Travel Log

As we leave Zermatt it’s worth reflecting on our stay here. Overall we’d rate Zermatt as a destination 7/10. Car free, friendly, but expensive and quite busy. Plus we feel like we’ve done a good deal of the best walks and activities.

For our accommodation, La Vue, we’d rate it 9.5/10. Absolutely excellent - the breakfasts, the spa pool, the balcony, the location. The only downside is that it’s expensive. We felt like royalty for our stay here though, so worth it.

We got a lift with our luggage to the station for the short train to Täsch to reunite with our car. The driving time to Adelboden was just over two hours and our ETA about midday.

We didn’t pay much attention to route until we saw a big red queue and had a steep toll booth fee of 28CHF. While we were stuck in traffic we noticed a car train - interesting - and it then clicked that this is what we’d queued and paid for! It was a long car train under a mountain that would see us pop out in Kandersteg. A bit of a surprise but worked out in the end.

Arriving in Kandersteg and the scenery was stunning. The road wound with views in all directions passing cute chalets.

We headed straight for our hotel in Adelboden and once we’d parked we had a wander around to get our bearings, and some gelato. We took the cable up to Tschentenalp and took some photos at the giant swing. Leaving the kids in the playground, Nick and Alex took a short and steep walk to Schwandfeldspitze, with amazing views all around.

The afternoon had turned out to be really sunny so we decided to press on with exploring and got the cable car over to Bergläger then the chair lift up Höchsthorn. The place names in this part of Switzerland were a challenge for us!

The Höchsthorn seemed to be popular with the downhill mountain bikers, and also had a photo “birds nest” with epic views towards the Engstligenalp waterfall. We soaked in the views before heading down before we missed the last return chair lift.

Our hotel is a spa hotel so when we got back we checked out the facilities. The adults loved the outdoor salt pool with views of the mountains. The kids loved the indoor pool. The saunas weren’t hot enough for Nick.

Dinner is included in our stay and was a very fancy pants dining experience. Haute cuisine and a set menu. Nick and Alex had a four course meal; five if you count the cheese course. The food was really lovely. We hardly ever eat out in a really nice restaurant is this was a real treat. The kids were well catered for with the children’s menu; shame they lack even basic manners and etiquette!

As a busy day ended, we watched the sunset make the mountains turn red, and the moon rise over the distant waterfall. Breathtaking.