Switzerland or Austria or similar mountain spring / summer holiday

[Triceratopsandjellytots]

Hi, it’s my dh’s 40th next year and he’d love a mountain holiday (second to Japan, but I fear it’s out of our budget right now and maybe best to wait until Ds (4) and dd (21m) are a bit older!). He loves hiking and running. Me and the kids not so much 🤣 but happy to oblige especially for a big birthday. Anyway, I’ve seen some amazing kinder hotel places on Instagram in Switzerland and Austria, but so far they all seem to be about £700+ a night… out of our budget unfortunately. I’ve seen some amazing mountain playgrounds online too. Any recommendations for hotels, b&bs, anything else? (Or any other amazing holidays you’d recommend otherwise also welcomed!)

sadly constrained to school hols from September.

thank you :)

Also to say that he loves Germany - so German recommendations also welcome!

We absolutely loved hotel grones in ortisei. Ortisei is in the dolomites. Absolutely stunning
the hotel is great value, book half board as the dinner is fantastic. Lovely pool and spa area - hotel website doesn’t do it justice. Owners are lovely, family run and very kid friendly without being a full on kinder hotel

lots of options in Seefeld, Austria. I’ve my eye on hotel seespitz.

I can't remember where we stayed but I highly recommend Saalbach in Austria. It's a beautiful place, lots of cable cars going up to various different peaks. Lots of playgrounds and nice huts for lunch and the little town centre is nice for evening meals. I found it great for young kids.

Don’t go earlier than June as the lifts and facilities may not be fully open. Plenty of resorts offer guest cards including activities, swimming pool and local lifts . There are often walking trails with themed activities for kids along the route and mountain restaurants with animals. Saas Fee for example has an area to feed wild marmots and they sell food at the nearby restaurant.

Saalbach is amazing ! We combined it with Slovenia this year . Stayed in this fantastic hotel !!
https://www.alpinresort.com/en/premium-all-inclusive-austria/1-0.html

Try Ortisei in the Italian Dolomites. Look at Inn Travel. Fly in to Innsbruk and catch the train. It really has the most fabulous scenery and is a lovely town. Gondolas, chairlifts and a furnicular railway making reaching high peaks and meadows easy. Local buses take you to other nearby towns. Italian food is a bonus. Grindlewald in Switzerland is lovely but more expensive.

Saalbach-Hinterglemm is very good for kids. As far as I know, the Alpinresort where @Dublassie stayed is now adults only, but there are plenty of other options. Crystal and Inghams both have Saalbach-Hinterglemm on their summer Lakes and Mountains programmes. Hotels to consider include the Saalbacherhof, Bauers, Hotel Post in Saalbach, or the Adler Resort, Theresia or "Am Reiterkogel" in Hinterglemm.

Saalbach-Hinterglemm hotels and apartments give their guests a free Joker Card which covers free use of all the cable cars, playgrounds, mini-golf, the open-air pool complex (although most hotels have a pool) and free public transport.

You could go the the Portes du Soleil? Lots of beautiful villages - Swiss and French: Champery, Les Gets, La Chapelle d'Abondance, Morzine, Châtel.

Champery is our favourite in the summer, you can rent an apartment in the village, or the hotels are excellent. So much to do, the cable car is in the village and you can spend days exploring the mountains using the chairlift network. There's a tiny train station in the village too, that's an adventure! You can hire bikes, go to the nearby thermal baths (our children loved that) there are tree top adventures, bike hire or just sit in a chalet at the top of the mountain looking at the Dents du Midi mountains. If you go in the summer holidays, August 1st is Swiss national day and the village is the centre of activities. We've done paragliding and helicopter rides, there's always something special happening on the 1st.

Just a caveat, Switzerland is really expensive for food and drink, but hotels aren't too bad (stay off Instagram!).

Slovenia?

We loved Innsbruck. Get the Innsbruck card and just tick off all of the sights

Oh Dolomites and Grindelwald are my 2 recommendations too! So beautiful OP. We just find cute places on Airbnb.

We've just got back from Seefeld with two DC aged 10 and 7. Lovely place. Pedestrianised centre with lots of cafes/restaurants, and just the right level of busy. Easy to get to from Innsbruck/Munich by train. There is a good local bus network (free with tourist card), though since we were there 8 nights I do wish we had hired a car for a couple of days to explore further afield.

We stayed in an Airbnb. Things we did:
-Cable car up mountain (Rosshutte) with good playground/restaurant and incredible views from the top. Also the jumping off point for hiking.
-Walk round Seefeld and Moserer lakes and mini golf (can swim in lakes if warm enough and Seefeld has a lovely looking lido next to the lake too)
-Olympiabad swimming pool in Seefeld - amazing with heated outdoor bit which was lovely
-Leutasch gorge walk and visited Mittenwald -pretty German town
-Couple of other short hikes

I've also been to Grindelwald/Lauterbrunnen. The scenery there is very dramatic with the steep sided valleys and of course Jungfraujoch itself.

Switzerland is MUCH more expensive than Austria. We visit Austria at least once a year and would recommend Seefeld as did a PP. Easy train into Innsbruck and lots of hiking and running routes.

We've had a Swiss mountain holiday around Grindelwald, and an Austrian one around Matsee and Salzburg. Both stunningly beautiful areas and loads of outdoor activities. Austria wins for me though, partly cost, but mostly tourists - Switzerland is tour bus central, it's really prohibitive and actually ruined some experiences for us - Jungfraujoch, Lauterbrunnen.... just far too busy. Same time of year visiting.

How about Groebming? https://www.steiermark.com/en/Schladming-Dachstein/Cities-Towns/Grobming_c_841557

We’ve just stayed there. It’s beautiful and quiet compared to some of the well-known places that we went through on the train on the way back.

I took my kids to Montreux during the jazz festival. The Cailler choc factory was fantastic, as was the visit to Gruyère and the Alien cafe. Over in Le Bouveret is an amazing aqua park and miniature railway. Loads of mountains to explore, but yes, v expensive (although I booked our hotel months in advance when prices were comparatively lower - the cost would have almost doubled if I’d left it to the last minute). To give you an idea of cost comparison, a pizza cost £30…..ouch. It’ll be picnics in Dorset for us next time we go away!

@Junioh would you mind sharing which Airbnb you stayed in? (Via pm if you prefer!) - we’re looking for self catering in Seefeld but don’t seem to be lots of options.

We've just got back from the Dolomites, staying in a family hotel in Sesto. Kids are 3 and 6. It was perfect - loads of family hikes that were the right length for the kids plus a kids club they actually wanted to go to so we could do some longer day hikes without them. It was the only kinderhotel we found that let you go self catering so it made it a bit more reasonable.

You can get a lift pass which includes wristbands for the kids, every time they complete a family trail they get a stamp and if they complete all the stamps they get a cuddly toy - they happily did a 2-4k hike every day for 5 days with the incentive of a prize at the end.

There are probably other attractions too but we were there for 7 days and between the mountains and the pool at the hotel there was more than enough to keep us all happy.

What was the name of the hotel please?

Zell am See in Austria would be my recommendation.

We’ve been a few times and it’s been great. Stay somewhere with the guest card, and consider going half board for an easy life. Hotel Lebzelter is really central, doesn’t have anything specific for children but were really happy to have a young child around.

Guest card covers cable cars up all the mountains, there’s a child adventure trail up one of them, one is a family mountain, can do a day trip up the Kitsteinhorn all the way to the glacier (5 cable cars). Lido next to the lake with a pool, or can swim in the lake. Boat trips.

I’ve looked at the kinder hotels since, but would rather go to Lebzelter three times.

I’ve never been, but friends are just back from Salzburg, and said it’s the most stunning place they’ve ever been to. The photos are incredible. I would definitely do a day trip to there.

Family Hotel Rainer

We are just back from a Slovenia/ Austria holiday .
Slovenia was just stunning . Ljubljana is so nice and Lake Bled was amazing .
Then on to Austria and did Saalbach and Zell am See . Had skied in all three places so was fab to see them in the summer .

We did hiking , gorge walking , rafting , Zip lining, lake swimming , mini golf, tennis .

Was unreal ! We have teens and young adults .

Stayed in the amazing Apinresort in Saalbach . Over 16 only in summer though .

We had an excellent time at the Sporthotel Backmann in Gargellen.

Oooh, I can vote for Innsbruck. I've been meaning to go back for years. I wasn't a kid but I remember the Swarovski connection: https://www.innsbruck.info/en/sightseeing/i/swarovski-crystal-worlds.html

And this ski jump: https://www.bergisel.info/at/index.php
And maybe there's a skiable-glacier up a nearby valley?

Waterfalls, walks, crystal-clear R. Inn, historic town, recent appearance in Mission Impossible, etc.