Zurich and Madrid, 4 days in November, with kid – best activities?
 

I know it's not a usual combination of cities, but due to work travel and tacking on some days at the end of Thanksgiving week in Madrid (flying Iberia), I wanted to ask if someone may have ideas of things to do that would work with a 7 year old - meaning lightish on museums, and bearing in mind the colder season.

My travel takes me to Zurich for 4 days (conference), then London for client visits (where we have too few days, friends and a packed schedule already) and lastly, 4 days in Madrid. Child and spouse are coming with. London and Paris last year on a similar schedule were a great hit, what with Museums of Natural History, monuments, ferris wheels, Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park and Christmas Market on Champs Elysees. I wonder if there are some either seasonal sights in Madrid or Zurich or particularly kid friendly activities the wonderful Fodorites may have experience with?

I am not sure if it's wise to combine these very different cities in one post, but did not want to spam the forums with identical messages. If it matters, in Zurich we most likely will be staying in the old city (and I will commute to the conference site) and in Madrid in Westin on Plaza de las Cortes. The hotel choice is also largely driven by corporate policies and personal hotel points, instead of choosing an apartment, which we would otherwise do.

Many thanks for any and all suggestions you may have!

Julia.

One option for Zurich -- a boat ride on the lake.

Thank you. One other option I was thinking of that is weather independent is the visit to Lindt factory - we are all serious chocoholics and my daughter's favorite candy is their dark chocolate truffles. But that as a backup plan since we can get Lindt chocolate pretty much anywhere, I just brought bags from Turin, along with local chocolate.

Zurich is THE railway hub of Switzerland with trains aobut every 30 min from 5am until midnight.
Weather is absolutely unpredictable, sunny days in the Alps cannot be excluded.
There are many towns with medieval city centers and interesting museums, like Berne, Basel, Lucerne, Solothurn...

Thanks! Hubby and I have been to Lucerne and Zug in this part of Switzerland, but nowhere else and if the weather allows, non-working part of the group would take a day trip out to an Alpine town.