves, I think Lucern has that music festival in September. Lucern is very crowded when that event takes place.

Thank you again!

It's so much fun to follow your travels in Switzerland, lady_di. Do you and your family ski? Mürren is a great destination in the wintertime, too.

On day 5 - Lugano: you write "they serve the wine in ceramic bowls".... They're called "boccalino" and are especially used in shady "Grottos". Aren't they nice and colorful?

Waggis -- yes, we do ski (and snowboard) and thought that we would love to come back to Murren in the winter time. They were building a new ski lift and when we went up the Schilthorn we rode in the car with a mixer full of cement. Denise told us that they were very excited because it would replace an old t-bar or poma lift.

And yes, the "boccalino" were really fun. And the wine was good too!