Sorry, but I like Zurich, though I think two nights would do it justice (unless daytripping to Rapperswil or Einsiedeln,etc).
Click on my name in blue to read Trip Reports from May 2010 and November 2010 which included time in/daytrips from Zurich.
Stayed just this last October in Brunnen, a lakeside town just 30 minutes from Luzern...can't wait to get back!

IF you get to Einsideln, be sure to visit the horses around the back of the monastery, visit the monks gift shop with locally-produced wines, and try Lebkuchen- the locally produced spice-cookie!

I too am a fan of Zurich - much maligned and really for good reason in that it pales in comparison to the average tourists' interests with places like Lucerne, the Interlaken area to be specific. But a day or two in Zurich is great - a sweet lakeside promenade which on weekends takes on the atmosphere of a festival with folks of all ethnic types strolling around - folks selling things like an outdoor market everywhere - and take a hill-climbing tram into the really sylvan setting just to the east and south of town, etc.

There is nothing wrong with Zurich, it is a pleasant city, but one day there is sufficient.

Thin

for most yes one day is enough but there is enough of enough there for others to linger for several days as I once happily did - using it as a base from which to hop to many great sites and explore areas not normally on tourists' radar - Zurich is a very ethnically diverse city and that adds to its color.

Thanks for all the great replies. It might make more sense for me to start a separate Zurich thread.

When we go to a city we usually like to take a walking, biking or Segway tour. Recently we did a food tour of a city and that was great fun. So I will start a new thread on those items.

Any other Lucerne/ day trip suggestions, please keep them coming.

What is the difference between the Zurich Pass and the Swiss Pass?

Swiss Pass is for travel all over Switzerland and Zurich is probably just regional in and around Zurich - otherwise same benefits I would suppose.

Any other Lucerne/ day trip suggestions, please keep them coming.>

Engelberg IMO should be at the top of any such list - roivals Zermatt and the Jungfrau for awesome Alpine scenery such as we often think of when picturing Switzerland in our minds eyes but fail to find in many parts of the country.

Hop a train from Lucerne to Engelberg and then take mountain conveyances even higher to eyeball snow-girdled peaks - lots of hiking trails for all energies/skills. Just about an hour or so from Lucerne.

The Ballenberg Open Air Museum is not a great choice for a rainy day. It spreads out over quite an area, and the indoor attractions are far apart.

@ksm I was wondering how was your trip to Switzerland. Planning to visit end of May. Am considering staying in Lucern as a base to see Jungfrau sites. Were you able to go to Jungfrau area? How was it and is a day trip sufficient.

Likewise what are the noteworthy places you visited from Lucern?

Thanks.

Am considering staying in Lucern as a base to see Jungfrau sites. Were you able to go to Jungfrau area>

Not the perfect base for that as about 5 hours each way by train or some ungoldy time - Interlaken and towns around it are best bases for the Jungfraujoch. A long long ride from Lucerne.

hr

Am considering staying in Lucern as a base to see Jungfrau sites>

reverse it stay in the Interlaken area - Interlaken is 2 hours by train from Lucerne over the scenic Brunig Pass line - do that as a day trip and not the nearly impossible day trip to Jungfrau sites - which are much longer to reach than Interlaken - IMO anyone who has never been to Switzerland's priority should be the Jungfrau Region - IMO the essence of the Switzerland likely etched in your mind's eye - soaring glacier-girdled peaks, lovely Alpine villages that make snug bases - things the Lucerne area, as lovely as it it, will not fulfill.

Lucerne, go to Mt. Rigi (up from Vitznau e.g., down via Art-Goldau), do a day trip to the Jungfrau region>

If into easy hiking hike down from the Rigi summit to the Arth-Goldau train station - out in the middle of seemingly nowhere - I took gently descending trails down thru innumerable cow fields and it only took a few leisurely hours on well-marked trails that require no special gear - Mark Twain famously wrote about his ascent of Mt Rigi in one of his books - A Tramp Abroad I think and he complained about the incessant Alp Horn blowing on the summit - which to me too is the Swiss equivalent of bag pipes - screeching sounds that should not disturb such a tranquil scene! (Joking - the Alp Horn is far more tolerable to the ears and lends the summit, where I saw them still, a certain atmosphere!

And if the weather is awful in the Innerschweiz and you've got a train pass, go down to Lugano or Locarno by train. It's a doable day trip and can be lots of fun.

Another idea if the weather is bad is to head down to Luino on a Wednesday for the town market. Walk through the market and then enjoy a coffee along the lake. You'll hear lots of Swiss Germans taking advantage of the weather, the goods and the prices.

If I'm booked into four nights in Lucerne, is it advisable to travel to see jungfrau? As this seems to be mentioned a lot...

diteal - you might want to start a new thread about this, but according to my wonderful SSB mobile app, it'll take you about 4 hours from Lucerne to the top of the Jungfraujoch, so if it's 4 hours to get back down, and you allow a couple of hours up there to see everything, that's about 10 hours for your day trip.

That said, on a clear day the views from the top are incomparable and if you can do it so you get there at a reasonable time [it's advisable to reserve your seat on the train from Kleine Scheidegg to the top of the Jungfraujoch]
then I'd go for it.

What time of year are you going?

I am still debating on whether to rent a car or just get a rail pass. Leaning toward the rail pass after reading some of the posts but can go either way.>

Sans railpass a Lucerne-Jungfraujoch train trip would cost probably $300 p.p. return. With railpass about $150 return - check into the Berner Oberland Pass - valid around Lucerne and Interlaken.

Great sources info Swiss trains and passes - www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.sbb.ch; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Check weather before going -it is a awesome trip especially at the top (of the world as they say- well Europe at least) but $300 and ten hours? I'd do Mt Titlis near Lucerne instead and get some kind of similar awesome high Alps trip:

https://www.google.com/search?q=mt+t...w=1745&bih=864.

The Titlis rotating gondolas are simply awesome!

Sans railpass a Lucerne-Jungfraujoch train trip would cost probably $300 p.p. return. With railpass about $150 return - check into the Berner Oberland Pass - valid around Lucerne and Interlaken.>>

from Wengen, our Jungfraujoch trip cost CHF 283 [for two] which included a 25% discount with the swiss pass, and seat reservations up and back [not so important I now know as most people seem not to bother with keeping to the time they have reserved to come down].

The ½ price Swiss card gives a 50% discount - it would more or less pay for itself with that one trip if you went all the way from Lucerne and back on the train. BTW the stretch from Lucerne to Interlaken is part of the Golden Pass line and though it's not the very prettiest train journey I've done, it's very pleasant and the bit that goes over a mountain pass [I forget which one] was lovely.

Even if you decide to drive, the ½ price card would be well worth getting.