Five charming little towns for your next family holiday

Slow­ly, but sure­ly, the tem­per­a­tures are climb­ing again. Spring is just around the cor­ner. Any­one liv­ing in Switzer­land knows, how­ev­er, that the weath­er can be quite unpre­dictable in March, April and May. Per­fect for fam­i­ly hol­i­days in a small town! Nowhere else is local recre­ation in nature so close to cul­ture, games and fun. You can decide where you want to go at the last minute depend­ing on the weath­er – with­out any long dri­ves ahead of you.

1. Burgdorf

A vis­it to the roman­tic city on the banks of the Emme is def­i­nite­ly worth­while. And we don’t just say that because you and your fam­i­ly can sleep like roy­al­ty at Burgdorf Cas­tle Youth Hos­tel. Accom­mo­da­tion here includes admis­sion to the child-friend­ly muse­um – per­fect for rainy days. Part of the exhi­bi­tion is open for longer in the evenings exclu­sive­ly for youth hos­tel guests, so that you too can expe­ri­ence your own «Night at the Muse­um» moment.

From the sun ter­race, you have an amaz­ing view of the hilly land­scape of the Emmen­tal val­ley. And this is where the Pestalozzi Trail starts, which takes you 5 kilo­me­tres through the sur­round­ing coun­try­side and city. Along the path, you will learn fas­ci­nat­ing facts about ani­mals, plants and cul­tur­al nuances at 16 sta­tions. If you pre­fer to explore the city in an action-packed and play­ful way, the Ludo­trail is the right choice. For CHF 25 you can col­lect the games ruck­sack from the tourist office in Burgdorf and spend a day play­ing through the sights, restau­rants and parks. Oth­er high­lights in the Emmen­tal val­ley are the Emmen­taler Show Dairy in Affoltern im Emmen­tal and the Kam­bly Expe­ri­ence in Trub­schachen.

2. Solothurn

Solothurn is con­sid­ered the most beau­ti­ful baroque city in Switzer­land. What if that’s not rea­son enough for a city trip? Paired with fam­i­ly hol­i­days, it’s a win­ning com­bi­na­tion. The city can be explored on the Detec­tive Trail, for exam­ple. This expe­ri­ence is ide­al for chil­dren aged 7 to 15 and the trail is suit­able for pushchairs. Tricky rid­dles await you along the most impor­tant sights. Look for­ward to mag­nif­i­cent views of the city on the Weis­senstein. From there, you can look out over Solothurn, with plen­ty of fam­i­ly-friend­ly walks, play­grounds and places to stop for food and drink. From Novem­ber to April, you can also go in search of clues with «Her­melin».

After an event­ful day full of impres­sions, you can relax at Solothurn Youth Hos­tel. The hos­tel is locat­ed between the Riv­er Aare and the old town – jump right into the heart of the action! And there’s no time to get bored: How about a match of table foot­ball or a few board games before falling asleep?

3. Stein am Rhein

Whether out­doors or indoors, the pos­si­bil­i­ties for a var­ied fam­i­ly hol­i­day in Stein am Rhein are almost lim­it­less. Even the youth hos­tel is a true par­adise for young and old alike, with its large gar­den fea­tur­ing a bar­be­cue area, play­ground and foot­ball pitch. The Rhine with its idyl­lic swim­ming spots is locat­ed direct­ly across the road, so to speak. An enter­tain­ing walk along the riv­er leads you to the famous old town with its paint­ed facades.

The chil­dren can let off steam in the Stadt­garten park. In addi­tion to a huge play­ground, the kids can also take a ride on the Liliput Rail­way. And what if the weath­er decides not to coop­er­ate? Don’t pan­ic! A vis­it to the Lind­wurm Muse­um is warm­ly rec­om­mend­ed, where vis­i­tors can immerse them­selves in the life of yes­ter­year in linen shirts or fan­cy dress­es. Or make a detour to the Ticiland Amuse­ment Park.

4. Avenches

Hors­es, but­ter­flies and even a sandy beach await you in the Roman town of Avench­es. A vis­it to the Swiss Nation­al Stud is free of charge, but you can also book a guid­ed tour for CHF 15. Either way, you’ll learn inter­est­ing facts about the grace­ful Freiberg hors­es. If you want to explore the region in an active way, we rec­om­mend walk­ing or even cycling through the var­ied land­scape. Take a detour to Lake Murten, where the fine sandy beach­es will leave you feel­ing like you’re in the Caribbean. And don’t wor­ry if the weath­er isn’t on your side – the Papil­io­ra­ma with its hun­dreds of colour­ful but­ter­flies is close by.

Our Avench­es Youth Hos­tel, not far from the live­ly and colour­ful alleys of the city cen­tre, is the per­fect fam­i­ly-friend­ly accom­mo­da­tion. The hos­tel offers com­fort­able fam­i­ly rooms and a large gar­den with plen­ty of oppor­tu­ni­ties for the kids to play.

5. Baden

Spend the night in the ren­o­vat­ed sta­bles at Baden Youth Hos­tel. But the bright red build­ing isn’t the only eye-catch­er in the city. You may well spot peo­ple bathing in foun­tains in the city cen­tre. And that’s our sug­ges­tion for you too! The pools are between approx. 37 °C and 43 °C (depend­ing on the weath­er) and are fed by nat­ur­al ther­mal water. If you pre­fer to stay dry, we rec­om­mend a detour to the Swiss Children’s Muse­um. There, you can immerse your­self in the evo­lu­tion of games and toys through his­tor­i­cal orig­i­nals and expe­ri­ence this trans­for­ma­tion at var­i­ous hands-on sta­tions. Nos­tal­gia guar­an­teed!

If you pre­fer to be active, the Fox­trail along the water and the his­toric town cen­tre might be for you. Explore Baden on foot with excit­ing puz­zles in your bag. Ready?