help on two week switzerland itinerary

Wow, that is quite a schedule. Everywhere u list is wonderful but too much to see and enjoy in 2 wks. i suggest u high grade your stops and concentrate on no more than 2 sections of switz. In july i enjoyed Zurich, lucerne,thun, brienz, zermatt, bern,and the french villages on our way to Geneva. This was a 3 wk trip mostly by train. The other highlights i saw in a previous trip.
Perhaps u could arrive Geneva and depart from Zurich. Seeing Montreux, berner oberland area allow min 4 days it is a blockbuster of beauty and activities, Thun, Lucerne, Appenzell then dep . Zurich.
No car in Montreux, Berner oberland, Lucerne, Thun is needed in fact can be a nuisance. It is the trains, ski lifts, trams and beautiful paddlewheel boats that traverse lake lucerne that are so much fun. Zermatt while very nice is car-free and the weather Is often iffy. If u must go then have flexibility so u can cancel. To be there and not be in the mtns for the matterhorn would be disappointing. May-June is a much better time frame to get around and still enjoy snow. U can also look into the family railpass options. Switz is expensive so plan on it.
And worth every swiss franc imo. Def book,all your lodging from home.

As far as experiencing snow in Zermatt, fear not. They ski there year round as the glacier has not melted yet, so there is ice and snow there all the time and you can get to it easily with the cable lifts.

I think when you consider that a 15-day Swiss Travel Pass will cost 440 CHF per adult and the kids travel free when you get the free Family Card, a car will be an unnecessary luxury. Every where where you want to go is served by frequent trains, and they will take to places a car can't go, like Zermatt, Gimmelwald, Muerren, Kleine Scheidegg, Jungfraujoch.

Now the bad news... April is the single worst month of the year to visit the mountains of Switzerland. It's the end of the ski season, and most of the mountain infrastructure closes down temporarily. Conditions are too wet to ski but too muddy and slushy to hike. And as soon as the snow pack retreats, the farmers use this opportunity to fertilize the pastures... with liquified manure pumped through a power hose. It smells quite ripe.

If you want to visit one of the most expensive countries on earth, go when conditions are better. As noted, the snow never completely melts on the high peaks above Zermatt and the Berner Oberland. Seriously consider delaying this trip until June, at the earliest. Otherwise, go earlier and enjoy the winter sports. Just don't go in April or May.

Tom,

Oh wow so just like that I vanished my plan of going there April. But will last few days of May to early week of June good enough? Maybe until June 13 the most? I'm from the Philippines and my kids start school June 15.

I was going to mention the same points Tom made, but he is better than I am at that. I think late May, early June you may have a shot. Think about doing the lower elevation parts of Switzerland first, the moving to the high Alps in June. Another factor is that you will have a lot of daylight at that time. Being in the Philippines, which are tropical, the length of day does not vary a whole lot throughout the year. But the latitude of Switzerland means you will have over 15 hours of daylight in late May and early June.

Thank you Sam.

I am reconsidering the whole trip now. Good thing I decided to post here.

Last question, do you think gimmewald, murren area is okay for kids aged 11 and 7? Or should we just skip it and explore zermatt, montreux, Lucerne, lauterbrunnen/intelaken area? Plus my BE express tirano-pontresina area?

Murren and Gimmelwald are fine for kids. Just as long as you visit when the conditions are good.

The later in June you visit the moutains, the better the chances of good walking conditions. You could try late May, but whereas you might have warm, sunny weather one year, winter conditions may have barely elapsed in another year. It's a roll of the dice.

Muerren and Gimmelwald are perfect for kids. An d a memory u and they will not soon forget.