Where would you go in Switzerland for hiking, swimming, cable cars, and other fun stuff for teens?

[TheInfusionist]

I saw on a holiday thread earlier that someone suggested going to Switzerland with hiking and cable cars.

Does anyone have any good recommendations of where to base ourselves, where to go, easy day hikes.

We have dog passports for our (very fit, well-trained) collies, would we be able to walk with them if we drove there?

We like swimming, hot springs, views, nice small characterful market towns with good food, mountain cafes and bars. Maybe some watersports or other activities for the kids?

Top tips welcomed to kick-start my research!

We had a nice time in Grindelwald but god is it expensive and a tourist trap. I’d have got to Lauterbrunnen for preference I think.

sass Fee the same, but so beautiful

@TheInfusionist We stayed at Bonigen near Interlaken. It’s on a lake and pretty. That area has amazing railway access and you can get to fabulous mountain areas and villages. Interlaken would have a bigger choice of bars and restaurants. We visited Wengen, Grindelwald and used various cable cars too. It’s stunning but not cheap!

Saas Fee, Grindelwald, Engelberg, Arosa? Activities are often available through the skischool. Dogs are more welcome than children!

Thank you, going to start googling these now. Great start!

Switzerland is massively expensive. Go just across the border into Germany to Lake Constance (Bodensee), and you can have the same kind of holiday for much less money.

We went to Wengen and Zermatt with teenage DC. Lots of lovely walks and cable cars.From Wengen you can go by train via Kleine Scheidigg to the top of the Jungfraujoch where the views are spectacular . There is also an ice palace you can walk through and there was a zip line for the more adventurous.

Zell am See in Austria

Kandersteg or, on the other end of the tunnel, Brig.

You can ride the very exciting Gelmerbahn in Grindelwald, and your dogs can travel too for a small price if your brave enough!! At the top of the train is a glacier lake which is absolutely stunning, with a Tier 3 hike of around 2 hours around it. It's worth familiarising yourself with the hiking levels when you're looking for days out.

You can see the Gelmerbahn train on YouTube or Instagram. There's also a suspension bridge leading to a nice hotel for a drink or bite to eat. My dog went over it like a swiffer mop though...

Nearby is Meiringen with lots of Sherlock Holmes history (Moriarty and Holmes battled on the cliff at the famous Reichenbach waterfall) near the Park Hotel Du Sauvage. We got a reasonable price at the hotel for a few days via Aldireisen.ch if you can cope with the German. Dogs welcome there too. You can take a funicular train up the waterfall and a short hike up for refreshments from the train.

Very nearby is the Aareschlucht Gorge, also dog friendly and a really lovey way to spend an afternoon. In summer it's all lit up at night too.

Check the SBB website for deals on travel, Switzerland can be very reasonable for excellent public transport. If you use a local hotel you'll also get a tourist card that covers the bus/train journeys up to the Gelmerbahn and surrounding mountain towns.

I’m staying in Lake Lausanne and hope to be doing some of those things as well as some tours.

We stayed in Wengen, stunning scenery. Lots of walks, I'd love to go back.

Saas-Fee has the Wellness Hostel 4000. It’s a hostel with a pool and adults can pay extra for spa board. They also do a good, reasonably priced supper.

We stayed at the campsite in lauterbrunnen and pretty sure there were families there with dogs. My kids enjoyed the table tennis tables there. They also really liked the outdoor swimming pool in lauterbrunnen and wengen

Area 47, Tirol, Austria. Worth a trip if you’re not too far away.

The Alps cover a vast region - across France, Northern Italy, Switzerland, Southern Germany and Austria. Of these, Switzerland is by far the most expensive area.

Resorts in all of these areas have summer programmes offering hiking, easy walking, lake swimming, zip-wires and "Go Ape"-style rope parks and climbing parks, white-water rafting etc. As pp have said, there are campsites that allow dogs, and also a number of B&Bs (usually called "Pensions" in the Alps) that will also welcome dogs. Local tourist offices can usually help you to find these.

Look at the "Lakes and Mountains" brochures (or look on the websites) of the big tour operators (Inghams, Nielson, Crystal, Colletts etc) to get an idea of the most popular summer resorts and then start putting together your own holiday - ferry/Eurotunnel from UK, journey through France/Belgium/Germany, accommodation and activities at your chosen destination etc.

If you are set on Switzerland, then I agree Wengen is gorgeous.

But Switzerland is so expensive that if you want mountains I would go to Austria, Bavaria, Italy or Slovenia!

Kids train travel is really cheap which helps a lot. I think it’s about 10% of adults. My ds was 14 and he was still on kids prices. Paying adult train prices for everyone would be absolutely ridiculous money

Another vote for Lauterbrunnen here.

We stayed in an air bnb in Leissigen -just around the lake from Interlaken. Budget for the train pass which also includes cable cars etc - we used it everyday. We went to Grindlewald, Lauterbrunen and up the Eiger on the train. It was stunningly beautiful and eye-wateringly expensive! Recommend the walk through the Lauterbrunnen valley to the Trummelbach falls. I have ME and struggle with exercise but the walks are all classified and I managed a copy of days of walking by picking the flat easy ones and taking them slowly.