RS Itinerary Help for travel June/July family of 3

I would not feel like you have to follow that exact itinerary. A fellow poster has said "no one ever wants to leave the BO" and I heartily concur!
It will help if you add what specifically you have planned so far. Good luck!

I think it is absolutely worth it to stay in a mountain village with a 10-12 day itinerary, and I would give up something else to do so.

No one is ever ready to leave the BO, so maximize your time there. Note that Swiss cities are in the 80's in the summer, so the cooler mountain weather is much appreciated. My recommendation is to decrease your time in the cities, except for Lucerne, and add mountain time. For me, Lugano is not very Swiss, as it's on the Italian side. And remember that mountain weather is very fickle, so you'll want more days to increase your chances for clear days.

One idea is to -
fly into Milan,
Few nights in Varenna, Lake Como,
To Tirano, Italy, catch the Bernina Express to Pontressina ( sleep Pontressina 1-2 nights,)
Train to the Berner Oberland, ( about six hours when we did it) to Murren or Wengen (maximize nights,at least 5)
And .....add another option...

Too many scenic train rides get old. The Bernina Express route is the most scenic.
Availability of lodging may influence your itinerary, as this isn't too early to be booking.
Just my initial thoughts. Enjoy your trip

No offense to Rick, but I don’t like his itinerary for Switzerland. :-)

I’ve had 3 trips since covid and my favorite destinations are Berner Oberland and Luzern. I also really like Montreux and Zermatt. I like Lugano, but would not prioritize it over the others.

I would want at least five days in the Berner Oberland. You can do a day trip from there or Luzern to Bern.

I was very happy with the route of my last 2 trips, but I did have more time than you. Here are my 2 recent trip reports if you’d like to take a look:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/solo-in-switzerland-my-trip-report

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/solo-in-switzerland-june-2024-my-trip-report

The great thing about Switzerland is there really are no wrong choices. You have to decide what your priorities are and how much moving around you want to do.

We did 12 days in Switzerland last summer. We flew into Zurich, train to Appenzel, the Glacier Express to Zermatt, on to Wengen for 5 days (another vote for the more days there the better) then Evian and flew home after spending an additional 5 days in Amsterdam. We did not do Lucerne because it didn’t fit in but we have been there a number of times. It really shouldn’t be missed and at least for a day if you haven’t been there. Please remember that although Switzerland is small it still takes time to travel between locations so you need to add that in. As always, I suggest you take a calendar and mark it up and add in travel days to get a visual of what you want to do and how much time you actually have in each place. Don’t wait to make your reservations, it was crowded last summer!

RS itineraries are very much geared towards a person who just wants to see tiny bits of a lot of places. I personally think they are nuts and really only somewhat reasonable for a guided group tour. Otherwise they are just a whirlwind. I have met people in Switzerland using his plan and talked to some of them who looked exhausted and always wish they had slowed down. With your list for the BO, you need atleast 5 days. With a 10-12 day trip, do something like fly into Geneva, Montreux 2-3 nights, Mürren or Wengen 5-6 nights, Luzern 3-4 Nights, fly out of Zurich. Or in reverse.

Another vote for as much time in the BO region as you can spare.

We did seven nights in Wengen and could happily have had more.

We also had five in Montreux and another one or two wouldn't have gone astray.