Swiss weekends with kids rarely stay in town. Within about an hour of Zurich, you can walk to a platform beside the thundering Rhine Falls, climb a medieval castle tower, try a dinosaur dig pit or race a summer toboggan run through tunnels. Several close for winter, so check the season before you set off. Here's what we checked, from Stein am Rhein to the apple maze at Juckerhof.
Rhine Falls is the most powerful waterfall in Europe, 150 meters wide and 23 meters high. From Schloss Laufen castle, a footpath and steep, narrow stairs lead past the thundering water to the Fischetz viewing platform.
Boats cross the basin and run out to the rock in the middle of the falls, which visitors can climb. A riverside path loops around the whole basin.
Stein am Rhein is a small medieval town where the Rhine flows out of the Untersee, the western end of Lake Constance. Its timber-framed houses, some from the 15th and 16th centuries, are covered in painted frescoes, and winding lanes lead to the market square.
Kids can climb to Hohenklingen Castle for the view, visit the museum in the old Benedictine abbey, or watch boats from the riverside promenade.
Technorama is a hands-on science center where most exhibits are built to touch and try. Kids spin tops and pendulums in Mechanikum, kick and crank wooden marble runs, play with magnets and currents, and build machines from everyday materials in Tinkering.
Staffed labs let kids run their own chemistry, physics and biology experiments, and an outdoor park opens from late March to late October.
Kyburg is a medieval castle that has been a museum for about 160 years. Inside the Grafenhaus and Ritterhaus, kids find suits of armor, a wooden block prison from 1529, room models with one hidden object that doesn't belong, and six short cartoons on the castle's story.
On the third floor, a castle building site lets them clamp stones, date beams by tree rings and build with wooden blocks.
Sauriermuseum Aathal shows real dinosaur skeletons, six of them from the museum's own digs, alongside trilobites, a crocodile, flying and marine reptiles, 290 pieces of amber and 108 meteorites. Replicas and models fill in the rest of the age of dinosaurs.
Outside, the DinoGiardino garden has dinosaur models, a dig pit, a slide, a small carousel for toddlers, two grill spots and covered picnic tables.
Knies Kinderzoo is a hands-on zoo run by the Knie circus family since 1962, with about 400 animals from 45 species by Lake Zurich. Kids can feed the elephants, ride ponies and camels, and loop the grounds on the electric zoo tram. Giraffes, cheetahs, penguins and a goat petting area round it out, with free keeper talks and a short animal film through the day.
The park sits on the terrain left by the 1806 Goldau landslide. In the free-roaming zone, kids feed sika deer and mouflons with the park's own food. Bears and wolves share one enclosure, owls live in a walk-in aviary, and a farm area has goats and donkeys.
Wet days suit the Zauberwald indoor playground and a landslide simulator. A wooden tower nearly 30 m tall looks out to the Rigi.
Walter Zoo holds about 100 animal species, from tigers, chimpanzees and Barbary lions to meerkats, red pandas and small-clawed otters. The tropical, savanna and reptile houses give a dry option on wet days.
Kids can feed some animals with the zoo's own hay pellets, watch keeper-led feedings, ride ponies and run between the playgrounds. Two fire pits by the flamingo pond come with free wood for grilling.
Atzmännig is a family leisure area in the Goldingertal valley, with a chairlift up to Alp Atzmännig at 1,200 m. The leisure park has a 700 m toboggan run with tunnels and banked curves, a slide tower with six chutes, mini electric cars, a petting zoo, a playground, and a rope park with eight courses plus three for kids.
Winter brings ski lifts, a sledding run and a snowshoe trail.
Sattel-Hochstuckli is a family mountain reached by Stuckli Rondo, a gondola whose cabins turn a full 360 degrees as they climb. At the top, kids cross the 374-meter Skywalk suspension bridge over the Laui Gorge, ride the 600-meter Stuckli Run toboggan through tunnels and banked curves, and bounce in Rondos Playland.
In winter the slopes switch to sledding, a ski lift and a learning area for young skiers.
Conny-Land is a theme park in Thurgau with roller coasters, water rides and a sea lion show. Big kids head for the Cobra coaster, the Antares vertical coaster and a Space Shot tower that launches riders almost 60 meters up.
Smaller kids get the Cobralino kiddy coaster, Flying Elephants, radio boats and a splash playground. Covered rides like Dino Attack and Crazy Professor keep a wet day going.
The Swiss Children's Museum fills an 1896 villa with 300 years of childhood and toys. Kids test spinning tops of wood, tin and plastic, build with construction toys from different centuries and stage shows at small puppet theaters.
Upstairs are five-senses experiments, a mirror room and a children's library. Historic classrooms play pupils' stories at old school desks.
Alpamare is a water park on the shore of Lake Zurich with 12 slides, from the Triple Slide in the toddler area to the pitch-dark Thriller tube. The wave pool sends waves over 1.2 meters high every half hour, and the outdoor Rio Mare pool has a current to float along.
The 200 m² toddler area has small slides, a paddling pool, a spraying turtle and a tipping water bucket.
Juckerhof is a working farm above Lake Pfäffikon, with a farm restaurant, a farm shop and views across the lake. Kids get a playground, a goat park, a straw bouncy castle and play tractors.
The ÖpfelGarte grows nearly 6,000 apple trees into two mazes and a labyrinth, beside a barefoot trail. Each autumn the farm fills with giant pumpkin sculptures.
Swiss weekends with kids rarely stay in town. Within about an hour of Zurich, you can walk to a platform beside the thundering Rhine Falls, climb a medieval castle tower, try a dinosaur dig pit or race a summer toboggan run through tunnels. Several close for winter, so check the season before you set off. Here's what we checked, from Stein am Rhein to the apple maze at Juckerhof.
Rhine Falls is the most powerful waterfall in Europe, 150 meters wide and 23 meters high. From Schloss Laufen castle, a footpath and steep, narrow stairs lead past the thundering water to the Fischetz viewing platform.
Boats cross the basin and run out to the rock in the middle of the falls, which visitors can climb. A riverside path loops around the whole basin.
Stein am Rhein is a small medieval town where the Rhine flows out of the Untersee, the western end of Lake Constance. Its timber-framed houses, some from the 15th and 16th centuries, are covered in painted frescoes, and winding lanes lead to the market square.
Kids can climb to Hohenklingen Castle for the view, visit the museum in the old Benedictine abbey, or watch boats from the riverside promenade.
Technorama is a hands-on science center where most exhibits are built to touch and try. Kids spin tops and pendulums in Mechanikum, kick and crank wooden marble runs, play with magnets and currents, and build machines from everyday materials in Tinkering.
Staffed labs let kids run their own chemistry, physics and biology experiments, and an outdoor park opens from late March to late October.
Kyburg is a medieval castle that has been a museum for about 160 years. Inside the Grafenhaus and Ritterhaus, kids find suits of armor, a wooden block prison from 1529, room models with one hidden object that doesn't belong, and six short cartoons on the castle's story.
On the third floor, a castle building site lets them clamp stones, date beams by tree rings and build with wooden blocks.
Sauriermuseum Aathal shows real dinosaur skeletons, six of them from the museum's own digs, alongside trilobites, a crocodile, flying and marine reptiles, 290 pieces of amber and 108 meteorites. Replicas and models fill in the rest of the age of dinosaurs.
Outside, the DinoGiardino garden has dinosaur models, a dig pit, a slide, a small carousel for toddlers, two grill spots and covered picnic tables.
Knies Kinderzoo is a hands-on zoo run by the Knie circus family since 1962, with about 400 animals from 45 species by Lake Zurich. Kids can feed the elephants, ride ponies and camels, and loop the grounds on the electric zoo tram. Giraffes, cheetahs, penguins and a goat petting area round it out, with free keeper talks and a short animal film through the day.
The park sits on the terrain left by the 1806 Goldau landslide. In the free-roaming zone, kids feed sika deer and mouflons with the park's own food. Bears and wolves share one enclosure, owls live in a walk-in aviary, and a farm area has goats and donkeys.
Wet days suit the Zauberwald indoor playground and a landslide simulator. A wooden tower nearly 30 m tall looks out to the Rigi.
Walter Zoo holds about 100 animal species, from tigers, chimpanzees and Barbary lions to meerkats, red pandas and small-clawed otters. The tropical, savanna and reptile houses give a dry option on wet days.
Kids can feed some animals with the zoo's own hay pellets, watch keeper-led feedings, ride ponies and run between the playgrounds. Two fire pits by the flamingo pond come with free wood for grilling.
Atzmännig is a family leisure area in the Goldingertal valley, with a chairlift up to Alp Atzmännig at 1,200 m. The leisure park has a 700 m toboggan run with tunnels and banked curves, a slide tower with six chutes, mini electric cars, a petting zoo, a playground, and a rope park with eight courses plus three for kids.
Winter brings ski lifts, a sledding run and a snowshoe trail.
Sattel-Hochstuckli is a family mountain reached by Stuckli Rondo, a gondola whose cabins turn a full 360 degrees as they climb. At the top, kids cross the 374-meter Skywalk suspension bridge over the Laui Gorge, ride the 600-meter Stuckli Run toboggan through tunnels and banked curves, and bounce in Rondos Playland.
In winter the slopes switch to sledding, a ski lift and a learning area for young skiers.
Conny-Land is a theme park in Thurgau with roller coasters, water rides and a sea lion show. Big kids head for the Cobra coaster, the Antares vertical coaster and a Space Shot tower that launches riders almost 60 meters up.
Smaller kids get the Cobralino kiddy coaster, Flying Elephants, radio boats and a splash playground. Covered rides like Dino Attack and Crazy Professor keep a wet day going.
The Swiss Children's Museum fills an 1896 villa with 300 years of childhood and toys. Kids test spinning tops of wood, tin and plastic, build with construction toys from different centuries and stage shows at small puppet theaters.
Upstairs are five-senses experiments, a mirror room and a children's library. Historic classrooms play pupils' stories at old school desks.
Alpamare is a water park on the shore of Lake Zurich with 12 slides, from the Triple Slide in the toddler area to the pitch-dark Thriller tube. The wave pool sends waves over 1.2 meters high every half hour, and the outdoor Rio Mare pool has a current to float along.
The 200 m² toddler area has small slides, a paddling pool, a spraying turtle and a tipping water bucket.
Juckerhof is a working farm above Lake Pfäffikon, with a farm restaurant, a farm shop and views across the lake. Kids get a playground, a goat park, a straw bouncy castle and play tractors.
The ÖpfelGarte grows nearly 6,000 apple trees into two mazes and a labyrinth, beside a barefoot trail. Each autumn the farm fills with giant pumpkin sculptures.
