Input on route including Appenzell and Wengen

I'll stir things up a bit.

Option 1, looking at www.bahn.com booking at least a few weeks ahead, Zurich Airport-Mittenwald is just as fast (and sometimes faster) and noticeably cheaper if you travel via Bavaria not Tirol (Innsbruck), using the EC or ECE trains from the airport. Buy the ticket as the whole journey and you benefit from German international rates. And the same applies for Mittenwald to Schwende.

Otherwise, the big question is will the train travel be a drag for you or is it something you would like if it wasn't wasting too much time.

Nice to see someone asking about Mittenwald and Schwende rather than the usual GaPa and Gimmelwald!

I think you have to decide for yourself if Mittenwald is important to you. Austria is lovely and certainly worthwhile. It will have a different vibe and feel than Switzerland, but I've never done that area via public transportation only. We do 100% public transportation in Switzerland but always have a car in Austria, as some of the hiking is a bit more difficult to reach with only infrequent buses.

If you decide on option 2, I would suggest moving Luzern to the end and getting rid of Zurich.

Mittenwald is in Germany! And there are buses in all directions - and the Karwendelbahn https://www.karwendelbahn.de/en/

Thanks @me.crewe and @wanderweg . I'm well aware that Mittenwald is in the Bavarian Alps. I'm considering it specifically because I share the same last name as the violin family known there. To refine my question more, I am interested in other hiking destinations that would form an efficient train-travel arc starting and ending in Zurich. Mittenwald, Schwende, and Wengen all have the hiking piece in common. Luzern shortens the train route if it is subbed in for Mittenwald. But I may be missing some other great hiking bases that are worthy of three nights in a 13-night itinerary. Not questioning the worthiness of the three I have fully booked, but also trying to make the best of a rare two-week trip to Europe. Thanks to you both and anyone else who may have additional thoughts.

No one questioned your knowledge of where you plan to go. The issue was simply that Wanderweg, while answering your question, referred to Mittenwald and their experiences “in that area,” describing it as being in Austria and difficult to reach by public transportation. Me.crewe was merely clarifying that this was not the case, both in terms of its location and its accessibility by public transport.

The reality is that there are so many excellent hiking bases that easily justify a three-night stay. Once you start looking more closely at destinations here in Switzerland, you'll find that hiking opportunities are everywhere.

Here is where you can find hiking options in Lucerne. If you'd also like to spend some time sightseeing on the lake, that's a great choice as well, but there is certainly no shortage of challenging hikes to fill three days.

https://www.luzern.com/en/the-region/summer/hiking

Thanks @SwissNomad . It's all good. I appreciate all of your responses. Thanks for taking the time to read and share experience. It's what makes this forum so useful for those of us who only pass through occasionally.

After the good feedback so far, I realize I could have worded the title of my post more exactly - to something like "Choosing Mittenwald or Luzern or ??? as a third hiking base". Though the input you three have given already makes it clear that what I am really struggling with is a tension between wanting to see more places, but a strong preference for staying longer in each place. I do only have 13 nights. I have begun to consider shortening a couple of the stays so that I could stay in four places rather than three, and ending in a place close enough by rail to get me to ZRH directly on the last morning without requiring a separate overnight in Zurich. My flight out of ZRH isn't until 12:40 pm. But that approach would mean shortening Wengen from 5 to 4 nights - and I have yet to see a post in this forum where someone says they stayed too long in the Jungfrau region.

Again, thanks to all of you for sharing of your experience. Maybe another forum user will have a must-go suggestion for a hiking base different than those I have been considering. Otherwise it's down to Mittenwald vs. Luzern or four bases instead of three. Not sure anyone else can make that choice for me.

All the best!

hi Curt,

my biggest concern with the first option via Mittenwald Is that you're coming off a very long flight. Probably overnight. With little sleep so you will be sleep deprived and possibly suffering from jet lag and you will then get on a long distance train that will eventually arrive at at your destination after some changes in Mittenwald. I would suggest that the gentle rocking and stale air would be the perfect prescription for going to sleep on the train.

Generally in order to combat jet lag you need to be out in the sun and walking around. So I think that your second choice would fit much better with keeping you ready to enjoy the rest of your vacation earlier