Hiking With Kids In Switzerland- Gänsbrunnen
We spent my husband’s birthday hiking in Gänsbrunnen.
Gänsbrunnen is located in canton Solothurn, an hour and twenty minutes by car or train from the Zurich HB (main train station). We took our car and parked at the Gänsbrunnen train station. Alternatively, we could’ve taken the train to Gänsbrunnen and started there. Once parked at Gänsbrunnen train station, we walked to St Jakob Church and followed the wanderweg (yellow trail signs) toward Malsenburg. We were planning to do the complete hike of three and a half hours from Gänsbrunnen to Herbetswil, but the kids weren’t feeling like that long of a hike.
We picked wild strawberries, gathered hiking sticks and spotted wild snails. My almost 2 year old was in the Ergo carrier on my back. My 7 and 9 year olds are pretty fit and can handle a couple hour hike. But, in order to keep them from throwing a tantrum on my husband’s birthday, I had my middle child pick out a tantrum treat the night before at the shop. In case of emergency whining, use chocolate.
We reached Malsenburg an hour and a half after we started our hike. The hike was straight forward and not too difficult. We walked through shaded forests and cow pastures. At Malsenburg there is a restaurant, small playground, and goats. There is a grill just before reaching Malsenburg, at the top of the climb, where I took this picture:
We planned to grill 3 hours into the 3 1/2 hour hike, but we couldn’t muster up the energy. So at Malsenburg we turned around and headed home.
Sometimes hikes don’t go exactly to how we plan them. Luckily we had enough water and food to be happy. And we were all together as a family. I’m still pretty impressed that we hiked for 3 hours without stopping. I’m excited to try a few more hikes this summer. It’s the perfect escape from daily expectations and temptations. There’s something so special about being together in nature, the peace, the mountains, the BBQ, and the family time. The nothingness you can’t buy.
If you are looking for some fun hiking with kids in Switzerland, download the brochure from Swiss Post at post.ch/wandern. There are 8 family friendly hikes to choose from, including this one we did in Gänsbrunnen.
This post is written in collaboration with Swiss Post. Here’s the hike we did with them last year. As always, my parenting pitfalls are entirely my own.