Italy/Switzerland

What are you interested in? We love mountains. Our favorite place in Switzerland is the Lauterbrunnen Valley. If you like mountains, you won't be disappointed, unless you have cloudy weather.
I suggest you take the train to the Jungfraujoch and over the mountain to Grindelwald. Take the ski lift up to First. Visit Wengen, Murren, and Gimmelwald, the villages that are nestled on top of the walls that form the valley. Go to the top of the Schilthorn. You will see beautiful scenery and have many memorable moments.
Again, with that being said, I would go where the sun is shining. On our Best of Europe Trip there were clouds hanging in the Lauterbrunnen Valley and our trip mates didn't see the mountains at all. After the tour was finished, my husband and I went back and had a week of sunny, 75 degree weather. You just never know. I hope it all works out for you!

Trenitalia has a train departing Stresa at 3:06p to Domodossola (1h). From Domodossola take a train to Visp (45m). From Visp take the train to Zermatt (1h 15m): https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html.

I think we would like to do zermatt to grindelwald to Lucerne and then we have to fly out of Zurich. I was hoping to find a hotel in zermatt close to the train station since we have larger luggage. I can’t understand which train in maps is the one you get off in Zermatt from stress

You have to change trains in Visp to get to Zermatt. Or also in Brig, but the train platform is in the street in front of the station. Look at the schedule for your travel day at www.sbb.ch/en. Start in Stresa and end in Zermatt and you will have all the times and where you have to change trains.

As I recall, Zermatt just had some severe flooding. It would be a good idea to check on whether there are any issues for travelling there. This is about a week old - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crggyrmd307o .

For your stay in the Berner Oberland, you could also consider staying in Lauterbrunnen, Mürren or Wengen. I find Lauterbrunnen the most convenient as it's the transportation hub and therefore easy to get to both sides of the valley.

Is it better to get a Swiss travel pass flex for 8 days? It covers boat and bus as well. Will that allow me to travel from Stresa to Switzerland or only when I arrive in Switzerland?

Also any ideas on Europe Hotel & Spa Zermatt vs Hotel Schweizerhof Zermatt?