renting a car in switzerland ?

Do you mean GRINdelwald or GIMmelwald? Theybare very different, and you cannot take a car to GIMmelwald. In either case, trains in this area are so frequent you do not hove to worry much about schedules. And trains and lifts will take you places that cars cannot. Plus you don't have to worry about parking or traffic tickets.

so we are a bit confused, in the rick stoves book it says Gimmelwald, and we just thought the spelling was different-we are trying to go go Gimmelwald/Bern area ?

Bern is a city; the capital of Switzerland. Gimmelwald is a small mountain town in a region of the Alps called the Berner Oberland. The two are about 50 miles apart. Also in the Berner Oberland are other popular towns like Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, and Murren. To explore this beautiful region base yourself in one of these places. A car will be a hindrance. Trains, and cable cars will take you everywhere you want to go with frequent service. Click the railpasses tab above for excellent deals on transit passes which can save you big bucks http://rail.ch

Thanks, that's where we want to go Gimmelwald/Murren valleybut just for the sake of my curiosity what/where if Grindelwald ?

Grindlewald is nearby on the opposite side of the valley. It's a bit "ritzier" than the other towns, and more expensive.

Thanks for the clarification, we are looking at a map (Michelin) of switzerland and do not see Gimmelwald printed on the map, but can see it online, on a google map. Thanks again,
Terry we are flying into Zurich and have read that it will take roughly two hours to get via train/bus/cable car into the Gimmelwald area.

There is a train station at Zurich Airport, from there the quickest journey is via Bern, and Interlaken. A longer but more scenic journey is via Luzern, and Interlaken. Luzern is a very scenic city and a good place to spend a few hours before heading to the Berner Oberland region. http://youtu.be/NYy_maSNnco

Thank you for the note, I think we are interested in the quicker journey as we will be coming from Cinque Terre Italy that day and flying from Genoa into Zurich to cut a bit of the travel time down.

The quicket train is just a little over 6 hours from Genoa to Interlaken...do you really want the hassle of flying and arriving airport early and claiming luggage (if it's not lost)??? Train is probably just as fast.