Lucerne Vs Zurich for 1 1/2 days post River cruise

Absolutely Luzern. It wasn't our first time, but we went there after a Rhine cruise a few years ago. Zurich is a nice enough city, but it's a big cosmopolitan place, whereas Luzern is a beautiful small city, on a cruisable lake, surrounded by mountains which can be easily visited. It's about 1.5 hours by train from Basel, and you can get to the Zurich airport rail station directly from Luzern in a little over an hours. So it's just as convenient.

The concern is that 1 1/2 days just isn't much time to visit anywhere. Note that when we went after our cruise, we planned and booked it all independently, at at least 1/3 of the cost of the cruise line's offered extension package.

I agree with Stan. What do you see as part of your river cruise?

Can't argue with either of you but a day and 1/2 is better than having to go right to the airport after the cruise and have to return to work. Cruise is Rhine starting in Amsterdam.

Lucerne for sure.

barrydweiss - absolutely right.

I’d take 1.5 days in lucerne over 0 days in lucerne. 😊 Have a great trip!!

I like things about Zurich, and it has more potential that I have yet to discover, but I think I'd absolutely say Luzern. So much, so convenient, so beautiful.

Great rides in a short distance by boat, cable car or train, or a combination, and plenty to see in the city.

I suppose a reasonable question is when is your flight?

We too did a river cruise out of Amsterdam to Basel and then went on to Lucern for 2 days, it was an absolutely gorgeous place to stay! After Lucern, we spent one day in Zurich until our flight home the next day....we saw the sights, but a blah city and too busy for us; no atmosphere to speak of.

Our cruise departed from Basel and we spent two night in Luzern before the cruise. We had a really lovely time. It's a beautiful and compact city.

I would take a train to Bern if you want to capture in a very short time frame the authentic Swiss spirit. Bern canton is half French, half German, the city is the capital of the Swiss Confederation, the old town is listed as UNESCO site and Albert Einstein lived there for a few years. The train ride is quite short and you'll get the most out of your short stay in Switzerland. Maybe even return another time to discover the amazing Swiss Riviera and Geneva, not to mention the spectacular mountain resorts of Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen, Murren and so on.

I live in Switzerland, between Lausanne and Montreux, a region that is worth visiting as well and not too far by train from Basel, but not as close as Bern in your case. Luzern / Lucerne is amazing, but you won't capture the Swiss spirit the same way as in Bern considering that you have a short period of time to be in the country.