Which train from Germany to Switzerland?

Since you cannot actually drive to Mürren it is not a valid comparison. The train from Landstuhl to Lauterbrunnen, where you take the cable car up, takes just over 6 hours. There are changes on the way at Neustadt, Karlsruhe, and Interlaken 9st. Use Bahn. De to see the schedules.

Thank you, Lola. Can you park at Launterbrunnen? We can rent a car for the entire two weeks for less than the price of one Select Pass ticket.

Yes you can, in a covered multi storey car park. The parking, while not extortionate is not particularly cheap. Swiss fuel is more expensive now than German. You will need to buy a CHF40 Vignette as you enter Switzerland or you will be paying a very expensive fine.

5.5 hours is a VERY optimistic estimate. To drive from Landstuhl to Lauterbrunnnen, a significant portion of your trip is on A5 as it runs parallel to the upper Rhine and the Black Forest. On a clear day, this is a scenic drive... but about half the length of the road is under construction right now. Expect stop and go traffic most of the way between Karlsruhe and Basel. And if you hit Basel during rush hour, traffic crawls until you're well outside of the city. For rail, obviously, there's no direct Landstuhl-Lauterbrunnen ICE. Landstuhl itself only has a small Regional Bahn station for commuter traffic. Without even looking it up on the DB website, I'm guessing you'll have a minimum of 3 changes. If you want Alpine thrills but don't want to put in the significant time commitment to get to Lauterbrunnen, the closest major Alpine resort town from Landstuhl is Oberstdorf in the Allgäu region of Bavaria. Still several hours away by rail or car, but not nearly as far as Lauterbrunnen.

I'm not sure Oberstdorf is much closer to Landstuhl than is Mürren (or Muerren, not Murren), but I would recommend Oberstdorf. The entire Iller valley from Immenstadt up is very scenic, but the Austrian Kleinwalsertal above Oberstdorf is spectacular.

So we should consider skipping Switzerland altogether and focus on Bavaria and Austria? This makes sense to me.
This way we could spend more time there and include Hallstatt, and driving is a possibility, correct? Is the Sound of Music tour good?

If you are travelling for the full two weeks without going back to Landstuhl in between, then you can do Muerren, Salzburg and Hallstatt. Otherwise, yes, I would do Bavaria and Upper Austria on the first trip and then the next week do Salzburg and Hallstatt. How many days total do you have for each leg of your trip?

I'm thinking we might rent a car for the full two weeks. Drive to Oberstdorf on Sun. the 13th and stay two nights, arising early on the 15th to hit Neusweinstein Castle on our way to Salzburg. We can stay 2 nights in Salzburg and travel back to Landstuhl on Thursday or Friday. That is the longest stretch of time we have, due to spending the weekends with our son in Landstuhl. Prior to and after this trip, we can go to the Rhine Valley, and places within 2-3 hour drive of Landstuhl. This seems like a wiser use of our time than trying to go to both Switzerland and Austria. Do you agree?

Your most recent post and thoughts on an itinerary sounds very reasonable. Obertsdorf looks like a wonderful place to spend a few nights and relax.

James, it is settling for sure. As much as I would love to see Switzerland, because I most likely will never get to return to Europe, I have to make a choice between the two I think.