The Best Playgrounds & Hikes with Kids in the Swiss Alps
Just for reference - We stayed in Wengen. Both of these are easily accessible in the Jungfrau Region of Switzerland!
1. The Best Views, Cow Playground and Hikes - Männlichen
The Männlichen Playground is Nestled high in the Swiss Alps, and day trip to Männlichen is the perfect adventure for every age (when we visited, we had my parents (70 and 68), and my three kids (2, 6 and 8!) in our group and everyone was more than able to hike and enjoy the views!
Things to do in Männlichen:
👑 Royal Walk to the mountain vista for 360° views
🐄 Cow playground
⛰️ Mountain hut restaurant
🥾Hiking trails
How Do You Get To Männlichen and the famous Cow Playground in the Swiss Alps?
To start, you can depart from either Grindelwald or Wengen. We were staying in Wengen so that’s the route we took. You will take the most scenic cable car ride up to the Männlichen station (arrive early or be prepared to wait, especially in the busy summer hiking season!)
Note: if anyone in your group is afraid of heights or claustrophobic, I highly suggest looking up videos of what to expect first! I am claustrophobic and while I didn’t find this cable car ride to be quite as bad as the cable car ride you take to get to Mürren (#2 in this post) - it still was a LOT of people packed into a very small space.
How to Spend a Day at Männlichen with kids in the Swiss Alps - 1 day Itinerary
Immediately upon departing the you depart the calbe car, be sure to ask someone to take your picture under the Männlichen “top of the alps” sign that overlooks the valley below.
xplore the famous Cow themed playground surrounded by breathtaking mountain views. You can book your ticket using the link below but it’s not necessary. We got our tickets when we got there and had no issues. The cable car hours vary depending on season so make sure to check the website for hours.
https://www.maennlichen.ch/en/summer/information/fare-prices-from-wengen.html
Pricing for Cable car: 58 CHF (Swiss Francs) for Adults Round trip Wengen <-> to Männlichen, 10 CHF for Kids round Trip. (As of February, 2025 that is about $65 US Dollars for adults and $11 for Kids).
We particularly enjoyed the Children’s Lieselotte trail- which started in Mannlichen at the top of the mountain when we got off the cable car, and ended in Holenstein- the halfway point down the mountain to Grindelwald.
Once you arrive in Holenstein- there is another amazing playground. You can enjoy before getting on the gondolas and going back up the mountain to Mannlichen where you started.
* 🚠 Access: Easily reached via cable car from Wengen or Grindelwald
* 🏔️ Scenic Views: Enjoy 360-degree views of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau
* 🛝Play: this is a playground like you have never seen before, with a giant cow you can play inside, slides, climbing structures, a wooden bowling game, in-ground trampolines … we spent HOURS HERE!
* 🍔🍺Eat & Drink: there is a full service restaurant here, with tons of great options that your kids will love like burgers and fries, along with more traditional, Swiss dishes!
* 🥾Hiking: Männlichen is the starting off point for so many amazing hikes. The famous panorama Trail was closed while we were there, so we did the Royal walk first, had lunch and played at the playground, and then did the children’s themed trail- the “Lieselotte trail”.
Cow Playground
We LOVED this playground and especially the wooden bowling game!
Pro Tips:
1. This hiking trail, while it is “family friendly” it is still a steep descent, so make sure you have good hiking boots, and it is NOT stroller friendly at all.!
2. Pick up the children’s trail maps at the start, and let your kids have fun finding all of the challenges.
3. There is no shade on this trail, so wear sunscreen and bring lots of water.
4. For the gondola ride back up - one of the gondolas has a karaoke experience inside for free! So wait and board that one for a fun experience!
2. Allmendhubel Playground & Flower Park in Mürren
Allmendhubel Flower Park Playground is located just outside of the car-free town of Mürren, Switzerland. After just a short walk through town and then a funicular ride up to Allmendhubel, you will reach this park, which offers both a flower trail, water sprays, a zip line and all- wood playground. There is also a mountain hut restaurant and clean bathrooms onsite!
Things to do when visiting Allmendhubel in the Jungfrau region of Switzerland:
🌻 Flower trail
🌳 All wood interactive playground
⛰️ Mountain hut restaurant
🚂 Funicular ride
🥾Hiking trails
How Do You Get to Allmendhubel Playground and Flower Park in Mürren, Switzerland?
Because we were staying on the other side of the Lauterbrunnen Valley (in another car-free town -Wengen), Allmendhubel was a bit of a hike to get to- but oh so worth it!
Starting in Wengen (like we were): Take the train (which comes every 30 minutes) down to Lauterbrunnen (an 11 minute, absolutely scenic train ride!) Once you are in the Lauterbrunnen valley- you leave the train station and walk to the Grütschalp Cable Car. The cable car will arrive at the Grütschalp Train Station, and you’ll depart the car and get in line to board the train from Grütschalp to Mürren. At the Mürren Station, depart the train, walk about 1/2 mile to town, buy your ticket at the Allmendhubel Funicular station, and ride the funicular which goes through the mountain and will drop you off at Allmendhubel!
Starting in Lauterbrunnen: Once you are in the Lauterbrunnen valley- you leave the train station and walk to the Grütschalp Cable Car. The cable car will arrive at the Grütschalp Train Station, and you’ll depart the car and get in line to board the train from Grütschalp to Mürren. At the Mürren Station, depart the train, walk about 1/2 mile to town, buy your ticket at the Allmendhubel Funicular station, and ride the funicular which goes through the mountain and will drop you off at Allmendhubel!
Starting in Mürren: Depart from the Mürren Train Station, walk about 1/2 mile to town, buy your ticket at the Allmendhubel Funicular station, and ride the funicular which goes through the mountain and will drop you off at Allmendhubel!
Once you arrive at Allmendhubel, you’ll exit the funicular right below the mountain hut restauarnt and right next to the playground. So if you have anyone in your party with bad knees, etc, they could easily get there and hang out and watch the kids play! (This was our case -we had grandparents with us and they enjoyed the day and outing without any issues!)
In Allmendhubel, have fun and choose one of the many hiking trails to enjoy! It’s a perfect place for younger kids and the young at heart, with absolutely stunning views of the surrounding peaks.
* 🚠 Access: you first take a cable car, and then a train to Mürren, then walk to the funicular in Mürren
* 🍺 Facilities: There is a full service restaurant, serving beer and wine along with lunch and dinner, plus bathrooms
* 🌷 Flower Park: at the top of the hill overlooking the playground, you can visit the flower park, which will teach you about all of the different Alpine flowers!
* 🏞️ Nature Trails: Scenic walking paths that are great for family hikes
* 🛝 Play Structures: Swing, slide, and climb in a dreamy alpine setting
Flower Playground
This playground is not only great for playing but you can also learn all about the different alpine flowers.
Where to stay when visiting Männlichen & Allmendhubel?
When looking for somewhere to stay I usually check HomeToGo, VRBO and AirBnB as some of the best resources.
HomeToGo has a larger footprint in Europe and some properties on that site are not on the others that Americans are more familiar with. I should note that Booking.com will sometimes also “pull in” rental apartments into their listings as well.
If I already know our destination, I sometimes will do a google search with the location name + “vacation rentals” in the search. So for instance, when we went to the Swiss Alps, I knew we wanted to stay in the car-free village of Wengen, so I searched “Wengen” + “Rental apartments” in the search bar (you could also ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, or other AI tools!)
That’s how I found the amazing rental agency - Wengen Apartments . By booking directly with the rental company, I was able to save in fees, and also had direct contact with the host, who was amazing to work with. We found this amazing rental in Wengen for our trip to the Swiss Alps. It slept 8, had ample space for the kids to run around, and had the MOST AMAZING VIEWS from a private balcony overlooking the Lauterbrunnen Valley. We were able to visit both of these playgrounds easily from this area.
If you want to learn more you can visit our blog about the Best Hotels and Rentals in Europe.
