My wife Alison and I just returned from a wonderful trip to the above-named towns, flying into and out of Zurich from Chicago O'Hare on non-stop flights .. We bought 8-day Swiss Travel Passes and used them for travel between and in those towns. I had downloaded the SBB mobile app which proved very useful for searching timetables and platforms for trains..
We started out by spending two nights and one full day in Appenzell, staying at the Hotel Adler. We opted to visit all three folk museums RS mentions in his guidebook. We especially enjoyed the one in Urnäsch with its focus on customs and music. The 20-minute video on celebrations in the Appenzell region was fascinating and featured 4-part (including bass) yodeling. Getting to the cheese factory and adjacent folk museum in Stein required hiring a taxi (PubliCar); the ride through the hilly countryside was interesting in itself. Later that Thursday evening we attended a concert at the KapucinerKlosterkirche (Capucin Cloister church), just past the town’s Landesgemeindeplatz (main square), from 18:30-19:30. The hotel had a printed schedule of all concerts this summer, all at that church on Thursday evenings, not at City Hall as mentioned in the RS guidebook. One of the restaurants RS mentions, the Restaurant Marktplatz, is now called AsiaChochi Restaurant Marktplatz, featuring Asian fusion cuisine as well as traditional Swiss fare. It was closed until August. We heard hardly any English spoken among the tourists around us, although we could communicate just fine with hotel, restaurant, and museum staff.
Mürren
We spent 4 nights and 3 full days in Mürren at the aptly named Hotel Bellevue. Our corner room had two balconies which provided a wonderful view of the mountains as well as of the upper reaches of the town. Our first full day the tops of the mountains were :obscured by clouds so we spent the day leisurely exploring Mürren and having a pastry lunch at Cafe Liv. The next two days proved to be sunny so on our second full day we skipped breakfast at the hotel and caught the first cable car (at 7:40, not 7:35) to the Schilthorn and ate at the revolving Piz Gloria restaurant, which we had almost to ourselves. Glorious views! Later that day we walked from Mürren to Gimmelwald for more views and a glimpse at the village that RS raves about. The path was easy to find at the intersection in "downtown" Mürren. The next day we took the first funicular up to Allmendhubel and spent some time looking around, including the flower loop trail. Alas many of the flowers highlighted were already past the blooming stage but there was enough to create interest. Later that day I hiked the trail from Grütschalp to Winteregg for more great views as well as the sights and sounds of cows grazing near the trail. There’s a cheese factory at Winteregg where one could purchase cheese and yogurt; it was obvious that the cheese source was very close by!
Our final stop was at Luzern where we spent two nights and one full day. The TI in the train station is not by Track 10 but by Track 2, just a little way down the platform from the Burger King. We stayed at the Hotel Schlüssel, a pleasant, short walk from the train station.. Dining outside along the River Reuss was quite popular but we managed to find a table at 2 different restaurants both nights. On our final day we took RS’s self-guided walking tour along the River Reuss and through the Altes Stadt (Old Town) in the morning while it was still cool and not many people out, then a 2-hour boat ride on Lake Luzern.
Takeaways: I am pleased to report that the hotels and restaurants RS recommends are still in business..The heat wave that hit Europe did not spare Switzerland; even Mürren was warm. We really enjoyed Appenzell and recommend a visit if you have the time. In addition to the SBB app, I also found the MeteoSwiss app for weather forecasts to be useful, and should have used the Google Map app more often.