Route from Venice to Zurich, can take 5 - 6 days

See my answers in brackets [ ]What is the most scenic route to get from the Venice area to Zurich? I'm assuming it heads west to Milan and then north into Switzerland. Is that correct? [Yes] What are some "must-see" stops along the way? [no stops needed until you get to Interlaken train station, except for mandatory train changes but you don't stop to sight see at those] Should we head straight for Berner Oberland and select a village and spend all nights there and use it as a home base? [Yes, that's how I would do it]Or are there other towns along the way that are worth stopping and staying overnight at? [Not with the train]

Continued from 1st reply:You wrote: I had assumed we'd be taking a train from town to town and spending one or two nights in different Swiss villages [no, that's not how you do it in the Berner Oberland], but after reading some of the posts here, we may want to pick one village in Berner Oberland as a home base and then do day trips from there.[yes, that's how it's best done]Planning this kind of trip takes some work. I suggest you do 2 things:1) Carefully read Rick's Berner Oberland chapter of his Switzerland book, it will tell you things you need to know to plan your trip.2) Do the free download of Google Earth and type Lauterbrunnen into the "fly to" box, it will show you the geographic layout of the Lauterbrunnen Valley in a way no other tool can do, and then you'll understand why you take a regular train to either Lauterbrunnen or Stechelberg and go by lift or special train from there into the Alpine villages described in Rick's book.

Thanks, Kent! Great insights!

I forgot to say that we'll be taking the train (no car).

And I will be traveling with my 10-year-old daughter (just the two of us).

One other hint about travelling into the Lauterbrunen Valley from Venice. The Italian train system (ticket office) will only sell you a ticket from Venice to Interlaken Ost. They won't sell you a ticket to Lauterbrunnen, Murren, Gimmelwald or Wengen.

You can see the Venice/Lauterbrunnen journey on the German train site (www.bahn.de) or the Swiss train site (www.sbb.ch/en) but you won't see it on Trenitalia. And, you will be buying the ticket in an Italian ticket office. We had this experience in Venice last year for our journey to Lauterbrunnen.

Not to worry, however. Buy the ticket to Interlaken Ost. When you get to Interlaken Ost, walk over to the small ticket office there and buy your tickets into the Lauterbrunnen Valley. It's really easy.

BTW, they really like Swiss Francs in Switzerland as opposed to Euros. They will take Euros in many tourist places but it will be at a converted rate. Often, it's not that great. BIG HINT. When you change trains at Spiez (and you will), you have about 16 minutes between trains. Run around to the other side of the train station and you'll see an ATM. It dispense Swiss Francs.