Last summer, we took the trip of a lifetime with our kids to Switzerland. It’s been a dream of ours to go for a very long time and it finally happened. We met up with my brother and his family as they traveled home for the summer after working abroad in Baku, Azerbiajan.

In total, the trip lasted approximately two weeks. There was so much to pack in, I decided to break up the trip into two separate blog posts. The first half of our trip was spent in both Basel, Switzerland and Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland.

After an entire day of travel from Portland to Switzerland via San Francisco, we finally made it to Zurich. We immediately hopped on the train and headed straight to Basel. Chris has family that lives there and we were scheduled to visit them that evening for dinner. After checking into our hotel, taking the best two hour naps we’ve ever had, we called a taxi and headed over to his aunt and uncle’s home. We shared good wine, food, lots of laughs and great music. It was such a special treat to kick off our trip!

We then spent one entire day exploring Basel which is in the Northern region of Switzerland, and right on the border of both Germany and France. It is also much warmer there than other parts of the country and the day we visited was no different.

We started the day by wading around in the Rhine River. Turns out the river runs a little swifter than we had envisioned. So we didn’t go in far and we didn’t stay long. For perspective, those of you that live in Oregon/Washington, the river is almost as wide as the Columbia as it flows between Portland and Vancouver. On the opposite side of the river from where we were at, there were loads of people with flotation devices floating down the river at a swift pace. It looked really fun though, and definitely something we’d do next time we visit.

We then just slowly traipsed around the city. We found a cute restaurant with outdoor seating and had Coke’s, beers and ice cream. It was perfect for the warm day. Then we just explored the area and took in all the sites we could. We were able to walk the grounds of an old church, Basler Muenster, which was extraordinarily beautiful, especially considering how old it was..

Basel was a gem of a city. It was rich in history and had beautiful architecture throughout. One fun fact we found was that the fountains serve more than one purpose. The first being they all have spouts of fresh water running into them. Locals and tourists alike would fill their water bottles from these spouts or use them like a drinking fountain and drink directly out of them. The second fun fact is that people use these fountains to swim, wade, socialize and cool off in. Now I know what you’re thinking.. drinking the water that people submerge in, gross! But to be clear, the spouts are just like constant running drinking fountains. They are fresh water that keep the fountains full. And upon researching the fountains further, I learned that they are in fact cleaned very regularly in hopes the traditions of spending time in the fountains continues. We had a lot of fun dipping our toes and the youngest three kids swimming in them.

Our time came to a close in Basel, and it was off to Lauterbrunnen. We took the train back to Zurich, met my brother and his family there and departed on another train down to the Lauterbrunnen Valley. We chose to stay in cabins at Camping Jungfrau, which proved to be the perfect set-up for both of our families. The only downside is that it’s on the opposite side of the train station, so we had to haul all of our luggage through town.

After what felt like 10 miles, but was probably only one mile, we checked in and got settled into our cabin. It was a two bedroom, one bath with a living room, kitchen and dining area. Being tired from a day of travel, we opted for dinner in the restaurant on-site that evening. We ordered our first fondue and just relaxed (as much as adults can in the company of six children!).

Our next few days were spent exploring as much of the area as possible. The first day was spent walking further south into the valley toward the Stechelberg gondola station. This location was also the landing site of multiple para-gliders. We grabbed ice cream cones and sat and watched them land over and over again. Back to the gondolas, we chose to purchase the Swiss Travel Pass for our trip. Along with free access to all trains, boats and busses, it also included access to multiple gondolas and panorama trains in the area. So we jumped on the gondola and headed up to the first stop of Gimmelwald and disembarked at the next stop, Murren.

We explored Mürren a bit, a quaint little cliffside town, high atop the Swiss Alps.

As we strolled through town, we came upon a funicular, a mountainside railway that operates by cable with ascending and descending cars counterbalancing each other. We took it further up the mountain to Allmendhubel, which had a fun park (all the parks we came upon in Switzerland were amazing and had something to do for all the kids who ranged in age from 2-12) and a restaurant.

We stayed really busy for the rest of our trip. Chris was able to get in contact with some family members and spent time with them. We also were able to find the home his Grandma grew up in, took photos in front of it and even spoke with a great-nephew/cousin that still lived in the home. We swam in the local swimming pool, rented bikes from Imboden Bike and rode up the valley, and had picnic lunches of breads, meats and cheeses nearly every day.

My sister-in-law tried (and succeeded) in talking us into going para-gliding! After much consideration, I agreed to book it. The morning we had planned to go, the weather was not in our favor though so we unfortunately had to cancel. I was slightly relieved thinking I get to live to see another day! But I also surprisingly found myself disappointed that I wouldn’t be checking this incredible adventure off my bucket list. So I tried over and over to re-book, and it just didn’t work out with our itinerary. Luckily, we were able to book a flight on the second half of our trip.

My brother and sister-in-law did get to partake in an adventurous hike, the Mürren Via Ferrata. Via Ferrata is Italian for ‘Iron Way.’ It is basically a cliffside hike, high atop the sheer cliffs above Lauterbrunnen, with cables, iron pins and footholds keeping you from falling to the valley floor. If (when!) we go back to Lauterbrunnen, I would definitely want to do this experience.

One of our days there, we spent up at Männlichen. To get there, we used our Swiss Travel Pass and took the train up to Wengen. It was the cutest, car-free town. We spent some time in the middle of town, honing our slack-line skills, playing chess on a life-sized chess board and doing our best to stay out of the hot sun.

After awhile, we got on the gondola that took us further up to the Männlichen viewpoint. The viewpoint consisted of a park, viewpoints and a restaurant/lodge that served food and drinks. Männlichen is at the crest between Wengen and Grindlewald, another popular Swiss town. The focal part of the park was a giant, wooden elephant that the kids (and adults!) could climb in and slide out of. Of course, I didn’t get any photos of this park, I was too busy taking pictures from the top, the views were magnificent. We played on the elephant structure and on all the other neat pieces of play equipment and ordered drinks and snacks from the lodge and enjoyed them on the outdoor terrace. The parks that we visited were all so great and this one was no exception.

Trümmelbach Falls was another fun place to adventure and sightsee. It is a series of waterfalls, ten in total, that swiftly cascade inside the mountain. After we paid our admission, the boys and I went in. We took a lift car higher up in the mountain and then hiked a bit further up. The falls were so impressive, according to the website, the water rushes at a rate of 20,000 liters/second. We had to take turns going in watching Josie and our niece and nephew because children under the age of 5 were not permitted. It was dark and cold inside the mountain, but we managed to survive.

Our last morning there, I got up early to try and find a famous photo spot I’ve seen over and over while researching our trip. I walked along the river, across the river and towards town. As I got close to town, I turned to face the church and found the photo sight. It’s a beautiful view of the valley, the church and Staubbach falls.

I still had plenty of time before we were to check-out, so I decided to walk up the trail that leads behind Staubbach Falls. Being so early, I nearly had the trail to myself, only crossing paths with two other groups. The first part was paved and easy, but as I went along, the trail turned to stairs and steep paths. I was glad the kids weren’t with me for this one, I know they would’ve spent the majority of the time whining. But I finally reached the top and it was so neat to see the waterfall from the other side.

It was then time to pack up and be on our way to our next destination, Meiringen. But before we left, we stopped in front of the house Chris’s grandma grew up in one last time for a family photo. Our stay in Lauterbrunnen was unlike any trip we’ve ever taken and I know we’d all love to visit again someday. Stay tuned for a post on our stay in Meiringen!