Help with itineraries in Zurich

You should ask this question in the Switzerland forum.

actually thought I was. We are going to Austria as well and I have been flipping between the 2 forums. thanks!

tyleej, Zürich, like all other Swiss cities, is super easy to get around. It has a dense and frequent network of trams which will take around the city centre and the rest of the city.
If you are arriving by train, you will arrive at the main station, "Zürich HB", which is on the edge of the centre. The centre is small enough to walk around, relieved by tram rides when you get too tired.
I would not bother with the coach trip, the old town is more fun on foot. Most is pedestrian only (+ trams), so the coach couldn't go there. The other places you list on the coach tour are all accessible by public transport.
Basically, everything is accessible by public transport and on foot. The Swiss do not like cars in their city centres.

How and by what method of transport (air, rail) are you arriving in Zürich? If you are flying in, you could go direct to Luzern. It is only 70 minutes by train from Zürich airport.

Is it easy to do by train and find the boat company to take us to Pilatus?

Yes, super easy to get anywhere in Switzerland by train.
In Luzern, the boats leave from the centre of the town, in front of the railway station.
For info on the Pilatus trip, see here: https://www.pilatus.ch/en/discover/golden-round-trip/

Thank you so much for that information! I've been on the link and it is great!

We are flying into Zurich and staying there 3 nights. Then we are taking the train to Vienna and Salzburg. Very excited!

Thank you

I am wondering why you have chosen to stay in Zurich, which is not really an atmospheric city? Why not stay somewhere more beautiful? Just curious, especially as the typical advice on here is to not stay in Zurich.

Zurich is a major, major business center, and I suspect hotel rates are higher there than most other places in Switzerland. Maybe not so much on weekends, though.

We are flying into Zurich and staying there 3 nights. Then we are taking the train to Vienna and Salzburg. Very excited!

So you are not planning to stay in Luzern, just do it as a day trip?
I would recommend you reconsider, and spend your 3 days in Luzern, much more to see and do. As I said above, Luzern is easy to get to direct from Zürich airport.
From Switzerland, the order would be Salzburg and then Vienna, you got through Salzburg to get to Vienna. This can be done just as easily from Luzern.

Another vote for Luzern. I actually did the reverse, Vienna to Salzburg to Luzern, only because I wanted to end in France. Super simple. As far as I'm concerned, Zurich is just another big city. Luzern is amazing. I took my then 20 year old daughters to Luzern and to say they loved in would be an understatement. If you are wanting to go to the top of a mountain (and if the visibility is decent, you should!) it will take much of a day. But there is so much to love just in Luzern, too. Beautiful river, lake and bridges, nice old town, city walls. It's stunning. If you spend your 3 days in Luzern, you will have the flexibility to be able to watch the skies and plan your mountain trip when the skies are relatively clear.

Thank you so much for that information! I've been on the link and it is great!

My daughter is performing in the World Gymneastrada competition in Dornbirn, Austria at the end of our trip. Zurich is the closest airport to Dornbirn so we are flying in and out of there. We land late and leave early so only have 2 days to explore Zurich. I wanted to see Zurich Old Town and have already booked the train for the next morning to go to Lucerne for the full day round trip to Mt. Titalis

We go to Vienna by train next (bypassing Salzburg) as we wanted to do the long leg of the trip first. We are also meeting friends there. We have 4 nights in Vienna and 3 nights in Salzburg before heading to Dornbirn.

Our friends have been to Vienna several times and have excursions for us to see.

While in Salzburg we have joined a tour to Hallstatt for the day. I am a little disappointed that it is only 2.5 hours at Hallstatt. I don't plan to rent a car. And the bus and train system is easy enough but it takes 2.5 hours to get there by bus or train (both ways)...I don't want to waste that much time on transit. So we are going the coach (tour) option. Has anyone done the hop on hop off bus tour in Salzburg? there is one that does the City and one that does the country side.