12 Day Itinerary help

Are you saying you're also moving to Murren for Day 6-8 or are you planning to stay in Wilderswil Day 3-9?

We will be staing in Murren day 6-8. The rooms are booked there and we can't change as they no longer have any rooms available that week.

Thank you for any tips!

With 10 full days + 2 travel days, I’d limit your bases to 3 or 4 at the absolute most. Ideally you’d only stay in 1 spot in the BO and just make day trips, but if your budget is too restrictive to make that happen, then I’d atleast switch around Zermatt and put Luzern at the end to avoid having to make another hotel change to Bern. Do Oeschinensee on the way from Zermatt to Wilderswil (bad idea to do from Mürren) and so Schynige Platte while staying in Wilderswil, as it leaves right from there.

Day 1 - Zurich > Zermatt
Day 2 - Zermatt - Gornergrat
Day 3 - Zermatt - other stuff you want to do there + weather buffer for Gornergrat
Day 4 - Zermatt > stop at Oeschinensee on the way to Wilderswil
Day 5 - Schynige Platte hiking (if you have the skill, hike all the way to First otherwise do the Panorama hike up at SP, it’s amazing)
Day 6 - Wilderswil > Mürren - Schilthorn
Day 7 - Hike in Mürren (Northface or Rotstockhutte) + Gimmelwald
Day 8 - Wengen > Mannlichen/Kleine Scheidegg/Fallbodensee/Wengernalp hike + optional Lauterbrunnen Valley

Day 9 - Mürren > optional Boat ride to Brienz > Luzern - historic center exploration
Day 10 - Stoos Ridge hike
Day 11 - Weather Buffer for Stoos or other hiking in the region like up at Rigi
Day 12 - Luzern > Zurich airport

3 nights Zermatt > 2 nights Wilderswil > 3 nights Mürren > Luzern or Stoos area 3 nights

Thank you for your recommendations. We will actually be in Switzerland for the full 12 days as I did not count our travel days in there.
Are there any other areas or things to do in addition to your itinerary. It looks like you captured the main hikes we planned to do.
We did have a friend recommend adding a side trip to Colmar France. She did a similar trip last year and added that on her way from Lauterbrunnen to Zurich. We did not plan to do that but if it is worthwhile we could try to fit it in. We plan to do more hiking than she did on her trip.
Also, would you recommend going to Cervinia via the Alpine Crossing when we are in Zermatt?

Dear Wanderweg,

I see that you have been very helpful to others in planning their itineraries. I checked availability and I am not sure that we can easily rearrange out plans to reverse our trip. Hotels in Zermatt seem to be booked the first weekend we arrive. If we stick with our current plan,

2 days in Lucerne
next day open with no reservations to date
2 days in Wilderswil
3 days in Murren
1 day open
3 days in Zermatt
Head back to Zurich and spend the night before in Bern to be closer to Zurich since out filght is at 2 pm

If you have any suggestions for the open days we are all ears!

Thank you!

My biggest suggestion is always to move less. I’ve helped enough people to know it’s essential to a really memorable trip that doesn’t feel exhausting, frustrating and a constant chess game with the weather screwing up your plans. Are you saying your place in Murren is absolutely not flexible in dates at all? Where are you staying there? What is your nightly budget for this trip? I’m trying to help figure out a way to make your plan a bit less crazy, because moving 7 times is a very bad idea.

Do you currently have reservations at the places you listed? Are any of them flexible on dates at all? Are you determined to go to these specific places? I ask because they are the most popular tourist spots in the country and are going to be the most expensive and most booked up. If you were willing to go to some of the amazing spots that are suffering from less over tourism it would open up a world of options for you. If you really want these spots, I understand. Just helpful to know.

These answers will help me in suggesting how to get the best out of what you can.

We spent some time watching videos and hikes for a recent trip out west. When we got there and talked to the park ranger, we went with his less touristy hikes based on his recommendations and had a wonderful experience. Due to this experience, I am feeling like we could run into the same situation on our trip to Switzerland. So YES, we are open to suggestions for less touristy options as long as we can reach them by train/bus. Unless you would convince us otherwise, the Stoos Ridge hike and the Schillthorn with brunch at Piz Gloria, hiking around Murren/Gimmelwald, and do a boat trip on one of the lakes (Brienz was our plan). Schynige Platte and Manlichen hikes were on our list but if there are other places just as spectacular, we are open to suggestions.
We planned to do Zermatt for 2-3 days.

We are trying to keep our nightly room budget under $300. When we leave Switzerland we will be stopping over in Iceland for a few days. That was so easy to plan compared to Switerland. Rent a car and drive around to a few places and fingers crossed we get to see the Northern lights!

Please share any suggestions! All of our room reservations have free cancellation but there is little left at this time so I hesitate to make too many changes. I would prefer to move less. We added the night in Bern on the way back from Zermatt as we were concerned it would be too tight going from Zermatt to Zurich by 11 am. Plus we would get to see that city although hiking is our priority.

Thanks.