Has anyone camped in Switzerland?

[sphil]

We want to do a trip abroad with our camper van next year - I quite fancy mountains! Have found what looks like a brilliant site at La Fouly,in Switzerland. We'd travel down through France, probably doing three overnight stops, then spend a week there and head back. DS1 will be 9 and DS2 7 by then - they are good travellers.

Questions - could an altitude of 1600m be a problem? DS2 is autistic and asthmatic - I also wonder whether his sensory difficulties might be made worse by thin air.
Would there be enough to do? They are both good walkers but DS2's balance isn't as good as typical children his age.
Are we mad to go this far on our first camping trip abroad? Would it be better to play safe and stick to Brittany?

Don't expect any replies tonight btw! I am in ridiculous 'let's-plan-next-year's-holiday-having-only-just-returned-from-this -years' mode...

[LIZS]

1600m is fairly high (is it on one of the passes?) but not excessively so, the air should still be ok. There are lower sites if it concerns you (mainly along the valleys and near lakes). You need to check the local area but most resorts will have walks, cable cars/trains, mountain restaurants, animal areas, trails and some an organised kids activity programme from mid July to mid August. August 1st is Swiss National Day so there are usually village fairs and fireworks to celebrate. Have a look here for more info.

[motherducky]

Switzerland is amazing!

Unfortunately I only seem to know the mountains in ft so I can't remember what 1600m was like. So I don't know if any of this will help, but just in case...

My husband is mildly asthmatic and only struggled at the summit of Jung Frau Joch, he was fine all other times, however his asthma is relatively mild. Neither of my daughters are particularly co-ordinated and dd2 was still adjusting to a gluten-free diet at the time so was very weak and struggling even more with her co-ordination. We found that on the mountains we had to allow her a short time to adjust before attempting any walking etc but after that she was fine (the exception being Jung Frau Joch but as she was light enough for me to carry that wasn't a prob).

We Eurocamped by lake Thun which still made it very easy to access the mountains by train and cable car, and the scenery was still amazing.

[sphil]

Thanks very much both of you. I think we might look for something a little lower down, but I'm still v keen on Switzerland (and DS1 is desperate to see a mountain higher than Golden Cap in Dorset!!)

[Lucycat]

although Golden Cap does have some lovely views from the top !

[dailymailIsPerfectAsaPoopScoop]

many years ago we camped at interlaken. it rained all day every day for a week. beautiful country but we must have just been really unlucky.

[IloveJudgeJudy]

Why don't you camp on the banks of Lake Geneva (the French side, as cheaper)? We did that 2 years ago and were swimming in the warm lake looking at mountains all around us. We did a day trip up Mont Blanc which we all agree is a day that we'll remember forever - we went up to 3842m. My husband has asthma and he did suffer on that trip, but took his pump and was OK. HTH.

We went to the Hautes Alpes in France this year which has really twisty turny roads like in the Italian Job film. That was great, too.