One night two days between Murren & Zurich

You could stay up on Rigi, one of the mountains outside of Luzern. There are sevaral hotels in the area known as Rigi Kaltbad, partway up the mountain, and one at the top (Rigi Kulm). The views over the lake and mountains are spectacular, just as you can see in this photo taken from a hotel window: http://www.alpina-rigi.ch/html/hotel.html There are nice hiking trails, from easy to moderate, and the sound of cowbells rises from the pastures below. www.rigi.ch Getting there is half the fun-you ride a boat from Luzern to either Weggis or Vitznau, two communities on the lake. From Weggis, you ride a cablecar up to Rigi Kaltbad, thousands of feet above. From Vitznau, it is a cogwheel train you ride to the same place. Beyond Rigi Kaltbad, the train continues to the top at Rigi Kulm. You can also ride the train down the other side to Arth-Goldau to continue to Zurich. Or do the loop up the train and down the cablecar, returnign to Luzern on your way to Zurich. either way, you can store luggage in the Luzern train station if you want to explore the town for an hour or two.

I should add that the sunrise from rigi is world-famous, partly thanks to Mark Twain and his account of his ascent of Rigi in "A Tramp Abroad." It is highly amusing.

Lola has a great suggestion. However also allow yourself some time to see central Lucerne, a nice experience. Lucerne is really close to Zurich by train. (someone commented that you can go directly from Lucerne to Zurich airport by train- no need to stop in Zurich. I havent done that)

Actually, I did suggest spending some time exploring Luzern-it's in the last line of my first post. there are lots of lockers in the train station, which is right in the cinter near the famous bridge, so it's easy to do. And yes, there are trains that go to the airport from Luzern with no changes. They run hourly at 10 past each hour, and take just about an hour to reach the airport. They do pull into the main station at Zürich, but you stay on the train. EDIT: I meant to add that Rigi Kaltbad has about the friendliest people we've met in our four trips to Switzerland. I speak German (although not Swiss German), and I'm always looking for a chance to talk with people. We were just wandering around the small village before dinner, and everyone we met wanted to tell us we should see this yard (lovely flowers in the yard), that historic old house, or that view, and be sure and take that path for good morning light over the lake. It was fun just being there.

Thank you so much for such a great suggestion. I am assuming that as we go up the mountain to spend the night that our luggage would come with us? Thanks again!

Yes-the cablecar is one of those large room-size ones like you will take to get up to Mürren. The floor of the car is level with the platform, so you just roll your lugage right on (assuming you have rollaboards!) People take all kinds of things up in those cablecars, including freight carts, large dogs, etc. They even serve a fancy dinner in the Rigi cablecar after it goes out of service in the evening-it's quite a deal but very expensive. Or if you take the train up you just take your luggage aboard like any other train. And for the boat, again the boarding area is level so you just roll right on. The boat ride to Weggis is just over an hour, as I recall, and you geet nice views of the shoreline and surrounding areas.

I didn't see that you had mentioned when you're taking your trip, but if you like the high country, you may want to consider driving over the Susten Pass. Lodging is not overly plentiful, until after you've crossed the pass, but the views and scenery is as beautiful as anywhere in Switzerland. We've made the drive from the Murren area to Zurich in one day a couple of times and it's not a very long drive. However I'm not sure if the pass is open in the winter.