Murren, Lucerne and Zermatt questions.

We really liked Luzern. We walked around the town and the river quite a bit. We took a boat and then a cog train up to Mt. Rigi. We highly recommend. There are beautiful views and lots of hiking on Mt. Rigi and the boat ride was quite beautiful. The entire trip is free, by the way, with the Swiss Train Pass. We didn't do Mt. Pilatus so I can't say whether one should do one or the other or both, tho I believe Mt. Pilatus did not involve a boat ride. I also heard one of those can be clouded over while the other is clear. So much in Switzerland is weather dependent. The next time I go, I will plan an extra day in both Luzern and Lauterbrunnen Valley in an attempt to make sure we have a few good weather days.
If you haven't been to Murren, it's lovely. We especially liked the little village of Gimmelwald which you can access from Murren either by cable car or hike.

Thank you julesmessen for your response. So what do you think about only 2 nights in Lucerne? We should get there by early afternoon. Would a better half of a day give us time to walk around and see the city? The second day, we will do either Mt. Pilatus or Mt. Rigi (will keep an eye on weather and hopefully it cooperates). Originally I had planned for 3 nights in Lucerne, keeping in mind jetlag as others have mentioned in the forums). Your opinion 2 or 3 nights? along with Switzerland, we will also be visiting Italy, so altogether we will be traveling for about a month, which is why I cut the other night off of Lucerne. I don"t want to cut myself off short though. We will be spending 4 nights in Murren, which we are very excited about. Thanks again.

Weather is totally unpredictable, but the odds of having good weather are better in early September than later. On my first Swiss trip (2001) Instood up at Kleine S Heidegger admiring the view on a sunny 70 degree day. Two weeks later, some friends slogged over that pass in two feet of snow as they hiked the Alpine Pass route. But that was probably unusual. We have enjoyed nice weather as late as the end of September (2015 visit), but that was In the Engadine, an area known for mild weather in autumn.

Speaking of the Engadine, where are you headed in Italy? I ask because our favorite train route from Switzerland, the most scenic because it stays mostly above the ground instead of tunneling under the Alps, goes through the Engadine. It is the Bernina Pass route and crosses into Italy at Tirano. The train goes from there to Varenna on Lake Como, a lovely place to include in your trip.

If you wish to do this, you could put Zermatt first ( or drop it from your itinerary), then the Berner Oberland, then Luzern. From Luzern, you would head to one of the Engadine villages, such as Pontresina, Samedan, or St. Moritz. Depart your village in the morning around 9, enjoy the views over the pass, and arrive in Varenna in early afternoon. Spend a night or two here and then continue to Milan (a one-hour ride) to connect to your next destination in Italy.

As for the Jungfrau Marathon (Sept. 7-8) I ould not worry about it making the area too crowded. They have 4000 entrants, but most will stay in or near Interlaken where the race begins. Stay on the Mürren side of the Lauterbrunnen Valley and you may not even know it is going on. We were in Zermatt immediately before their marathon a few years back, and we did not know anything about it until we tried to get to the train station to depart.

But if you feel you should avoid it, it should be fine to arrive there Sept. 9.

Sorry for my delayed response, I have been out of town. If your weather is good, I think two evenings in Luzern is good, probably a bit tight, but doable, especially since you will be arriving early afternoon. I might be a bit concerned about not having a clear enough day for the mountain trip. Stay flexible. One morning we got up to totally overcast skies and the forecast dismal. We were enjoying a walk through old town and noticed the skies were clearing over Rigi. We quickly got ourselves across the river to the boat dock and had a lovely day enjoying Rigi. We didn't plan to do museums in Luzern, either, but because a few were included in the Swiss Travel Pass we poked into the Rosengart museum for an hour. We felt it worth the time especially to see some works by Swiss artists. Also I would recommend going into the beautiful churches, Jesuitenkirche and Hofkirche St. Leodegar for a few minutes.

Regarding the marathon, I don't think I'd worry about it either. We were there during some huge ski racing event and other than a few rowdy people on a bus, it didn't effect us much at all. I feel you have quite ample time in Murren. You might want to see the waterfalls in the Lauterbrunnen Valley (Trummelbach and Staubbach, in particular) In addition to Gimmelwald and Lauterbrunnen, Kleine Scheidegg and Wengen are supposed to be quite lovely and easily accessed from Lauterbrunnen.
I don't think you said if a Swiss Pass was in the plans?? The trip to Schilthorn is free with that and the gondola rides between Murren, Lauterbrunnen, Gimmelwald and Wengen would also be free. I think the trip to Kleine Scheidegg is at a reduced rate.

and Rigi is free with the Swiss Pass

I did something like what your are planning this week.

I flew into Zurich and took the train directly to Lucerne. Very easy as train station is in the terminal.

From Lucerne I took the train to Lauterbrunnen. Very easy.

From Lauterbrunnen I took the train to Zermatt. This had three changes but they were very easy. (Swiss rail is extremely efficient.) Today is May 3 and I leave Zermatt. It snowed overnight. Not much but a dusting. The weather has not cooperated so no Matterhorn. (I stayed at the Hotel Butterfly. Very nice and 3 minutes walk from the train station. Only negative is poor wifi) Spend two nights. Take an early train to Zermatt and you'll have a day and a half to explore. The town itself is one big shopping mall.)

From Zermatt I take the Glacier Express train to Chur. I stay overnight and tomorrow take the Bernina Express into Italy. No need to backtrack to Lucerne.