Alsace Region of France to Lauterbrunnen and more suggestions

If you are certain of visiting Alsace as well as Switzerland, fly in and out of Basel, especially if renting a car. Car rentals on the French side of EuroAirport will be cheaper. The Bernese Oberland is fantastic, my last time there was in 1987. It's too expensive for my budget, though. How much time are you allocating to Alsace?

Allocating about 4 days in Alsace from Strasbourg to Colmar. The entire trip is two weeks and we are actually beginning in Amsterdam and flying from Amsterdam to Strasbourg. We might only make it to two locations in Switzerland. Wengen is just amazing. Just not sure which airport to fly out of based on where we want to go.

We love Switzerland and usually spend at least two weeks there. With one week, and Wengen already decided, I suggest you choose a place not too far away and they fly out of Geneva or Zurich, whichever is closest to you second destination.

Last summer we were limited to ten days and our two destinations were Mürren ( which we prefer to Wengen) and then a small car-free village in the Valais region, not far from Brig. It is perched high above the Rhône River and accessible only by cablecar. We prefer it to Zermatt, which we found crowded with tourists who were there for the “ bucket list” check off, not for the active outdoor experience we seek. The village we like is Bettmeralp and while we usually stay in a hotel there, last summer we had a wonderful apartment which everyone voted their favorite. This is their website but I suggest you book it through AirBnB like we did.

http://guxa-bettmeralp.ch

You mentioned Glacier Express but that is a long train ride for the sedentary, not a destination in its own right. I cannot imagine young adults being happy with a day on a train with mostly old people when they could be outside enjoying the beauty of the Swiss Alps on the ground.

Sedentary is exactly correct! Yes, I know the train rides take you through beautiful scenery, but wouldn’t you rather be out and about in that beautiful scenery/villages instead of being stuck on a train seeing the sights through a pane of glass?

Lola,
How did you get from Murren to Bettmeralp? Train or bus?

It is a combination of trains and cable car. Lots of changes on the way, but everything lines up pretty well.

From Wengen you would take the train down to Lauterbrunnen and head to Brig, with changes at Interlaken Öst and Spiez on the way. At Brig, you take a regional train heading east, to the cable carrier Valley station at Betten. It is only about 10 minutes away from Brig. At Betten, you go into the cable are building and buy tickets for the cable are that takes you 3000 feet up to Bettmeralp. If you have Swiss Passes there is a 50% discount on this ride. Some of the cablecars stop at the village partway up so ask to be sure you are boarding one that goes all the way up to Bettmeralp.

The hiking and mountain biking there are great, and you can do guided walks on the Glacier if you want.

If you make that your last stop and then fly home, it is slightly faster to get to Zurich 3 hours 20 minutes to the airport) than to Geneva (3 hours 40 minutes to the airport).