Lauterbrunnen/Murren/Zermatt -- oh my!

lisa, you HAVE to go through Interlaken to get to Lauterbrunnen, and to Lauterbrunnen to get to Mürren. Picture it this way: Interlaken (just for the transportation - no need to stay there) is at the foot of the mountains, but not in them. The train from there goes up into the valley, where Lauterbrunnen sits. You have to go halfway up the mountain from Lauterbrunnen to get to Mürren. It takes longer than you night think because travel in the mountains is slow.

Making sense kind of depends on how many places you actually plan to stay. One week is time for maybe two places to base in. And it might depend on where you will be departing from. How many nights do you have?

Lisa, Zermatt is a really great village to see, but you always run a gamble, just like all mountain areas, with the weather and cloud cover. Sometimes the Matterhorn is covered by clouds for days and not too visible. The Berner Oberland area has a lot more options to offer if cloud cover exists. From the Lauterbrunnen Valley you can see Wengen, Murren, Grindlewald and the Lauterbrunnen Valley. The BO is also a shorter trip for you from the Black Forest area.

this helps a LOT!

So far our plan is -- Several nights in Berlin (probably 3), several nights in Freiburg (Black Forest) (probably 4 nights), then several nights in the Swiss alps, and most likely finishing up with several nights in Munich (easiest place to fly home from, and plenty to see!). Then again, we could also finish up in Zurich if that makes more sense...

As you can see, nothing is yet in stone (though the first two stops are definite, the amount of time is still flexible). We have a total of somewhere around 18 nights -- again, it's a bit squishy so far!

While we love train travel, we don't want to eat up the whole trip with trains -- the trip from Berlin to the Black Forest will likely be a night train.

This is the first time hubby and I have done a continental trip together; I've been many times on my own as a kid, but we're now around 60! So we're trying to find a way to see as much as we can, with an emphasis on smaller towns, natural beauty, and history (Berlin is all about history, as is the Black Forest because we have family history there!). I'm also seeing the value of basing somewhere rather than traveling constantly.

I love researching and planning, but figuring out the Swiss part of the trip is more confusing than I'd thought... I was thinking Glacier Express and Bernina Express, but then we decided to stick with fewer countries... and THEN I realized that the Bernese Oberland is probably the part of Switzerland we'd enjoy the most!

At this time, I don’t see direct overnight trains from Berlin to Baden Baden or Freiburg. I see some during the day that’ll take 6h 45m so you’ll lose a day of sightseeing when traveling from Berlin to the Black Forest: https://www.bahn.com/en.
A train from Freiburg (Breisgau [region]) Hbf (Freiburg’s main train station) to Mürren MLB requires three connections taking 4h. Pack light because you’ll be mad at yourself if you don’t. Pack layers not bulky clothing and do laundry when needed.
I feel you need four nights in the Lauterbrunnen Valley in case the weather doesn’t cooperate so I wouldn’t add more to this itinerary. Furthermore, don’t fly home from Munich because there are no direct trains from the Lauterbrunnen and takes 6h 45m to get there. Fly home from Zurich instead that takes 2h 30m from Lauterbrunnen with two connections. The second transfer stops in Bern and if you have time spend a night or two in Bern before continuing on to Zurich that’s an hour away by direct train.

According to Rome 2 Rio there is a night train Berlin to Freiburg: https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Berlin/Freiburg-im-Breisgau?source=adwords&gclid=CjwKCAjw9suYBhBIEiwA7iMhNE50msPgJsqWX6UI1rP7kt0fhB1wMNSjY8zjten1pns16VExb-KbYxoCRgMQAvD_BwE#r/Night-train/s/0

Is that usually accurate?

Lisa, FlixBus is a bus not a train: https://www.flixbus.com/. Unless your seat reclines to a horizontal position expect to sleep while sitting. I can’t find verbiage that supports this. If you can sleep while sitting than FlixBus will work.

Isn’t this a night train Berlin to Freiburg? https://www.nightjet.com/en/reiseziele/deutschland/berlin

I see a Nightjet train on D-Bahn leaving at 20.54.

not the one you linked which immediately leaves Germany, and goes through Poland and Czech Republic to Austria, but Obb NightJet 471 does go to Baden Baden and Freiburg on the way:

• Berlin Hbf (tief) 20:35
• Berlin Südkreuz 20:49
• Brandenburg Hbf 21:59
• Magdeburg Hbf 22:41
• Braunschweig Hbf 23:28
• Göttingen 01:16
• Frankfurt(Main)Hbf 04:39
• Mannheim Hbf 05:28
• Karlsruhe Hbf 05:57
• Baden-Baden 06:16
• Offenburg 06:34
• Freiburg(Breisgau) Hbf 07:24
• Basel Bad Bf 08:10
• Basel SBB 08:47
• Zürich HB 10:04

Yay!! Thanks so much!

You might want to take a look at the RS Switzerland guide (purchase or library) to get a handle on what your possibilities are for Switzerland. It gives good info on scenic trains and lots of info on the BO area that seems to be of most interest to you.

Did a similar trip a few years ago.

For the Black Forest, if you haven't already, look into the Konus card, it gives you free train/bus travel (not express trains) throughout the Black Forest all the way to Basel Bad, from there we used our swiss pass into and for Switzerland. We stayed in Gengenbach, visited Triberg and even Strasbourg, France (we had more time than it looks like you have).

We stayed in Murren, and when we go back I will most likely just stay in Lauterbrunnen, Even though we loved Murren, we felt we missed out on Wengen,Grindlewald, Jungfrau a bit by staying in Murren (due to travel back and forth). With train travel and if you're getting a swiss pass, there's lots of options from Lauterbrunnen, through Interlakken. Bern, The Gelmerbahn, a boat ride in Interlakken, etc..

I'm looking forward to going back...have a great trip!

Just got back from BOE 14 days and Lauterbrunnen was my absolute favorite, would 100% go back. We hiked to Murren and back through the valley and I felt we barely scratched the surface of every sight offered. Lauterbrunnen seemed like it was a good base, everything seemed to be just a tram/train/gondola ride or hike away. I would absolutely go back, stay in Lauterbrunnen for several days and try to explore both sides of the valley. It was definitely the highlight of my trip.

Interlaken is the prime base, then Lauternbrunen is the secondary base, and there are half a dozen towns from there - increasingly remote and high.

From my limited experience, it seems that Interlaken hotels are about half the price of hotels in Lauterbrunen etc. The train ride is about 20 minutes from Interlaken east (there are two train stations about a mile or two apart). So its not that hard to take a train up for the day. Interlaken also has a big market, and pretty decent selection of restaurants (by Swiss standards).

Lauterbrunen at night is very dark and quiet - almost like camping - although they do have a big spot light on the main waterfall.

There is a big train loop that goes through Kleine Sheidigg and some of the other towns. I spent half a day making that loop with a few brief stop overs.

Interlaken has another attraction - you can hop ferries/trains to Brienz or Thun, and those ferry rides are covered by rail pass I think