Planning Switzerland holiday

HI
I know this is an often asked topic but we need some assistance to plan our trip to Switzerland.
My wife & I planning to visit Switzerland for 1 week, from 17 March - 23 March 2012. We will fly off from Zurich on 24 March evening and so will definitely have to be in Zurich on 23 March night.
We plan to come by night train from Vienna to Zurich and then plan to stay in Bern (which is like in the centre of the country). We intend to use Bern as the base of our stay and visit the tourist places like Geneva, Interlaken, Jungfrau, Zermatt etc. each day.
We do not mind the train travel times to/from each place from Bern each day.
Can you suggest a good itinerary and places to visit for us?
What's the difference between the Jungfrau and Zermatt? Where is the best place to see the Matterhorn (we are NOT planning any mountain hiking or skiing).
I am also confused about the train tickets. What is the best ticket option for our stay?

Thanks for the advice!

Hello yatchee1, and welcome! Since you'll be making rather long train trips from Bern, an 8 day Swiss Saver Pass would be the most obvious rail pass choice. It will cover all your trips in regular trains, buses and boats, and grant discounts on mountain transportation. The online timetable allows you to plan each trip.

You've already mentioned some of the most importation (tourist) towns to be reached from Bern. The Bernese Oberland and Wallis day trip overviews suggest lots of placed to visit near Interlaken and Zermatt. Highlights are the Jungfraujoch and the Schilthorn near Interlaken, and the Gornergrat near Zermatt, offering a great view of the Matterhorn. (Zermatt and the Jungfraujoch are very different. Zermatt is a town at the foot of the mountains; the Jungfraujoch is a railway station, viewing platform and tourist attraction high up in the mountains).

Does that help you out a bit? Kind regards,

Hi Annika

Thanks for the advice!

I read in this forum about some scenic train rides not to be missed.
Example lilke Chocolate Train. Can you recommend some that is within the locations you mentioned?
Thanks again

Hello yatchee1! You could combine your day trips to tourist towns from Bern with some scenic trains, such as the Golden Pass route between Interlaken and Montreux/Geneva and the regional Lötschberg Express between Interlaken and Zermatt. The Chocolate Train runs from Montreux on certain days of the week. Such trains can be found in the regular timetable too (it may require you to add a 'via' station, as the timetable picks the quickest routes, and scenic trains often aren't the fastest ones). Local scenic train routes include the Gornergrat from Zermatt and the cog railway up to Kleine Scheidegg from Interlaken.