Interlaken was a generic term for the region, but even so, it has some distinct advantages for transport and mountain trips. Zermatt is very beautiful and not hard to get to ... and the Matterhorn up close is outstanding, whether you've been to Disneyland or not.

But anyway, here is a modified option:

07 Oct - Lucerne (direct train from ZRH)
08 Oct - Lucerne
09 Oct - Lucerne
10 Oct - Wengen-Lauterbrunnen
11 Oct - Wengen-Lauterbrunnen
12 Oct - Wengen-Lauterbrunnen
13 Oct - Montreux (via Bern)
14 Oct - Chamonix
15 Oct - Chamonix
16 Oct - Geneva
17 Oct - In transit

Since you're ending in Geneva, I strongly recommend two nights in Chamonix - even just for the Aiguille du Mid cable-car to near the summit of Mont Blanc ... it's truly spectacular. I think this region is definitely preferable to the Lugano option.

An afternoon is fine for Arequipa. Yes, a full day would be better but you don't have much time. You will see Misti from Arequipa. One of the best views is indeed the Yanahuara viewpoint.

I would pick the overnight tour to the Colca Canyon that has trekking in the canyon. But I like to hike and am fit. The hike out is indeed steep. We took it slow and steady and it took us 3.5 hours. You will feel the altitude going back up (maybe consider taking Diamox). The only way to avoid the hike back up is to go by mule. Some tour operators don't sleep in Sangalle (they do go there for lunch and swimming) but in San Juan de Chuccho. But from there it is even steeper: 1200m in 10 km which takes 4 hours or so. But is also possible to hire mules from San Juan (just let the tour operator know). I would not attempt the hike up if you are not fit. The one day tour from Arequipa goes to the Colca Valley and the Cruz del Condor (not to Cabanaconde and no hiking in the canyon but nice views, towns, viewpoint of the canyon and, hopefully, condors). You can do that tour in 2 days which is what I would choose as it would make it much less rushed.
In San Juan it would probably be a homestay: a private room in someone's house. The cabins in Sangalle are very basic. At least ours was. I am sure there are nicer cabins. Another question for the tour operator. You can book in advance as you don't have much time or wait till you are in Arequipa (which would probably be cheaper).

Day 4: taxi from Cuzco to Ollantaytambo with stops at Chinchero, Moray, and Maras salineras. Ruins in Ollantaytambo.

Day 5: early train to Aguas Calientes and bus to MP entrance. You can visit on your own or with a guide (guides available at the entrance). I recommend hiking up a mountain but again, maybe not if you are not fit. If you do want to hike a mountain there is Huyana Picchu or Montana and you should choose the late time slot for the mountain. After MP train back to Ollantaytambo.

Day 6: early start. Pisac and Sacsayhuaman. Cusco in the afternoon

Day 7: so if one of you would struggle with the Colca Canyon I would certainly not attempt Rainbow Mountain. And I agree that you already have too much planned. Also, Rainbow Mountain has become touristy, the trail is being destroyed and the colours are not as nice as in many photos. Also, don't go if it rains or snows. I would dedicate day 6 to Cusco and day 7 I would go to Pisac and the ruins north of Cusco (Tambomachay to Sacsayhuaman).

I frequent Asheville both for business and pleasure, via either my motorcycle or with my wife in a car. When on business I stay downtown, which is fine, hip and trendy scene. With the moto I tend to use Airbnb just outside of town and very close to everything.

When I visit my wife, we ten to rent a cabin about 20-30 minutes away close to the Blue Ridge Parkway for easy drive to pull offs to the hike trail. We love the Mt Pisbah area around the lodge the valley below.

Asheville has a great music/arts and foodie scene, plenty to keep you busy, as well as Brevard which is a artsy scene too...there is alos some nice watefalls and a park to hike just south.

Asheville has gentrified quite a bit in the last 15 years, they even have a Whole Foods...lol, the overall lifestyle feel here mountains, granola, banjo.bluegrass and a pickup and a few dogs.

The Biltmore is a fantastic tour to check out.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g60742-Activities-Asheville_North_Carolina.html

https://www.exploreasheville.com/stories/post/50-things-to-do-in-asheville/

https://www.asheville.com/directory/bd-categories/attractions/

The best part of driving around the USA is to access and explore it National Parks. These are mainly out west, and its best to do a big loop, or multiple loops, and rent a vehicle that you dont have to pay a OneWay charge on, which would be $100 day without insurance, vs $25 day. Using California as a base, or Las Vegas, explore the parks for 2 weeks, starting in the southern California where you need a car San Diego/LA, and end in San Fran, where you dont want a car as it expensive to park and easy to get around with public transport. Then fly to next area, do not drive.

You dont really mention any interest? Disneyland? Museums? Cabins in mountains?

The key areas on the East coast, which have a lot of history, culture and museums etc, are all best explored without a car, as its not easy driving due to congestion, especially NYC, and not cheap to park, $60-$150 day. Public transport is great as well, you can train or bus between them as well. NY, Boston, Philly, Wash DC.

Small towns are everywhere, but if you want to enjoy the history and old towns, then you need to be more specific and read a guide book and see whats interesting, as we could list 100 small towns to visit. Charleston SC is a must, Old Williamsburg VA, etc etc.

Another city that is great in summer with lot of outdoor music and festivals would be Chicago. For the old south food and music, New Orleans.

On the eastern half of the country you also have Smokey Mountain National park, Asheville, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and great outdoor and nature options, like the west and its parks.

Ideally, I would consider the west for 2-3 weeks, need to choose, with Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Moab and Bryce and the Rocky mountains in Colorado areas as a key focus.

Then fly to Chicago nights or New Orleans 2 nights, Then fly to NYC for at 4 nights minimum, then hit Boston or Philly 2 nights each, then train to Wash DC for 3 nights Min, all Smithsonian Museums are free, then get a car, and do a big loop to Williamsburg VA, 2 nights,Charleston SC 3 nights, then to Greenville SC and or up to Asheville NC and the Smokeys area 4-5 nights.

You need to be more specific, and read up, were not travel agents.

I've just cycled from Fuji town to Shimada as part of my tour. You can indeed stick to the coast, but it's not very pleasant cycling. There are some cycle paths, but they mostly run alongside highways. Otherwise you are on normal roads. The whole area is very developed and almost all the cycling is urban.

There are 2 big pinch points where the mountains come down to the sea. On one, a cyclepath, 2 highways and a rail line are squeezed together. On another, it's either through a long highway tunnel (if cycling is allowed) or along the scenic 416 coastal road. Thi 416 also has tunnels, albeit shorter and a climb of over 100 m on a narrow road. At one place on this road is built on stilts over the sea. All this stuff is bread and butter to me, but may not be what the OP wants.

If you look at the Izu Peninsula on Google maps with "terrain" mode you will see it is fairly hilly, rising to over 1,000 m. Obviously the coast is lower, but you can see the road is constantly climbing and descending. Coastal cycling on roads like these is very tough cycling as you can never get a rhythm and by the end of the day you will have put in plenty of metres climbed. Not to mention the impatient motorists trying to pass you. Without knowing the OPs experience, I would hesitate to recommend cycling here.

As for going inland, I climbed 800m in my ride up to and half way around My Fuji.

At one point in my route they picturesquely described it as the Strawberry Way cycle route. It was a good path, but running next to a major highway. The strawberries are grown on terraces on the coastal slopes the other side of the highway and railway.

Not the time or place here, but Japan could have some great long distance cycling paths, but they first needs to map them, then provide links for the piecemeal nature of them and finally, properly signpost them. Some hope.

I would consider just staying in hotels along the route, it will be far more easy and you will not need to book anything, and stop when you feel like it, and have access to free breakfast, pool, and a safe area, with food/eating options usually in hotel or within a mile or two...

As for where to go, it depends on your interest.

The trip from Nashville to Charleston will be best if you highway it to Knoxville TN, on 40, then either head south on 441 thru the park. Cherokee and Bryson City on the south end is a good place to call it a night, or head from Knoxville, and base there two nights, and drive up into the SMNP on 441 to Pidgeon Forge /Gatlinburg, and back as a day trip...

The drive from Knoxville to Tellico Plains gets you right to the one of the nicest roads into the Appalachians, the 143 to Bryson City...Stop in Bald River Falls for a picnic.

The other area for nice cabins and access to fun area is outside of Asheville area, via the BRP from Cherokee area..we rent cabins/AirBNB just south of Asheville and access great hiking trails all along the BRP or even towards Cashiers/Brevard...this region no need for hotels.

You will be in the car a lot between SMNP and the BRP as it is all slow going two lane and no passing in the mountains, but gorgeous.

Hikes - are there any must do hikes in the area. Preference for 2hr max duration, and not super busy.

Just so you know, you're visiting an extremely popular tourist town on an extremely busy travel weekend. Solitude on an short hike might be hard to come by. but, in any case, here are some suggestions, its easy enough to google for more detailed info if one of these looks good -

West Fork of Oak Creek. Super popular, but for good reason. Try to get there early, as the lot fills up. Go as far as you want...the farther up you go, the better the scenery and the fewer the people. Across the highway from West Fork is the Thomas Point trail. Instead of following a canyon bottom, this climbs the west wall of the canyon. Another good morning hike, as it will be hot in the afternoon. Its steep but short - great views and you're unlikely to see anyone else.

Pumpouse Wash. park near the bridge at the far upper end of Oak Creek Canyon. Its a fun scramble up the bouldery creek bottom, its a nice canyon and few people hike it.

Cathedral Rock. Short and steep but a really neat hike. Lots of fun.

Doe Mountain. more remote, likely to have this one to yourself. Requires a bit of driving on a gravel road. In the same area is Fay Canyon, a nice hike to a large natural bridge. Great scenery and an easy hike.

Palatki Ruins, more of a stroll than a hike, but a superb archeological site in a scenic setting.

Brins Mesa. A great hike close to town, the hike up to Brins Mesa is nice, and so is the hike over Cibola Pass to the Jordan Trailhead area. Jordan Trailhead has some great short hikes you can do, including up to Soldier Pass, but for some reason that trailhead is always packed while Brins is empty. you can do a loop that encompasses both trailheads, the mesa and the passes, but that's longer than two hours (more like 3-4).

That should get you started!

Plenty of people visit major European cities on weekend breaks. Lots of people don't have luxury of unlimited time and have to conserve annual leave. Spending 2 whole days in one city is rarely enough time to see 'everything' but is what many people have to make do with. 17 days is 'enough' for your itinerary, on the proviso that:

-You are happy spending time only in 'big' cities (not much contrast)
-You realise you are only going to have 2 full days at most in each city
-You realise there is going to be a lot of time packing/unpacking and moving to/from trains stations
-You have a big budget (you already mentioned cost isn't a big consideration).

It's definitely not a style of travel I'd enjoy or recommend but it's perfectly feasible. I agree that going to Amsterdam from Zurich and then onward to Prague is odd. I'd also always strongly recommend getting contrast in your trip by spending time in small towns/the mountains/coast etc.

A more enjoyable itinerary would be a trip beginning in Barcelona (for the city), spending some time on the coast in France, then heading up to Switzerland/Italy/elsewhere in France for the mountains.

Damn. Going from Sea level to 3300+ masl is going to be tough. As Mstep said, its not enough time to acclimitise and you'll certainly feel it when you climb some of the passes on the Inca Trail (over 4,000masl). If you can, i'd say either change your flight to a few days before or rebook the inca trail to a few days after (if they haven't booked MP tickets).

Thanks for a complementary reply. On this matter, see my answer to Mstep.

Rainbow mountain is a long long day trip from Cusco. Its a 3am-ish departure time from Cusco (looking at various tours online). In my eyes you are better off spending those 3 days exploring the Sacred Valley and Cusco (Ollantaytambo, Pisac, Maras, Moray etc etc.

The reason Im considering Rainbow mountains is because it seems like a pretty impressive nature experience, and I really enjoy hiking. The ratings on tripadvisor is good, but I need to book it through a serious company. However, Sacred Valley seems pretty good as well.

25.4 Cusco-Arequipa

Its an overnight bus ride - so its 10 hours by bus. There are some flights going that route. Which would make it more feasible with your short time frame. Not needed though. Buses in Peru are comfortable enough with big enough seats to get a good nights sleep.

Ah, I didn't know that. Thanks. I think I'll just catch a night bus then and not book a flight ticket.

26.4 Arequipa
27.4 Cola canyon
27.4 Arequipa
28.4 Arequipa – Huacachina

There are day trips out to the Canyon. Best way to experience it is with a hike into and staying overnight there. Arequipa to Huacachina (Ica is the nearest major town and Huacachina is 5 minutes from the bus station via taxi) is a long bus ride (approx 11h30m) and can be done overnight. Theres no flight option for this leg.

Okay, I might just choose the overnight in the Canyon over a night in Arequipa. I really want to enjoy the nature of Peru.

Huacachina - is fine for a night. There isn't anything there but buggy tours. You can get out and visit Paracas and Pisco though. So maybe you can fit a morning trip out to Paracas/Ballestas and then a buggy trip in the afternoon/sunset.

Im considering dropping Huacachina. It would be cool seeing a desert because I've never seen it before, but on the other side, I'll definitly see one later.

My main concern about this post is not the activities, but its because I need to book the flight tickets soon. I think I'll avoid Ica and Huacachina to spend more time in Cusco and Arequipa. I made a new plan where I'll catch a night bus from Cusco to Arequipa and a flight from Arequipa to Lima. Does this seem somewhat better? I might change the activitites after reading about them on the internet.

17.4: Havana – Peru
18.4: Lima – Cusco
19 – 22.4: Inka trail
23.4: Cusco
24.4: Sacred Valley
25.4: Perhaps rainbow mountain
26.4 Cusco
26.4 Cusco-Arequipa (night bus)
27.4 Arequipa
28.4 Cola canyon
29.4 Cola canyon
30.4 Arequipa - Lima
1.4 Lima
2.5 Lima - Madrid