I’ll check out Lauterbrunnen, then. Breathtaking is what we’re looking for. Definitely stopping in Murren, the Dolomites, and maybe just one other place somewhere between the two places. Perhaps that will fit the bill. Interesting thing, when I looked at the Rick Steves trip itineraries through Europe, the ONLY place he stopped in Switzerland, was Murren, and for three days. He really loves that town, so I figure, we’d better check it out.
I was lucky enough to spend a week in Vancouver several years ago as my DH had a business trip. It was mid-June. We added on an Alaskan cruise that departed Vancouver. It was Princess and did the inner passage and Glacier Bay and we disembarked south of Anchorage and flew home from Anchorage, not having any time to tour Alaska inself or add on Denali. Would definitely want to go back. I am not a big cruiser but I was impressed with Princess, the itinerary was excellent, they had a naturalist onboard who spoke about wildlife and Glacier Bay and before entering Glacier Bay there was practically an entire day’s presentation by National Park Service rangers. They also had Libby Riddles the first woman to win the Iditarod on board one day and she spoke about her experiences also. We had ample time in all the stops - Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway. It was rainy the beginning part of the trip but not a tremendous problem and the weather improved day by day. You did need to be dressed warm when outside for a long time especially in Glacier Bay and the College Fjord.
I absolutely fell in love with Vancouver. It is a beautiful city, with all the natural beauty as well as sophisticated dining, very easy to get around. We did a day trip to Victoria and went to the Burchardt Gardens… so in planning this trip I realized that the ferry to Vancouver Island is actually about an hour south of Vancouver. It is not inexpensive and then you need transportation when you get off the ferry on Vancouver Island to get to Victoria or any other place you are going to, plus the ferry ride itself takes about 90 minutes or so. Vancouver Island is huge. We spent practically a full day between Victoria and The Buchardt Gardens but it was so worth it. I would go back and travel more of Vancouver Island without any hesitation.
Haven’t been to Banff… but have always wanted to travel to the Canadian Rockies.
@bookmama22 - if you go back to Vancouver Island, and want to explore the west side, there is another ferry, Horseshoe Bay, northwest of Vancouver that takes you to Nanaimo on VI. If someone’s plans are to head to Tofino, you can cut off almost half the drive time by taking the ferry to Nanaimo and then driving over. That’s what we will probably do. No reason for us to drive down and take the ferry from Tsawwassen. The crossing time is 1 hour 40 minutes from Horseshoe to Nanaimo. It is longer if you go Tsawwassen to Nanaimo. If we decide we want to spend some time in Victoria, we will do it on our way to catch the ferry between Victoria and Port Angeles on our way to do the Olympic Peninsula.
Believe me, I’ve been studying the charts on how to most efficiently use our travel time and all of our options!
you can definitely experience them both in the same trip! Just a cable car ride away. You just have to pick where to sleep, haha. Rick Steves is also a big fan of Gimmelwald, up the mountain from Murren. Not to be confused with Grindelwald, which is in another valley, ~30 minutes (I think) from Lauterbrunnen by train. That whole Berner Oberland area once you leave Interlaken and get into the mountains is fantastic… Interlaken is pretty great as well.
I’ve never been to the Dolomites but they are on my list!
Can’t wait! Interlaken might be a good one for an intermediate stop.
teriwtt, what are you leaning on now, anything ruled out yet?
Am 90% sure it will be Vancouver/Vancouver Island/Olympic Peninsula. Just have to narrow down the days and how many days we spend where. But the gist of it will be spent on Vancouver Island.
I know this sounds really bizarre, but now I’m almost wishing summer were here and almost over - I don’t want to wait four more months after all the research I’ve done; I just want to go… now!
A friend of mine dubbed the months of research as “travel foreplay” ;
I wonder if there is any deeper meaning to the fact that I hate doing the research. I just want to go on the trip without doing the work! 
lol, @busdriver11. I just hope all your trips are good for you…
So many tasteless jokes are coming to mind, that I’ll not even start down this road.