Itinerary thoughts

It is nice to see an itinerary that is not too rushed. Good job!

It seems like a long stay in Munich, so you might look into a side trip somewhere.

Trains to Salzburg and Vienna are reasonable trips, but going to Switzerland you'll likely have to fly Vienna to Zurich then by train on to your final destination in the Alps.

Vis a vis the Swiss Alps, you need to pick one location for your four nights. Nothing beats the Berner Oberland and specifically the Lauterbrunnen Valley, IMO. Rick Steves' guidebook has excellent info. Great hiking, fun lifts and mountain trains. A great place to spend a few days and 4 nights is perfect.

It is a long way from Vienna to the Swiss Alps. Personally, I would cut out Vienna or fly from Vienna to Switzerland or just visit the Alps in Austria. The Alps in Austria are great and will be much, much cheaper.

I also agree that that is too much time in Munich. I'd add a day or two to Salzburg as there is so much more in that region to keep the kids interested. I might even go directly from Munich to Salzburg on arrival.

I am assuming you will be riding the train?

One observation - You didn't mention hiking and scenery in your groups' list of interests, and the Swiss Alps are long on those and comparatively short on the things that you did mention.

On the way from Salzburg to Vienna, you should consider a stop in Mauthausen, a "work camp". Alternatively, you could go to Dachau near Munich. This will be a teaching moment. Everyone should go to one of the camps one time in their life. It is not gruesome or horrible, but it reminds us of things that happened, and we should not forget those. My family (me, wife, 3 kids of 20s) visited there, and it was an important stop.

In Salzburg, we stayed in Hostel JUFA. This is a chain, like Motel 6 or Days Inn in the US. The breakfast was good, the rooms inexpensive. We did not stay in the bunk room, but in a private room of our own. Close to the tourist area.

Munich has the Chinisichum Turm beer garden. Great place for dinner. Modest prices, not cheap. Also a good beer garden in Salzburg.

I did forget to mention we are planning on basically doing some hiking and enjoying the scenery in Switzerland so it does fit into what we want to do. We do plan on using public transportation exclusively.

In Munich we are planning half a day to go to Dachau, and possibly a day trip to either Neuschwanstein Castle or Herrenchiemsee Castle, would it make more sense to do this day trip from Salzburg and make our move a day earlier to Salzburg? Did I mention that I want an afternoon to just sit back, relax and drink some beer :)

There is a mention of visiting the Austrian Alps instead of Switzerland, any suggestions on where would be good? We are really looking for easy to moderate hiking trails and possibly somewhere to go kayaking for a day. I have found lodgings in Lauterbrunnen for an acceptable price. I will look into the suggestion of flying from Vienna to Zurich to save time, but there is something to be said for sitting back, relaxing and enjoying the sites on the train. *edit: I just looked that the train ride is 8-9 hours versus an hour and 20 minute flight so will probably fly from Vienna to Zurich. Thanks for the tip.

I look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions!

Hello,
In terms of the lake district near Salzburg, I would highly recommend Hallstatt. It's a quaint little town on Lake Hallstatt. There is a video on this forum to show you what to do in Hallstatt. We were there this past summer and arguably was the highlight of our trip. If you don't find lodging/airbnb in Hallstatt, find it in the town of Obertraun, which is a 5 minute drive, but across the lake. that's what we did.
In terms of hiking, Berchtesgaden national park is on the German-Austria border, and is a 2.5 ohur train ride from Salzburg. Lot of hiking to do there.
I would advise you to leave Munich, go to Neuschwanstein castle, and drive in to Austria in the state of Tirol and stay the night. and then make your way to Salzburg.