Adventure Road Trip Switzerland: Bern to Belwald • Nomads With A Purpose

Switzerland is a must-see for anyone who loves mountains. The mountains here are unreal! There are so many great places for outdoor adventures that it’s hard to narrow down where to go in Switzerland. These are the four places we chose on our last road trip through Switzerland. We know we barely tipped the iceberg in all that Switzerland has to offer and we are already scheming on how to get back to see the Matterhorn and hike to the many refuges in the mountains. For an active vacation and a taste of the beauty of Switzerland, this road trip will make you very happy.

family adventure travel in Bern, Switzerland

Beautiful Bern, Switzerland

Adventure Road Trip Starting Point: Bern

Our first stop was Bern and it was a quick one. I wasn’t prepared for how much everything was going to cost and was excited to get to Interlaken so we only grabbed dinner and walked through the beautiful cobblestone streets in the center of town (a must do when you are here). If your budget allows, you could easily spend more time in this beautiful city.

When you cross the bridge into the center of town, make sure you stop and look at the bears by the river in an enclosure. Our son, Jiraiya, was so stoked because he thought he saw a wild bear in Europe of all places!

Adventure Road Trip: Bern to Interlaken (56 km)

If you like to be active outdoors and crave adventure, Interlaken is the place to be. We spent three days in Interlaken and I can’t recommend the Oeschinensee and Eiger mountain hikes enough. The climbing spot, Wilderswil, was so great for my little kids and there was a fun playground near it.

Related blog: 3 Reasons to Visit Interlaken (On a Budget)

If you have some money to spend, there are endless tours to take in Europe’s Adventure Capital such as:

There is a Lidl grocery store in town for you to buy your food here and make your meals yourself–which helped our budget tremendously. The grapes we got at the store were so delicious and the wine, cheese, and salami were all very affordable.

If it weren’t for the Lidl stores we’d never have been able to stay in budget for six month through Europe!Click To Tweet

We did camp one night near Interlaken in the small town of Wilderswil. The campground was clean and the owners were very friendly, however, it was too expensive to stay there every night if we wanted to stay within budget. Although free camping is not technically allowed in Switzerland, we did find a lot of great places to pull off and sleep discretely for the night.

Related Blog: Guide To Tent Camping In Europe

Adventure Road Trip: Interlaken to Grimsel Pass (60 Km)

We spent one day rock climbing in Grimsel Pass. This was a such a fun adventure and a great opportunity to practice our multi-pitch skills as there was a very easy eight-pitch climb with incredible views of the surrounding glaciers. There are great hikes you can do and may pullouts along this road that are worth stopping to take pictures at.

Related Blog: Best Sport Climbing Destinations to Take Your Kids

Adventure Road Trip: Grimsel Pass to Belwald Bridge (40 Km)

Our last stop in Switzerland was Belwald Bridge (also know as the Goms bridge). This is a 280-meter long suspension bridge. that is almost 100 meters above the Rhone river. Bring your sense of adventure and leave your fear of heights at home because this bridge is way up there.

Our kids had so much fun walking across this huge bridge to get to Mühlebach village, which has a historic trail around the town, that I highly recommend you hike, and a few quaint restaurants to eat at afterward.

Related Blog: 50 Things To Know Before Planning Your First Trip to Europe

Tips For Your Adventure Road Trip in Switzerland

The roads to leave Switzerland to get to Italy are incredibly steep and windy. I was amazed at the cyclists who use them as their training grounds. Seriously, our camper barely made it to the top. Allot for time to cross the mountains because you are going to want to stop at the top to enjoy the views.
I loved Switzerland! With its incredible mountains, glaciers, rivers, lakes, and some of the nicest, happiest people you will ever meet, what’s not to like? Oh, I remember, the cost of food!
The first night we pulled into Bern it was a Sunday so grocery stores were closed. I didn’t want to break budget on the first night so we went into the cute downtown area thinking we could just get something small to share. I had no idea how small it was going to be. The first place we tried was selling curries for 30SF a plate (keep in mind that’s equivalent to $33USD). With not many choices, I settled for a cheaper curry restaurant, but still the price was 20SF a plate and a plate only consisted of a cup of rice with a half cup of curry that may have had an ounce of meat in it. My jaw dropped. I would need 10 of these to fill up my kids!
Thankfully we found a Lidl the next day. Ever since arriving in Ireland we have become addicted to this grocery chain. I’m not so sure that it’s the highest quality food, but it’s affordable and you can find them all over Europe. Also, by sticking to mainly meats and produce we can keep our diets healthy while traveling, which is hard to do.
Even though the prices at the Switzerland Lidl were almost twice as expensive as all the other Lidls we’ve shopped at, we still managed to eat like royalty and stay within budget while getting to enjoy the happiest country in the world.

How to Eat in Switzerland on a Budget:

Here’s a typical days grocery shopping at the Lidl in Switzerland. For our family of seven, this was just under $100 USD. Not bad when you consider it would cost at least twice that to go out for dinner in Switzerland.

Breakfast
Whole Bean Coffee & Eggs
Lunch& Snacks to eat while hiking
Mixed Nuts, Grapes, Salami, & Crackers
Dinner
Lettuce, Tomato, Olives, Figs, Artichokes, Dressing, Bread, & Butter
Mini bacon burgers
Wine

Switzerland is an amazing country and it was nice to be able to enjoy good food in gorgeous locations. We hope to return soon, especially to get to hike the Matterhorn!

Need a plan for eating healthier? Check out our Eat To Play course (8 weeks of healthy dinners for only $15).