Cheating is always a definite option.
Unfortunately, very unfortunately really, I have to be back in the US by the end of June.
As for daily costs, that is really pretty hard to say at this point. It all depends on what people would want to do. SO for example, there are like 5 Schaukäsereien that we can visit and at most you can watch the cheesemaking for free. But then, they have other activities you can do that cost money. These are a flat rate for a group, so that means more people will make such costs lower
As for other costs, maybe we can say 10 CHF per person per day for food if we are buying our own stuff and preparing it ourselves. That might make it worth it if we can get a cook along with us or share cooking responsibilities among the group. Restaurants are very expensive and so I'd leave it up to individual discretion if you want to eat at a restaurant or not. Its not like the US where you have places you go to get a casual meal.
Lodging will depend on what people want to do. We could stay in a hostel for anywhere from 10 to 50 franks a night or in a hotel or guesthouse for anywhere from 25 to 200 CHF or even more.
For travel, there is a wonderful thing called the Swiss Pass. You can get a ticket that lets you use all the trains, buses, boats, and admition to many museums all for a one time expense. So this would make getting around very easy.
I fly to Zurich. Bern airport is really not a big international airport so usually you would want to go to Zurich. They have a nice new airport there too. Geneva is too far from anything.
The best bet is to fly to Zurich and then hop on a train. It's possible we could start in Zurich and then go by way of Appenzell, Central Switzerland, Berner Oberland, Emmental, then over to Gruyere and up through Neuchatel and the Jura and back to Zurich. This would hit all the important Swiss cheeses, like Appenzeller, Emmentaler, Sbrinz, some varieties of Alpkäse, Raclette, Emmentaler, Gruyere, Tomme de Fribourgeois, Tete de Moine, to name a few.
