Switzerland Itinerary: Visit Switzerland With Kids On a Budget

What To Know First About Our Switzerland Itinerary

Before breaking down all of the best things to do in Switzerland that we found, I wanted to give you a brief overview of our particular family travel style. Since we actually live in Europe with kids, we prefer a slower style of family travel. We usually stay in one location a bit longer and see less things in one day than the average family vacation itinerary would contain. 

Our typical day when traveling with kids has one main activity starting in the mid-morning or middle of the day. Then we relax for a few hours at the hotel or airbnb before venturing out for dinner somewhere. We do this for lots of reasons, but mainly because we need to get a little bit of work done while on vacation. (I know, it’s not ideal to work on vacation, but we’re entrepreneurs, so it’s gotta be done!)

This particular Switzerland itinerary was a little fuller than our usual ‘slow’ style of family travel.

We were trying to keep our trip to Switzerland on a budget (like we always do). But it was also just ONE part of our road trip through Europe with kids. This limited our time to experience Switzerland a bit more than our typical family vacation, and we wanted to make the most of each day.

That being said, you can use our activities and experiences below to create the best Switzerland itinerary for YOUR family vacation! You can easily plan for a 5 day itinerary in Switzerland and keep it more relaxed like we did. Or, condense things down into an itinerary for Switzerland for 3 days for a more action-packed experience! No matter what you choose, there are endless things to see in Switzerland with kids, even in a small town like Crans-Montana. 

Okay, let’s get started! Are you ready to travel to Switzerland with us?!

Our first day in Switzerland with kids was really fun in the most unexpected way! To kick off our Switzerland family vacation, we decided to explore the little ski town of Crans Montana. We found so many of the best things to do in Switzerland without even leaving the little town!

First of all, there are activities going on year-round in Crans Montana. Since we visited Switzerland in summer, there was a great festival going on, called the Am Stram Gram! This festival happens every summer in Crans Montana, Switzerland and has TONS of activities for the whole family to enjoy. There are market stalls to explore, yummy foods to try, concerts, crafts, and so much more. 

After walking around the festival for a bit (and enjoying a few sweet treats), we decided to head to the lake! The lake you often see in photos with the cool ‘Crans Montana’ sign is actually labeled Etang Grenon on Google maps. (I want to point that out because there are a couple of other lakes in this area as well.) You can find it by heading to this Central Park location here. 

At the lake in the center of Crans Montana, you can find all of the standard best things to do in Switzerland lakes. They have paddle boating, kayaking, and you can rent bikes at the lake’s rental station as well.

We wanted to try the paddle boats, and had so much fun taking turns on the pedals! (It’s no small feat trying to maneuver a small boat with six people on board!)

For lunch, we visited the Crans Cafe and Pizzeria. This was a cute little spot on the main strip fairly close to the lake. We enjoyed their pizza selection and the hubby had a nice chicken breast with fries, since he has a gluten allergy. Their prices were pretty budget friendly and overall we had a great lunch!

Lastly, we explored the playgrounds around the area and enjoyed some ice cream!

We didn’t get a chance to try out all of the fun activities in the town center. But there were TONS of different things to do that could easily occupy an entire day of your family’s Switzerland itinerary!

Where to stay in Switzerland with kids?

Before I move on to the rest of our Switzerland itinerary, I realize that I should probably explain where we stayed on our Switzerland family vacation in Crans Montana. 

Since we’re a relatively large family, we needed to stay somewhere with plenty of space. But I also wanted to wake up to a nice view in the mornings. Our flat in Switzerland did NOT disappoint! Of all the wonderful things to see in Switzerland, the mountain views were definitely my favorite. The mountains looked different every day because of how the clouds would shift in the sky. It was a surreal experience, and I loved having coffee on our balcony in the morning.

We stayed in this lovely 2 bedroom Airbnb condo with an unobstructed view of the mountains. But there is another unit in the same building available on Booking.com if you are a Genius rewards member (or, like me, prefer the standardized customer service on Booking over AirBnb’s slap-stick attempt at customer service.)

I do have an entire blog post about how we find great accommodations for our family on a tight travel budget. It’s a great read for accommodation booking tips and search strategies as well! 

Our condo was about a 15-20 minute walk to get into the town center (and about a 30 minute walk to the main lake), which wasn’t bad at all and well worth the views from our living room, balcony and kitchen windows!

On the second day of our Switzerland family vacation, we decided to take a gondola ride up to the glacier at the top of the mountain! If you’ve never taken a gondola ride, make sure to put it on your MUST-TRY list of things to see in Switzerland! The views are absolutely breathtaking! Everything is so green, and the lakes are so blue! It truly is a special way to experience Switzerland with kids. 

The glacier at the top of the gondola ride is called the Plaine Morte Glacier. In the summer there is very little (if any) snow, leaving just a tiny bit of the glacier visible at the very top. This makes it a good spot for hiking in Switzerland with kids. In other months, it can be quite snowy and cold, so dress accordingly if you decide to go. 

This was also a fairly budget friendly activity since it took us up to hike the glacier, which was GREAT! We spent between $15 to $25 per person to take the gondola that went all the way up to the Glacier. There are other gondolas that are a bit cheaper if you’re not planning on visiting the glacier area.

By the way, Switzerland’s local currency is CHF, not Euros. You can read all about how this works during your Switzerland itinerary in my awesome Travel To Switzerland Tips post!

To take the gondola to go to the small glacier on top of the mountain, you’ll want to get the tickets for the Access 3000m. You can compare all of the different gondola lift tickets on their website to plan YOUR best Switzerland itinerary & maximize your family travel budget.

If you have more time in your Switzerland itinerary, I would definitely suggest taking the 1.5 hour drive out to the Glacier 3000 park instead. It’s actually not far from Crans-Montana, but the roads take you around the mountains, so the drive is actually quite scenic as well. 

Not only is this glacier quite a good size, even in summer, there are other activities that you can enjoy to make the trip feel like a fun Switzerland adventure. It is most certainly NOT a budget friendly activity as ticket prices can be quite expensive! But they also have a suspension bridge (the Peak Walk) between the two mountain peaks, a small sledding area for small children, and an awesome Alpine coaster. The Alpine coaster is said to be the world’s highest toboggan, which is pretty neat! That makes it easy to turn into a full or half-day activity on your family’s best Switzerland itinerary.

You can check out their direct website on the day you plan to go to see which activities are open, since they are weather permitting. But the tickets are often cheaper on the Viator (a TripAdvisor Company) page for Glacier3000. So keep that in mind when planning your visit.

After having a fun day hiking and exploring glaciers, you can take the gondola right back down again and enjoy a nice leisurely dinner back in the town.

If you decide to visit Glacier 3000 instead, I definitely suggest avoiding their restaurant.

Instead, you’ll pass through a small town called Les Diablerets on your drive to and from Glacier 3000. There are several restaurants with better prices in the town there.

If you’re able to leave Glacier3000 early enough (which means getting there early enough also, which is our struggle LOL!!) then you can drive back to Crans-Montana to eat. There are significantly more restaurant choices, plus grocery stores if you’re trying to visit Switzerland on a budget. 

I actually have a GREAT blog post specifically filled with tips for visiting Switzerland on a budget here. So you’ll definitely want to open that in a new tab to read next!

For our own particular Switzerland family vacation, we opted to eat dinner at Chez Chico Parrilla Argentina. This was a DELICIOUS Argentine restaurant right in the heart of town. It was especially fun because they had activity placemats with crayons for kids and funny bibs to wear. They also had plenty of options for our entire family to eat, which was great.

Day 3 was a little more active than the second day of our Switzerland itinerary. Our whole family had the BEST time on this day! We started our day with a short drive down from Crans-Montana into a town in the valley below called Sion. 

This was where we took the coolest boat ride through an underwater cave! For us adults, it was definitely one of the best things to do in Switzerland throughout our entire Switzerland family vacation. We still look back on this boat ride (and photos) and definitely want to do similar activities in the future! But the kids also enjoyed this activity as well.

The Underground Lake of St. Leonard, aka the Lac Souterrain St. Leonard, offers a 30 minute guided boat ride through the cave’s lake.

There are a few activities in the entrance area to entertain the kids and provide historical information about how the cave was formed.

It was pretty interesting, and our kids enjoyed the visit! It was also a nice break from the summer heat. You absolutely have to purchase tickets in advance, and they are only available directly on their website.

We actually have a separate post coming about our review of the boat tour, in case you want to check that out. The entire experience was very cool, and the picture here really doesn’t do it justice! If you’re within an hour’s driving distance, I would definitely suggest adding this to your Switzerland itinerary!

We spent about an hour at the spot, then ventured a little further into the valley to a large(ish) grocery store called Coop for an affordable picnic lunch. (We’re all about picnics to help keep our trip to Switzerland on a budget!)

Once we filled our bellies with some sandwiches, fruit and soft drinks, we headed back up towards Crans-Montana just a bit to a small children’s theme park called HappyLand. At just about $25 per person (kids or adults), HappyLand is a fun but affordable spot with kids rides, slides, and playground type of activities. 

They close at 5:00 pm on weekdays, and 6:00 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and it takes about 2-3 hours to make your way through the small park to enjoy each of the rides. It was a classic, old-fashioned type of theme park that reminded me of town fairs as a child.

HappyLand has plenty of things that the adults and teens can do along with the smaller children. But if you don’t have smaller children with you on your Switzerland family vacation, then HappyLand is probably rather boring. Most of the activities are targeted towards primary school children.

That being said, we all had a blast at HappyLand! We enjoyed the swing-style zipline, the little log-boat splash ride, and of course the giant, colorful slide you ride down on burlap sacks. 

And we all had quite a bit of fun seeing the little ones on the rides for smaller kids as well. 

In the peak of summer, HappyLand can get quite hot in the sunshine, so be sure to stock up on water before you visit. (This is where I remind you that I’m a hydration fanatic, and to check out my list of 5 MUST-HAVE travel essentials for families where I go into more depth about this.)

After heading back to Crans-Montana, we opted to eat at a fantastic burger restaurant that had gluten-free buns called Burger Lounge. It was definitely delicious and I really debated ordering extra sides of fries because they were some of the best we’d ever had!

Yes, I know, our food choices here weren’t the most authentic for our Switzerland itinerary, but with a celiac intolerance and some food sensitivities with one of our (autistic) kiddos, it’s just easier to eat at places you know everyone will enjoy. (Especially since restaurants in Switzerland on a budget are a bit harder to find.)

Day 4 of our Switzerland family vacation was definitely NOT what we had expected to do for the day. In fact, we had planned a super fun and adventurous day on day 4 of our Switzerland itinerary! First, I’ll go over what we actually had planned, since finding great things to see in Switzerland is the whole reason you’re reading this post. If you want to read about how our actual day went, I’ll add that afterwards. 

Our plan for this day (according to our pre-planned Switzerland itinerary) was to go to a nearby suspension bridge that had a zipline.

The bridge, called the Pont du Suspendu, had GREAT views and was relatively doable for all of our kids’ ages. A couple of us older ones were going to do the zipline. My husband, who has a sincere fear of heights (courtesy of his flying experiences in the US Navy), was going to wait for us with the younger children on the other side of the bridge. 

Run by BungyNiouc, the suspension bridge is open on weekends from April to October, and also on weekdays in mid summer. (You can see the hours on their website.) There is a tandem swing and bungee jumping as well, for the more adventurous family members. (None of us were feeling quite that adventurous, however.) 

The various activities at the Pont Du Suspendu bridge are, by far, some of the best things to do in Switzerland for action-loving travelers. 

To walk across the bridge costs approx. 5 CHF per adult, and is free for kids under 16. The Pont du Suspendu Bridge has some unique history, if you’d like to read about it before your visit. The zipline activity is 20 CFH for kids 16 and under, and 25 CHF for adults. 

If your kids aren’t quite so fond of heights (or bridges), there’s also a fun adventure park called the FunForest Park Valais. They have different ‘adventure’ tracks organized by age. This makes it a great family activity for all ages to enjoy. 

The easiest track is for kids between 2 and 4 years old, and costs only 5 CHF per child. There are several other kids tracks (based on age/difficulty) for 25 CHF per person. The hardest track, for ages 16 and up, is 40 CFH.

You can also buy a 3 hour ‘fun pack’ for slightly less money, with a discount for 3 or more people. (Simply click on each track option to see the price and details.)

Here’s where things get interesting, however. Our original plan was to do the suspension bridge, and then head to the FunForest park. We figured our two younger kids would probably not enjoy the bridge as much, so we balanced out our Switzerland itinerary with both activities.

Alas, even the best of plans can go awry. We ended up getting a late start on the day, especially since the day before was already quite active. Even though we’ve been to plenty of other ‘active’ places in Europe with kids, we were not prepared for quite so much moving and playing!  That being said, our entire family still considers Switzerland to be one of the best European family vacation destinations! We would happily visit Switzerland again with more downtime worked into our itinerary. 

What ended up happening instead of our ‘planned’ itinerary for Day 4 was still quite fun and enjoyable! Since Crans Montana was a ski-resort town, there were TONS of fun, family-friendly activities in the town center. (Again, Crans Montana is definitely one of the more unique places to visit in Switzerland with kids!)

Since we were late waking up and getting ready for the day, we decided to venture back into the town center. We wanted to try some of the activities that we didn’t have time for on the first day of our Switzerland itinerary. We let the kids play at several different playgrounds, and then we tried out the mini-golf course. 

There was also a great little spot at the top of a smaller gondola with a bounce house, trampoline, and small restaurant. This made a great pit stop for lunch! After lunch, we headed back down the gondola and joined in a wood carving workshop.

We were so glad we choose Crans Montana to travel in Switzerland with kids! There was just so much to do without even leaving the small town!

Lastly, we explored a bit more of the town’s main streets and shops. My older two kids bought their first traditional Swiss army knives, complete with a fun engraving. 

My middle child actually engraved her knife with the words ‘UR MOM.’ She then proceeded to joke about having to set ‘your mom’ on you as often as she could. I eventually lost my patience and told her to stop. (It’s funnier now than it was at the moment.)

Side note: Don’t let your husband supervise the pocket knife engravings if that’s what your kids choose for their Switzerland family vacation souvenirs. LOL!!

Anyways, it was a much more relaxed day than we had originally planned. And in the end, it still ended up being the best Switzerland itinerary, even with a bit of a re-write. Hopefully, however, if you’re planning on visiting Switzerland with kids, you’ll have more than 4 days in your itinerary.

We visited Switzerland as part of a larger road trip through Europe. Traveling to Europe with kids was definitely a bucket list experience for our family. But if I had known how much we would love Switzerland, I would have adjusted our trip timeline. It would have been better to plan a 5 day itinerary in Switzerland before moving on to the next place.

Despite doing plenty of research before our road trip, I wasn’t really aware of what to do in Switzerland outside of the best tourist places in Switzerland. This might have been because I was researching multiple countries at once. Ultimately, I underestimated how fun Crans Montana would be! Especially since we were visiting Switzerland on a budget, and it was less touristy. 

By the way, I also have an awesome list of the best small towns in Switzerland to visit INSTEAD of bigger, more touristy cities. It’s towards the beginning of my Switzerland tips post, if you haven’t read that yet. *wink wink*

Day 4 Recap Of Great Things To See In Switzerland

• Pont du Suspendu Bridge & Zipline
• FunForest Park
• Crans Montana Town Center activities & shopping

There were SO many activities in Crans Montana that we didn’t have time for! I feel like they at least deserve an honorable mention. Hopefully, this quick list can help you plan the best Switzerland itinerary for your family vacation!

First of all, the Crans Montana website has a comprehensive list of family friendly activities. It includes a lot of the best things to do in Switzerland with kids! You should definitely check that out if you decide to visit Crans Montana. Scroll down past the many playgrounds to see the actual activities. (I’m not sure why they led the page with that. LOL!)

Here are some of the amazing activities we weren’t able to try on our trip to Switzerland with kids:

• Cheesemaking classes
• Horseback riding
• Follow the Squirrel Path and/or the Dwarves’ Trail (great for younger kids who enjoy exploring!)
• Exploring local Switzerland waterfalls
• River rafting (our youngest just aren’t strong enough swimmers yet)
• Skiing and Snowboarding (for those not traveling to Switzerland in summer, ski season is from October thru May, but best in December through March)

Our Best Switzerland Itinerary: Conclusion

All in all, considering our timeline, we covered a pretty impressive list of things to see in Switzerland on a budget! Of all of our Switzerland with kids activities, I think the cave boat tour was by far our favorite! HappyLand was a close second. It was truly like stepping back into time, into the city fairs of days gone by.

We were so in love with Switzerland as a whole and can’t wait to get back for a longer stay! If you have any great suggestions on where to go in Switzerland, please comment below so I can check them out!

After leaving Switzerland, we stopped in Germany on our way to the Netherlands. You can join our newsletter to see when our Netherlands family vacation posts are out, and in the meantime, make sure to check out our posts about visiting France, which was the last leg of our European road trip with kids!

I’ve got lots of great tips for visiting Paris with kids and several other awesome posts of our activities and adventures there.

And of course, don’t forget to check out our other Switzerland posts for great tips and info! Until then, thanks for reading! Catch you in the next blog post!