Each year, my family always seemed to opt out of a conventional vacation (never to one relaxing beach destination, or adventuring to one of America's beautiful National Parks). Instead, Summers were spent exploring rural cities in China, Christmas break was spent bathing with wild monkeys in Japan & birthdays were spent exploring surfing oasis's in the Middle East.
When my family realized that we hadn't been together in nearly a year, my mom, dad & brother decided to fly over to Europe for a long weekend. Instead of flying to Düsseldorf, they were intrigued by my latest trip to Kandersteg, Switzerland (read the post here if you have yet to explore this magical place). With 72 hours to explore, I mapped out the weekend similarly to the weekend prior, with room for a little bit of relaxation. An oh so swiss family vacation so to speak that is really perfect for anyone.
day 1: road trips, chateaux & sunset hikes
Why yes, 6am flights are the worst, but not when you land at 7am ready for the day. We all met at the Zurich airport and wandered over to the train station to grab our rental car near the central station.
After crossing the t's and dotting the i's, Enterprise gave 4 Americans a car to wander around their country in. We were feeling good as we left the rental car parking lot, until we turned left onto a train track and nearly go taken out by a Swiss S-bahn. Action! We were screaming at each other like any family would after an incident like that, and back on the road we went.
Instead of driving straight to Kandersteg, I thought it would be nice to enjoy lunch on Lake Thun, a town near Interlaken. Schloss Shadau caught my eye with its magnificent views of Eiger, and of course, its quaint and baraoque charm. I knew it would be the perfect pit stop on our short swiss family vacation.
After a casual stroll around the garden, we were off to Adelboden
After checking in to our quaint Bed and Breakfast, there was 30 min. before the lifts closed, I obviously made my jet-lagged family power walk to the gondola just in time for a quick mountainous stroll during ~ golden hour ~
day 2: It will be a casual hike, i promise
After an early evening in, and a great night sleep with fresh mountain air and plush duvets, we geared up to drive 30 min. to Kandersteg. Although the weather was not particularly on our side, we found the gondola, went over to the mountain tobaggan (quick adrenaline rush), and finally proceeded with a casual hike...
Forgetting that we are from Florida (read: no mountains), I chose quite a steep, paved 10 mile hike for us to embark on. As per usual, there was bickering, complaining and laughing - but was completely worth it when we found a little mountain hut that served fresh cheese, soup & bread.
& then we ate ice cream, and found a cute swiss fondue place (because the first plate of cheese wasn't enough)
day 3: mountain scooters.
On our final day of exploration, we decided to go on a casual hike (for real this time), up in Adelboden and saw a sign for mountain scooters (was not entirely sure what consisted of... but we were curious).
They ended up being razor scooters on steroids with mountain tires that would allow you to fly down a perfectly paved path to the valley. As lame as they may look, it was one of the funniest things I have done in a while. Zero effort required, aka perfect for the entire family.
& just like that the weekend was over, my family drove me to the Zurich airport and I flew back to Dusseldorf just in time for work on Monday.
IGO Adventures is the type of trip that anyone looking for adventure, community and mindfulness would be interested in trying out. This is my experience with IGO Adventures.