Switzerland on points and miles is a trip that Stephanie went on, then posted about in our Facebook Group. She kindly said that we could share it on the blog to help the rest of the Travel Mom Squad. On a personal note, I have traveled to much of where she went and it is stunning! Thank you, Stephanie, for letting us share your story! Here it is:

We just got home from our first family vacation ever, thanks to points and miles—two weeks in Switzerland. We are a family of five, so we had to find plane tickets, hotels, etc. for us all. Our kids are 11, 9, and 4.

This family of five enjoyed the beautiful country of Switzerland thanks to credit card points and miles!

Getting Started with Points and Miles

I first got into points and miles in February 2023 after I received my yearly Costco Rewards Certificate- it was $500. Although it was the highest reward certificate I had earned yet, and I was grateful, it was my breaking point. It had been 14 years of raising our kids and while being responsible with our budget and credit cards- still never being able to afford a vacation. I was holding the certificate in my hand, and I thought to myself, “After a full year of spending on this credit card, I should be able to have enough money coming back to afford a single vacation for my family.” And I thought to myself, “… there HAS to be a better way”.

The Better Way

The Matterhorn in Switzerland.

Flights and Credit Card Use for Switzerland Trip

We used the welcome offers from four cards for this trip- a Chase Business Ink, a card_name, and 2 card_name (one for me and one for my husband). We found our plane tickets via AirFrance going to Zurich for 111k points and $280 in taxes in June for a trip the following May. Plane tickets were coming home from Geneva to SLC in October 2024, and they were only 85k points plus $790 in taxes. Each time, the plane was a KLM plane, but we booked through the AirFrance site.

We booked economy seats. A few weeks before we left, we splurged to upgrade to Premium Economy, and it was worth it for the extra legroom (I’m 5’11”, and my husband is 6′). But coming home, we did economy, and it was just fine as long as we got up to move around the cabin occasionally.

Hotels and Accommodation in Switzerland

Staying in Zurich

Because we had five in our family, we utilized our points towards a suite at the Hyatt Regency in Zurich Airport for three, and then we booked a normal standard room for two and asked them to connect the rooms. We stayed four nights, and it was 116k points for the suite and 83k points for the standard room.

I was initially a bit bugged to have that many points going towards just four nights, but we LOVED the hotel! Granted, we’re coming from never having a family trip, so we’re happy just to be there, lol, but the kids felt super fancy and loved the space, the rainfall shower heads, and the robes and slippers. They did have complimentary water, chocolates, and caramels in the room for us. We also went to the lounge for snacks; it was great! Each evening had a different variety of snacks.

Staying in Lauterbrunnen

We did seven nights at an AirBnB in Lauterbrunnen. It was $2,000 for that, and we used one of our Capital One welcome offers to erase half the cost. I know it’s not the best redemption, but our dream was Switzerland, and we are on a one-income/ mom works semi-part time from home budget, so that’s what we chose to do, and it was so nice to see the first payment be erased!

For the last four days, we had accommodations with some friends in Bern.

Transportation Through Switzerland

After much research, we utilized the trains to get around, and I’m so glad we did! We went all over the country except the SE Italian-speaking side, and my kids could move about the train, play on the slides, and play spaces in the train. It made the longer 2-hour + rides seem like 30 minutes. And they loved seeing the scenery.

The trains were SO easy to use as well. Trains leave on time, and we missed some connections due to having to move quickly from train to train sometimes (and with little kids, that can be tough ). However, with the Swiss Travel Pass, you are not tied down to any one train ticket. You can hop on any train/bus/boat you want, and it’s included. So if we missed a train, it was no problem. We just waited 10 mins for the next one. I think we missed maybe 4 or 5 trains during our two weeks.

Train Tickets Prices

We also loved that we only had to pay for train tickets for my husband and me! Kids train passes for ages 16 and under are FREE with a paid adult! You do have to have a “free” ticket card for them, but we just went to the SBB office when we got to Zurich Airport and purchased all of our train tickets at the counter, and the SBB folks did it all for us. SO EASY.

Don’t try to get your train tickets before you get there. It’s complicated to have them mailed to you and ensure you get the right pass for your itinerary, and you have to have paper tickets for the STP (Swiss Travel Pass) anyway—the online passes are for locals only. If you mess that up, it’s an expensive error, so do yourself the favor of purchasing your train passes upon arrival at the counter.

We had a train conductor come by about 50% of the time asking for tickets, and you just showed them your paper tickets. We did 2nd class tickets and upgraded once for the Panoramic Express from Lucerne to Interlaken, and I’m so glad we did!! 2nd class was packed for that, and that specific train route tends to have issues with stolen luggage.

Switzerland and Children

Be that as it may, we felt safer in Switzerland than in America, and we live in Utah. It’s such a kid-friendly country. The Swiss expect children to be respectful and have manners—especially while on the trains, etc. (not screaming and running about, etc.), but if you set the expectations before you go and know your kids, you’ll be fine.

My kids had plenty of laughter and games on the trains, but they knew not to get too loud and to be aware of others sleeping or conversing behind or around them. Train tickets cost about $1,050, and we used our other Capital One Miles to erase about $900 of that. So, our whole family traveled around Switzerland for 15 days for $150.

Stephanie’s children had a blast in Switzerland!

Boat Cruises

Our Swiss Travel Pass included boat cruises and we really enjoyed that for part or our travel through Switzerland, We also upgraded on a boat cruise on the boat to 1st class for just our one route. No need to upgrade beforehand, it was so easy and like $30 total. I highly recommend upgrading to 1st class on the boat cruise so you can be on the upper deck. You get the upper deck and access to the boat’s top for the views, the wind in your hair, etc. It was so beautiful and not crowded like the lower deck. 100% worth the $30 to upgrade (and kids are always included in the upgrade with their parents, so they were free).

We used our normal 2nd class ticket for a boat ride when we were exploring Oberhafen castle and needed to get back to the train station (like 15 mins on the boat). Then, when we had our luggage with us and were moving from our AirBnB in Lauterbrunnen to Bern, we took the train to Lake Thun and hopped on the boat in Interlaken for the full cruise from Interlaken to Thun. We upgraded to 1st class on board, picked a 6-person table in a corner to stow our luggage, and we took turns with our kids going to the upper deck. People around us left their things at the table and went up with their families to see the views, but I have trust issues, so I wasn’t leaving all our stuff without me or my husband at the table to watch it. It was a beautiful 2-hour cruise that was included with our Switzerland Travel Pass.

Favorite Places In Switzerland

• Lauterbrunnen
• Wengen
• Ebenalp Hike to Cliffside Restaurant
• Hasliberg Kugelweg Marble Run Trail
• Paragliding in Lauterbrunnen
• Albenhubbel Flower playground
• Zermatt (we wanted to see the black nosed sheep and ended up hiking to Zmutt and it was a highlight of the trip! Cute little one church, one outdoor restaurant, like 6-8 house town). Total views of the Matterhorn were only another 10 minutes past the town, but we went on a cloudy day, so we didn’t get to see the Matterhorn until we walked back to town (Zermatt) and were about to leave.

There were some other things we wanted to do and some playgrounds I wanted to do, but the snow was still covering some of the higher-elevation stuff.  Make an itinerary, but be flexible with the weather. We ended up doing some things that were not on the schedule due to having to move things around because of the weather, which turned out so wonderful. We planned two things a day, maybe three sometimes depending on how far away, etc., and were flexible with our schedule and moved around where needed. Our plans were flexible, and it was great.

Stephanie’s Final Thoughts

Bottom Line

Thanks so much for sharing your Switzerland on points and miles trip with us, Stephanie! It sounds amazing, and I know many of our readers will enjoy it!

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