Hello,
I've been trying to find somewhere to stay in Luzern. I found a Holiday Inn, but it's 7.5 miles away. Normally, this would not be a problem, except the Holiday Inn website says that it cost approximately 50 Swiss Francs to go from the hotel to town by taxi! 50!!!! That's ridiculous to me. So, does anybody know where to stay, hopefully walking distance to downtown (if not in downtown) that will not break the bank? I've seen hotel room for a minimum of $175 US. Really, we just want to be in walking distance to the train station.

We're staying at the Hotel des Alpes, which meets your criteria, location-wise.

Cost of a double with river view is $235 CHF. They have rooms for less (I think $190 CHF) without the view.

http://www.desalpes-luzern.ch

A long time ago I stayed at Mr. Pickwick which is right next door to Des Alpes. It's probably not as nice as Des Alpes, but it was good enough for me and the location is perfect. I am told Pickwick is about 70/80 CHF less expensive than Des Alpes, but I have not confirmed that myself.

I'll follow up here with my usual recommendation:

"We stayed at a plain-but-clean hotel called the Goldener Stern about 1 block behind the Jesuit Church on the other side of the river, and near the other wooden bridge. Our twin/dbl was about $90, including some breakfast. It is across from a small church whose bells ring a couple times an hour. My husband thought it bothered him, but now he says he'd go back to same hotel should we revisit.
We walked to the hotel from the train station - it's about 800 meters or 1/2 a mile. We easily walked to the old town area, up along the Museggwall, and all the way over to the Lion Monument. Lucerne is quite compact and good for walking."

http://www.goldener-stern.ch/hotel_e.htm

Travelnut,
Thank you. We are looking into this hotel. I'm curious as to why you had a double as oppose to a single (this is our first trip to Europe). Does a single mean 'single twin'. If so, I think I know the answer to the above question.

Thank you.

My husband and I stayed there and each had a twin bed. There was a small table/desk in between, a cupboard to hang clothes, a couple of straightback chairs, and small but manageable bathroom, shower no tub.

There is no decor but it was clean, not too tiny, and the window opened out to the church garden. The lady at the desk was very nice, and the breakfast was good - breads, jam, coffee, juice, maybe cereal or something else I didn't eat...They have a restaurant as well, although we didn't try it.

We walked with backpacks for maybe 1/2 mile (800meters) from the train station, very easy to find (use www.mappy.com for a map to follow).

A 'single' will usually be one bed, maybe a twin-size, maybe what Americans call 'full size', and the room rate will mean "1 person". Even if you get a double bed, the rate is for 1, higher if for 2.