Hi! My husband and I and two of our sons (ages 20 and 13) will be arriving in Zurich on July 29th and departing August 12th. We have part of our trip planned but really would appreciate some advice/input. We will be visiting a friend in Bern our first night and then spending five nights in the Berner Oberlander (three nights in Wengen, two nights in Murren; my 20 year old will have spent six weeks studying in London prior to our trip and be ready for hiking and nature.) After that we know we want to include the Swiss Chocolate train in Montreux and a trip to Venice. We would like help with the following:
1) What is the fastest train route between Switzerland and Venice?. Should we leave from Lucerne? Spiez?? Do you have any general advice on taking the train to Venice from Switzerland? (For some reason it seems complicated to me.)
2) A rough allocation of our itinerary is below. Where else in Switzerland would you recommend to round out our trip?
Night one: Bern;
Nights 2-6 Wengen and Murren
Night 7 ?? What city makes the most sense as a launching spot for weekend trip to Venice
Night 8,9,10 Venice
Night 11, 12 and 13 ?? This is where I'd really appreciate your suggestions. Where should we return to from Venice? How should we spend these three days. We would like to include the Swiss Chocolate train in Montreux some time during these three days.
Night 14 Zurich (6 AM flight on August 12th)
Thanks so much for any help you can give us!!