Winter Wonderland in Switzerland
Executive summary: Since our previous trip to Switzerland 10 years ago, my husband and I have said we’d one day have to return, as we did not see the Alps last time. I’m thrilled that we were able to make it happen with much advance childcare planning and cooperative weather over winter break. A much needed and much appreciated interlude from our regular lives!
Our travel bug has been squashed for the past seven years, what with kids and Covid and such. We’ve been waiting for years to get our groove back, and 2025 is the year we finally made it happen, now that the kids are old enough (at 6 and 3yo) to stay for a week with the grandparents while hubby and I jet off! When my husband had a conference in Madrid in May, we took the kids out of school to drop them off with grandma three hours away, before embarking on our first international trip in what felt like forever (see post here). The kids did well at grandma’s, and our trip was such a blissful break from the incessant daily grind of “baby jail,” that I turned to my husband on our flight back and said “we have to do this again.” I decided winter break made sense because the kids already would be out of school, plus we had plans to spend the time at my parents’ house, so we could leave the kids there while we hopped on a plane to wherever. There aren’t as many places to go in the winter, and we further limited our options by only considering non-stop flights from SFO (for a higher likelihood of smooth travels), but ultimately thought that a “winter wonderland” trip to Switzerland might supply the respite we need. Not to ski or do anything too “energetic,” lol, but just to spend a few days on our own schedule, sleeping/waking/eating/seeing what we want, when we want (a luxury that’s impossible with little kids). We’d been to Switzerland 10 years ago, during my MBA, but that was in the spring. I thought going in the winter would be a different experience, and we would hit a different set of sights to keep it interesting. Last time, we spent a couple days in Zurich, then moved on to Bern and Lausanne. This time, we used Zurich as our home base, but spent every day visiting a new destination: Lucerne, Mount Titlis, Jungfraujoch, and Basel. It was only four days on the ground (with flying on either end), but six days babysitting the kids is about the limit of what the grandparents can handle, so we wrapped it all up in under a week.
Day 0ish: Travel day. I carefully timed our departure to coincide with the kids going out for an activity with the grandparents, so that my 3yo wouldn’t cry at us leaving (the 6yo doesn’t care). Drove through the rain and traffic from my parents’ home to SFO two hours away. Flight delayed three hours, oh joy, but at least no little humans were running us ragged at the airport. After landing in Zurich, we grabbed tickets to take the train downtown to where our hotel was. The trains run like clockwork here, of course, haha.
Day 1: One of my favorite parts of traveling is having the time to sit down for a real breakfast, which we cannot manage at home with the kids around. Our hotel (citizenM) charged $35 per person, which I used to think was rich but now realize that this is the best deal in town, ha. It was so luxurious to start the day with bircher muesli (my favorite when we come to Switzerland or Germany), chewy bread (it’s so good in Europe!), and a plate of rösti, bacon, etc. After we ate and gathered our things, we walked to the central Zurich station to catch a train to Lucerne 40 minutes away. Lucerne is not a huge city, so it didn’t take us long to see the sights, but we reveled in the chance to wander around at our own pace, stopping and going as we pleased. We didn’t originally intend to have a sit-down lunch after that big breakfast, but hubby felt like sipping some hot glühwein (mulled wine) on a winter day, so we ducked into a restaurant by the water. Once inside, we couldn’t pass on the white truffle risotto, so before I knew it, we were having a full meal. Good thing we get so many steps when we’re out exploring, to compensate. We were back in Zurich by early afternoon and went in search of some nice Swiss chocolates as a thank you gift for the grandparents. A lot of shops are closed on Sunday (how simultaneously quaint and inconvenient, lol), but we did achieve our goal.
Lucerne and its Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke), the most photographed spot in Switzerland or something like that.
Day 2: We wanted to see snow on this trip (otherwise it wouldn’t be a true “winter wonderland!”), so I had booked us a group tour to Mount Titlis. I don’t like all the waiting around that’s an inherent part of organized tours, but this seemed like an easier option than figuring out every step on our own. We got on a bus from Zurich to Engelberg, where we waited in a long line to board the cable car (it’s busy ski season), before getting in an even longer line to take the Rotair gondola to the very top. The whole process took two hours!! Not very efficient, and we definitely made use of the snacks I packed while standing around. But it was a sunny day and something worth doing while we’re here. We admired the Alpine views, stepped onto the swaying bridge of the Cliff Walk, maneuvered through the Glacier Cave, and had a late lunch packed in elbow-to-elbow at the buffet. We had a little time left to explore, so we took the Rotair and cable car down to the Lake Trübsee stop (a much shorter line coming down), to skid around on the frozen lake. Then we took the cable car all the way down to the base at Engelberg, where the tour bus was waiting. I would’ve liked to head back to Zurich at this point, but the tour was scheduled to spend an hour in Lucerne. Since hubby and I had seen the city the previous day, we took the opportunity to have dinner (there are tons of shops and eateries at the train stations here, plus we enjoyed the most decadent hot chocolate ever, from the chocolate fountain at Bachmann). When we got back to our hotel room at 8:30pm, we video-called the kids then went straight to bed. We’ve been sleeping and waking early, partly due to jet lag and partly so we can get an early start in the mornings, which we needed for the following day.
The Alps as seen from Mount Titlis.
Day 3: We decided somewhat last minute that if we’re going to be in Switzerland in the winter, we should go all out for the snowy Alps experience. I again booked us a group tour to simplify the logistics, this time to Jungfraujoch, which holds the distinction of having the highest railway station in Europe, at over 11,000 feet. It would be a 12+ hour day, so we left early for the bus station, while it was still dark (the sun doesn’t rise until after 8am here in December). We rode for two hours to Interlaken while the guide shared facts about Switzerland, like how there are pipes running down the mountains to carry water for hydroelectric power, how most people here rent rather than own, and that cows occasionally need to be airlifted down from the mountains where they spend the summer grazing. We stopped in Interlaken, a cute but very touristy town which seemed to contain more wristwatch shops than people. Then we continued on to the village of Grindelwald, full of chalets, where we got on the Eiger Express gondola before switching to the cogwheel train that took us the rest of the way up to Jungfraujoch. At the top, we could see the Aletsch Glacier, the biggest in the Alps. I was feeling lightheaded from the altitude (apparently I tap out somewhere above 10,000 feet) so I skipped out on the other attractions in favor of sitting still in the cafe where we had lunch, but my husband went to look around and said the Ice Palace was like a more manicured version of the Glacier Cave at Titlis, so I didn’t miss too much. In the afternoon, we boarded the cogwheel train again, this time going down to Lauterbrunnen to catch the bus back to Zurich.
The largest glacier in the Alps, Aletsch, as seen from Jungfraujoch.
Day 4: After two long days out, we took it easy on our last day of freedom. We “slept in” (as in, past 6am), grabbed breakfast at a cute cafe, and hopped on a train to see Basel 50 minutes away. We enjoyed wandering around and taking a pit stop to thaw out on the banks of the Rhine, admiring the view of Basel from our bench. It was past noon by this point, so we headed back into the old town area to find some pasta for lunch (a must-do on all our Europe trips — it just tastes better here!) We even tried a Swiss red wine and white wine to wash it down. After lunch, we continued on through the main Marktplatz area and saw the Spalentor (“Gate of Spalen”) on our way to the train station. We took our time meandering through side streets, and I was surprised by how much I liked Basel. People always suggest visiting Lucerne, but I thought Basel was more charming, maybe? Once back in Zurich, we video-called the kids, relaxed at our hotel, and went in search of food, which was extra fun to do on New Year’s Eve. Zurich has celebrations around old town and the waterfront, so we grabbed snacks from vendors and enjoyed the lights and sounds (mainly of church bells ringing nonstop). The atmosphere was so festive: Christmas decorations were still up (including humongous real trees in plazas — how are those transported??), the city streets and buildings in Switzerland are enrobed in hanging lights, and people are everywhere walking, talking, shopping, eating, and … smoking. Always the smoking in Europe. We heard the fireworks around midnight from our hotel, but we’re apparently old people who couldn’t stay up late enough to usher in the new year awake. XD
Meandering our way through Basel.
Day 5: We took advantage of our final opportunity to have a leisurely breakfast, then packed and left for the airport at 9am. The trains are not cheap (nothing in Switzerland is cheap, lol) but they are so easy to get around on. Our flight this time was thankfully on time, which we appreciated because we still had a 1.5-hour drive to get back to my parents’ once we landed. We breezed through customs with Global Entry, caught a shuttle straightaway to where our car was parked, and with no traffic, made it back in time for the kids’ bedtime routine.
Final night in Zurich, which also happened to be New Year’s Eve.
We enjoyed nice weather on our trip (as we luckily have on most trips!) and even if the mornings were overcast, the sun came out in the afternoons (like many Bay Area winter days). The mountaintops were sunny both days we went — there was cloud cover at lower elevations, but we would rise above it and look down at a sea of clouds nestled between the mountain peaks that put me in mind of a frothing bubble bath. It was chilly but not terribly cold (mostly in the 20s-30s F), so it was easy to throw on a jacket to go outside. I did feel a little guilty that we had to leave the kids behind with the grandparents, but every time I witnessed a little kid crying on this trip, I reaffirmed that it would not be wise to bring ours along at their current ages. And as parents, we desperately need time to recharge and reconnect, which we were able to do on this true vacation. I do have designs on bringing the kids along when they’re older, and I already have a running list in my head of where we could go as a family. Gotta keep the dream alive!