Hiking in Gänsbrunnen
How do you go on a walk with three children if your family hasn’t got a lot of experience? Family and travel blogger Kate Prinsloo tried it out, and was pleasantly surprised how a few wild strawberries lightened her children’s mood.
Rich Content Section
To celebrate my husband’s birthday in the most Swiss way possible, we took a family friendly hike in Switzerland. I packed our backpacks full of nuts, water, chocolate, bananas, sausages, and marshmallows. Armed with a good amount of food and water, I figured we had the most basic tantrum inducing part of hiking sorted.
We grabbed our backpacks and set out on a 3 ½ hour hike from Gansbrunnen to Herbetswil.
We parked at the Gansbrunnen train station and started our hike, walking past St. Josef church. The hiking path starts out in a cow pasture and then heads to a shaded forest.
The girls picked wild strawberries. They pointed out all the wild snails they could find. Goodness they are big snails! We didn’t pass any hikers, only a few cows. It was such a peaceful, quiet, sunny day.
Once we were 1 ½ hours into our hike, we made it to Malsenberg. There is a restaurant, small playground, and goats. We decided that we had finished our hike for the day and retraced our steps back to the Gansbrunnen train station. We didn’t do the entire 3 ½ hour hike, but in reality, I think we did a great job for the novice hiking family that we are.
I was impressed with our family being able to do a 3 hour hike with less temper tantrums than I expected. Maybe the wild strawberries were a good distraction. Or maybe we are all starting to unplug, unwind, and relax in the beauty that is hiking in Switzerland. I think we need to do a handful of hikes in Switzerland each summer to feel more in the groove. Also, maybe having our kids choose the hike might get them more excited about the journey. I do have to say that the key to family hiking for us so far has been to hike with other families, friends, or on a theme trail.
I would say that this hike is not stroller friendly. I carried my 20 month old in a carrier on my back. My 7 and 9 year olds were great on this hike. This a hike, in my opinion, for 5 years old and up if not familiar with hiking. Otherwise a backpack carrier of some sort for the smaller legged kiddos.
American Kate Prinsloo is mother to three trilingual children and lives with her husband in Zurich. She travels the world with her family. On her blog und Instagram account @mominzurichTarget not accessible she takes other families with her on her adventures and tries to see the world through the eyes of a child.
