For months, we had brainstormed and daydreamed where we wanted to go on our family vacation once Justin's season was over. Switzerland has been at the top of my list for a long, long, time. I don't know exactly when or how it got to the top of that list, but the #1 thing I've heard about Switzerland is how beautiful it is.
I love nature. I love being outside. I would 100% rather be looking at views and scenery than inside a museum learning about history. With lots of planning and research, we got our Switzerland reservations booked.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Logan is the best traveler (sooooo grateful for that). He sleeps where he needs to and loves being surrounded by strangers. Ha!
We booked him his own seat & bought an inflatable foot rest that turned his seat into a bed. It was a game changer!
After a quick layover in ATL (long enough to eat at PF Changs before leaving America!!), we landed in Zurich!! It felt weirdly good and right to be back in Europe. I had missed it! It was time to be back. Zurich reminded me so much of Berlin but smaller. Not as big & busy as where we live.
Our first stop was a quick breakfast at McDonald's before heading to our chocolate factory tour. McDonald's really is better in Europe. Don't take my word for it. Come over and try it when you visit!
The suggested self-guided tour time was 90-120 minutes but we were only there for 30... It was pretty amazing and smelled like heaven but the jet lag hit us we were all a little grumpy and sleep deprived.
Took a quick tour, complete with an assortment of Switzerland's Lindt truffles, and headed on the road to our airbnb!
We had an almost two hour drive ahead of us. Logan fell asleep immediately & Justin and I were talking about anything we could think of to stay awake. Once we got out of the city and through some tunnels, the beauty started peeking through.
This was the first lake we passed and I'm pretty sure I didn't stop saying, "Are you kidding me?!" for the next 10 minutes. The water and mountains were incredible!
Grateful for Justin's quick maneuvering skills when a lookout spot popped out on the side of the road.
Look at that view! Lake Lungerersee.
I couldn't believe all of the tunnels. We were in and out of countless, long tunnels dug through the mountains to get us where we needed to go. Once those were over, we were in the valley and started driving through the Swiss towns.
We stayed in Brienz, a central location to the different towns and mountain tops we wanted to visit. It wasn't quite time for check in so we took a 10 min power nap and grabbed some groceries at Coop.
And then we arrived at our airbnb... We booked this place because of the raving reviews and stunning view. It's located at the top of a one-way windy road, sitting on a hill overlooking the whole town & lake. The view really was as beautiful as described. 100% worth it!!
Our nice hosts took great care of us. They live in the apartment below. Allen is from the U.K. but moved to Switzerland when he married his wife. They have the cutest two-year-old daughter.
Day One - Lauterbrunnen & Interlaken
It was the most quaint, CLEAN, beautiful place to stay. I'm so grateful it was clean. That's one of the biggest deal breakers for me. Switzerland is known for it's pricy food. Each morning we had eggs, yogurt, and granola for breakfast. Lunches consisted of pb&j with some fruit and chips!
With another spontaneous stop on the way. Overlooking Lake Brienz. Wow, so much beauty everywhere we drove. I'm so glad we chose to stay in another town other than where we were planning to visit. Just gave us one more place to make memories and explore.
And despite the 14 hour night's sleep, Logan was out before we even left our neighborhood. I was a little jealous he adjusted quickly to the time change ;). It always takes me a little over a week to get fully adjusted.
We headed for the Lauterbrunnen Valley! The town took a total of three minutes to drive through, so we kept on driving through those alps before stopping to get out and walk.
The feeling was incredible. Driving with the windows down, listening to our music, surrounded by steep mountain shade all around us, watching paragliders soar down to the ground. We were definitely in our happy place.
First cow sighting! I was especially eager to see the cows (for my sake and Courtlyn's. They're her favorite animal).
Lauterbrunnen is known as the valley of waterfalls. 72 of those beauties gush down into that tiny valley. The iconic one in the heart of the valley is Staubbach Falls. We did a few switchbacks and climbed up through a cave to reach out and touch it.
Not a bad view while we waited for our turn to get to the front of the line.
The view from down below with people sitting on the cute Lauterbrunnen bench.
Back to the car to grab the stroller & find a picnic spot! We lucked out with the weather. Just the day before, there had been thunderstorms and flash flooding. Our forecast was sunny skies for our whole trip. I was soooo grateful. We hadn't even thought to plan for rain.
Then we walked through that cute town & took it all in!!
There's our waterfall peeking out on the left.
Elizabeth. :') We need to come back here, Mom!
We left that perfect place and drove down to Interlaken. It started to drizzle but the sun came right back out after a few minutes.
The water was unbelievable. We saw this color almost everywhere we went.
Walked through this music box store and found the perfect souvenir. <3 My Grandma Wagner has a music box we grew up listening to.
Happiest, sweetest little traveler. He was pretty content napping on the go during our car rides.
By late afternoon, our pb&j's had worn off and we were ready for some real food. Logan was ready for a good nap so we got the YUMMIEST burger and sweet potato fries I've ever had in Europe. & ate it in the restaurant parking lot.
We had been out for about eight hours and came home to this view to recharge.
There was a little trail our hosts told us about that led to a stream-fed pool. We set out to find it...
But after hiking down the wrong trail for six minutes, the thunder clouds came rolling in and we decided ice cream and comfy clothes were a good alternative!
Still beautiful! After Logan went to bed each night, Justin and I sat on the balcony overlooking the lake and talked about our favorite parts from the day while the rain fell around us. Each night brought a thunderstorm and I loved it.
Day Two - Grindelwald & Interlaken
Day two led us on the same freeway and mouth of the canyon until we made a turn to Grindelwald. I debated back and forth between Mount First and Männlichen. Both areas include gondola rides to beautiful views.
In the end, after reading lots of reviews & going with our gut, we decided to go up Mount First.
We pulled into what we thought was the parking garage for our gondola and found out we were in the wrong place. It felt like we had made a mistake on The Amazing Race. Ha! We had left at 7 AM in hopes to be on one of the first gondolas up since it gets crowded fast.
The mistake was worth it though because we got this picture of Logan. :') Looking so big in his Costco fleece jacket!
Found the right parking lot and got going!
We packed the baby carrier & stroller on the gondola & had it all to ourselves. It was so quiet as we traveled up the mountain. The only sound we could hear were the bells tied to the cows. It was so pretty & peaceful.
We went up higher & higher. I don't know how the cows stand on that slant all day.
Part of Mount First is the Cliff Walk. It wasn't nearly as scary as I was anticipating but a crazy feeling to be suspended up that high.
We put a lot of trust in that nifty carrier & it did its job.
Probably my favorite scenic picture from the whole trip that we took. It was amazing to be standing and looking at these majestic alps.
Okay, this is my favorite too. :')
There was a restaurant at the top with lots of outdoor seating and sun loungers catching some rays & views.
Don't let this sweet smile fool you. It was nap time and Logan went from this...
to this in a matter of seconds haha. We were waiting to have our turn at the front of the lookout to take a picture.
Justin took Logan to the restaurant to walk around and I snapped a picture and bailed. The line wasn't too long but each person was taking 5+ minutes to pose and get their social media content. ;)
Something that wasn't included in the reviews was what lay below the restaurant and Cliff Walk.
Are you kidding me?!?! This was my FAVORITE part of our trip. Turning the corner to see this view mixed with all of the different cow bells ringing.
Earlier that morning I had told Justin sometime on the trip I wanted to find a great view of the alps with cows. Little did I know, that view was coming sooner than I thought it would. I think part of the joy was how unexpected it was. I had no idea we would get to see this view during this excursion. It was breathtaking and we were so happy to be there.
Another favorite - can I have three favorites??
We maneuvered him out of the carrier and continued his little nap in our newfound favorite spot.
By the afternoon, the city was full of eager tourists and there were no parking spots available. If you ever go to Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald by car, I highly recommend getting there first thing in the morning.
After walking around Grindelwald, we went back to Lauterbrunnen to walk the valley path but couldn't find any parking! So we opted for the Interlaken lake walk instead.
Logan really discovered his tongue this trip and kept us laughing the whole time.
Ate some frozen pizzas and headed to Strandbad Brienz, our own little grassy beach up on the lake. Logan was fast asleep so we stayed close while we swam around in the lake.
Won't ever forget this view! I'd stay at this airbnb again in a heartbeat.
Day Three - Schwyz, Stoos, & Lucerne
We set our alarms for early, early and snuck around the apartment getting everything ready for the day while Logan slept. Ate our eggs, yogurt, granola and headed out for our final full day.
The car ride up to Schwyz took a little bit of time, but Logan ate and napped while we drove. Once in Schwyz, we drove up the canyon to the Stoos funicular base.
A funicular is a railway cablecar that goes up the mountain at a super steep climb. This particular one is the steepest one in the world and only leaves the station on the :10 and :40 of the hour. Thankfully our careful planning and light traffic paid off. We got there right on schedule and hopped on our funicular.
The railway ran through three different sections of the mountain. At certain points of the ride we were surrounded in darkness, only inches away from the mountain walls. Not a great place if you're claustrophobic!
We popped out of the mountain to this view!! Stoos is a mountain village with a population of 100 people. Whaaaaat. Imagine living there. It's only accessible by funicular so there's no cars. Again, the only noise besides nature are the cowbells.
We realized during the car ride we forgot to pack most of Logan's food. Thankfully, there was a tiny market that had some yogurt and a banana. Stopped for a little post-breakfast before heading to our destination.
I would've had zero idea that this place existed had my sister-in-law, Jacquelyn not sent me a video on Instagram. This village is known for it's incredible hike up along the ridge of the Stoos mountains. We thought we had it in us to do the whole two hour hike until we saw the elevation gain. It would have been a little much packing Logan with us haha.
Instead, we walked through the town to some ski lifts that take you to the top with a shorter panoramic hike.
On the way to the ski lifts we followed three children who were walking barefoot along the path. They had been at the market buying things to bring home. About 300m off the path, their brother called to them. It was crazy to imagine living their lives in this calm bubble of the world.
Insanely beautiful and the weather was gorgeous. We truly lucked out.
I was a little nervous about bringing Logan on the ski lift. My only experience with ski lifts are the small ones in Utah for skiing! This one had big seats and a wind shield you could pull down to protect you. It got super windy as the elevation increased!
Two ski lifts later we arrived at the top. There's a small restaurant at the top as well.
We were able to see so many different forms of beauty each day. Justin and I also commented that we felt "alone" everywhere we went. There's so much to do in Switzerland that the tourists get spread out doing their own thing.
Hi cow!
In the beginning of the hike the wind brought the clouds in and we couldn't see anything. Thankfully, on our way back everything cleared out. I did regret not bringing Logan's jacket!! I underestimated the elevation gain and temperature change. He was snug on his dad's back though and didn't seem too bothered by the wind.
Came across this baby goat petting zoo before heading back down the lift. Haha, another one of my favorite parts. They were soooo cute!
We were near the city of Lucerne and made a quick stop there before heading back to the airbnb. The Lion Monument is a memorial to the Swiss soldiers who fought in the French Revolution. It's visited annually by more than 1.4 million tourists.
Mark Twain commented the sculpture is "the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world".
About 40 feet behind this monument is the hustle and bustle of Lucerne. It's a cool, peaceful garden-like memorial with all of the trees and water.
It was HOT in Lucerne. We weren't up high in the mountains and it felt like Italy to me. Lots of bright colored stores, gelato, and loads of people. We stayed to see Chapel Bridge, grab some last groceries at Coop, then went straight back to the alps!
We packed everything up and headed to the beach one more time.
The next morning, it was POURING rain. I hadn't seen a rainstorm that like in a long time. We were running back and forth from the apartment to the car trying to load all of that luggage at fast as we could.
By the time we reached the airport we had finally dried off and were so grateful the weather had held out until the end of our trip!
Went to family check-in & boarded for Berlin!
What an amazing trip. I hope someday we'll get to go back there. <3