Alps summer holidays with two young boys!

[Padn123]

Hi everyone, thanks in advance for your time! We're thinking that in summer 2025 we may take our holiday abroad with our two boys who will be age 7 and 4. The Alps looks like it could be perfect, but I'm struggling to work out which specific area will be best and provide easy access to the various activities we'd be looking for. Advice much appreciated.
Key criteria and interests:

• Less than 1 hour from airport.
• Self-catering accommodation
• July or August 2025
• Good chance of warm weather (above 20 degrees celsius).
• Easy access (under 45mins drive/public transport) to a wide range of activities that work well with very young children. Things I reckon that would work really well with our boys include adventure playgrounds, summer tobaganning, beach, swimming/kayaking, short but scenic walks, cycling (on easy level ground), anything animal/wildlife related
• Restaurants/pubs/cafes ideally within walking distance or short drive of accommodation

Once we have narrowed down the area, then I'm wondering what the best route to finding the accommodation is. AirBnb? Certain websites you'd recommend? Many thanks

I'd also recommend flying into Innsbruck (easyJet from Gatwick, paid £90 for two of us with luggage this summer) and hopping on the train to somewhere like Seefeld.

Loads to do around Seefeld itself, hiking, lake swimming, Olympic sports water place, cable cars etc. Train connections to Innsbruck itself every half hour or so and you can get to Mittenwald in Germany just as quickly in the other direction.

We also went to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and walked the big gorge there, and from
Garmisch the cog train to the Zugspitze mountain.

We didn't go as far as Munich or Salzburg as we were only there for a week, but really it wasn't enough to do everything in the area we could have.

Stayed at the Hotel Haymon half board and had a 4 course amazing dinner every night.

Edited to say oops, I meant to quote the Morzine suggestion!

That's a good suggestion. The whole Portes du Soleil area would be a great choice - so much to do. We used to take our children to Champery every summer, it's a perfect Swiss village. We would spend days up in the mountains, moving from place to place by cable car and ski lift. There's one of those tree top adventure places nearby, summer toboganning, pool, ice rink etc, thermal baths a short drive away(we all loved that!). Swiss national day is brilliant fun, we went on helicopter rides and did tandem paragliding. Fantastic fireworks in the evening.

The village had a great train service so we used that, we'd also drive to explore places like Lac Léman - there are lots of beaches - Gruyere and the Lindt factory. The Swiss side is more expensive than the French side, but they're both equally lovely.

We used to walk past the Haymon on our way into town and the smell of the food coming from the kitchen/hotel was delicious. Will definitely check it out if we return.

It was amazing. Honestly. We don't tend to return to the same places, but am sorely tempted!

With two kids I wouldn’t fly to Munich and lag luggage and kids around trains and add 2-3 hours to the journey. OP wants to go in the summer, Easyjet haven’t even released flights yet! You can easily find cheap flights to Innsbruck if you book early. From there lovely places in Tyrol are 30-60mins away. Tyrol is much cheaper than Switzerland too. You can also drive across the border if you fancy South Tyrol (Italy), it’s a 60min - 90min drive from Innsbruck.

Also IBK is a tiny tiny airport, takes 15mins to get out after landing, Munich is huge and a lot more hassle with kids.

Definitely. We were out and buying bus tickets to get to the station in less than that 😂

I've been to both Annecy and Innsbruck with kids. Innsbruck every single time. I wrote this on a similar thread: "A variety of amazing outdoor pools (more like water parks). Beautiful city parks. Cafes. Child friendly museums. Cable cars and trams up to the mountains. Mountain huts with playparks. Zoo. Lakes you can safely swim in. Swarovski crystal world."

My kids (toddler, 6 year old and preteen) love the Tiroler Volkskunst Museum and the Ferdinandeum (cheap ticket let's you into these and a few others). I love the cheap fine dining. Kids love the cakes and ice creams too! And Knödel! f I had to pick only one holiday for the rest of my life, Innsbruck would be it!

you can drive to Italy easily, Sud Tirol is very special. Great pizza!

Munich is actually a fab airport with easy train to Innsbruck or get a 4Seasons taxi from there direct to your Innsbruck accommodation.

If you can splash out look at the kinder hotel website.

Another vote for Annecy, we loved it.

Intrigued by the kinder hotels, what are they like for older kids/teens?

I’m following this for ideas. I’d never really thought about an alpine summer holiday but then Facebook started spamming me with adds for this place: https://www.sonnwies.com/en/family-paradise/taste-wine

the advertising has worked a treat and now I’m really keen on this sort of holiday. The slightly lower temp plus Mountain View wholesomeness really appeals rather than baking in the med.

Another vote for Saalbach-Hinterglemm, which has loads of activities for the children in the resort itself, and is close to other places that also have attractions to keep them occupied and interested - e.g. summer toboggan (on rails) at Kaprun (and there's a small one in Leogang and another in Saalfelden) or the veteran steam train and lake swimming at Zell am See.

Look at the Tourist Office website, or airbnb, for accommodation that offers the free Joker Card which gives free access to all the cable cars, to the outdoor pool in Saalbach, and free use of the local buses.

Fly to Salzburg from where it is an easy 70-80 minute drive.

Thanks all again. This really is immensely helpful! Innsbruck and Annecy seem to have a lot going for them with young kids.

Innsbruck or Annecy!

Kandersteg (Berners Oberland)

Gîtes de France website has lots of lovely houses in the Alps - we stayed in one near Cluses which also had a pool.

We had one good and one bad holiday in the alps when our DC was small. The first holiday had perfect weather, the second rained all week. If it rains it’s very boring in some areas with little to do for kids. Of course, they may be areas where there are indoor play places etc.

Suggest Austria and flying to Salzburg. There’s always flights, and the airport is tiny so it’s really easy to get out and hire car in minutes.
Even driving south all the way to Italian border is only around 2hrs, so most locations off that main road down are only 60-90min drive.

Lake Bled in Slovenia ticks most of your boxes, even down to the toboggan.

We tend to stay in hotels so can't help with that.

Morzine, actually prefer Les Gets but the Portes du Soleil area in general is superb. Have been 4 times during the summer, absolutely love it there. Such a large area when you look at the lift network.

Lots of brilliant options. Thanks all!

Zell am See/Kaprun or Seefeld if you need short transfer. In Switzerland, Kandersteg is a long transfer but Engelberg might be shorter, or base yourselves on lake Lucerne and use bus/boat/train to take trips to nearby mountains like Rigi.

This. I live in the region and Annecy is one of our favorite holiday spots.

You could fly to Salzburg, travel to Berchtesgaden in Germany for a few days, then move on to Hinterglemm. Loads to do in that area- Hinterglemm has mountain lifts on your doorstep and actuvities/parks all around. Further afield loads about too. We loved konigsee, jennerbahn and the salt mine in Berchtesgaden. Loved the ease of accessing mountains in Hinterglemm.