Switzerland -where to go?
 

We are travelling from Germany to Switzerland for 2 days and are unsure where to go in such a limited time. We have narrowed it down to Zurich, Lucerne and Bern. Our purpose of the short trip is to basically relax before going back to work so we are looking for a beautiful, relaxed atmosphere but also hoping for culture and history. Does anyone have any suggestions. We thought perhaps basing ourselves at the Grand Hotel National in Lucerne. Is this a good idea?
Thanks for your help.

Lucerne is your best bet.

Zurich is really a busines city - although not badly situated.

Bern is kind of boring.

Lucerne has an adorable old town a couple of decent museums, a lake with great steamers to great scenery/cute little towns and there are several peaks you can ascend by cable car or train thingy. We did Pilatus - about 7,000 feet, and it was a very enjoyable 1/2 day.

Every recommendation is always biased by personal preferences, but if I was in your place, I would choose a stay at the National in Luzern over many other options - especially if I was a bit time-constrained.

Luzern is beautiful, but fortunately not an Alpine Disneyland as some of the "cute" villages (allright, souvenir shops are not a rare find), so you find "real" culture and history. Plus you have many options for excursions (lake, mountain, cable cars, trains). And you have a great choice of restaurants and bars at night.

The National is one of the hotels founded by C. Ritz - and I would have loved to stay there when I was in Luzern, but my company had weird ideas about spending limits ;-)
The location is very nice (lakeshore), and you stroll to the historic town center in appr. 5 minutes.

If you are not looking for alpine scenery, why go to Switzerland?
Luzern is ok, but the other two are not what I could call tourist attractions. Bern is good for a rainy day!!

I suppose if the goal is the inside of a plush hotel you will find one in Luzern.

Interlaken has some really plush ones where the price precludes my presence.

I've yet to make it to Bern because my friends who live in Switzerland keep saying how boring it is.

Bern - boring??? Huh?

Luzern and the Hotel National (haven't stayed there myself, though) are perfect for a combination of culture/history and relaxing/beautiful scenery.

Bern boring? 100% disagree. Have spent almost a week there and didn't find it boring at all. Not as touristy as Luzern, that's true. I consider that an advantage, though.

I.