I'm not sure how off the beaten track it really is, but when I was in Switzerland, I stayed in a tiny place called Lauterbrunnen - it's about a half hour up from Interlaken, very close to the Jungfrau, and absolutely gorgeous. There are lots of lovely walks, you can go up the Jungfrau (which was the highlight of my four months + in Europe) and there are also lots of adventure activities, horseriding, paragliding, white water rafting etc. I really, really enjoyed it there. There's a really nice campsite with cabin accomodation, a youth hostel and a hotel-type place, and the town is incredibly picturesque, it's sandwhiched right in between two mountains.
I don't know about them speaking Italian there, it is kind of near the Italian border, a couple of hours from where Lake Como is, so I guess it would be commonder there than in the rest of Switzerland...but I had a tiny smattering of German and that was all and managed to communicate fine.
In Germany I would recommend Quedlinburg, Eisenach (the home of Bach), and Erfurt. There small towns and very well preserved - especially Quedlinburg. Leave me a note or something if you want more info or pictures.
Between Paris and Berlin - Aachen, Germany is very pretty. You can also travel south from there down the Rhein - SOOOO many beautiful towns with old castles that dot the landscape... You'd go through Koln, stop and see the Dom (at the train station, so you don't actually have to wander too far, but there are some other nice sights in Koln if you wish to stay and wander). Between Koln and Bonn is a small town with a beautiful Scholss (palace) with a large garden perfect for picnicing, and rarely with visitors, a short walk and visible from the train stop (you'll need to take a regional train from Koln to Bonn to get the stop)... Then you can catch a fast train from Bonn to Berlin, or catch it further down in Koblenz (it'll add time to your trip, but worth it, i'd say!).
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I don't know about them speaking Italian there, it is kind of near the Italian border, a couple of hours from where Lake Como is, so I guess it would be commonder there than in the rest of Switzerland...but I had a tiny smattering of German and that was all and managed to communicate fine.
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Between Koln and Bonn is a small town with a beautiful Scholss (palace) with a large garden perfect for picnicing, and rarely with visitors, a short walk and visible from the train stop (you'll need to take a regional train from Koln to Bonn to get the stop)...
Then you can catch a fast train from Bonn to Berlin, or catch it further down in Koblenz (it'll add time to your trip, but worth it, i'd say!).
Enjoy - Germany is my favorite place to be. ;)
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