London - Paris - Switzerland

Paris-Bern is 4 hours by train, so not really what I would call day trip distance, but doable if you really want to.

Aside from a 6:40 AM departure (4 hr. 44 min.), the early-morning trains from Paris to Bern (which one would need to use if attempting a day-trip) take a minimum of 4 hr. 51 min. and arrive no earlier than 12:48 PM. The next-to-last train back, departing at 5:36 PM, takes just 4 hr. 1 min. So you're talking about nearly nine hours on trains plus probably substantial time traveling between your Paris hotel and the train station (probably Gare de Lyon). I like Bern, but I think this would be an extremely poor use of a valuable day on a short vacation.

Keep in mind that your arrival day may be pretty useless, your departure day will be useless, and you have to make a round-trip between London and Paris (two half-days lost). So how many days do you really have for sightseeing here--seven?

To me, unless you have a very specific reason such as ancestors hailing from Bern, I would not consider Bern as worthy of a day trip from anywhere further than one hour away. There are literally dozens of more interesting towns and cities within day trip distance from Paris.

When you say RT to London is easier/cheaper, I asume you have added in the time and expense of returning to London, and traveling a day before your flight back to the US?

We did a similar trip with teen daughters some years ago. It was over spring break, so 9 days. We had RT tickets to London and took the Eurostar to Paris and back. We put Paris in the middle so we had several nights in London at the beginning and end of the trip. This was nice because we could stay in two different areas in London. So I would suggest the same approach--- 3 nights London to start, then 4 nights in Paris, then back to London for the remaining time.

For convenience, choose one of your London hotels ( maybe the one at the end of the trip) in the area of St. Pancras station. There are a number of good choices there.

I agree with others that Bern is not a viable day trip from Paris.

I agree that Bern doesn't fit, esp. in January or February with the weather/snow factor. Also if you want to see "Switzerland" as people think of it, with the Alps and all that, Bern isn't your town.

No way you can day trip from Paris to Switzerland.
Paris to Bern is 4 hours - first train of the day is 07:23, arrive Bern 11:24.
However, why Bern? People don't go to Switzerland just to see Bern they go to see the Alps, which are 1-2 hours past Bern.

There is enough to see in London or Paris for 10 days. If you wanted to include Switzerland (and had 1-2 days more), I would do an "open-jaw" flight, into London and out of Zürich. And head for Luzern or the Jungfrau region (Berner Oberland), NOT Bern.

The post above by Indian Angelo is spam and has been reported. Dangerous to click through. Do it at your peril. I won't.

While it is true that my wife and I made our first trip to Europe as a week in London and a week in Paris, it's not the best idea to combine the UK and the Continent if you want to go multiple places in a short time.

It is unlikely that your last sentence is correct. It is an even worse idea to return to the UK to go home. "Open-jaw" ("Multiple Cities" on your air search site) air today rarely costs more than Round Trip fights. And if you consider two-segment flights, you'll have a wide choice of price and airline, regardless of where you live. You can't get into your hotel room at 7AM anyway. We usually take two-segment flights (which would be a practical way to include Switzerland if you refuse to take our advice: Bern-Paris-London-home) even from the NYC area, to save money or mile-redemptions.

Why did you select Bern?