Joy RIDE

Lucerne and Zermatt are our top Swiss picks for a family-friendly holiday.

- CALVIN CHONG

One of the first countries in the world to open up to tourism, Switzerland is the land of nature’s splendours, cultural heritage and interesting sights. And it is the perfect destination if you are looking for a fun-filled family-friendly holiday.

And of the many amazing cities and sights Switzerland has to offer, Lucerne and Zermatt are our top picks to enjoy both city and country sights, from an educational day at the Museum of Transport to the scenic cogwheel train ride up to Gornergrat.

To start off our little virgin post-pandemic adventure, we hopped on Swissair for a comfortable 15-hour flight to Zurich (which includes a short transit in Singapore). Upon landing, the first priority and a must for all tourists in Switzerland is to sign up for the Swiss Travel Pass, which is an all-inclusive travel pass that allows us to hop on every available mode of public transportation in Switzerland and get access to a long list of attractions all over the country. We highly recommend the first-class option to get a fuss-free and comfortable train experience with cabins that are generally more spacious, luxurious and less crowded, especially during peak hours.

For our first stop, we took a quick 40-minute train ride to the city of Lucerne, the gateway to central Switzerland. A city known for its medieval architecture, cultural sights, breathtaking mountain ranges and the scenic Lake Lucerne, this is the perfect city to kick-start our Swiss experience. 

For starters, we headed to the Old Town district, also known as Altstadt, to take in the majestic medieval architecture that makes Lucerne famous. As we trod through the cobblestone streets, we were greeted with various wall paintings decorating the building within this district, all telling their own little story that dates back to the 1920s and beyond.