Advice - first trip to Switzerland (w/2 teens/tweens)

Exactly what do want to see? You really need to consider going from place to place, as it going to take you longer than you think to do a day trip. Switzerland is larger than you think.

You could enjoy a few days in the Berner Oberland but I would not consider it a great home base for visiting other areas, especially not other mountain areas that require extra transport connections. You can sample train connection times for almost anywhere in Europe at Looking Up Train Schedules and Routes Online.

See all of our guided tours that touch Switzerland at https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/switzerland. These include a Switzerland-only, a Germany/Austria/Switzerland, and the less-guided Alpine My Way tour.

A guided tour...no way! Switzerland is the land of trains, gondolas, funiculars, boats on pristine lakes ALL of which give Switzerland that extra wow factor 🙂 give yourself 4 nights in the BO and then pick a different destination like Lucerne for your remaining Swiss time. Do not rent a vehicle - use the amazing public transports available and marvel at the views and the engineering.

Don’t confine yourself to a group’s timetable on a boring bus with 2 nights dotted all around tourist meccas where your guide is probably getting reimbursed to drag you to instead of catering to your particular wants and interests. And I speak from experience as my wife and I take approx 20 teens every year to this beautiful country.

I am mostly interested in the mountains/countryside, or smaller, medieval towns -- urban cities - not so much.

Maybe I could split it into 2 different areas - 3/4 nights in BO and 3-4 nights in another area. That wouldn't be SO bad.

Laura, I would love the RS Your Way tour, but last I checked RS does not work with TA's.

A guided tour...no way! Switzerland is the land of trains, gondolas,
funiculars, boats on pristine lakes ALL of which give Switzerland that
extra wow factor 🙂 give yourself 4 nights in the BO and then pick a
different destination like Lucerne for your remaining Swiss time. Do
not rent a vehicle - use the amazing public transports available and
marvel at the views and the engineering.

.
That's probably what I should do.

Why would you need a TA? I too would suggest a RS tour in your situation to take the stress of planning something on your own. If you think you'll find a TA with experience in planning independent travel in Switzerland, you might be the first. With an RS tour, all you need to do is plan the flight itinterary. There's a lot to know.

sorry, I should have clarified -- I am a TA (obviously not one who specializes in Europe). I want to make commission and/or have my trip go towards my sales.

Switzerland is the country to explore by train.
You can make a circuit, a DIY "self-guided" tour. Everybody gets to look out of the window.

I suggest you start with this website: https://grandtraintour.myswitzerland.com/
You could spend some time in the Berner Oberland and combine it with a tour based on the recommendations in the above website.
Depending on where you will be moving on to in Austria and Germany you could optimise your route.

Some more options here: https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-ch/route-suggestions.html

I spent all day/night yesterday researching to see which areas would be my priorities. Seeing as I have about a week in Switzerland, my ideal itinerary would be 2 nts. Luzern, 2 nts. Zermatt, 3 nts. BO. Does anyone have any suggestions as to the best order to do this (as far as the train routes and what not). And while we're at it, any suggestions as to the smoothest route to or from from Austria (Innsbruck & Salzburg) and Germany (Munich & Berlin). This is so, so overwhelming to plan. I have scoured and scoured every tour brochure out there, hoping to find a tour that works, but none of them have the "perfect" tour for me. Help!

Does anyone have any suggestions as to the best order to do this (as far as the train routes and what not).
smoothest route to or from from Austria (Innsbruck & Salzburg) and Germany (Munich & Berlin).

Lamb, you are asking routing questions now.
You don't need to know the best route to plan. Just assume you can get where you want to, look up the trains on the rail company website.
I.e. if you want to get from A to B (for example: Berlin to Luzern, Zermatt to Innsbruck), that is what you look up, and it will find you the quickest route and list the train(s) needed.

DB (German Railways): https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml
SBB (Swiss Federal Railways): https://www.sbb.ch/en/
ÖBB (Austrian Railways): https://www.oebb.at/en/
For cross-border trips, either of the relevant two sites should work.

As far as order is concerned, decide based on where you will be coming from and where you will be going afterwards. Choose the order which gives the least travel times (minmise doubling back).

A rail map of Switzerland is here: https://www.sbb.ch/content/dam/sbb/de/infotexte/uebersichtskarte-sts.pdf
The red lines are rail lines. Each and every rail line has at least one train per hour in each direction. There are 1838 stations in Switzerland (not all shown on map ☺). Yes you can get wherever you want by train.

Got it. I wasn't sure if all regions are equally easily accessible, but sounds like they are.

Being from the suburbs in the US, we just drive everywhere, there's no thinking about trains, lol! :)

lamb616 Switzerland is easy to visit by train. But don't let the distances deceive you. It may look like a short trip on the map, but the mountains are in the way. Making trips between places can take up half a day or more. You dont have a lot of time with only 7 nights.

Being from the suburbs in the US, we just drive everywhere, there's no thinking about trains,

My reply: Being from a Swiss city, I just get a train everywhere (or a tram or bus). There's no thinking needed, I don't even own a car.

After spending time in Switzerland I get back to the USA and go through train withdrawal and back to being saddled with a stupid car!

Switzerland is so easy to navigate, I am convinced that if I passed out with a sticker on my chest saying "Send me to Lauterbrunnen" I would wake up in Lauterbrunnen somehow.

Switzerland is so easy to navigate, I am convinced that if I passed
out with a sticker on my chest saying "Send me to Lauterbrunnen" I
would wake up in Lauterbrunnen somehow.

That sounds like the least stressful way to travel, ever; I'd like to someone try it out! :D

“my ideal itinerary would be 2 nts. Luzern, 2 nts. Zermatt, 3 nts. BO.”

Do able, as previously stated make sure to factor in your travel times. Lucerne to Zermatt is a 3+ hour train trip, well worth it for the scenery.

Or maybe 4 nights BO and 3 in Lucerne? Saves having to relocate to an additional city. I have only spent a few hours in Zermatt and while it was beautiful I think I prefer the Lauterbrunnen area. In all fairness to Zermatt, it was only a few hours so perhaps I didn’t get enough of a feel for the area.

Hello - I’m traveling to Switzerland in June with my 2 kids who will be 12 and 15.

Here’s what we’re doing:
1 night in Montreux (coming from Lyon)
2 nights in Zermatt
4 nights in Murren
3 nights in Lucerne and then heading to Colmar

I bought a 15 day Swiss Pass - which allows my kids to travel free with the family card (16 year old might be too old)

All of my rooms are refundable, so if the weather is bad in Zermatt, I’ll skip that part of our trip..

I personally would never do a guided tour, but I know a lot of people love them.

You have over a year - this forum will really help you plan an amazing trip - good luck!

OP here.....what if I split my week between Zernatt and BO? would it be possible to do day trips to Luzern if staying in BO?

I was sure to specify that I was in the suburbs, not the city......but you are correct, I should have said I drive everywhere, not "we". we do have commuter rail that goes through my Town but to be honest, I've never used it in the almost 20 years I've lived here!

And I changed my location so as not to be misleading! :)

I traveled to Switzerland last summer with my teenage daughter, I did lots of research and had a list pages long list of places we might like to go. When all was said and done, we ended up spending 7 nights in Wengen and absolutely loved it. Since we stayed longer, we were able to rent a self catering chalet. We had each had our own bedroom and could cook a quick meal some nights if needed. We could go back 10 more times and still not run out of things to do, If it were me, I would go to Switzerland last, stay in Berner Oberland region and rent self catering chalet.

lamb616,

you asked:

....what if I split my week between Zer(m)att and BO? would it be possible to do day trips to Luzern if staying in BO?..."

Where are you going after this trip to Switzerland? Home? If so, are you flying out of Zurich? If so, I'd consider making Luzern an overnight stop on your way to the Zurich airport. Its a bit far away from the BO for a worthwhile day trip, IMO. Distances on the map are deceiving.

We are heading to Switzerland later this summer. We chose to have two bases as hard as it was to let go of seeing all of this beautiful country. I guess it means we’ll have to go back another time! We decided on 4 nights in Lucerne and 5 nights in Wengen with hopes of really getting to enjoy these areas. The Swiss Half Fare Card (with the free family card as my kids are under 16) and the Jungfrau Travel Pass will work for us. There is lots of information on this and other sites and I found it easy to plan and book accommodations. Happy planning.