Munich, Salzburg, Murren, Zurich

From my travels in those areas, I recommend the following, assuming you are traveling by car:

1. In Munich, take a day trip to Nordlingen which is a medieval walled city similar to Rothenburg, but much closer to Munich. Use the day you planned to go to Neuschwanstein which you can visit on the way to Switzerland.

2. Drive from Salzburg to Lucerne using the southern routes in Germany which will bring you to Fussen near the Neuschwanstein castle. You should also visit the near by Linderhof castle and Ettal monastery which are very beautiful and many tourists miss when doing a day trip from Munich. You can if you want visit Mittenwald on the way, but other villages on the way are also pretty, such as Fussen, so you can miss Mittenwald.

3. If you have time, stop by Lindau on the way from Fussen to Lucerne. It is a pretty town on the Bodensee.

4. Personally, I would not spend all three days in Murrren since it is up in the mountains and would make it more difficult to visit other nearby sites and areas, such as the two lakes near Interlaken, the Lauderbrunnen valley and Thun. Also, a lot of the activities your kids may want to do will be in that valley and near by areas. Murren is usually visited as a day trip. I recommend that your lodging be in the surrounding area, with perhaps one night in Murren if you are really set on staying over night there.

5. Since you have only 3-4 days in Salzburg, you should probably chose between Berchtesgarden and Hallstad and not try to do both since they are some what similar. Berchtesgarden is much closer and easier to reach and park in by car, thereby saving more time for your other planned Salzburg activities.

6. Two recommendations for hotels in or near Salzburg. Gasthof Schorn near Grodig if you want to stay in a rural area outside the city and near the autobahn. Hotel Elefant if you want to stay right in the city so that you can walk from your hotel to all the nearby sights. In either case when you are in the city, you can easily park your car in near by Altstad garage parking under the mountain. We stayed at both of them and highly recommend them.

Sounds like a great trip.

I haven't driven in Europe myself, but others have mentioned that there can be a very high surcharge for renting a car in one country and dropping it in another. I suggest checking on that soon, so you'll know whether a single car rental will be viable for you.

Acraven is correct. It is not advisable to drop off in another country. It can cost many hundreds of euros.

It's not really unusual to make Muerren your home base for a few nights. Versus staying in the valley at Lauterbrunnen, the travel time between the two is 20 minutes via Gruetschalp or 30 minutes via Stechelberg, one way.

Another Swiss destination convenient to your driving route (though I still don't know the truly best place to drop the car) would be Appenzell, with good folk culture museums and a cheese factory in the nearby town of Stein.

Hi I just wanted to say thank you so much for all the tips and suggestions. I really appreciate your time. It really has helped us fine tune our trip and feel better about some of our choices. THANK YOU!

I realize I am posting rather close to your departure. We visited Murren two years ago and last year. There is a childrens play area at the top of the funicular in Allmendhubel. The park at Allmendhubel was finished when we were there in 2015. My 9 year old and 10 month old absolutely loved it! After an hour and half we had to drag them away kicking and screaming! Take the Funicular up and walk down the Children's Adventure trail. The Children's trail is well marked and safe to walk for small unsure footed kids. You will have to open and close gates as you enter and leave pastures. It turned cold and started to rain so be sure to carry rain gear, in our case ponchos. We saw two huge horses that were extremely friendly and goats, cows and a red fox. My 9 year old girl said it was the best day of our trip that included Milan, Rome and Venice. There are signs along the Children's Adventure trail. There is a indoor pool in Murren near the funicular. We actually stayed at Oli and Maria's in Gimmelwald. When looking at trail maps with walking times we found it best to double the travel times. We were stopping and admiring the views. The ones who set the walking times were not.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g188084-d6895906-r288264669-Allmendhubel_Bahn-Murren_Jungfrau_Region_Bernese_Oberland_Canton_of_Bern.html

Here is a map: http://www.momstotszurich.com/2015/04/murren-childrens-adventure-trail.html

Here is a map of all the trails in the area. http://www.jungfrau.ch/fileadmin/images/wanderwege/Jungfrau-Region_Wanderkarte.pdf

Stop in Murren and grab sandwiches at the coop or sandwich shop and plenty of water.

If going to the Shitlebahnhorn catch the earliest cable car possible be because clouds come in. We had only 30 minutes at the top when the clouds arrived. The breakfast at the top was super expensive but you are paying for the view. The clouds came in just after we sat down to eat.

The following year we stayed across the valley in Wengen, larger town and less touristy. I highly recommend the trail
33. Panorama Trail: Männlichen – Kleine Scheidegg

http://www.jungfrau.ch/en/tourism/destinations/kleine-scheidegg/experiences/

You are walking along the side of a mountain with a drop off on one side. The trail is wide enough to feel safe when walking. I saw several people with strollers make the trip but there are a few rocky sections where that would have been rough going. The views from Mannlichen was amazing with the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.

Wengen has a putt putt course and some small parks, play areas and an outdoor swimming pool. From Murren, you take the train to Winteregg and then down to Lauterbrunn then back up to Wengen, the about a half mile walk to the Gondola up to Mannlichen for the start of the walk. If you are tired you can take the train from Keinne Scheidegg back to Lauterbrunn or you can walk down to Wengen and catch the train there. The cable car and train are expensive but worth it.

If I had to choose between Shchitlhorn or Mannlichen-Kleine Scheidegg, I would choose Mannlichen-Kleinne Scheidegg.

Last year we went from Lauterbrunn to Fussen by train. Pick up a sandwich and drinks before going to Neuschwanstein, according to others the restaurants at the bottom are very expensive and not very good.

Have fun.

Wade