Itinerary Help *France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria*

With kids you may want to rethink moving every two days as your current itinerary seems to indicate. Two nights is really only one day at a time without managing travel for three opinionated individuals who may lack full verbal/social skills.

September-October weather can be iffy in the mountains for vistas. But, if the weather is good, from Lucerne you can take the Gotthard Panorama train to Lugano in the Ticino, which is just across the border from Como and on to Milan. It includes a boat ride along the Lake of Lucerne and then through the old railroad tunnel. By Sept it won't run every day so check on the Sbb website.

https://www.sbb.ch/en

and

https://www.sbb.ch/en/leisure-holidays/travel-in-switzerland/panoramareisen/gotthard-panorama-express.html

Or, just take the fast train through the new Gotthard tunnel to Milan.

https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html

Milan to Salzburg takes about 8 hours with several changes (usually Verona in Italy and Wuergl in Austria)

https://www.lefrecce.it/B2CWeb/search.do?parameter=searchOutputViewer&cFID=rPR9YkUuMs8B

You might want to consider breaking the journey for the kid's sake in Bolzano (see Otzi the Ice Man; 4 hours to Salzburg), or Innsbruck (2 hours to Salzburg), which is a cute smaller city.

https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml

You could also spend your Italian week in the Lake Como - Lake Garda - Verona region which would cut down the transit time to Salzburg. It will be harvest time in the Vineyards!

https://lakecomotravel.com/lake-como-italy/
http://www.visitgarda.com/en/garda_lake/

Have a great time!

I can see how that itinerary seems feasible, if very rushed, but once you add in the travel days you will see that you are not spending enough time anywhere.

For instance, I think you want at least 3 nights in the Berner Oberland (2 full days), and four would really be much better. Assume it will rain at least one day there. (Also, you can do better than Lauterbrunnen.)

If Paris is a snooze you can simplify by taking the train directly to Reims from the airport.

Both Switzerland and Austria have good mountain scenery. Austria is less expensive and has far cuter little villages. Consider cutting back or dropping Switzerland & more in Austria.