Train travel from Paris through Switzerland to Venice

I hate to be a Debbie Downer on this plan but unless you are a seasoned and enthusiastic train traveler, you are considering a trip that seems to be extra-tedious due to the locale and routes between destinations. The Paris/Kandersteg leg consists of anywhere from 12 to 21 stops between destinations, over a 6 to 7 hour trip, while the Kandersteg/Venice portion will likely consist of between 24 and 34 stops over the same period of time. I counted up stops shown on Google Maps Directions.

Everyone loves scenery, but mountain train trips are slow and absolutely non-fluid due to the nature of the mode of transportation. The 5 of you will be worn out. Please don't misunderstand my comments. I have done the mountain train trip many years ago and that wore me out on the trip between Salzburg and Venice. Please reconsider if this is a good use of your valuable travel time rather than spending about 2 hours flying between Paris and Venice. In addition, you should consider the cost of lodging and meals along the way. Is everyone (including the teens, who are the most irritating of travel companions, IMO) down with the length of time you will be riding the rails?

I suggest that both lindah and wbfey1 use Deutsche Bahn train schedule link at Looking Up Train Schedules and Routes Online. "Counting up stops on Google maps" is not the right way to get and understand train schedules.

The best train connections from Paris to Kandersteg run a few times per day, take 5h 17m, and require connections only at Basel and Bern. The number of stops is largely irrelevant.

P.S. This schedule link does not sell tickets for France and Switzerland. Sales links are on one of your other threads.

As I mentioned in another post, a less expensive option and still a very beautiful stop would be to go the faster train route that goes by Lake Annecy instead of through Switzerland. Annecy is a charming small town on the relaxing lake with mountain scenery. We enjoyed our stay there and rode bikes and even rented a power boat for a nice ride on the lake (you can also take boat rides.).

Here’s the specifics:

Paris Train Station - Gare de Lyon, leave at 7:49am on train TGV6933. Arrive in Annecy at 11:30am.

Leave Annecy Train Station at 8:39am on train TER17516 to Chambery-Challes train station. Transfer at Chambery leaving at 9:45am on TGV9241 to Torino Porta Susa train station. Leave Torino at 1:12pm on train FR9793 to arrive at Venice at 4:40pm.

Here is info about staying by the Oeschinensee. It accessed by a cable gondola from Kandersteg, then it is about a mile walk to the Burghotel along the lake.
https://www.oeschinensee.ch/en/summer/lodging/
This is definitely not a place for a 1 or even 2 night stop. 3 or 4 days to do it justice. Or you could stay at a hotel in Kandersteg and just go up for hiking and lunch.

Thank you all so very much for all your help. I am piecing it all together and hopefully will come up with the best option for our family - in terms of our train route from Paris to Venice. I'm sure once I move on to planning for our stay in Venice I will, once again, be posing some questions. Actually, I might as well ask the main question: any suggestions as to lodging for a family of 5 in Venice? If the price is right, we can certainly stay in a hotel, but usually a 2 bedroom apartment works out better for us.

Lindah, if an apartment usually works out better for you, why not look for one on AirBnB or VRBO?