Usually our family holidays are spent lazing on a beach until the sun sets and enjoying the cool sea which relieves us of our year long wait for a couple of weeks away from the hustle of daily life. But after years of what began to feel like the same old thing, we decided to see what else is out there. When we go on holiday we do enjoy taking in the local culture, but once we reach our destination, the temptation of the beach is too much and we always come home listing the things we wished we had done. So last year we planned our holiday in advanced and emailed our tour operator our requirements, and received an adventure packed itinerary back. Once the family agreed and changed some options, we were ready to go and switched soaking up the sun in Greece for a week’s walking holiday from Thomson Lakes & Mountains in Switzerland.
We started our holiday off by booking into Hotel Interlaken located within Interlaken – which was advised as one of the best destination for picturesque scenery and great walking trails. The hotel itself was wonderful; it had wooden beams and a warm welcome which felt very traditional. The hotel was modern and had all the basic facilities we would have expected – especially the tea and coffee in the room made the grandparents very chuffed! Already this was quite different to what we were used to, but the beautiful gardens and mountain backdrop soon replaced the glare of the sea and loud streets full of tourists.
After our first day of relaxing in the hotel, we set out the next day with our guide and started our day of exploring. Even though we wanted adventure, they made sure we had plenty of refreshment stops due to the mix of ages in the group; this also gave me time to get family photos taken before we all looked exhausted!
There was so much to do, after our first day of a small walk taking in the views of Lake Thun we took a cogwheel tour to the “Top of Europe” which apparently was over 2000m in Kleine Scheidegg, the height let alone the views was overwhelming. The natural beauty we were lucky enough to see that day created many family memories, and gave us some of the most amazing photos we have ever taken on a family holiday – it definitely created memories to last a life time. After heading up we were taken to Eiger where there were windows carved into the rock providing a breathtaking view of the lakes and mountains. As there was a mixed group of ages, we decided to head back down to our hotel and had arranged to go back to Jungfraujoch the next day.
The Jungfraujoch rail way is the highest in Europe sitting at a huge 3464m above sea level, needless to say the views were the best we had seen and we were glad to have saved our energy to appreciate it to the full. After photos we were guided to the Ice Palace which has beautiful hand crafted ice sculptures, with some being over 6ft tall. We stopped for a late lunch and headed up to the Sphinx where we were able to view the Aletsch Galcier, and at an impressive 22km it provided amazing photographs and the pure size of it was simply amazing that nature can create such beauty.
After visiting the must-see places in Interlaken we had a relaxing few days by the lakes with no climbing, just simple walking and dining mainly talking about what we had already experienced. When you stay by the lakes you get to see waterfalls of Giesbach and a fantastic walk up to Brienz a town known for its wood carving.
In comparison to our usual summer beach holidays we would happily go on a walking break again. We found we bonded more as a family as we had to take part in activities, went through the same experiences and discussed them. This for us was much more in line with what we want from our holidays, and not forgetting the photos we have gained are constant reminders of the wonderful experience we had, and will soon be booking to visit another European country.
