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Go play in the snow!
Find the ski holiday that’s right for your family
by Lucy Izon
Grindelwald, Switzerland
| Web: |
www.grindelwald.ch |
| Phone: |
Swiss National Tourist Office
1 (800) 794-7795 |
| Where: |
Two-and-a-half hour drive from Zurich, 40 minutes from Interlaken |
With wooden hillside chalets overlooking a beautiful glacier valley, Grindelwald is the quintessential dream Alpine village. It’s easily accessible by rail from Zurich — a three hour trip with one change to a small mountain train — and offers all the services of a 2,000 resident village, while being compact enough to walk everywhere. Well-suited to families with non-skiers, this resort has great tobogganing runs (including a 15 km run that is one of the longest in the world) for kids, and patrolled paved winter hiking paths, which allow the hiker to meet the skiing members of the family on the mountain for lunch. There’s a ski school and babysitting with English-speaking instructors and sitters, for children from age three and up as well as snowboarding lessons, half or full days, for kids age five and up. Ski school participants save 10 percent on rentals. You can also take a day trip by rail to Lausanne, Bern or Jungfraujoch — the highest railway stations in Europe. Ski passes sold overseas generally include the whole Jungfrau region. Grindelwald can be booked from North America through Inter Home — ask if your hotel or condo provides a "Guest Pass" for the popular community sport center, with an indoor pool, a kids' paddling pool and skating. The Swiss Tourist Board website features a family column with useful tips. The local tourist office can recommend babysitters.
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