Cinque Terre to Murren

I'd break the trip in Milan for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is Milan itself. You'd easily have time to wander around and get up on the roof of the cathedral. From a driving standpoint, the westward road into Murren from Hwy2/E35 is narrow, twisiting, and goes through a pretty neat pass. It'd be more enjoyable to do this in the morning when you're fresh and the sun is behind you. There's really not much sense in getting into the BO late in the afternoon rather than late in the morning of the next day, only to stay at a lesser place. Of course, there's also Grindelwald where you could wake up with the north face of the Eiger staring at you......but, then, that's a lesser place according to the rabid Murren lovers. :)

Or if you would prefer for some reason not to stay in Milan, there are some lovely Swiss villages right on your way, or a short detour, well before Interlaken. www.oeschinensee.ch www.bettmeralp.ch But if you haven't seen Milan, it is really worth a visit.

My vote would be to do the drive straight through to the Lauterbrunnen Valley. In 2006 we were in Lavanto on the northern edge of the Cinque Terre facing a couple days of shaky weather and the question was where could we go and be happy if we were just reduced to looking out the hotel room window or driving around with the wipers on. My wife wondered if we could make it to Lauterbrunnen and I said absolutely. The fast route was less than 6 hours as it is almost all Autostrada or Autobahn. (Don't forget to buy your Autoahn sticker when you cross into Switzerland.) In Switzerland take the A2/E35 all the way to the Stansstad area on Lake Lucerne and pick up the A8 there. Then follow the A8 to the Interlaken area and head south into the Lauterbrunnen Valley. Do not take the short route which has you get off the A2/E35 at Wassen and go across the Susstenpass road, it is slow and tedious and the scenery is not that great compared to what you see on the fast route ... Lake Lucerne is beautiful. Once you arrive in the area the choices are between Gindelwald and Lauterbrunnen. Interlaken is not in the running. The tricky part will be finding a room. IMHO Grindelwald is very nice but a bit crowded while Lauterbrunnen is smaller and has a quiet serenity about it that we just love. The good thing about being in either town is that you can easily catch the train to the Jungfraujoch or drive into Interlaken and take one to the lake steamers around Lake Brienz and make stops along the way or you can just tour around and take in the beauty of the area. The night we stayed in Murren we had a valley side room with a balcony at the Hotel Alpina. The room was tiny and not cheap but the view from the balcony was mind boggling. Again in IMHO Milan is nice, the Duomo is impressive but compared to an extra day in the Berner Oberland it is not worth it. 9.9s always top 8s.

Brenda, First of all, could you clarify whether you're driving or using trains (perhaps I missed that part)? There's no reason to "spend 1st night in Interlaken or Lauterbrunnen". If you make it to Lauterbrunnen, you're not far from Mürren.