Meiringen, Switzerland: Heading into the Mountains
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One of the highlights of our Switzerland trip by rails was heading into the mountains. We hopped off the Golden Pass Line in Meiringen. This turns out to be the perfect place to get off as it is filled with attractions. (Honestly, there was a lot more here than I knew about before we arrived!)
Meiringen is a small town with a small train station. As soon as we got off the train we could see a small park with people waiting in line. We walked that direction and found a large statue of Sherlock Holmes. Meiringen is the gateway to Reichenbach Falls, the real destination where the fictional Sherlock Holmes met his end. You can take a funicular to a viewing platform of the falls, and we’ve been told it’s a lovely outing. We had a stunning view of the falls from both town and our hotel.
Sherlock Holmes fans should not miss the Sherlock Holmes Museum in the small wooden house sitting in the town park. There was a line out of the door and we noticed the hours were funny, so make sure to check before you head there. We opted instead to just read the placards outside the museum.
We continued walking through town passing Molki Meiringen, a local dairy making cheeses and ice cream. Had I done my research we would have popped in for a snack!
Instead we ended up at the park just outside of the cable car station. We let the boys play here until it was time for the next cable car to head up the mountain. There is plenty of playground equipment, open grass and mountain spring water to fill your bottle.
At this park you can also take a short walk to the Restiturm castle ruins. There are sign boards and a new steal staircase, allowing you to explore the tower.
We boarded the cable car with our luggage. You’ll need to buy a ticket, which seemed to only be sold just before the car left.
Our hotel, Hotel Reuti, was located right next to the cable car station. We checked in, had a bit of down time to enjoy the hotel before we had dinner at the hotel.
We opted for some traditional cheese fondue, served with bread and potatoes. It was delicious. We also ordered boxed lunches from the hotel to pick up in the morning before our hike.
The next morning we headed out to do some hiking despite the rain. The lovely ladies at Hotel Reuti suggested we try to burn a bit of time in the early morning as the rain would burn off. We bought full day passes to the chair lifts that run up and down the mountain and decided to ride the whole mountain before we set out on a hike.
The mountain was completely socked in as we headed up the lifts. At one point we were totally in a cloud and could only hear the sound of the cows bells in the valley bellow. Majestic!
At the top of the mountain there is a bar and observation tower. We popped up there despite the fact that you couldn’t see a thing. It was just cloud. The kids thought it was cool though. There is also a lovely little restaurant up here. If we didn’t have young kids this would be a great place for a dinner reservation.
If you head all the way down the stairs though there is a lovely little display of one of the Dwarf stories. The boys loved seeing this and making up their own story. We had purchased the Muggestutz book from the gift shop, since we would be hiking the dwarf trail later in the day.
We popped back into the chair lift to head down the mountain.
At the midway point there is a little track and bikes set up for the kids to enjoy. These are not just any bikes.
This was the full line of Winther kids bikes. We see these bikes all over Europe and I’m completely in love with them. They make so many fun combinations. You can carry passengers, or get a four wheel bike, there is even one where the passengers can stand on the back.
It was raining so no one else was around. Our Dutch kids didn’t mind the rain, and loved having all the bike combinations to try out! Kudos to Winther for producing such creative and sturdy vehicles for kiddos to enjoy.
Finally the rain had lifted a bit so we hopped back on the chair lift to ride to the station where we wanted to start our hike.
Finally we felt the rain had let up enough to head out on the Muggestutz trail. The trail took us several hours. We were glad to have the boxed lunches from the hotel to enjoy on our hike.
Post-hike we rode the lift one full length up and back down to enjoy the views now that the rain had cleared.
The two littles settled in for a post-hike nap at the hotel. My mom, Jeff and the Big Little went on a walk through town, eventually finding themselves at a small waterfall. I enjoyed some quiet time with amazing views of town and my book. (I could literally watch them walk through town from our balcony.)
We opted to walk into the next town for dinner at another hotel recommended by our hotel. We packed all our rain gear into the Big Little’s Zinc Flyte Kids Suitcase and hit the road. The big little never complained on the walk as he could scoot the whole way.
The walk to the neighboring town has some incredible views.
We laughed that we had considered taking the bus here as the walk turned out to be a lovely part of our evening.
Our destination was Hotel Gasthof zur Post.
They had the table all ready with kids menus, coloring sheets and a high chair when we arrived.
After we ordered the kids headed outside to play on the playground until the food arrived. We enjoyed a delicious meal. The kids begged to have a little more time playing before we headed home.
We enjoyed sitting outside while the kids played, but had to start the walk back before everyone got too tired.
I couldn’t help but snap photos the whole way home. The changing light was now illuminating the glaciers across the valley. The scenic walk made the whole evening nearly perfect in my memory.
The next morning, after breakfast, we caught the first cable car down the mountain. We stored our luggage at the train station and hopped on a local tram line to Aare Gorge.
Aare Gorge is another perfectly manageable hike with kids.
We returned to have a quick lunch at Frutal Meringues. The menu is small but the food was delicious. The salads and toasties were all winners but Jeff was really turned off by the arrogant service.
They have a small playground where the kids played while we waited for food. We also popped in and got some treats, as Frutal is known for their meringues!
With bellies full we hopped back on the train to head to Lucerne.
The journey continues!