winter travel with children
 

Could someone make a suggestion or give an opinion about traveling to Switzerland with two children (ages 5 and 7) during the middle of March? Our children love trains, have never been to Europe, my husband was born in Zurich, so we thought Zurich or Lucerne would be a fun trip, but I wonder about things to do, the weather, etc. London is also a possibility and I think I know it well enough to find lots to entertain children, but am not so sure about Switzerland. Any ideas, suggestions, comments?

Thanks.

In Luzern: The Verkehrshaus - museum of traffic - especially if your kids (boys?) are into cars, trucks, planes, trains and stuff.

Get out of the city and high up into the mountains where there is snow. That will keep them entertained!

Hi sanantonioparent,

Your children might also enjoy a ferry ride on the lake; that would certainly be different from San Antonio. Schedules & info at www.lakelucerne.ch.

If your kids like playing fairy-tale and like tales about knights & castles, they would enjoy seeing the Musegg Walls and the medieval fountains and squares around town.

If they want to see a castle, I think the closest one is in Thun, about 1h30 by train.

But then otherwise, yes, get them out into the snow for snowball fights, sledding, etc. Take a look at the ski town of Engelberg too.

s

Mid March isn't exactly winter

My kids are slightly younger (5 and 2) but they loved watching cheese-making, as well as chocolate decoration demonstrations. Also I found many restaurants in the mountains (mainly our experience limited to B.O./Vaud) have indoor play areas. We also took kids to indoor swimming pools and local petting zoos/farms.

Trains are great. You might want to check the boat schedule though--service frequencies may be cut back before Easter. We loved Thurn but found their ferry schedule (recall it was Thurn-Interlaken but could be wrong) was quite long. Our kids also liked the boat rides across Lac Leman.