Transportation questions

I’m going to be blunt out of really wanting you to have a great trip :) Before your technical questions are answered, you need to do a major, major reality check on your itinerary. You may not ever see the area again but with your plan, you’re barely going to see it as it is. Covering that much ground in that amount of time is going to leave you absolutely exhausted and barely seeing anything. Slow down and savor the amazing things to do in one area, instead of trying to cover 3 distinct areas. It’s tempting to go to all the social media highlight reel spots, but you do not have the time.

1. Frutigen is nowhere near Stoos Ridge hike. It takes over 4 hours to get from Frutigen to the starting point of that hike. If Stoos is a non negotiable, then you need to do it from Luzern on your first day. Even then, it’s waaaay out of the way of your other plans.

2. Taking a train at 4:58 in the morning and then immediately doing an activity that requires a lot of focus and attention sounds kind of dangerous to me. Do kids that age really want to be up at 4 in the morning?

3. Lines for mountain carts at Grindelwald First are typically 3-5 hours long in July/August.

I hear from your intended plans some priorities are based on social media highlight reels of breathtaking views. You can get just as good of views in one region without killing yourself in the process. Try to get a hotel in Grindelwald for 2 nights, and get rid of your place in Frutigen.

Thursday - train to Lauterbrunnen from Luzern, store your luggage, head up to Schilthorn for breathtaking views, then down to Birg for the Thrill Walk + a roundtrip hike down to Grauseeli for an infinity pool view lake that is just as beautiful as Oeschinensee with no crowds. You can swim if you’d like. Cable car back down to Mürren and do the via Feratta in the afternoon down to Gimmelwald. Explore and then head back to Lauterbrunnen to retrieve your luggage and go to Grindelwald for check in/dinner. If there are no other reservation times for your via Feratta available, then you can do your plan, but do the other Mürren based things I shared afterwards.

Friday - Grindelwald First + hike to Bachalpsee and additional activities if you want to at the end of the afternoon. Trotti bikes will have a shorter line and are on your way back down.
https://swissfamilyfun.com/grindelwald-first-bachseealp/
Or skip the adventure activities and go up to Mannlichen in the afternoon. Royal walk + panorama hike to Kleine Scheidegg before taking the train back to Grindelwald.
https://swissfamilyfun.com/mannlichen-royal-walk/
https://swissfamilyfun.com/mannlichen-kleine-scheidegg/

Saturday - check out of Grindelwald and train to Wilderswil. Store your luggage and ride up to Schynige Platte to do the Panorama ridge hike. It’s just as beautiful as Stoos and makes way more sense with your itinerary, it just doesn’t get on all the social media highlight reels.
https://swissfamilyfun.com/schynige-platte-panorama-trail/

Then return to Wilderswil, gather your luggage and go to Zurich in the evening. You could stop at Lake Thun on your way if you want.

If any of this feels like a plan you could get on board with, then I’m happy to answer the logistics questions you had in your original post to make it workable. If you’re staying with your original plan, it would hurt my head to figure out how to make it work :)

Some great ideas and advice has been posted for you already!

We have already booked all the hotels.

If this is something that you absolutely can’t change, and therefore can’t stay in fewer locations, then the best thing to do is explore the area you are currently in, travel to next destination at the end of the day, explore there the next morning. Make use of the lockers at the train stations for your luggage.

Wed. night- Luzern
Thursday: Mountain outing near Luzern (could be Stoos Ridge if you want)
Travel to Grindelwald

Thurs. night - Grindelwald
Friday: First mountain, Männlichen, anything else in the area around Grindelwald/Wengen/Mürren

Friday night - Frutigen
Saturday: Oeschinensee, see their website they are now giving a lot of information regarding best time to arrive (on weekends this is before noon), booking a cable car time slot, etc. Definitely take a look at it:

https://www.oeschinensee.ch/en/

There are quite a few via ferratas near Frutigen. Here is a link, depending on your level of ability:

https://www.outdooractive.com/en/via-ferratas/adelboden-lenk-kandersteg/via-ferratas-in-adelboden-lenk-kandersteg/247826828/

There are lots and lots of amazing opportunities around each location you are planning on staying. Look at the tourism website for each location to see some options. There is far more to Switzerland than the few popular social media locations! ;-)

Saturday night: Zürich

Also do we need to buy first class tickets so we have good views and reserved seats together? I read the best tickets are on the right side of the train and those must be reserved on certain routes.

• All windows are the same in first and second class. The side of the train with the best view depends entirely on the route and direction you are travelling in - it is not a uniform thing, so no - you don’t have to reserve the ‘right side of the train’. Just get on and sit anywhere that is free.
• Reservations are usually not needed, or even possible. For the few routes where reservations are required or recommended, you can of course reserve in both first and second class, no need to travel first class for this.