Dog friendly, Family friendly, Hiking tips, Summer

Hiking with children

Some practical tips

When the little ones start walking themselves … to be honest, they are not always highly motivated. But with a few little tricks, it is sometimes easier and you can overcome lows in motivation during the hike. Everything tried and tested by yourself 😉

Let’s start with the right equipment: When it comes to hiking boots, I would make sure that they are light … because a few extra grams on children’s feet make a big difference to the little ones. But even the right color of hiking boots has helped us 🥾

When it comes to outfits, on the other hand, we leave the choice entirely up to the little ones, hiking skirts and dresses are not always fully functional, but we have the most important things in our rucksacks anyway …

We always have enough to snack and drink on the way, because we don’t want that to be a problem and a short break has already made many a low in motivation disappear.

The choice of route should also be age-appropriate in terms of duration and gradient, so don’t take your 3-year-old to the Imbachhorn (1,700 m) … there are great child-friendly routes in the area, sometimes with more entertainment, such as at
Schmidolin’s baptism of fire or with more nature, the forest is often the best entertainment.

Here are a few more ideas to make discovering the mountains fun for everyone:

Take your favorite toy with you:
When the little ones show the bunny nature, it’s even more fun.
Even better – take your children’s friends with you:
It’s amazing how cool hiking becomes when you have friends with you
Competitions:
Who is faster around the next bend, who is the first to find a rock crystal, who … and you forget how exhausting it all is.
Role play during the hike:
The more the little ones concentrate on something else, the less they whine. So when Papa Wolf and Mama Wolf are out hunting and running away from the hunters, this is often enough to distract them for a few minutes.

Open your eyes and discover things along the way
Nature offers so much to explore. Large leaves as parasols, sticks for defense, stones as footballs, … the creativity knows no bounds here. With older children, small aids such as magnifying glasses, compasses or carving knives often help … make the hike your project!
Let the children take on tasks that we normally do, such as taking photos, finding the way, reading maps, opening fence gates & much more
Allow enough time, because we want to have fun and are not on the run. With all the discoveries and breaks, it always takes much longer than expected… i.e. a good time buffer never hurts and de-stresses the day….

So … we hope some of the tips will help you and wish you lots of fun exploring the beautiful nature here in the mountain paradise of Zell am See Kaprun.

See you soon at the Dorfchalets Kaprun!