Itinerary help for April in Switzerland - skiers who want to see as much as possible

Sounds good. Can I come?
Alpenhof looks splendid, if quite expensive. I stay a little more down market, but Alpenhof has everything, from what I've seen. The Julen family owns a lot of hotels in Zermatt. I also see that they own the Papperla Pub, which I was going to recommend for apres.

Definitely rent skis in Zermatt, they have everything in the shops. I always bring my boots and carry them on with a set of ski clothes so I know I can ski the next day, where ever my checked luggage ends up.

Your guide will know how conditions are in Cervinia. April might be a bit late, but who knows? They did get a lot of snow the last couple of weeks. Cervinia faces south, so that is factor. Get the lift pass that includes Cervinia. You might also take a look at a day in Saas Fee which has a fabulous huge glacier to ski on. Reachable by train and postbus from Zermatt. It is on a different ski pass. Again, you can quiz your guide whether it is worth it in current snow conditions.

As far as the rest of the trip, skip Zurich and go to Bern straight from the airport and stay there first night. There are direct trains from the airport train station at 18 and 40 past the hour and it takes 1 hour and 24 minutes to get there. What are your flight arrival and departure times? If you end the trip in Luzern, just stay there the night before you leave unless it is a very early departure. Again, just 1 hour to the airport on direct trains. Most flights back to North America leave noonish, but maybe you have a connection to make on the way home.

After Zermatt, yes, go to Wengen. April might be a bit late, but you don't have to ski to enjoy it or go to the Jungfrau. Then Luzern, great last stop in Switzerland.

I recommend you each buy 30-day Half Fare cards when you arrive, then all transportation will be at half price. No need for a car in Switzerland, in fact for what you are doing, it would be a pain.

Great suggestions - Thank you!!
We have some friends in Zurich so are waiting to hear if they will be available for dinner when we 1st arrive to Switzerland so we could see them. If not, I love the idea of going straight to Bern. We depart on a 9:30 am flight back to the US so maybe staying the last night in Lucerne will make for a really early departure but we could easily stay in Lucerne late, leave the luggage with the hotel when we check out so we could have the afternoon and early evening to still explore, have dinner then pick up luggage and catch a late train to an airport hotel to crash for a few hours before we catch our flight out.
If we go to Jungfrau/Lauterbrunnen, we have heard services are limited in April - do you know what that means? Is it just skiing is limited or are things a bit more shut down/restaurants & stores closed, etc? We were thinking if we go there, we'd try to stay in Wengen to be closest to best skiing if it's open/has good snow and to also be a bit more central to get around the area. What do you think? Unfortunately doesn't look like there's much availability in Wengen. Any suggestions?

Re Wengen, looks like almost everything is shutting down after the last official ski day on April 8. I see the Hotel Regina is still open, about a block from the train station. Pricey, but available.

After the official ski season is over, a lot of places shut down, go on vacation for a month (probably someplace like Bali, Phuket, or the Maldives), then come back and get ready to reopen for the summer season in May. Some lifts are shut down for maintenence, but the train up to Kleine Scheidegg and the the train up to the Jungfraujoch will still be running. Maybe a short run on the Aletschgletscher that has a drag lift could be open.

Swiss train stations are used to people with ski gear, etc. And while nearly every station has bag storage, they also have a handy Express Luggage checked baggage service that might be helpful on your longer train travel days. Cost is 30 chf for the day's destination + 12 per bag, so obviously a better value for a family than for a single traveler.

My limited experience aligns with Sam's suggestion to skip Zurich unless you want to visit a big financial center city. I would also be inclined to spend my last night in Luzern and take the morning direct train from Luzern to Zurich Airport. (We stayed at the Waldstaetterhof just across the street from the Luzern Banhof). Hotels typically have luggage and ski storage areas.

We traveled with ski boxes and gear duffle bags. (Cross country skis flex critical and renting skis not an option for me). The longer distance trains we took from Luzern to Klosters did not have ski racks or luggage closets, but did have space need the door for bikes etc. The local train between Klosters and Davos had ski racks next to the door.

If you don't plan on skiing until Day 3 or 4, checking your ski gear is only a minor risk. I label my ski box and gear duffle bag with our itinerary and overnight locations in the event that bags are delayed. Worst case is renting boots and charging the airline.

Zurich Airport mid-day weekend flight departures are a zoo (line snakes around the terminal). Make sure that you check in online and print your boarding passes. If you don't print your boarding passes, go to the check in machine and do so before you get into the line to check bags.

In April, after the ski season is over, sanity returns to Zurich and Geneva airports, but Saturdays from before Christmas to mid March are a complete zoo. Swiss efficiency goes into the nearest recycle bin.

Murren and Wengen may have limited availability, but Grindelwald has available hotels.

Thanks for all the insights! Based on responses above and after more research, we now think we should head to the Ticino region (maybe Lugano/Bellinzona) after Zermatt since it sounds like April is the worst month in the Jungfrau. With skiing basically finished with not much open yet too much snow for hiking and April weather typically gray and rainy, it just doesn't sound like it's worth trying to stay overnight. We hate to miss the waterfalls in Lauterbrunnen though so we might take a day trip from Lucerne at the end of our trip depending on the weather. Any suggestions for Ticino and where to stay (Lugano vs Locarno? or should we stay on the Italian side?). Our teenager would definitely like to see the castles in Bellinzona. Also is it worth renting a car just for our time in the lake district/possibly to drive up to Lucerne?
Thanks so much for all the help - this forum is awesome!

If you want to go to Bellinzona, you might consider stopping in Andermatt and skiing there for a day or two. It should stay open until April 22. It is, as one hotelier in Zermatt told me, "The coldest place in Switzerland", and holds its snow. It was, and probably still is, the site for the Swiss Army's cold weather training ground.

So you could take the train from Zermatt to Brig and then take the train to Andermatt, You could also take the Glacier Express, but that involves an extra reservation fee to cover the direct service and panorama cars. To get from there to Bellinzona or Lugano, you take a short train to Goeschenen, then change to the train to Bellinzona/Lugano that uses the route through the old Gotthard tunnel, then descends using a series of 360 degree spiral tunnels to get to Bellinzona and Lugano.

Going to Luzern, there is one direct train from Lugano/Bellizona to Luzern, and many that require only a change at Arth-Goldau. The main route uses the new Gotthard Base Tunnel, that includes a 30 mile tunnel right under the Alps. You'll pass about 3000 feet underground directly below Andermatt.

Lugano is very pretty, and its lake and surroundings are distinctive and extraordinarily beautiful! In contrast, my impression of Locarno, when I was there, was that it felt like it could be any other lakeside big city, and its lake (Lago Maggiore) seemed, to me, rather ordinary. But I didn't explore further out on the lake.