We (family of four--daughters are 18 and 16) are spending 13 days in Switzerland, arriving June 30--almost here and I'm still trying to figure this out! I usually do our research and trip planning but I was extremely busy when we decided to do this trip. My husband hiked in Switzerland in 2001 and has already made some hotel reservations, and also decided we would rent a car instead of travel by train. Although I now believe we would do better traveling by train, the rental car is prepaid and nonrefundable, so non-negotiable. Also, a few of our destinations are non-negotiable, as my husband thinks they are must-sees from his previous trip. Because of this, we are doing quite a few one-night stops, and many of them are in fairly remote locations. I realize most people prefer to select a few bases in more populated areas from which to explore a given area, but we three girls are going to try to travel my husband's way this time.

Here is our plan so far:

Day 1: Arrive in Zurich, drive to Weissbad, take cable car to Berggasthaus Ebenalp
Day 2: hike to Berggasthaus Aescher, spend the night there
Day 3: Drive to Lauterbrunnen, stay at Hotel Staubbach
Day 4: travel to Gimmelwald, stay at Hotel Mittaghorn
Day 5: Second night at Hotel Mittaghorn
Day 6: Travel to ___________ Kandersteg or Zermatt?

Question!! We were going to travel to Zermatt on this day, but then I saw the lovely Lake Oeschinensee, and we are considering a one-night stay at the hotel on the lake. However, then we are, I think, one day short to travel to another area later. I am reading that there are nice things to do in the Lake Oeschinensee area, but I am also reading that the scenery is very similar to the Zermatt area. So I am wondering if it is worth a one night stay, or should we just make it a mid-day stop on the way to Zermatt? (So we can then spend more time in another area later in the trip)

Days 7 and 8: Zermatt at Hotel Schwarzsee (assuming overnight stop at Kandersteg)
Day 9: ???

Would like to travel to Sion, Vevey, Gstaad,, or Chateau d'Oex, have collected lots of information but have not yet gone through it in detail to decide exactly where. If we stay in Kandersteg for a night, I'm not sure we really have time to go to this area, so I'm wondering if we should spend an extra night in the Lake Lucerne area instead. Or leave out the overnight stay in Kandersteg to have two days to spend in this area? Or spend the extra day in Zurich at the end of the trip?

Days 10, 11, 12: Lake Lucerne area
Day 13: drive to Zurich (do we need more time here? have not really researched this yet)
Day 14: Depart from Zurich

The more I think about it, the more I think we should just make a mid-day stop at Lake Oeschinensee and then keep going to Zermatt so we'll have two days for another area.

Is this totally confusing? I hope not! I am open to any and all suggestions!

Thanks so much!