Rome & Switzerland

I would skip Zermatt and spend the Swiss time in Lauterbrunnen, Murren, or Wengen. Much more beauty and hiking for your franc. I'd also fly home from Zurich instead of backtracking to Rome.

I agree that if you've already been to Luzern, time in Switzerland should be focused on the Berner Oberland. Stay in Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, Muerren, or Gimmelwald.

"I think we would like to visit Zermatt, Interlaken, and Lauterbrunnen."

I haven't been to Zermatt, and I agree about Lauterbrunnen. But for Interlaken, think again. It is near but not in the mountains, and is filled with things like large hotels, large tour groups, casinos, sex shops, and jewelry stores. It does have large branches of Migros and Coop (sort of like Target in the US), which came in very handy when I needed to replace my day bag at a reasonable price. Unless you want or need any of these things, there is no need to use Interlaken for anything other than a transit hub, to catch boats, buses, and trains to more enticing destinations.

If you have not already bought flights, I definitely agree you should fly out of Zurich. On such a short trip, you want to avoid backtracking if at all possible. If you have already bought flights, see what it would cost to change them; it could still be cheaper than the journey back to Rome, and the added convenience has a value as well.

Are you planning to fly Rome to Switzerland and back or take a train (it is about 6 hours Rome to Bern)? If you are planning to take a train you lose two longish half days in travel. Can you possibly fly home from Zurich instead. It would save a lot of traveling and costs.

Zermatt is in a beautiful dead end valley, but is only accessible by train through Brig, That makes it half a day in and half a day out, and not on the way to anywhere. I love it, and the gondolas take you high to start your adventures.

https://www.zermatt.ch/en

If you fly to Bern and head immediately to Interlaken you can stay there and get to Lauterbrunnen, Murren, Grindelwald, Gimmelwald, etc. easily enough.

RS seems to love Gimmelwald because it is less developed.

for example https://www.sbb.ch/en/buying/pages/fahrplan/fahrplan.xhtml

Lauterbrunnen is a great jumping off place for hikes and trips up the Jungfrau and Schilthorn peaks.

https://lauterbrunnen.swiss/en/summer/
There are gondolas or lifts up to many locations too.

https://www.jungfrau.ch/en-gb/
https://schilthorn.ch/en/Welcome#

Is there something particular that you are hoping to see or do in Interlaken?

I don't know how your flights are - are they they already paid for and ticketed, or are you still exploring?

The reason I ask is I wonder why you are going to Rome. It isn't exactly near Switzerland, and Switzerland seems to be the purpose of the trip. One and a part of one days isn't enough to do much in Rome, especially if you have to get from the airport on arrival (overseas arrival? from where?? jetlag???) and wander around in a fog for a day, and then have to get to the airport again to get to Switzerland.

Have you been to Rome before? I know you say that Rome provides the city part of the trip and that you are okay if you don't get to see everything in a city. But that short of time really shortchanges Rome, a magnificent place with jewels on every corner. Do you have specific plans for what you will do with your 30ish hours there (partly hopefully sleeping)?

After day 9 do you have extra time in Rome?

Or can you change to Zurich and go to Rome another time when you can devote a little time to it?

Yes - flights are already booked and paid for! We got an amazing deal getting to Rome - about 1/3 of the price of flying to Switzerland. This is going to be my husband’s first trip to Europe and his top two places to see are Italy and Switzerland. Basically, flying to Rome is a cheap vehicle to get to Switzerland. I’ve been to Rome, so just want to show him the highlights and then head to Switzerland via plane most likely. We will make another, longer trip just to italy as there is so much to see.

We were interested in Interlaken because of the adventure activities - such as bungee jumping or canyoning. But we aren’t attached to the idea if there won’t be much else for us to do there.

Is it feasible to do Zermatt and Lauterbrunnen/Grindelwald area in about six days? Seems like we should fly into Bern. We’d really like to see the Matterhorn, so I think it’s worth it to us to make the trek there if we’d have time.

Another note, we don’t want to make this our trip to Italy because we’d really like to visit the coast and would prefer to do that in the warmer, summer months.

We have done a speed tour of Rome (27hrs) at the beginning of a longer trip and had a great time! Mostly walking the streets and one private tour of the Coliseum and Roman Forum. It gave us the taste for a return trip.

Two suggestions for the rest. One off the wall and the other more to your original ideas. If you want the Alpine experience and adventures have you thought about the Dolomite Region? Would be much less hassle to plan and less time traveling.

If your heart is set on Zermatt then spend the majority of your time there and not try to do too much. Fly the Bern. 3hr to Zermatt by train, spend 4 nights there. Then back to Bern for two nights (allows a day trip somewhere) then back to Rome. This lets you relax and gives wiggle room for bad weather in the mountains.

Hope this helps rather adds more confusion. We are planning a trip to Switzerland for the fall of 2020. So I hope you report back on your adventures!!
Regards Mark