Background
For our first big summer trip of 2026, our family headed to Switzerland! We were inspired by pictures of alpine peaks, gorgeous train routes, and other travel bloggers raving about the country’s epic playgrounds. We loved spending a few days in the Jungfrau region using Wengen as our home base to explore misty mountains, gondola rides, and massive waterfalls. We also fell in love with the picturesque town of Lucerne, and even got to experience the local sports culture firsthand by catching a world hockey festival in Zurich! We love European travel because it always offers incredibly family-friendly towns, easy navigating with trains, and so much history and beauty. Traveling internationally with kids can be daunting, but with a little preparation, research, and tips from other travelers, we had an incredibly successful trip!
This post covers our days in Zurich and Lucerne
For more on our Switzerland Adventure, see our posts here
Arrival in Lucerne
We flew from Nashville to Zurich and arrived early in the morning. At the airport it was easy peasy to grab our train tickets (and some coop snacks) and head to Lucerne with a quick beautiful one hour train ride. We checked into our hotel in Kriens around noon, dropped our bags and then kicked off our adventure in Lucerne.
Transportation in Lucerne
For our trip, we took adventure of the Swiss Half Fare Card and a local free pass given to us at our hotel. Trains were easy to look up on google maps and the sbb app.
Hotel
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Lucerne – Kriens. We actually booked this one through the Chase Travel portal using our Chase Ultimate Rewards points, making it completely free out of pocket! It was located just a few quick train stops from the main Lucerne station, which made it super convenient to drop our bags and head straight out to explore.
Our 2 day Itinerary in Lucerne
Day 1: Scenic Train to Lucerne, Swiss Museum of Transport, & Old Town Exploration
We decided to walk from the main Lucerne train station to the museum to stretch our legs and get some fun lake vibes. It was about 45 minutes and a nice introduction to the city seeing ducks and paddleboarders and boats on our walk.
Swiss Museum of Transport (Verkehrshaus der Schweiz)
If you are traveling to Lucerne with kids, this museum is so cool! It is massive, incredibly interactive, and we spent hours exploring every corner. The outdoor areas were the kids’ favorite. They have an awesome setup with miniature construction excavators, road-rollers, and outdoor bikes that the kids could ride around. Inside, the interactive elements felt a little outdated but were still really fun. It was definitely pricey and I’m not sure if we would repeat this stop on a future trip. Upstairs in the main museum, there was a fun VR sports area and there were several spots that had some interesting information. Everything was in English!
We grabbed lunch at the museum cafe, and while the food was just okay, the bill gave us our very first real-glimpse into just how expensive Switzerland was going to be. It definitely forced us to budget a bit more intentionally for the rest of the week!
Afternoon reset
Instead of taking a boat, we hopped on a local transit bus to head back toward our hotel. Everyone was feeling the jet lag from the transatlantic flight, so we took a quick, highly necessary one-hour power nap to recharge.
Old Town Exploration
Later that evening, we headed into the heart of Lucerne to explore the historic bridges. We crossed the famous Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke). As in other trips, I quickly read the paragraph explainer from the Rick Steves book to mildly interested kids. The wooden covered bridge dating back to the 14th century. There were some really interesting historic paintings tucked up under the roofline.
Because the sun stays out so late during the Swiss summer, we had plenty of daylight left to find a great dinner spot right on the river. We snagged an outdoor table at Rathaus Brauerei, a fantastic local brewery situated right under the historic town hall. Ben got to try a locally brewed house beer, we ordered some classic comfort plates like schnitzel and trout, and we just soaked in the gorgeous waterfront views as the city lit up. It was the perfect, cozy way to officially wrap up our first full day in Switzerland!
Day 2: Mount Pilatus (Frakmuntegg) Day
Partial Golden Round Trip
Many travelers visiting Lucerne opt for the famous “Golden Round Trip,” which involves a boat cruise, a steep cogwheel railway, and a full trip to the very top of Mount Pilatus. However, since we knew we were going to get a massive dose of epic mountain views later in our trip in the Jungfrau region, we decided to follow a great tip we read online: do a partial Pilatus trip and focus entirely on Fräkmuntegg, a station half-way up with awesome activities perfect for our kids (age 8 and 11)
Our original plan was to head up early on the panoramic gondola from Kriens, smash out the alpine toboggan slide first thing to beat the crowds, grab lunch at the top restaurant, tackle the ropes course, and then do a scenic family hike down to the next station below.
As any parent knows, travel day timelines can get derailed by personal logistics! Due to a late start, our day shifted a bit. We skipped the hike and the playground (which looked a bit young for our kids anyway) and focused entirely on the main attractions at Frakmuntegg. Even with a compressed schedule, this ended up being one of our absolute favorite activities of the entire trip.
Board the panoramic gondola lift in Kriens. It is a smooth, gorgeous ride up to the Fräkmüntegg mid-station. We saw so many cows on the fields below!
Get fitted for your harnesses and complete the safety briefing. At ages 8 and 11, our kids were at the absolute perfect age for this. There are 10 different courses with incredible ziplines. Be warned: even the “easy” courses felt a bit tricky, but it was an absolute blast!
Logistics
Gondola (Kriens to Fräkmuntegg RT): About $46 CHF per adult, but 50% off with your Swiss Half Fare Card. Kids with a Swiss Family Card ride free! (Book Gondola Tickets Here)
Pilatus Rope Park: $30 CHF for adults and $22 CHF for kids (ages 8-15). They offer great family package tickets on-site! (Rope Park Details)
Fräkigaudi Toboggan Slide: Tickets are purchased directly at the slide entrance on the mountain. It costs $9 CHF per adult and $7 CHF per child per ride. (Toboggan Info)
Evening: Sunset Views
Tired but happy, we finished our evening at a restaurant near the Kriens station called Restaurant Pallino. It was right next to local soccer fields and felt less touristy than other spots. We also had some Mcdonalds right near the hotel as a fun late night snack. Silly but fun!
Day 1 in Zurich: Chocolate Stroll & IIHF World Hockey Championship Festival
Lodging in Zurich
On our last night before flying home, we stayed at the Hyatt Place Zurich Airport The Circle. As huge Hyatt fans, we loved being able to book two separate rooms using our Category 1-4 Free Night Certificates! It was a quick walk to the airport terminal, and meant zero stress on the morning of our flight back to Nashville. They didn’t feed us breakfast but it was ok because we had airport lounge access.
Afternoon in Zurich
After our morning train from the Jungfrau area, we had an afternoon to hit the chocolate highlights of Zurich. After that, we took the train to the Swiss Arena area. We happened to be in town for the IIHF Hockey finals and it was a huge even throughout the city. We looked up info on social media and were able to make our way there to watch one of the games in the fan area. (Prices for the actual games were out of budget)
Chocolate Stroll
We originally thought about visiting the official Lindt Museum, but we didn’t pre-order tickets, and they sell out weeks in advance! Instead, we grabbed a fantastic self-guided walking map from the Swiss Family Fun blog. Throughout the trip, we made frequent stops at local Coop grocery stores. They have amazing “pick and mix” Lindt walls where the kids could scoop up a mountain of different flavor options like cheesecake, caramel, and milk chocolate.
Following the map’s downtown route, we hit the following spots:
Confiserie Bachmann: Our first official stop right on the main drag, where we checked out their spectacular flowing chocolate wall.
Teuscher at Café Felix: Next, we walked down the famous Bahnhofstrasse to see this beautiful cafe known for its displays and luxurious champagne truffles.
Confiserie Honold: We ducked down the historic Rennweg street to see this spot, which has been making traditional Swiss treats since 1905.
Läderach: We wrapped up the main strip by stopping to marvel at the massive glass counters filled with giant chocolate slabs.
After hitting the main shops, we crossed over the river. We were looking for a spot to watch some hockey but it was harder than expected. There was a German spot that looked like it could be the right vibe but they had a cover charge. Boo. We did find a local Irish pub to watch Josi (from our local Nashville team!) lead the Swiss team to victory.
The IIHF World Hockey Championship Festival!
We then headed out to the official Fan Festival, and it was absolute family paradise! The entire atmosphere was electric, filled with thousands of cheering fans from all over the world. The organizers put together an incredible setup for families, and the kids had a total blast participating in all the free games, checking out the massive viewing screens, collecting fun event giveaways, and playing a round of hockey-themed mini-golf spread across the grounds. It was the absolute perfect finale to our 2026 Swiss summer adventure!
The food scene at the festival felt like a mini Octokerfest/Christmas market! Instead of doing a sit-down restaurant, we grazed our way through the stalls all evening. We treated ourselves to authentic Swiss melted fondue, grilled sausages, wood-fired pizza, cold beers for the adults, and even steaming hot dumplings! It was pricey, but completely worth it for the incredible experience.
Tired and happily stuffed, we took a quick, train back to our airport hotel. Staying right at the airport made it easy for our next morning flight.
More Switzerland Posts
For more on our Switzerland Adventure, see our posts here
