1st timer Rhine river cruiser

Neither. Stay in Luzern, which is only a bit over an hour by train from Basel and the Zurich airport. Or stay in the much-discussed Berner Oberland, if you want to see the Jungfraujoch. Two days is not much to cover a lot of ground, as it really means only a day and a half wherever you go. The trip up Jungfraujoch, would use up most of a whole day from wherever else you are.

Which airport are you planning to exit from? Zurich is a convenient airport, but the city is not as interesting a destination as the other choices. The train station is in the airport, making it very convenient.
Keep an eye on the weather next summer. The Rhine was so dry this summer that the larger cruise ships were unable to make the full trip on the river.

We brought the package that comes with Viking since we are newbys so therefore we are stuck in Zurich and I assume Zurich airport. We were going to take train to surrounding areas as we could. I will have to check into that to see if Lucerne option. Thanks for input and had no idea of the river being so low! Hopefully a wet season in winter and spring!

There is nothing special about crossing the Austrian border. Don't waste a day of valuable sight seeing time just so you say you were in Austria. The problem with the Jungfraujoch is that coming all the way from Zurich, there is a very good chance it will be socked in by the afternoon, even on a clear day. It costs almost 200 CHF to go up and back from Lauterbrunnen.

Luzern is still probably your best bet for a day trip. There are several mountaintop excursions for there, like Mt Pilatus and Mt Rigi, with a better chance of clear weather.

You really only have 2 nights and 1 full day in Zurich. The itinerary states you will take a charter bus from Basel at the end of the day there. Next day has tours of Zurich (don't know if they are included or optional), then the 2nd night in Zurich. In the morning after breakfast, you're off to the airport (or where ever else you are going).

Staying in Zürich is a bad idea, but if you cannot change it that is a pity.
Basel, Zürich and Luzern are in a triangle, each just over an hour from each other.
If you are stuck with Zürich, the best bet is to get a train to Luzern for the whole day. Lots to see there, nice old town, boats on the lake and mountains you can go up by train or cable-car (Rigi, Pilatus.and Titlis, take your pick).

The Jungfrau region is too far for a day trip from Zürich (2½ hours to Lauterbrunnen, for example). As is Austria, and there is nothing spectacular to visit near the Swiss border.
You can look up train times on the SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) website. All routes have at least one train every hour: https://www.sbb.ch/en

If you want a city, apart from Luzern, there is Bern, 1 hour from Zürich. And Basel is a nice city, worth a day, city to explore.
For info about Basel see here:https://www.basel.com/en

When looking up trains and buying tickets, you have to know Zürich city and Zürich airport are two different places. The stations are called "Zürich HB" and "Zürich Flughafen" respectively.

It has been a long and very dry summer this year. Despite the rain this week (the first significant rain for months) the Rhine is still low (I cross it every day on the way to work). Next year - anybody's guess.

patti, you say you are cruising from Trier to Basel on Viking? Not Amsterdam to Basel? I dont see a Trier-Amsterdam cruise and Trier is on the Mosel, not the Rhine. Viking does excursions to Luzern on their A-B cruise, with departure from Zurich, so you could possibly change at this time. Zurich is not terrible, but its a big, business oriented city, much less scenic than Luzern. BTW, their post-trip excursions are very expensive for what you get -$600-700 per person for two nights. You could book a hotel and transportation yourself, for much less, and they can still book you return flight from Zurich.

Yes, but the Mosel flows into the Rhine, at Koblenz. So it is perfectly possible to get from Trier to Basel by boat. Whether Viking offers such a cruise, or whether his involves a change of ship at Koblenz, is another matter.

Just looked at the itinerary on Viking. "Paris to the Swiss Alps". Paris, coach to Luxembourg and Trier, ship to Basel stopping at Cochem, Koblenz, Mainz, Speyer, Strasbourg, Basel, coach to Zurich.

Paris, coach to Luxembourg and Trier, ship to Basel stopping at Cochem, Koblenz, Mainz, Speyer, Strasbourg, Basel, coach to Zurich.

Patti, if that really is your itinerary, skip the coach to Zürich. Just spend ½ day in Basel, then go to the station and catch the next train to Luzern.

Ah, but they probably prepaid with the tour for the transport to Zurich and 2 nights hotel. Hard to walk away from hotel rooms you already paid for as well as 34 CHF worth of transport costs per person.

Thanks to all and you are correct, it is the Paris to the Alps tour! Neither of us have been to Europe and it looked like a easiest way to see a large area. The river cruise offers a daily excursion, but we would like to see outside the norm.
I called today and can’t change from Zurich without a great expense on our packet. As most of you have said, we’ll probably go to Lucerne and see the Mts. Near there. Thanks so much for input!