Switzerland Itinerary with Kids: Top Things To Do In Jungfrau

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We traveled to 28 countries in 2024 and when each of us wrote down our top 5, two countries made every single family member’s list: Egypt and Switzerland. We all completely fell in love with Switzerland – Dan and I had been before but only briefly, and it was new for all the kids. We visited the Jungfrau region and I was worried it wouldn’t live up to the very high expectations we had from glowing reviews from many friends, but if anything, it exceeded them. The beauty, fun playgrounds, immense nature, and accessibility mixed with adventure activities were a great fit for us. Plus, since our visit one of my kids wants to move to Switzerland and still regularly brings it up months later!

And if you’d like a quick printable version, you can download our FREE PDF mini guide + itinerary for visiting Switzerland with kids!

Download FREE Switzerland Printable Guide + Itinerary

Jungfrau Map: Best Things To Do in Switzerland With Kids

See THIS MAP to view all the best sites for a Switzerland family vacation!

MAP: Best Switzerland Itinerary for Families

Tips for Visiting Switzerland With Kids

What to Wear In Switzerland: Minimal Packing Essentials for Families

Especially with a big family, it’s important for us to pack minimally so we don’t feel totally overwhelmed when we travel. Here are some of our favorite minimal packing essentials for families!

Merino Wool Base Layers, Socks, & Sweaters: Here are my favorite base layers to use as pajamas or to layer under clothing in cold weather. All our favorite merino wool base layers and wool socks for the whole family are linked HERE!
Diaper Belt Bag: I absolutely love this little bag because it holds so much but is really compact and easy to wear with a variety of outfits. You can use the code PASSPORTFAM10 for 10% off.
Packing Cubes: I love packing cubes for keeping things organized, contained, and compact. These are my favorite expandable packing cubes, and I also love these.
Lightweight Women’s Pants: I absolutely adore these pants for travel because they’re SO comfortable, fold super small, and dry in a flash. More about why I love them HERE.
Lightweight Packable Coat: I love this lightweight packable parka because it is really warm and good for layering, and folds into a bag a little bigger than a water bottle when not in use. My kids have also used these coats for years and they’re excellent because they fold up easily but are warm and layer well. They have a big line of them for the whole family.
Shoes: I often only take one pair of shoes – either my favorite white sneakers or my beloved black Chelsea boots. More about both shoes HERE. For my kids, we really love Keen shoes because they’re durable and waterproof. For summer, we love these hiking sneakers or these close-toed hiking sandals. For winter, we love these boots or these waterproof hiking boot options.
40L Backpack: I love this kids backpacking backpack because it’s roomy, easily fits in most carry on requirements on airplanes, and fits really comfortably. (My 6 year old uses the smaller 18L version, and my 3 year old uses the even smaller 12L version.)
Pop Up Tent Baby Bed: We’ve had this super lightweight baby travel bed for over a decade. We love it so much because it’s so lightweight and fits easily in a suitcase without having to take a bulky and heavy pack n play.
Lightweight Folding Baby Carrier: I absolutely love this baby carrier because it’s supportive but still lightweight and weighs about a pound.

For more packing ideas here’s what I packed for:

Where to Stay in Jungfrau Region With Kids

We chose to stay in Grindelwald and overall we’re glad we chose it. Grindelwald is really central and it’s easy to get to a lot of different places from there. Since we were driving to the area on a big Euro road trip, it was nice to be in a town that had parking where we could easily take out all our stuff. It also made it easier to cook (and save money!) in our cabin instead of not really being able to carry groceries in addition to our luggage.

If we weren’t driving, we may have chosen somewhere like Wengen, which is smaller and car free but still has some restaurants and services. That said, Grindelwald makes it much easier to get to places like Grindelwald First, Pfingstegg, Glacier Canyon, etc., and we would’ve spent a lot more time in transit if we were coming from Wengen each time.

Lauterbrunnen is also lovely but is different views as it’s down at the bottom and on the other side of the mountain from Grindelwald. It’s smaller and has fewer (and in our experience far more expensive) lodging options than Grindelwald that are also more spread out (a car would be more useful there). You can get to Wengen easily from Lauterbrunnen but it takes longer to get to all the other places. You do need to go through Lauterbrunnen to get to Murren, though, so if you’re interested in going to the flower playground, that’s a great option.

We stayed one night in Murren at the end of our time and it was stunning. (We stayed HERE.) It was even quieter than Wengen, and honestly pretty sleepy. I’m glad we stayed there as Dan and our oldest kiddo did the Murren via ferrata early one morning, and they were able to start super early since we were staying so close. But they could’ve also come up from Lauterbrunnen, which would be more central for exploring other stuff, and just taken the cable car to Grütschalp (and then the train from there to Murren).

Interlaken would definitely feel too far away for my preference.

If I were to do it again, I’d extend our time just a bit and spend 3-4 nights in Grindelwald and 2-3 in Lauterbrunnen, or perhaps in Wengen. I just really don’t like spending tons of time in transit so I personally prefer the easy access to lots of places from Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen!

How To Get Around Jungfrau Region Switzerland

Switzerland has an excellent public transit system, from trains, buses, boats, and cable cars. If you are mostly staying in a particular region, your best bet would be a regional pass. We opted for the Berner Oberland pass, which covers transport in Interlaken, Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, and Mürren, as well as free and discounted rides on mountain railways.

If you plan to explore beyond Jungfrau/a single region, the Swiss Travel Pass offers unlimited travel on trains, buses, and boats across Switzerland. While regions like Jungfrau are mostly car-free, travel across Switzerland and beyond may call for a car rental.

Here’s my favorite place for discount car rentals

And if you do end up needing to drive, here is a complete post about traveling with car seats. And here are our favorites by age:

Favorite Infant Car Seat For Travel Available at: Amazon, Target, Walmart
Favorite Convertible Car Seat For Travel Available at: Walmart
Favorite Booster Restrain Vest For Travel Available at: RideSafer
Favorite Booster Seat For Travel Available at: Amazon

How Long To Spend in Jungfrau Switzerland with Kids

We had 5 full days and it was absolutely amazing as a first trip to Jungfrau with kids. We would’ve honestly loved another day or two, especially to experience some of the waterfalls and other activities in Lauterbrunnen. So if you are able to spend a full week in Jungfrau with kids, I’d recommend it. That said, we did take a morning where Dan and our eldest did a via ferrata and we enjoyed our lovely hotel restaurant views, so you could squeeze that in then (including a bike ride through Lauterbrunnen) if you don’t do that. So I’d say 4-5 days minimum, but more is better if you can swing it!

Switzerland Itinerary With Kids: Things To Do In Jungfrau

Day 1: Switzerland Itinerary

Drive to Grindelwald from Liechtenstein
Check in cabin
Grindelwald playground (with unexpected injury and medical care)
Groceries and homemade dinner in the cabin

We spent our first day driving from Liechtenstein to Grindelwald before checking into our cabin. We absolutely loved staying here! It was so cozy, spacious, and really lovely for our family. It was a great location and really beautiful, upgraded space, and I definitely recommend staying here if visiting Grindelwald with kids. We then headed to Grindelwald Playground – I cannot say enough how incredible the playgrounds are in Switzerland! Unfortunately, one of our kids took a fall and ended up needing some glue to the head! Fortunately, we were able to get it taken care of quickly and the injury wasn’t worse. We had time to pick up some groceries in town and had dinner in our cabin.

Day 2: Switzerland Itinerary

Cable car from Grindelwald to Männlichen
Männlichen cow playground
Wengen-Männlichen cable car to Wengen
Picnic lunch outside Wengen station
Wengen marble runs
Cable car back to Männlichen and gondola to Holenstein
Holenstein Treetop Path playground
Gondola back to Grindelwald

Jungfrau, like other regions of Switzerland, is largely car-free. To get around, you’ll want to purchase a regional pass to use the cable cars and other public transit. We purchased the Berner Oberland passes online – more on why we chose this pass and how to get around Switzerland here.

We started our day taking the gondola cable car from Grindelwald to Mannlichen. A note – this cable car is at the Grindelwald Terminal, which is NOT right in town. So plan on a walk, drive, or bus to get there. Once in Mannlichen, our first stop was the cow playground. It was cloudy this first day so we didn’t get views, but we were able to return another day! And the kids still had an absolute blast despite the lack of views – it’s such a fun playground and all our kids (ages 1 to 13 at the time) loved it.

Next, we took the Wengen-Mannlichen aerial cable car to Wengen. We paid an extra 5 euros for the Royal Ride to ride on top! The open air balcony was so much fun and worth the extra few dollars. Once we arrived at the Wengen station, we purchased wooden balls for the local ball runs. Before heading through the city we had a quick picnic lunch outside the station.

We ended up spending a few hours taking the route through the city for a couple hours to do all the ball runs. (More on the Wengen marble runs here.) It was SO FUN! We brought lots of snacks with us, but we easily could have spend much longer and gotten dinner in town.

Instead we took the aerial cable car back up to Mannlichen. We were going to walk from Mannlichen down to Holenstein, which takes about 90 minutes and has a cute scavenger hunt. But we were a bit tight on time and didn’t want to miss the last cable car from Holenstein back down to Grindelwald (that’s a much longer walk down)! So we took the gondola from Mannlichen to Holenstein, saw the scavenger hunt from above (it’s a few points and not super extensive, but a lovely walk), and played at the Holenstein Treetop Path playground. Finally, we took the gondola from Holenstein back down to Grindelwald.

Day 3: Switzerland Itinerary

Gondola to Grindelwald First
Grindelwald First Cliff Walk
Hike to Bachalpsee Alpine Lake
Gondola to Bort + playground
Gondola to Grindelwald Firstbahn
Pfingstegg cable car
Pfingstegg toboggan
Bus to Grindelwald Glacier Canyon

Our third day in Switzerland began with a gondola ride to Grindelwald First. This is from Grindelwald Firstbahn, which IS in town and easier to access than Grindelwald Terminal. We did the Grindelwald First Cliff Walk. Th walkway has breathtaking views of the Swiss Alps and the iconic Eiger. I definitely recommend that you get there early before crowds build!

Next we hiked to Bachalpsee Alpine Lake. It’s a loop trail of about 4-5 miles that has some elevation gain but not a ton. Gorgeous views along the way. It took us about 3 hours round trip with a lengthy stop for lunch & play. Beware of the goats that will try VERY hard to eat your food! Dan of course swam because he cannot resist any body of water, and it surprisingly wasn’t freezing. But it wasn’t the very most crystal clear water, so I don’t know that I’d go out of your way to swim unless you’re super committed. We opted not to do any of the extra activities like the Flyer or the carts since we’ve done lots of ziplines and other things before and we didn’t want to wasted a bunch of time waiting in line. Plus, we knew we were doing the toboggan later.

We took the Grindelwald First gondola down to Bort and took to quick break to play at playground there. Then hopped back on gondola down to Grindelwald Firstbahn. We walked a few minutes over to Pfingsteggbahn to take the cable car up to Pfingstegg. We did the toboggan and also enjoyed lots of slides, bouncy houses, and play spaces for our littlest who was too small to go on the toboggan.

From there we took a bus over to Grindelwald Glacier Canyon. We walked to the end and back, which took us about 1-1.5 hours. It was nice, and would be good if you have a gray or drizzly day. That said, we’ve been in several glacier canyons and I wouldn’t put this on the list if you’re short on time. We had the time and I’m glad we went! And the netted walkway over the canyon was very cool!

Day 4: Switzerland Itinerary

Eiger Express gondola to Eiger Glacier station to Jungfrau Railway
Jungfraujoch – Aletsch Glacier, Sphinx Observatory and Ice Palace
Train and gondola back to Grindelwald Terminal to Männlichen
Männlichen cow playground
Hike Panorama Trail from Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg
Train to Grindelwald Terminal
Pick up car and drive to Lauterbrunnen
Cable car to Murren & check into hotel for night

We really debated whether to do Jungfraujoch while there – it’s quite expensive and I’d heard it was pretty touristy. But we realized that with our Berner Oberland passes, Dan and I got quite a discount, and the kids were all totally free. So we decided to go for it. And I’m glad we did – it was actually way cooler than I anticipated!

On the way up to Jungfraujoch, we decided to go up the newer, faster way. First, we took the Eiger Express gondola from Grindelwald Terminal to the Eiger Glacier station. From there, we switched to the Jungfrau Railway. This actually went through the Eiger and the Monch to Jungfraujoch, which is the highest railway station in Europe.

While at Jungfraujoch, we went out to view the glacier, which was absolutely stunning. The views were phenomenal from the Observatory and we could see for ages – definitely try to plan this for a clear day if you go up. We also loved walking through the Ice Palace, this was truly so neat and the kids loved it. We also did a chocolate tasting at the Lindt shop. We didn’t have time for the Snow Fun Park (and it’s an extra charge to do activities there), so we skipped it and headed back down.

From there, we took the train/gondola back to Grindelwald Terminal, and then the other gondola from Grindelwald Terminal back up to Mannlichen. We played a bit at the cow playground in beautiful sunshine with stunning views!

Next, we hiked the Panorama Trail from Mannlichen down to Kleine Scheidegg. It was absolutely stunning and I HIGHLY recommend this trail. It’s downhill from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg, and the views are much prettier going that directly (you’re walking basically directly toward the Eiger), so it’s very accessible even for kids.

Ideally we would’ve done the Panorama Trail first in the day down to Kleine Scheidegg, taken the short train from there to the Eigergletcher station, and then take the Jungfrau Railway from there up to Jungfraujoch, then from Jungfraujoch back down to Grindelwald. Instead, we went up to Jungfraujoch and all the way back to Grindelwald, then up to Mannlichen back down. However, it was a beautiful day and we were worried timed slots would run out to go up to Jungfraujoch and that we wouldn’t have time to go up. So even though it added an extra leg of the journey, we figured it was worth it. Doing this probably added 30-40 minutes or so. The second time back down after we hiked from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg, we took the old train back down to Grindelwald Terminal instead of the Eiger Express gondola. The train is much slower than the gondola but it was a lovely view and a fun experience on one of the old forms of transportation in the region.

If we could’ve split this day into two, I think that would’ve been great. It would’ve allowed us more time at Jungfraujoch, and would’ve allowed us to hike part of the Eiger Trail, as well, and eat lunch at Restaurant Grindelwaldblick, which I’d heard great things about.

After that, we grabbed our car parked at our lodging in Grindelwald and drove over to Lauterbrunnen. Since we had our car there from our big Europe road trip, anyway, this was easier, but you can also take the train from Grindelwald to Lauterbrunnen. We parked in Lauterbrunnen and took the cable car/train up to Murren, where we stayed the night HERE. Our hotel was super lovely and Dan and I enjoyed a delightful fondue on the restaurant deck after the kids were in bed. Plus, one of our rooms had THE most spectacular sunset view of the Eiger! It was also a perfect spot for the next morning’s adventure, and was more affordable than lots of places in Murren.

Day 5: Switzerland Itinerary

Dan and N hike Murren Via Ferrata
Funicular to Allmendhubel to flower playground
Back to Lauterbrunnen to pick up car
Lauterbrunnen waterfalls
Drive to France

While in Murren, Dan and our eldest (who was almost 14 at the time and has had quite a bit of experience hiking, and some climbing and loves both) hiked the Murren Via Ferrata trail. There are a number of Via Ferratas in Switzerland, but this is one of the more accessible ones, and is also quite popular. There are guided tours that take you on it, but those tend to be pricier. If you’ve never done anything like this before and don’t have experience with harnessing and clipping/unclipping with multiple carabiners, I’d ABSOLUTELY recommend going with a guide for your own safety and comfort (this and this are great options).

While they were doing this, the other kids and I had a lovely leisurely breakfast at our hotel – it was super lovely and had tons of options and the most spectacular views. Definitely recommend staying here if you choose Murren!

Whether to Do A Switzerland Via Ferrata with Kids

We’ve done a number of small via ferratas in multiple places, and were quite familiar with the concept. Dan felt confident taking N. I, on the other hand, don’t love heights and so I was happy to stay behind with the younger kids. I would do it sometime, but I know there are multiple extremely sheer drops (like 2000 ft straight down kind of drops), and I didn’t feel confident going on my own or taking N by myself. But Dan and N absolutely LOVED it!

Our next two kiddos, then almost 12 and almost 10, also really wanted to go, and I’m confident they would’ve done great on it. They aren’t afraid of heights, are scrappy and good at climbing and hiking, strong, and are familiar and experienced with how via ferratas work. That said, all via ferrata lanyards are only rated down to a weight minimum of 40kg. Below that, you’d need to be really familiar with rope and belay techniques, and I still wouldn’t really recommend it, especially with such sheer drops. If a child did fall, it would be really difficult to get the leverage to pull them back up unless you knew exactly what you were doing and how to belay, or you’d risk needing a helicopter rescue. On the other hand, if you tried just using the via ferrata lanyard for a smaller person, you’d risk it not engaging fully and falling much further, risking injury and inability to ascend back up. For us, since our kids were between 10-20kg below that minimum, it just wasn’t worth the risk. We figure we’ll just have to go back and do it again sometime!

Afterwards, we all headed up to Allmendhubel to the flower playground. You can walk up there from Murren, but it’s pretty much straight uphill and takes about 45 minutes to an hour. It’s much easier to take the funicular! Knowing we wanted to visit this playground was part of why we chose the Berner Oberland pass instead of the Jungfrau pass, since the Allmendhubel funicular is included in the former. We LOVED this playground – so cute and fun with absolutely breathtaking views.

We then grabbed our stuff and headed back to Lauterbrunnen for a quick drive to see some waterfalls, which are all through the town and beyond. We wanted to do a bike ride along to view waterfalls but didn’t have time this time!

Other Things To Do In Jungfrau: On Our List for Next Time

Obviously there’s PLENTY more for us to see in Switzerland! Five days felt like a wonderful taster for us and we got to see and do so much. AND we’re itching to return! Here’s what we’re hoping to do on a future visit: