French Switzerland in late April

I would choose Chamonix over Gstaad any day...unless you're really into a day of skiing since that's what Gstaad is all about. A little late in the season though. Chamonix is much nicer IMHO.
I would suggest perhaps going up through Valais to Sion. It's a lovely, small town with a medieval core and two hills topped by a castle and an ancient church. The whole area is surrounded by vineyards and is beautiful. There are many views of ruined castles along the way.
If you keep going past Sion about 40 minutes you can get to Zermatt.
If you head over to Verbier the views from the top of the lifts are spectacular - views of the French, Italian and Swiss Alps. Super pricey town though.
If the day is clear Mont Fort is the highest peak in the area with spectacular views as well. It is reached from the village of Nendaz just east of Sion.
Gruyere is just about 45 minutes or so from Montreux if you fancy cheese and a very pretty medieval village perched on a hill.

Another lovely town in French Switzerland is Murten. We had a really nice day there. We also enjoyed Fribourg, Romont and Bulle. Nearly every train station rents bikes and/or e-bikes (motor-assisted bikes). We rented at one station and dropped at another for a lovely one-way ride through the Emmental hills another day. Pathways should be clear at the lower altitudes in the French side. Gruyère is a great town. But above all, tour the Cailler chocolate factory in Broc. Yum yum. There's lots to do on the French side, but most people head straight for the Alps and miss it all.

P.S. We did all this and much more via public transportation. We didn't rent a car until we headed to Italy.

Alyssa,

Rather than stay in Geneva, you might consider Lausanne. It's a beautiful city and it makes a great "home base" for visiting places like Vevey, Montreux and also the historic Chateau de Chillon. It has a nice old centre uphill from the lakeside community of Ouchy, and getting back and forth is easy with the "Metro", which is more like a Funicular. It's relatively new so really works well.

As with travel anywhere in Switzerland, bring lots of money!

Thanks all for the advice. We were considering only staying in Geneva for a few days to see it and the surrounding French towns and then moving to Lausanne for a home base to do the rest of our day trips to Montreux, Gruyeres, Watch Valley, etc. i have heard mixed things about Lausanne so i am interested to hear more about it...

I thought that Lausanne was just OK, although I am sure there are many who would disagree. The best thing about the town is the cathedral perched up high in the old part of town...the building itself is worth a visit and the views over Lake Geneva are spectacular. Other than that I quickly lost patience with walking up and down the VERY steep hills.
If you want to stay somewhere picturesque on that part of the lake then I would recommend Vevey. No hills, not crowded between the lake and the motorway like Montreux, and it is central to much of what you want to see in that part of Switzerland and France. Vevey has a beautiful lakefront promenade and the old town core is really nice. It's much quieter than the other cities along the northeast end of the lake.

Do you know if we can take a train directly from Vevey to Zurich? We have to get back to Zurich to catch a flight back to the States...

There is no train directly from Vevey to Zurich that I'm aware of but trains go frequently (several every hour) from Vevey to Lausanne, which is where you can get a direct train to Zurich. It's just a few minutes by train from Vevey to Lausanne.

Alyssa,

Lausanne wasn't the most memorable town I've visited in Europe, but it's very scenic and has some interesting sights such as the Cathedral mentioned in an earlier reply. The city has two parts - the old city of Lausanne and the scenic waterfront area of Ouchy.

It's also a great home base for getting to other places in that area, either by boat or by train. One of the most popular sights in that area is Château de Chillon which is the most visited castle in Switzerland, and the trip there on one of the Belle Epoque Paddlewheelers is wonderful (I'd recommend returning by train though). If you visit the Castle, one tip - be sure to get some lunch first as there are only vending machines at the Castle. The food on the Paddlewheelers is expensive in the formal dining room, and mediocre in the cafeteria at the front (on that point, I can provide a quote from my trip diary if you're interested).

While the hills of Lausanne can be a bother if you're heading uphill, I found that using the "Metro" made that much easier and therefore not an issue.

I was also in Chamonix this year and really enjoyed my stay there. The scenery is incredibly beautiful and there are some interesting attractions in the area, especially the Aguille du Midi and Mont Blanc.

Thanks Anita and Ken for the tips. The Chillon Castle is on the list for a day trip--we want to incorporate it with a wine tour of the Lavaux. Right now, I have the rough itinerary laid out--get to Geneva late morning from Zurich and explore for the rest of the day. Second day is the day trip to Chamonix and the Aguille du Midi and Mont Blanc. Third day would spend the morning continuing to explore Geneva (my husband is a watch guy so we will get to the Patek Phillipe museum) and then have a driver take us over to Annecy for the remainder of the day. The fourth day is when I would head to Lausanne or Vevey and make that home base(not sure if train or ferry). The fifth and sixth days would be day trips--one for the castle and wineries and the other up to the La Chaux-de-Fonds with a driver to see the watch museums. I am hoping on the castle/Lavaux day to incorporate a visit to Gruyeres/Broc but that may be ambitious. The seventh day we could spend some time in Lausanne exploring before catching a train back to Zurich. Again, I appreciate everyone's thoughts!

Another thing to keep in mind about Chillon is it's full of stairways and narrow hallways. Some of the staircases are barely one person wide, which can be vertigo inducing and also slows down the process. Allow enough time and if after a while you choose not to keep going or don't want to check out a particular room, that's quite OK. I did the whole thing, my wife bailed after a while, we both saw what we wanted.