We just returned from our trip, and I wanted to share a few highlights about the sights and the train options we chose - after so much deliberation and questions about rates and passes posed here on the forum! We did not have enough time to get to the Jungfrau region and do it justice, so our plan was to go to Luzern and Engelberg, and fly home from Zurich. This route was wonderfully calm after our time in Paris. :-)
First, thanks to Chris from Basel - your advice was great and really appreciated. :-)
We traveled from Paris to Basel via TGV Lyria, (tickets from capitainetrain.com 3 months early). We purchased Half Fare passes for the adults. Then we got a free Family Card for our 15 year old. From then on, all of his train travel was free.
We traveled from Basel through Luzern to Engelberg, and that was fairly seamless except for the mere 5 minutes we had to get from platform 7 to 13 with our luggage for the transfer to Engelberg!
We stayed at the Hotel Edelweiss Engelberg, which is a Swiss Family Hotel - and it was lovely with a lot of old world charm and an excellent view. The breakfast was included in our room rate, and it was delicious and abundant. Many of the rooms had balconies, and breathtaking views. The valley was calm, quiet, and lovely. There was an outdoor lap pool and a hot tub, which we enjoyed. The hotel staff arranged our tickets to Mt. Titlis for the next morning, using the Half Fare passes again.
Mt. Titlis was a lot of fun, and spectacularly beautiful. We were able to hike in the snow, walk across a suspension bridge, enjoy impressive vistas, and walk through an eerily lit and beautiful ice cave/glacier. We did not pay extra to do the Ice Flyer chair lift over the glacier. My kids had a blast climbing the snowy hill and sliding down on their feet, or rear ends, without any sleds. The snow was slippery, which made for great fun for my Midwest kids...and great concern for the guests there who had never seen snow before. Watching others experience snow for the first time was a memorable part of that trip for us! :-)
On the way back down, we left the cable car in Trubsee and on the way to the lake, we were greeted by cows, bells ringing, as they made their way down as well. There were rowboats to use at the lake, a hammock on the lakeshore, and a spectacular view of mountains, a waterfall, snow, and alpine flowers. I was charmed by the cows that passed us by, ringing their bells. It was quite a noisy, melodious parade!
In Luzern, we took a 100 year old paddlewheel steamer across the lake to Weggis, and spent some time strolling along the waterfront. Mark Twain lived there at one time, and said "This is the charmingest place we have ever lived in for repose and restfulness." It was a serene and lovely place to take a day trip, have lunch, and simply enjoy the boat ride across that gorgeous lake. Since we had just had our mountaintop experience, we did not take a trip to Pilatus nor Rigi - but were very content to discover other beautiful places as we were ending our trip.
And finally, the train from Luzern to Zurich Flughafen was an easy ride, and as the station in in the lower level of the airport, our connections were simple. We were advised to get there 3 hours before departure, but also advised that if we printed out our boarding passes in the hotel the night before, that we could make that only a 2 hour lead time (thus ensuring we could enjoy one last delicious hotel breakfast that was included in our room price :-) ) We planned to use the rest of our Swiss francs stocking up on chocolate at the Coop store in the airport, and came home with lots of good treats to share. The multi pack bags were a great deal - different individually wrapped bite sized chocolates that we were able to share with a lot of friends to give them a taste of Switzerland.
I certainly appreciated the advice I received from this forum, and hope that these comments are helpful to someone else!
Laurie