Advice on Trip Itinerary in August/September

Luved Hotel Antika in Zermatt and the views and ambience of Hotel Bellevue in Wengen.

Strengelbach can easily be reached from Bern by public transport in about 40 mins (train to Zofingen, bus to Strengelbach from there). Zofingen is a nice, worth a stroll around the old town if you're in the area anyway.

You'll see Lake Lucerne and the Thunersee between Bern and the Oberland - is seeing Lake Geneva a big must? If you only have a day in Bern itself, I wouldn't squeeze in a day trip to Lake Geneva.

In Zermatt, one of my favorite (and relatively easy) walks is the "Pensioner's Trail" (AHV-Weg https://www.zermatt.ch/en/Media/Planning-hikes-tours/Pensioners-Trail-Lower-High-Altitude-Trail-Nr.-4a) just above the village. You get great views over Zermatt and of the Matterhorn. Depending which direction you do the walk in, there is a nice place to eat lunch at the beginning or end in Winkelmatten, the Sonnmatten restaurant.
These walks are also nice:

https://www.zermatt.ch/en/Media/Planning-hikes-tours/Swiss-Stone-Pine-Trail-Nr.-14
https://www.zermatt.ch/en/Media/Planning-hikes-tours/Riffelsee-Lake-Trail-Nr.-21
Also the walk to the little village of Zmutt, either up from Zermatt or over from Furi and then down to Zermatt. Enjoy lunch or a drink up there before heading back.

Enjoy!

Here is a rail map of Switzerland, showing the rail line to Zofingen.

https://www.sbb.ch/content/dam/internet/sbb/en/freizeit-ferien/inspiration/internationale-gaeste/Geltungsbereich-Swiss-Travel-Pass.pdf.sbbdownload.pdf

Your planned route has you cross-crossing back and forth through Bern or Spiez several times. You could change up the order of visit to make a nice one-way loop, starting at Zofingen—-head directly there from the Zurich airport (just over an hour, with one change at Olten). There are several hotels in town, and I am sure they will give a warm welcome to people exploring their Swiss family roots.

After one night at Zofingen, visit your chosen cities in this order: Bern, Zermatt, Berner Oberland, then Luzern. You can spend the last night in Luzern and head to the airport the morning of your flight.

This frees up your time in Bern for the daytrip to Lac Leman (Lake Geneva). You could do that as a nice loop as well, utilizing a very scenic section of the Golden Pass train route between Spiez to Montreux, with the lake filling the view in front of you as the train descends from the pass. It is marked as #4 among the scenic routes highlighted on the map. So the route would be Bern to Spiez to Montreux to Lausanne, then straight back to Bern.

Of course if you want to save Strengelbach for the end of the trip, you could do the loop in the reverse direction.

Good advice, thank you! I think we will leave out Lake Geneva. I booked Hotel Baren in Wengen for 4 nights. And will look at Hotel Antika in Zermatt and those walks, they sound great!
Anymore advice about places to stay in Lucerne and Bern? And your favorite foods in Switzerland.
And thanks for that rail map and ideas about our routes.

Is it easier to travel from Luzern to Zermatt or Bern to Zermatt? And how is it traveling from Zermatt to Wengen? All by train.

If you look at the rail map I gave you, you will see that from Luzern to Zermatt you have to pass through Bern (the fast way) or Spiez (the slow way, but you will do this when you go between the Berner Oberland and Luzern anyway, so no point in doing that twice.

From Luzern to Zermatt you have 2 or 3 train changes. From Bern to Zermatt you have a single change, at Visp.

I'd download the SBB train app and figure out train routes and times. It's very friendly and helpful.

Everyone has different opinions about food, especially Swiss food.Are you longing for fondue or venison?

We like Hotel des Alpes in Lucerne, book directly, ask for a room with a view of the Chapel Bridge.

Have a great trip!

Does this look better?

1. Arrive in Zurich 11:50am, train to Zofingen (about 1 hour trip)
2. Explore Zofingen and Stregelbach and sleep in Bern
3. Explore Bern in morning with afternoon train to Zermatt
4. Zermatt
5. Wengen- Baren Hotel (this is book already for 4 nights, but I can change it)
6. Wengen
7. Wengen
8. Wengen
9. Luzern
10. Luzern
11. Train to Zurich, Depart 1:15pm

Does this look better?
Thank you!

Yes, that is pretty much what I was suggesting, although you dropped a night in Bern so you don’t have a day to go see Lake Geneva. Are you OK with that? I guess the reason for that is so you do not have to move the Wengen dates, correct?

Excellent choice on the Bären. We really enjoyed our stay there in 2007, and I have been recommending it ever since. I believe it is now in the RS book (it wasn’t then; I read about it on the Fodors forum.).

Therese is a gracious hostess, and Willy runs a great kitchen (we only saw him once, when he popped out of the kitchen to wave at the dinner guests). I highly recommend taking half-board there, at least a couple of times. The food is very high quality and imaginative—-one evening there was a coconut-lime risotto side dish that I am still trying to perfect. They had 2 choices for the butter at breakfast—-one fresh from the dairy down the hill. Everything was fresh and very tasty.

Half board is also an excellent value—-only 24 CHF per person extra over the bed + breakfast rate for a 3-course dinner, chosen from the menu. In most Swiss restaurants of this quality, 24 CHF will get you a nice starter or maybe a pasta course, but not a main dish (those are around 35 CHF and up at the restaurants I have looked at for our next visit).

Bären in Wengen is a great choice - very nice hosts, amazing views and the in-house restaurant is excellent. Booking dinner there is a must (half-board is a GREAT deal) and hopefully you can sit outside on the terrace enjoying the spectacular views. The rooms are not fancy, but are comfortable and the views are worth every penny.

In Bern, Hotel Savoy is a good choice. It's very close to the train station (which is handy for your short stay) and has spacious modern rooms. Personally I like Bern, so your stay there is a bit short for me, but I understand you want to prioritize the Alps. Just be sure to have enough time for a good walk around the old town down to the river!

If you're going to stay in Zofingen, I can recommend the Hotel Engel in the old town. There are plenty of nice restaurants in town for dinner too. Do you have any information about family-related sights? Strengelbach is pretty small and mostly residential - there isn't a whole lot to see. Perhaps the Zofingen tourist office could help or recommend a local guide who might even know some of the family history?

Hopper18 I am a descendent of the Showalters that lived in Strengelbach from as early as the 1500 to the 1700's. I think I am going to stay in Bern for two nights at the beginning of the trip. We can day trip to Zofingin from Bern or Luzern at the end of the trip. There is nothing to see in Strengelbach that I am aware of, but in Zofingin the church is still there that 78 of the Showalters were baptized. The church may only be open on Sunday and we will be in Wengen by then, but I will check that out.
Please tell me more about visiting Bern, I know that is number one for Rick Steves along with the Berner Overland. I do love the enormous clocks.

Most churches (especially historic ones) are open during the day, so you can probably go inside. I'm sure the tourist office could confirm once you know which day you'll be there.
I just like Bern and think it gets underrated/written off by some tourists. It's very picturesque architecturally and I like the arcades along the shopping streets. It's also a very lively city with a lot of unique smaller shops and it is not as overly tourist-oriented as Luzern and more relaxed than Zurich. There are also some really great museums (Einstein museum, History museum, Paul Klee, Alpine museum) and it offers an amazing quality of life for a small city. And of course, in the summer, there aren't many places you can watch people swimming down a river in the middle of a capital city! I do understand that people have limited time on a vacation and I have another perspective as a resident of Switzerland, but there is something charming to me about Bern and the atmosphere is different from any other city in the country.

Thank you, great ideas! I will contact the tourist office in Zofingin to make sure the church is open.