First Time Switzerland - 7 Nights

Instead of Geneva on your last night, you could stay in Lausanne which is much more interesting and lively. It is also connected directly to the Geneva airport by rail and takes less than an hour to get there.

Montreux can be reached easily from Lausanne, so you don't really need to have a hotel in both towns. Stay in one, day-trip to the other.

I'd also skip Luzern on your first night and head straight to Wengen. You're arriving in Zurich very early, so you'll get to Wengen around 1 pm with plenty of time to check in and enjoy a little of your first day. Luzern is great, but if I had to cut a day somewhere, I would do it there in favor of the mountains. More cowbell!

So, I'd recommend something like:

3 nights in Wengen
2 nights in Zermatt
2 nights in Lausanne

You're right - it is too extreme (too much moving around). You only give Wengen 2 nights...it's one of the most beautiful places in the world (Berner Oberland)! I would totally drop Zermatt and spend 4 nights in Wengen. 4 nights is really only 3 full days. Unless you have an early morning flight from Geneva you can actually just stay in Montreux the night before your flight as it's only 1hr 10min straight into Geneva Airport.

First skip Zürich. You can get from Zürich airport to Luzern in 70 minutes, so why waste 24 hours before getting to the mountains.
That gives you 2 nights in Luzern. I would say never do 1 nights stays, always at least 2 nights or you are travelling all the time.

For the same reason, skip either Montreux or Geneva. Since your husband says Geneva is a "must", that means skip Montreux. Access to Geneva airport is easy, all trains to Geneva call at both the city centre station and the airport. So you may be able to convince him to stay in Montreux if you prefer that.

That gives you 4 places, 2+2+2+1 night. I would consider skipping Zermatt, and making that 2(Luzern)+4(Wengen)+1(Geneva).
If you like mountains and hiking, there is plenty in Wengen to fill your time.

I assume you are aware of the SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) website to look up train times and prices: https://www.sbb.ch/en

Your only chance of getting to hike in the Swiss mountains, is if you stay put in one place in the mountains so you're not spending all your time traveling from city to city and checking in and out of hotels. You only have a week, and the first day or two you'll need to catch up on sleep deprivation from your overnight flight. You can use that time to enjoy the over-800-year-old town of Luzern during awake moments. Or since hiking in the Swiss Alpine mountains is what you said you came for, head straight to Wengen when you fly into Zurich on the morning of the 19th. From Wengen there are loads of different alpine mountain hikes in the area, all with different spectacular gorgeous views. They are usually most visible in the mornings, before clouds and weather roll in. There are also loads of charming old traditional chalets with brightly blooming flowers in window boxes and gardens in the villages in that area. Some days in the Swiss mountains, it's foggy or rainy the whole day, and you can't see the mountains. So you need to allow extra days there to make sure not to miss the view. So I recommend you stay in Wengen for at least 5 nights (meaning 4 full days). There is plenty of the best scenery in the world to keep you busy there! That gives you 1 last night to stay in Geneva or nearby to catch your flight home. If you want to also see the Zermatt area (Matterhorn and Gornergrat), you'll need to add at least 3 more nights to your trip (2 days).

I very much agree with LindaL. Zermatt is good (but iffy), Montreux is nice, Lausanne is nice, but Wengen area is outstanding. You could easily spend 2 weeks there. I've done it several times.
Take a look at the Google images of these places: Mannlichen, Lauterbrunnen, Bachalpsee. As hikers, I think that is what you are looking for. There's more than enough to do there, and here are our favorite hikes:

1. Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg (and even further to Wengernalp). Train back to Wengen. This is the BEST hike for a clear day.
2. Grutschalp to Murren, pretty much parallels the train tracks.
3. Top of Almendhubel, go right, generally heading above Winteregg, then clockwise back down to Murren
4. Top of Almendhubel, go left, towards Schiltalp, then Spielbodenalp, then to Murren
5. Murren to Sprutz Falls, under the falls, up the opposite side to Spielbodenalp, then back to Murren
6. Lauterbrunnen to Trummelbach Falls. Enjoy the falls and the walk through the valley
7. Schynige Platte to First (6 hrs, but great! Get to First before supper, when cable car closes.)
8. First to Bachalpsee and return (shorter version of #7)
9. First to Grosse Scheidegg and bus back to Grindelwald
10. Grindelwald, cable car to Pfingstegg (take the Rodelbahn luge ride there!), hike to Berghaus Baregg Maps: https://terrelledwards.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/hikingmap1-3-2.jpg http://ontheworldmap.com/switzerland/ski/jungfrau/jungfrau-summer-map.jpg http://www.pfingstegg.ch/index.php/en/timetable-prices-4/wanderkarte

We have spent four two-week trips in Switzerland with a focus on hiking. And still have not seen the whole country. I think you need to choose between quality mountain time, and city time.

Our standard itinerary involves the Berner Oberland, with a stay in either Wengen or Mürren, and a base in the Valais in a small town called Bettmeralp. To that basic plan we add a new destination each time, and we always inclide a stop in Kandersteg to stay at mountain inn at a beautiful lake above town.

Giving your limited time, and need to return from Geneva, I would suggest the following:

From your landing in Zurich, head to Luzern ( one hour away bntrain) and spend two nights. Spend the full day on an excursion by boat, cogwheel train and cable car up Rigi. Ther is nice hiking up there with views over the lake, not too hard after the long flight.

Then travel to either Wengen or Mürren for four nights. Lots of great hiking there, and nice lodging choices.

Then to Montreux on the Golden Pass route, stow your luggage in the station and visit Chateau du Chillon. Move on to a village along the lKe for your last night before flying out of Geneva. There is no need to spend night in the city, as train connections to the airport are good. We chose the small town of Morges, Audrey Hepburn's home. We were much happier there than we would have been in the big city of Geneva.

We included Zermatt in our fourth trip to Switzerland. This was early July and the weather ranged from blizzard to gorgeous sunshine. The thing about the weather there is not so much that the weather is worse than other alpine areas, but the Matterhorn is often hidden by clouds. Call it a shy mountain. On the afternoon of the blizzard day, the clouds cleared and we saw the Matterhorn in full glory from our deck. The next two days we hiked in full view of this beautiful mountain. But we were fortunate. There is great hiking there, but if you can only allocate two days I honestly would not bother.

Thank y'all so much for all of your wonderful suggestions! We decided to cut Geneva and Zermatt to help us get the most out of our time.

Travel Day - leave at 1150 Sat the 18th; Arrive in Zurich 0805 Sunday the 19th
Zurich to Luzern (50 min) (1 night - 8/19 - 8/20)
Luzern to Murren (4 nights - 8/20- 8/24) Goldenpass
Murren to Lausanne (2 nights 8/24 - 8/26)
Depart from Geneva 8/26 at 1125

@shoe thank you so much for the hike recommendations! We plan to tackle as many as possible from our base in Murren. Again, thank you everyone for taking the time to respond! I feel so much better about our timeline now!

Lauren Kenny

I love this final itinerary and think my wife and I might copy it for our week in Switzerland this June. My question is about transportation and what would be most cost efficient for this itinerary. Cab you swing it with a 4 day flex swiss travel pass or would you need an 8 day? Its a bummer that there isn't anything between. Thanks!

To Elbow513: There is a 4 day or 6 day Berner Oberland Pass that might work for you. It covers almost all transportation between and south of Bern and Luzern and almost to Montreux.

http://www.regionalpass-berneroberland.ch/en/