Driving Itinerary Frankfurt --> Switzerland --> Melon --> Venice and back? For Family Road Trip

Your itinerary sounds like you’re going to be spending a lot of time in your car. You might want to check out the driving times between all your locations to see how much time you will have to experience the different places you want to visit. It looks like it’s over 4 hours to drive between Frankfurt and Lucerne. This drive might not be too enjoyable or safe if your group is jet lagged from coming off an international flight.

We did a similar road trip in reverse in 2023. Started in Munich, then the Dolomites, Venice, Stresa, Wengen, Colmar and Bacharach.

Don’t stay in Interlaken. Stay up in the mountains in Wengen or Murren. It I s stunning, whereas Interlaken is not. Check out Chalet Gerbera in Wengen. Very reasonable and views to die for. You’ll park the car in Lauterbrunnen and take trains and gondolas the whole time.

Highly recommend Lake Maggiore. We LOVED Stresa, which is on the opposite side from Ascona. It would be cheaper, since everything in Switzerland is ridiculously expensive. Highly recommend taking the ferry to the islands if you visit that end of the lake.

In Venice, you’ll park at Piazzale Roma most likely and take the vaporetto to your lodging. Watch your speed on the bridge - there are multiple cameras. That’s generally a good rule throughout Europe. Speeding will get you an expensive souvenir in the mail many months later.

Also be aware of the vignettes required for Switzerland and Austria, and the environmental zones in Germany. We’ve rented cars for over 20 years in Europe - it’s definitely a part time job learning about all the environmental restrictions, the toll systems, the rules of the road, etc. Not as simple as hop in the car and go.

I would highly recommend flying out of Munich instead of Frankfurt. Frankfurt has no charm. Modern, bustling city. If you can fly out of Munich you’ll save yourself some driving, and it’s a much more interesting city.

For that matter, why not fly into Zurich and out of Munich? One less vignette to purchase, less driving time and fuel to burn. But I have a feeling the airline tickets are already purchased.

We have a similar itinerary in Switzerland in late July with our teen boys, however we are using trains. Have you considered that? Not sure how old your teens are, but 15 and under are extremely discounted. (like nearly free with the right combo of passes)

Our plan:
Fly into Frankfurt nonstop. I used points to book a short hop to Zurich (6k United Miles each transferred from Chase rewards)
2 nights Lucerne-we will use a van transfer, there are 6 of us and Welcome Pickups quoted $282. Worth it after a long flight.
Train to Wengen with stop in Brienz to ride boat. - all covered by the Berner Oberland Pass (You are going to want to buy some sort of pass anyway, so you aren't paying full price for mountain activities)
3 nights Wengen
Train to Basel to pick up Rhine Cruise

As for the Italy part, I still think trains would be better for you. We did Venice-Milan-Varenna a couple of years ago. Super easy and instead of staying in Milan we just stowed our bags and saw the Last Supper.

You can take a train to Innsbruck from Venice in as little as 5.5 hours. The train from Innsbruck to Frankfurt airport is around the same. You don't need rail passes for any of these trips, you can buy point to point.

I am not one of those people who immediately advise against having a car. We have rented cars as a family in Tuscany and Provence and Scotland. A car would be a burden on you for the places you plan on visiting, and would probably cost you lots more.

Re: Three nights in Interlaken area.. Don’t stay in Interlaken, a transit hub. Grindelwald is nearby and is beautiful.

2 nights is only one full day - that is nothing. You will spend more time traveling than enJOYing Europe.