aprildon6

Sat, Aug 23 - Friday, Sept 5
14 days

Days 1-2
8/23-8/24 :: Travel to Zurich
PDX to ZRH

Day 2
Day/Night in Zurich

Day 3
Travel to and spend night near Mount Rigi

Day 4
Travel to Interlaken

Day 5-10
interlaken - 6 days
1 day rafting
1 day canyon hiking
1 day mountain biking
1 day hiking bernese oberland
1 day train from interlaken to Jungfraujoch for glacier walk or take guided walk inside crevaces
1 day mountain bike matterhorn

Day 11
Travel to Amsterdam

Day 12
Amsterdam

Day 13
Amsterdam

Day 14
AMS to PDX

also, we'd like to do some fishing if there's any good fishing to be done. any advice here is MUCH appreciated!

lovisa

Presumably your flight from Phoenix to Amsterdam will arrive pretty early in the morning since you will have to transfer somewhere. There is a rail station that is part of the Zurich airport. Why not just get on a train and go straight to Lucerne? It takes about an hour, and there are trains about every hour. You can stay there 2 nights as it will be (relatively) near Mount Rigi, or go wherever you're going that is closer for the 2 nights.

Inter-European airfares on traditional carriers are higher than they are in the U.S. Have you considered how you're getting to Amsterdam? You might consider flying low-cost carrier EasyJet from Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (BSL) to Amsterdam (AMS). The sooner you book, the cheaper it will be, but be aware of the restrictions and extra fees on budget European airlines.

I realize Interlaken may be more convenient for the various activities you want to book, but why not stay in the mountains in Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald (both about 20 minutes by train to Interlaken), rather than looking at the mountains from Interlaken?

Are you sure you want such physical activities every single day (you both must be in great shape!)? How about a day or two to just chill?

lovisa

Re: Fishing
I know nothing, but a little googling shows this guide in/near Interlaken:
http://www.upstreamflyfishing.com/ht...ess_trips.html

hetismij

lovisa makes some good points apart from confusing Portland (PDX) with Phoenix (PHX) .

What to you want to see/do in Amsterdam particularly?
For museums like the Van Gogh and the Anne Frankhuis you can buy your tickets online, which will cut down on queueing.
Others can better recommend places to stay if you give a budget.

quokka

To make day 3/4 more romantic, check out the hotel on top of mount Rigi. If you're lucky concerning the weather you'll experience a marvelous sunrise up there.

Matterhorn is nowhere near Interlaken, getting to Zermatt and back will be a looong daytrip. And I hope you are not planning to bike up and down that mountain?

lovisa

You also might want to look into getting either a Swiss Rail Pass or at least a Swiss half fare card:
http://myswitzerland.raileurope.com/...land_index.htm

jenblase

I agree that staying in Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen would be better than staying in Interlaken.

We stayed in Grindelwald last year but when we go back (whenever that might be) we'll stay in Lauterbrunnen - we loved the look and feel of the town - and it seemed really geared towards active vacationers. We saw about 3 places that had bike rentals and other equipment for rental.