3-4 Days in Switzerland and 3-4 Days in France. Any suggestions?

We're doing a similar trip in July. We're spending 2 nights in Lucerne to see the lake and do some hiking, then on to the Bernese Oberland area where the best alpine sites are. We're staying in Muerren and plan to hike extensively using the village as a base. Then training to Paris for 5 nights. Rick has lots of suggestions for Paris, as does Trip Advisor including cooking schools, Fat Tire Bike Tours and so on. We will be using public trans. the whole time.

I always recommend the Lauterbrunnen Valley area which would include Murren and Wengen.

I also recommend the Valley Hostel in Lauterburnnen. It is clean and has a shared kitchen. Personally, I would stay on the top floor.

http://www.valleyhostel.ch/pages/en/home.php?lang=EN

Paris is worth minimum of 4-7 days,, and you could easily do more there.

I also loved Wengen( and hear Murren would be a very similar experience).I have only spent 2 nights there, but think I would have enjoyed one more.

Since in my books 7-10 days is not very long,, I would consider how long it takes to get from one place to another( assuming trains run only every so many hours etc) and figure out a basic route from Zurich to say ,, Wengen, then Wengen to Paris. It will likely use a day of time travelling, so I guess I would count on 2-3 days in Wengen( or Murren) ,, and this assumes you like hiking etc.. its not like there are tons of museum there right.. and then last 5-7 days in Paris. Remember, once in Paris you can easily take daytrips to Versailles, Chartes, Giverny , Chantilly, Fontainbleu ,, etc etc.. getting a little countryside mixed in with big city .

I would also pose the transport logistics question over on the Transportation forum here, we have a few real train schedule experts( Tim is a blessing).. they could route someone around the world !

Have a nice trip.

If you would like to see more of Switzerland than just the Lauterbtunnen Valley and Berner Oberland area, you could do something like this: assuming you have spent time visiting Luzern during your stay in Zurich, you could head there without making a long stop, and take the scenic Golden Pass train route over Brunig Pass and along the lake (Brienzersee) to reach Interlaken Öst, and transfer there to the train to Lauterbrunnen and on by train or cablecar up to Wengen or Mürren. Spend 2 nights there.

Then return to Interlaken Öst and continue on the Golden Pass line up and over to the French-speaking part of Switzerland, which begins around Gstaad. You could spend a night there or in the next village (Chateau d'Oex) if you like, or continue on to the end at Montreus, on Lac Leman. Spend 1 or 2 nights there (the nearby town of Vevey is charming) and visit Chateau de Chillon and maybe an excursion to Gruyeres or into the vineyards.

Then take the short ride to Lausanne, from where you can take a fast TGV train directly to Paris---I think it takes 3 hours 41 minutes.

You can see the routes and schedules at www.rail.ch

Lots of great stuff in France, but given your schedule just head to Paris when you are done with Switzerland.