Day Trips from Zurich

If you get a very early start you can enjoy the Alps in the Berner Oberland: Wengen, Murren, Jungfrau, Schiltorn. Easily reached by train and well described in Rick's guidebook.
The beautiful city of Luzern is just an hour away. From there you can take the scenic Golden Pass train to Interlaken, and then make your way back to Zurich via Bern. Gruyere is also nice, with it's famous cheese, tiny castle, and HR Giger Museum (the Sci-Fi artist who designed the creatures in the movie Aliens. the Nestle Callier choclolate factory is also nearby and open to the public.

Thank you so much for the great advice!

If you make a daytrip to the Berner Oberland (Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, Mürren, Schilthorn, and/or Jungfrau), you might want to go both directions via Bern. The trip through Luzern takes an hour longer (although the route from there to Interlaken is very scenic). Luzern is worth a separate daytrip in its own right. Zurich to Interlaken via Bern is just under 2 hours. Also within 2 hours is Kandersteg, a charming town with a beautiful lake situated above. You reach the lake by gondola. The restaurant up there is open right now, but may close by mid-October, so depending on when this trip is, you may not be able to do this. www.oeschinensee.ch I have always wanted to be there this time of year to see the golden larches, but haven't made it yet!

Yeah I wasn't clear the way I wrote it out....the trip to the Berner Oberland, and the trip to Luzern would be two separate day trips.

We took a day trip to the very charming town of Stein am Rhein. It is just over an hour or so by train. There is a museum in the center of town that is an old farm house with a barn in back-all fully furnished.