While we were traveling this summer, almost every time I posted a picture of Switzerland, someone would tell us that we HAD to ride a certain cable car or take a certain train. All the guidebooks and blog posts say the same thing. But here’s the thing. They are really expensive. A lot of them cost close to $100 per person to ride and the trains are even more, so for the most part we saw what we could see in Switzerland the best way we know how.
On our feet.
However, we celebrated Cole’s 17th birthday while we were in Switzerland and Peter and Whitney were still with us, so we decided to splurge and ride one cable car to one of the restaurants on top of the world.
We chose Furenalp, because it is actually much more reasonable than a lot of the other ones.
One of the crazy things about the Swiss Alps that is different from the other mountains we’ve visited is that no matter how high you go, there is some sort of eating establishment. The access to the high spots on the mountains via these cable cars and gondolas is pretty unbelievable.
It was just a little bit scary to be hanging up so high.
The ride went quickly though (just a few minutes) and then we were on top of the world at this darling restaurant.
The kids were even more taken with this alpine playground than they were with the views.
And I had to admit that it was pretty precious.
Hobbit holes and all.
We ordered traditional Swiss food, which was all new to me, but pretty much just tastes like heavy comfort food. Lots of potatoes and cream sauces. It was delish.
We stayed at the top for a long time, enjoying the views.
Sipping beer and letting the kids play.
We took family photos on top after lunch.
Then Peter and Whitney took the three younger boys back down on the cable car, while the rest of us hiked down from Furenalp.
It was while we were hiking that I realized just how far up we had come. It took us over two hours to get back down.
But it was a gorgeous walk, and I took about thirty-eight videos of cow bells ringing. I can’t even handle how lovely that sound is.
By the time we reached the bottom, I felt like I had worked off my cream sauce.
Completely breathtaking – and I’m sure it was a thousand times better in person!
All of the names of these Switzerland places make me think of being at IKEA. I must say they do have a pretty nice cafe so if the food was close to that then YUMYUM!
What a beautiful spot to eat and play!! I think it’d be hard to leave!!