Switzerland in March Advice

Don't waste your time in Zurich. Take the 1 hour train directly to Lucerne and stay there, it is a beautiful city. I didn't do Pilatus but I did do the lake cruise, cogwheel up and cable car down from Rigi. It was awesome. Enjoy!

Seconded. Take a train direct from Zürich airport to Brienz. Then, if you need a car, hire it there.
But. most of the places you list are a lot easier to get to by train. Bern: Local train from Brienz, parking is horrible. Luzern: Go via Interlaken and the Brünig pass railway, very scenic. Fribourg: Easy by train via Bern, Parking(?).
You absolutely MUST go up into the high valleys above Interlaken: Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, Wengen. Mürren. The latter two are only reachable by train. All of these have cable cars and rack railways to the summits.

Where are you planning to drop off this car? Trying to drop of a Swiss hire car in France will cost a lot of Franks / €€€.

We have built in the cost of returning the car in Paris. We have a limited amount of time on this trip and when planning it, I wanted to have the flexibility of a car so I budgeted for it. Sometimes it's worth the extra cost for flexibility on the overall trip. If I had more time I would consider the trains but not on this trip. I've got a hotel booked in Zurich that includes parking and we will use it to see some of old Zurich and catch up on sleep after an overnight flight and the time change before heading to Brienz the next day. We also have parking at no cost arranged where we are staying in Brienz as well as in Geneva.

Karen, a rental car will provide you with absolutely more headaches and wasted time than trains in Switzerland. Like you say, sometimes it's worth the extra expense...but not in Switzerland. Trains will zip you to where you're going bypassing traffic in the cities where parking is a shortage (at least if you visit the places worth seeing). Curious as to the hotel you've chosen with it's "parking package".

Brienz is well connected by not only trains but the beautiful lake steamers that transport you just as precisely as the trains. The whole Swiss transportation system is seamlessly connected and punctual and clean.

We are using Air BnB in Switzerland and there is parking available. And again, I understand all the positives about using trains, and we might still use trains for day trips while staying in Brienz but it's to the overall benefit of the entire trip that we booked a car which is why I did.

It's not that I don't appreciate everyone's advice about the train versus car but that wasn't actually the recommendation I was asking about. I was actually reluctant about posting in this travel forum and stating that I was renting a car as it seems so frowned upon by everyone but it's what we chose to do for both our comfort level and logistics for the whole trip which includes more than just Switzerland.

So that being said - can anyone help with ideas about a good place for absinthe tasting and which cable car/mountain to go up during the March season? Or things in Bern, Neuchatel or Fribourg? Thanks in advance.

No, Karen, it's not frowned upon. But when you make statements like how much flexibility a car will give you in Switzerland and your "free parking" in Zurich and Geneva - that's a red flag that you may be lacking on information in that area. When you tell us about free parking in big cities like Zurich and Geneva (2 of the most expensive cities in the world) that indicates you're staying on the outskirts of the big cities which is not where the sites of the "old city" is.

Nevertheless we're looking forward to hearing of your great times in Switzerland upon your return.