I could say that I was surprised to find myself and my family floating along in a red Zodiac on the deepest lake in Switzerland, eating cheese fondue and sipping white wine as the sun set. But really, it was all by design. When I designated myself as chief planner for an autumnal family trip to the Alpine nation with my adult children and their partners, I searched for an activity that would knock their socks off. I found it in Interlaken, with a floating fondue experience. Yes, you read that right.

I love Switzerland, and have visited the land where the hills are alive with the sound of cowbells more than 30 times in my life. And while I’ve done many amazing things in and around the Swiss Alps—skiing, hiking, trottinetting, whittling my own Swiss cow from a block of wood—I knew getting my Gen Z crew excited about family time involved finding something a little more unconventional.

We were going to be staying in the Bernese Oberland, a picture-postcard region with legendary sites like Grindelwald, the Jungfrau and Eiger mountains, and Interlaken. Everyone was up for hiking and taking cable cars to waterfalls; paragliding was sadly vetoed. But a unique culinary experience would surely work, I thought—the way to their hearts is through their stomachs.

Luckily, I had heard about a Cheese Fondue Float experience offered by a company called Outdoor Switzerland a few years ago. Back then, it was raclette—toasted cheese scraped onto boiled potatoes—that served as the dish du jour. But fondue, Switzerland’s national dish, is much more well-known, so the company savvily swapped raclette trays for caquelons (ceramic fondue pots). I found the experience listing on Get Your Guide, and reviews praised the change, highlighting the delicious cheese and wine and the gregarious fondue fun. I confirmed a private booking for the six of us a month before we left home, and kept my fingers crossed for good weather.

I needn’t have worried—my prayers were answered with glorious temperatures and bluebird skies on the day of the tour, a leisurely Sunday in September. A five-minute bus ride from downtown Interlaken brought us to the small village of Bonigen, the launch site located on scenic Lake Brienz. After shaking hands with our guide, a tall, friendly Dutchman named Hild, we donned life jackets, listened to the mandatory safety briefing, and stepped into the boat, alternating sides to keep the weight even. Once comfortably settled around the pretty red-and-white-checkered tablecloth, which was already topped with plates, cups, and two fondue pots, Hild slowly rowed us onto the lake.