Zurich/Lucerne

In terms of a Luzern hotel, I'd recommend the Tourist Hotel http://www.touristhotel.ch/ I've stayed there on a number of occasions and the rooms are nice and they have a a large buffet breakfast included. About a 10 min (or less) walk from the station, just outside of the altstadt and fairly reasonable by Luzern standards. If you do go there, ask for a river view room - you'll get a view of the city, the river and Pilatus.

Des Alpes IF you can get a balcony overlooking bridge and river....you may have to spend a little more. Very convenient to Rail Station.

I concur with Jim. We stayed at the Hotel des Alpes last September and really liked it. No far from the train station and the Chapel Bridge is right there as well.

NO rail pass. If you can buy your ticket from Luzern to Milan about 2 months in advance on the Swiss rail site (www.sbb.ch) , you should get a great price, saving about 50 CHF per ticket.

Is there a reason you need hotels in both cities? You do realize they are about 50 minutes apart via train.

cfm, In Lucerne you might have a look at.... http://www.sternluzern.ch/en/node/42 It's reasonably close to the station and also an easy walk to the river and the Chapel Bridge. In Zürich you might have a look at..... http://www.walhalla-hotel.ch/en/ It's right next to the main station, so VERY convenient for transportation. It's also right across the street from the lot where the tour buses depart from (if you were planning to take any tours while there). Both hotels are very comfortable, with great staff. Happy travels!

Thanks so much for the replies. We plan on spending 1 night in Zurich and 2 nights in Lucerne so we need hotels both places. Any thoughts on 3 day rail pass? We will be traveling on down to Bellagio after Lucerne. Do we need reservations for the train? Thanks!