Welcome to the TravelPod forums

[aprilcsmith]

Next summer my family will travel to Switzerland for the month of July. We frequently spend months abroad, but this is our first trip to Europe, and our first international trip with our 16 month old - who will be 2 for the trip. We would like any suggestions available about where to base our trip.
We are an "outdoor family," so we enjoy hiking, and just generally being outside. My husband is a great photographer and loves to take photos (mostly nature and landscape) of the countries we visit. We definitely want to be based in the Swiss Alps somewhere...I was thinking the Bernese Oberland, but can't decide on an appropriate village. Wengen and Lauterbrunnen look very appealing. We want to be able to walk throughout the village for shopping, eating, etc., and easily catch trains or buses to other villages nearby. We don't mind renting a car if if would make the trip more enjoyable in some fashion (long distance travel at our own pace, etc.), but train transport would obviously be desirable, and probably less expensive.
Any suggestions would be very helpful. I would like to book an apartment/chalet sometime in the next few weeks before things start to fill up.

Thanks so much!!

[travelingdiva]

Hi,

Welcome to the TravelPod forum! Summer in Switzerland is a great choice. If Lauterbrunnen is appealing to you then go for it - it is a great place for outdoor adventures. It is the off-season in the mountains so you shouldn't have a problem booking so far in advance. Train travel is really easy in Switzerland. The buses are also really great and surprisingly agile around the mountain curves. Being up in the Alps will mean longer travel to get back down to the valley and then to wherever your destination is but I'm not sure driving is any better. The trains run frequently between large cities but if you wan to travel to the other side of Switzerland, such as in Graubunden, you'll have a long drive ahead of you and it is more direct to take a car.

Please see the Switzerland Starter Kit post for more information about traveling around by train. There are links to buy train passes which are much cheaper for foreigners when bought in your home country.

Safe and happy travels!

Laura

[krishnakurien]

Next summer my family will travel to Switzerland for the month of July. We frequently spend months abroad, but this is our first trip to Europe, and our first international trip with our 16 month old - who will be 2 for the trip. We would like any suggestions available about where to base our trip.
We are an "outdoor family," so we enjoy hiking, and just generally being outside. My husband is a great photographer and loves to take photos (mostly nature and landscape) of the countries we visit. We definitely want to be based in the Swiss Alps somewhere...I was thinking the Bernese Oberland, but can't decide on an appropriate village. Wengen and Lauterbrunnen look very appealing. We want to be able to walk throughout the village for shopping, eating, etc., and easily catch trains or buses to other villages nearby. We don't mind renting a car if if would make the trip more enjoyable in some fashion (long distance travel at our own pace, etc.), but train transport would obviously be desirable, and probably less expensive.
Any suggestions would be very helpful. I would like to book an apartment/chalet sometime in the next few weeks before things start to fill up.

Thanks so much!!

Hello
Won't you like to do something different this time you go out with your family. I bet you won't find a better place than Wengen. It's a wonderful village. The fact that its car free makes it clearly pollution-free. But there's a railway system. So you don't have to worry about transport. The people of Wengen are simply wonderful. I liked their simplicity. There culture, tradition and folk music have a lot to say. But the best part is the ski race they have. Your husband is surely going to have a good time clicking the most awesome photos of ski racers. he may even end up throwing his camera and skiing himself!