Hello all, I'm new to the community and online trip planning. Thanks for taking the time to read. My husband and I are traveling to Switzerland for 10 days in late August, and would like some help with planning out our trip. I did a lot of Internet searching about top attractions/sceneries in Switzerland but, frankly, I'm quite confused with the range of options. I need to mention that we have already booked our flights - we are flying in/out of Zurich.

So, we'd like to visit the Alps, mountains and lakes, also scenic villages where we'd be able to relax and maybe a couple of museums. We prefer outdoor than indoor, and we like adventure but we are not extreme. So we are looking for both adventurous and peaceful activities. We're thinking to get the 6-day Flexi Pass but not sure if it's worth it.We've been looking this site: http://www.swisstravelsystem.com/en/home.html and want to try out one or two rail routes (panorama pleasures as they're called), but cannot decide which ones. There are all these difficult-to-pronounce places (e.g. Lauterbrunnen, Gstaad, Luzern, Jungfrau etc) that are supposed to be beautiful but, again, we have difficulty choosing which/why to visit or stay overnight at. Initially we thought about having only one base (Zurich) and do excursions from there but that doesn't seem to useful if we want to see most of Switzerland's interesting places.

Apologies if I sound overwhelmed; we haven't been to vacations for over ten years now and we'd really like this to be special and refreshing. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks so much.

You are, indeed, facing a wealth of wonderful options, and that can make for some difficulties when planning! I received an incredible amount of valuable information when I planned a longer trip to Switzerland last year; you might find some of the responses I received helpful. Here are the links:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...to-25-days.cfm
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...etter-plan.cfm

BTW, I strongly urge you to get at least one (if not more) hard-copy guidebooks -- one can learn all sorts of things that you would never even know to ask about. Of the half-dozen books I used when planning my trip, I found The Rough Guide and the Michelin Green Guide most useful.

Switzerland is stunning. Enjoy!

Zurich is not a good base for day trips. When you arrive in Zurich you should immediately get on the train to Luzern! Plan to spend at least a couple of nights in this beautiful small city on a lake, with mountain peeks very close by in the background.

Luzern has a very nice transport museum. There are boat rides and rides to the top of Mt Pilatus, plus strolling the old town. Luzern is one of my favorite cities in the world for it's picture postcard beauty.

I have never taken any scenic train rides in my 30+ trips to Switzerland. Others will give their advise on which ones to take. Others will also suggest several scenic Alpen towns. My experience is in Interlaken. Some like this town and others do not. For my husband and I, it was perfect for a 2 day stop.

Enjoy your planning. Switzerland is my favorite European country. It has beauty beyond compare!