We are planning on visiting Jung Frau in the next couple of weeks. Will have kids (1.5-8 years old) and 2 that are 70 years old with us. Can you recommend on what we should see or do there ?
Thanks,
Also if you have any other recommendations for us that would be great. Traveling from Zurich.

Well, take the train for a start.

Make sure that you take plenty of warm clothes with you, including hat & gloves. It will be cold up there even if the weather is good when you leave Zurich. Try to get up there as early as possible in the day.

The Ice Palace is worth a look but be very careful on the solid ice floors.

Also, take a full wallet or good credit card. The cost can soon add up!

... and if you're planning on taking the train up to the top, make sure you check the weather forecast at the last possible minute before you go. You will have wasted several hundred francs if you get up there and it's cloudy.

I'm not a big fan of the Jungfraujoch. The indoor areas are shabby and gloomy, and the views outside are not as wonderful as you would expect from the price. Maybe my judgment is clouded by the fact that on the two occasions I have been up there, the exit out onto the glacier was closed because of avalanche danger.

Give me the Gornergrat over the Jungfraujoch any day.

When we were in Zermatt this year and looking at going up to the Glacier there (approx 4000m I recall) there was a very large sign up at the cash desk saying that children under the age of 3 should not be taken. Our youngest was 2 3/4 and whilst I might have risked it at that age, not sure I would have taken an 18 month old. Try and see if there is anything on the website about recommended minimum ages and the altitude - although I cannot recall off hand how high Jungfrau is.

Incidently we went up Gornergrat (approx 3800) with the children and whilst we all realised that we were feeling the altitude, (eg. out of breath climbing up to the small summit), we had a great day and enjoyed a really long walk whilst up there as well.

Not so high... Gornergrat is 3,135 m. It's the top of the Klein Matterhorn cable car that is at 3,800 (3,883 to be precise).

thanks .. but none the less lovely for it ..

Completely agree with you :-)

Endorse everything in here ten times over. Its a LOT of money to take a gamble on the weather and there are better places which are cheaper and quicker, especially for the little one. Gornergrat is good and although there isn't as much to do up there, Schilthorn is less of a journey and I think the views are better, plus you have the village of Mürren half way up to enjoy.

Bottom line is.....its a hell of a long time on a train inside a mountain and its not beyond the realms of possibility that you emerge to a cloud and a crying child who hates the altitude and you've still got an hour left on the train down before the altitude effects reduce.

Hi
We went twice at Jungfraujoch via train. Its really worth seeing.
Few suggestions I would like to put in here for u
a) Everybody should carry woollen handgloves with you, as in the cold the fingers often become numb.
b) For the child below 2 yrs give sufficient water to suck as you go up via the train, as this reduce the breathing problem in them if any
c) Carry some heart medicines, pain reliefs, and band-aids for the old persons as I have seen old people having heart trouble because of height and air pressure.

Aforesaid things are a checklist, over and above the weather and other things other people have mentioned.
Enjoy your travel

True. Another good reason to go up there as early as possible. It allows more flexibility in changeable weather and the weather often tends to be better in the morning at altitude.

Stop off at Kleine Scheidegg to look around on the return journey, rather than on the way up.

I agree that Jungfraujoch is not necessarily the best mountain top, but I wouldn't have wanted to miss it.

The train up to Jungfraujoch takes ages and is boring in my opinion. However, and this might be a bit silly, what made my trip very interesting was the fact that I watched the Nordwand the night before my trip. Somehow knowing the touching history of the north face of Eiger and being able to recognice places made it all worth it. Without that context it would have been just another mountain view.

But also, taking the train up to Jungfraujoch is not the only option you have. The cable car up to Schilthorn is also a nice alternative because it's a lot faster to get there and the view to Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau is very nice if the weather is good. I mean if you want to see a mountain then standing at the base of it, or on top of it, is not the best place to be right?

It is one of the things in Switzerland that you have to do at least once. Its the equivalent of The Eiffel Tower in Paris, The Empire State Building in New York or Land's End in the UK (Maybe the last one is stretching it a bit )

I second the idea of visiting the Schilthorn instead, 2'970 meters altitude

Big reductions for the family if you have a Migros Cumulus card (30%) or a TCS membership card (25%)! Do you have the SBB chhildren's travel card (Free)? The SBB half fare card (50%)?

I don't think the Jungfrau Bahn, 3'454 Meter, offers such reductions (it offers Halbtax 50%) and the fare is CHF 160 basic







Take a trip to the Schilthorn for less with Migros CUMULUS!
Present your CUMULUS card and benefit from generous fare discounts on your Schilthorn excursion. This offer is valid until 6 November 2011, and also applies to already discounted tickets purchased with GA and half-fare travelcards.
Stechelberg – Schilthorn return:
Adults: CHF 62.00 (normal price CHF 94.80)
Half-fare travelcard: CHF 41.00
GA travelcard: CHF 31.00
Children: CHF 31.00
With the Junior travelcard, children under the age of 16 accompanied by a parent travel free of charge.

__________________________________________________ ________

IMHO Schilthorn is nicer via Lauterbrunnen, not Stechelberg. But it's a glorious ride, much more spectacular than Jungfraujoch (if not as high in altitude), and then of course there's the James Bond villain lair feeling of Schilthorn station (that's because it was a James Bond villain lair, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service)

Bring some good smelly stuff to put around your nostrils in case someone vomits on the train.