Interlaken with kids: a 5-day family itinerary

Five days, four attractions worth the money, and nothing that requires a child under eight to walk further than a playground and back. This plan keeps travel days short, puts the expensive tickets where they earn their keep, and skips the Jungfraujoch — a spectacular train ride that mostly bores small children once they’re through the tunnel.

Why this order works

The route is built around distance from Interlaken, not a checklist. Day 1 stays in town so everyone recovers from travel. Day 2 is flat and mostly seated, on a Lake Thun cruise. Day 3 is the one big mountain day, at Grindelwald First, timed for a midweek slot when the gondola is quieter. Day 4 slows down again at Ballenberg, which tires children out through walking rather than altitude. Day 5 finishes on Harder Kulm — an 8-minute funicular from Interlaken Ost, doable with luggage on the way to a train or bus onward.

Day	Focus	Pace	Approx. cost (family of 4)
1	Interlaken town, Höhematte	Very easy	CHF 40–60 (food only)
2	Lake Thun cruise	Easy, mostly seated	CHF 140–180
3	Grindelwald First	Moderate, half-day	CHF 260–320
4	Ballenberg	Easy, lots of walking	CHF 90–120
5	Harder Kulm, departure	Easy	CHF 70–90

Prices are per family of two adults and two children (6–12) and assume no discount pass; a Swiss Travel Pass can lower the transport share if you are covering more ground before or after.

Day 1: Interlaken, at a child’s pace

Arrive, drop bags, and do nothing ambitious. Interlaken sits between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz with the town itself flat enough for a buggy end to end. Walk the Höhematte, the 14-hectare meadow in the middle of town where paragliders land — children are usually more interested in watching canopies come down than in any museum on a first afternoon. There’s a playground at the eastern end near the Congress Centre, and benches enough that jet-lagged parents can sit while kids run.

For lunch, stick to a bakery or a self-service place on the Höheweg rather than a hotel terrace; Interlaken’s sit-down restaurants are priced for the view. See the restaurant guide and the eating cheap guide for where locals actually eat.

In the late afternoon, walk to Unterseen — the quieter half of the Bödeli, across the river Aare from central Interlaken — for a slower, less touristy old town with a good ice cream shop. It’s ten minutes on foot and flat the whole way.

If your children are under five and travel has worn them out, that’s the whole day, and that’s fine. Full activity guides for both scenarios: things to do when it rains and free things to do.

Day 2: Lake Thun by boat

Board a boat at Interlaken West — not Ost, which serves Lake Brienz — for a Lake Thun cruise. The paddle steamers and modern boats both have open decks and a snack bar, and children generally like being on the water more than any single stop along it.

Get off at Oberhofen to see the castle from outside (the grounds are free, the interior less essential with young kids) or continue to Spiez for a swim if the weather is warm — swimming in Lake Thun and Lake Brienz covers the lidos with shallow, supervised sections. Thun itself, at the far end, has a compact old town built on the river with covered arcades — good for a rainy version of this day; see Thun’s old town and castle guide.

Return by boat or train — the railway runs along the lake and is faster if anyone’s patience is running out. Either way, the whole day can be done round trip from Interlaken without checking out of a hotel.

Day 3: Grindelwald First — the mountain worth paying for

This is the day to spend the money. Grindelwald village is about 35 minutes from Interlaken Ost by train, then the gondola to First runs a further 25 minutes up.

a return gondola ticket up to Mount First is the base cost; the reason to bring children here rather than to the Jungfraujoch is what’s waiting at the top. The First Cliff Walk, a steel walkway bolted to the rock face with a glass viewing platform, is free once you’re up there and manageable for most children over about six (younger ones need a hand held on the platform). The mountain carts — wheeled carts you ride down a gravel track — have a minimum height requirement, usually around 130 cm, so check before promising anything to a shorter child.

If you’d rather buy the attraction ticket alone and skip any add-ons, a standalone ticket up to First covers the gondola and cliff walk without the extras — worth comparing prices before you book, since the difference is usually small.

Bring lunch or budget for the self-service restaurant at First, which is priced like every other altitude restaurant in the region — not extortionate, but not cheap. The Grindelwald First guide has current opening dates; like every lift in the region, First closes for spring and autumn maintenance and occasionally for wind, so check the day before rather than the week before.

Back in Grindelwald village, there’s time for an early dinner before the last convenient train back to Interlaken. If your children are strong walkers, Bachalpsee is reachable from First itself, but that turns this into a hiking day rather than a mountain-playground day — decide which one you actually want before you leave the hotel.

Day 4: Ballenberg — a whole day of farms and workshops

Ballenberg Open-Air Museum is roughly 20 minutes from Interlaken Ost by train to Brienz, then a short bus or a 15-minute walk to the entrance. It’s a large site — over 100 relocated historic buildings across two main areas — with farm animals, a working bakery, and craftspeople demonstrating cheese-making, weaving, and woodworking depending on the day.

This is the itinerary’s best value day for families: one ticket covers the whole site, the paths are wide gravel or paved and take a buggy without trouble, and there’s no pressure to see everything. Pack a picnic — there are marked picnic areas throughout — or budget for the on-site restaurants, which are more reasonably priced than most Interlaken options because there’s less passing tourist trade to charge for.

Aim to arrive when it opens and plan for four to six hours; trying to see the whole museum in half a day with young children is the most common way to burn everyone out. For a fuller plan of what to prioritise with kids specifically, see Ballenberg with children; the general museum guide covers logistics and ticket types.

Take the bus back to Brienz for a look at the lakefront before the train home, or, if energy allows, a short Lake Brienz boat leg back towards Interlaken instead of the train — the colour of the water alone tends to hold a child’s attention for the full crossing.

Day 5: Harder Kulm, then onward

Harder Kulm is the easiest mountain viewpoint in the region to fit around a departure, which is exactly why it goes last. The funicular leaves from directly behind Interlaken Ost station — an 8-minute ride to 1,322 m — so it works whether your onward train, or flight connection from Zurich, is midday or evening; leave enough slack that a delayed funicular doesn’t cost you the connection.

At the top, the platform juts out between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz for the view that gives the mountain its reputation, and there’s a restaurant and a smaller playground area for children who’ve had enough of viewpoints by day five. If you’d rather combine it with one more activity before leaving the region, a private day trip covering Harder Kulm and Grindelwald packages the two together with a driver, which removes the train-timing stress on a departure day.

Come back down, collect luggage, and head to whichever station you need — Interlaken Ost for the Brünig line to Lucerne or trains east, Interlaken West if you’re routed toward Bern and Zurich. Full route timings are in trains, buses and boats around Interlaken.

Making the days shorter, longer, or cheaper

Three ways to adjust this plan without breaking it:

• Shorter (3 days): keep Grindelwald First and Ballenberg, drop the lake cruise and Harder Kulm, and see Interlaken in one day squeezed around them.
• Cheaper: replace the Grindelwald First day with a free viewpoint from Interlaken’s viewpoints guide and keep only Ballenberg as a paid attraction.
• More ambitious: if your children handle altitude and longer days well, a combined Bernese Oberland day trip with cable car can substitute for the First day and add a second summit, though it makes for a longer day than most young children enjoy twice in one trip.

For a broader sense of what else sits within reach if you extend the trip, day trips from Interlaken and the general family travel guide cover options this itinerary doesn’t have room for, and mountain trips with a pushchair is worth reading before Day 3 or Day 5 if you’re travelling with a child not yet walking.

Family questions about visiting Interlaken

How many days do we need in Interlaken with kids?

Five days covers the region’s best family stops at a relaxed pace: one to settle in, one on the lake, one on a mountain, one at Ballenberg, and one summit before you leave. Three days works if you drop either Ballenberg or Harder Kulm.

Which mountain is best for young children, Grindelwald First or the Jungfraujoch?

Grindelwald First. The Jungfraujoch is higher, colder, and involves more train time for a payoff that is mostly a view through glass; First has a cliff walk, mountain carts, and a playground that keep children under 10 occupied for hours.

Do we need the Swiss Travel Pass for this itinerary?

It depends on how much ground you cover. If you do the lake cruise, Ballenberg, and both mountain trips inside five days, a regional pass or the Swiss Travel Pass usually pays for itself; run your own dates through the pass guide before buying.

Is Ballenberg worth it with small children?

Yes, more than most museums. It is outdoors, spread over a large site with buggy-friendly gravel paths, and has farm animals, working watermills, and craftspeople to watch rather than glass cases to read about.

Can we do this itinerary without a car?

Yes. Every stop in this plan is reached by train, boat, or cable car from Interlaken. A car adds parking costs and no time saving on this particular route.

What if it rains for a day?

Swap the lake cruise or Harder Kulm day for an indoor alternative — see the rainy-day guide — and keep Ballenberg and Grindelwald First for clearer forecasts, since both lose most of their appeal in low cloud.

How much should we budget per day for a family of four?

Expect CHF 350–500 a day covering a mid-range apartment or family room, transport, one paid attraction, and self-catered breakfasts with restaurant lunches or dinners. Interlaken is expensive; it is not unusually expensive for Switzerland.