Oh you are so lucky ! I had a very brief , drive thru type of visit to Switzerland a couple of years ago. I have to say , it was the most beautiful place I have ever seen.
We tend to stay on the lower end when it comes to hotels , so I can’t say we have anything of value to add. I don’t even recall where we stayed, except that it was about an hour away from Milan and I think it was a Holiday Inn . It was that or a $500 a night stay , which is not our style 
We went to Zurich and spent the day before driving back to Germany. The photos I have and the unbelievable sights from just the highway will be forever etched in my brain.
Enjoy bus driver 
So many choices! Has anyone mentioned the Falls of Rhine yet? Chillon Castle at Montreaux? Jungfraujoch?
Thanks, lje62! We tend to try to get really good deals on hotels. Being airline crewmembers, we are really cheap, but we still want something nice. Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be many deals in Switzerland. But every now and then, we will do a little splurge, if it’s worth it. Here is a hotel that is on sale right now…but the deal is non-refundable. It actually looks a little too classy for the likes of us. They’d probably take one look at us and toss us out on our American butts. http://leopoldohotel.com/en/?gclid=CJ3Xvuue5tICFQyAfgodrg0G5A
HImom, I hope you get to go soon. Several weeks in Europe sounds awesome!
Stradmom, I was looking at the Chillon Castle at Montreaux, but then I got swayed to Lugano. I’ll look at the other sights you mentioned, too.Blackeyedsusan posted some attractions that look really good. I’ve got to look at those, but now I have to go to work. 
On a visit to the Montreaux area we stayed at a gorgeous little B&B but I can’t recall the name. If I remember correctly, the restaurants were outrageously expensive. I think we ended up getting some food at a grocery store and having a picnic instead. And the town of Gruyere was a fun side trip from Montreaux.
Montreaux is awesome.
Berner Oberland is the best place I have ever been. You can still have an awesome vacation there in late May, if you want.
If you want to go to other places and go back in July/August though, there are many other places to see!
I do recommend, as you are planning to do, to get outside the main cities. Cities are not the attraction in Switzerland!
I would love to go to the Berner Obetkand, which was my entire goal on going to Switzerland. But I don’t want to blow my shot on wet days in a dead town (at least that possibility). Thinking Lucerne might be the biggest town we’re going through.
My eldest snd his GF (now wife) spent a month in Europe in May a few years ago. Their absolute favorite place was near the Interlaken area, where they stayed at a B&B for a few nights, and did several day hikes from there. (not hard core “hiking”, reasonable walking on trails) It was beautiful, and every wildflower was in bloom.
@busdriver11, to answer post #4 above, you can easily get by with English. Most Swiss also speak German plus some Italian. However, the area north of Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) is very French speaking. I had fun practicing my high school level French but it was not truly necessary. In fact, you will be looking out across the lake at stunning views of the French Alps. Since I was there in the winter, the view was not always clear due to clouds that tend to form over the lake. But then you go up the mountains and enjoy the view from above the clouds. I would imagine the weather will be much clearer in May. Find a hotel deal that fits your budget in this area. I might lean towards Lausanne personally because it is bigger with more to do but Montreux has jazz (when is its festival?) and I did not visit Vevey.
Some of the interesting hotels were not directly on the waterfront but up the hill with expansive views of the lake and French Alps.
WENGEN! Has to be one of the most beautiful villages in the world. You have to take the train up to it - cars are not allowed. We got a cheap little B&B, and had views of 1,000 foot waterfalls and the Alps. The Eiger looms over the area.
My dentist recommended we go there, and I was thankful for his suggestion. Later, I convinced my parents to go. They travel all over the world, and they agreed it has to be one of the prettiest places anywhere. They’ve been back more than once. I would go again in a heartbeat.
Wengen is a little lower in altitude (4100 feet), so I wonder if the lifts are going to be open and activities started in May yet. I think I might have to save that for our Switzerland hiking trip mid summer (one year), particularly since I don’t want to get frustrated if it’s beautiful weather and we could have stayed there!
I believe the Montreux jazz festival is going to be over by the end of May, unfortunately. That would have been great timing. Interlaken sounds like a good place for a hike, probably very reasonable to go hiking there in May. I’ve seen some pictures of it, and it looks beautiful.
Does anyone have any ideas of where to stay in Luzern?
When we visited the Lucerne area, we chose to stay about 30 minutes outside the city in Weggis. Lovely area, quieter, lakefront hotels. It was years ago but we stayed at Hotel Beau Rivage which we enjoyed. The service and food were great, wonderful lakeside location. They have a pool but my husband loved swimming in the lake every day. Too bracingly cold for me. 
We did Lucerne as a day trip. Had a great dinner at the restaurant attached to this hotel. Can’t comment on the hotel though:
http://www.wilden-mann.ch/en
Both of the hotels are part of the Romantik group, which is an affiliation group of independent hotels similar to how Relais & Chateaux works. Now that I remember, we stayed at pretty much all hotels that were part of that grouping during our vacation (except for utilizing a villa for a week in the Gandria/Lugano area) and found them all of good quality.
I really like the Interlaken area for hiking (e.g. Meiringen, Wengen, etc.) . You can hike up and take the cable car down at the ski areas (don’t hike down unless you are really good shape, your quads will be destroyed, and make sure to have hiking poles (you can check the collapsible kind)! Another great trip for sightseeing is to take the glacier express train : (Make sure to take food & water, they might not have a dining car). You can take it from St. Moritz to Zermatt on your way to see the Matterhorn. It takes a long time (all day) but the views are amazing.
Another cool place worth seeing is Diavolezza in the Italian part of Switzerland, it will give you a bit of different flavor. It can be very cold even in May.
For cities, make sure you do some tourist stuff like taking the tram down the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich or seeing the Jet D’eau in Geneva. The express train only takes about 3 hrs. between them. Spend the day in Lichtenstein (probably best accessed by car), or checking out the Chateau Chillion (where Byron wrote) on lake Geneva (also on the route between Zurich and Geneva), all can be pretty relaxing.
As usual in Europe, cars are a lot cheaper to rent if you drive a stick, gas is ridiculous, and tolls add up.
Stay at a locally owned Gasthaus if you can. The Innkeepers are much friendlier than at the chain hotels, which mostly cater to business people. Swiss breakfasts are very hearty: Cereal, cold cuts, cheese etc. Make sure you try some of the local Swiss food like Raclette (melted cheese on potatoes with pickles) and Bundnerfleisch (air/sun-dried translucently thin raw beef). Yum.
You can buy a rail pass which covers most everything including most non-local buses.
https://www.swiss-pass.ch/
Because of the high SFr. (roughly the same as the USD), expect to pay 2x compared to the US.
Great information, all, thanks!
I want to see the Bernese Oberland so much, I’m thinking about double booking cancellable hotels. Three days in Lucerne (day trips out of there), and booking three days in both Lugano and Murren. If the weather is crappy, head towards the sunshine in Lugano. If it’s decent, go to the mountains.
Darn, @doschicos, that hotel you linked is showing unavailable for our time…assuming it’s sold out. Probably crazy expensive anyways.
Rick Steves book has plenty on Lucerne and activities. You can get hiking in with either Titlis or Pilatus. Pilatus has a three activity round trip going up, down, and boat ride - you want to plan around weather.
I also recommend time in Bern. Both Lucerne and Bern have a lot to do, rain or shine.
From Zurich to Lucerne and Bern by train you will see plenty of country-side. You would make a circular ‘loop’ if you go then from Bern back to Zurich.
Appenzell would take up a day going east from Zurich. The area from Zurich to Winterthur to Wil (and the next bigger city on the way is St Gallen, just north of Appenzell) - that whole corridor has been high growth. I stayed in Wil and also visited friends in Winterthur. Appenzell is charming, but you can get the charm on your tight schedule elsewhere.
However you will see more mix of modern with the traditional style in many areas. The most traditional area we drove through that was all traditional was in SW and W - in part because those areas are not building up so much or their local councils are having the traditional style for any new construction. This was my first time to go through a US celebrity town Gstaad - and that is in all the traditional style of buildings.
Lucerne had an incredible amount of Chinese/Japanese tourists - first time I had seen that, but they were around the lake and doing boat tours and probably also going up to Titlis, and all either in groups or as couples/families. This was the first time I spent a full day in Bern - other times we went to see someone or do one activity, but not see it more fully. If in Bern, plan to be by the clock during the big ringing times - it is a nice show.
I was in CH last summer for a month - mid June to mid July. It was my 5th time there but first time in 18 years. I am a dual citizen and first trip there when I was 12. I did a lot of stuff this trip that I had not done on prior trips - and the length of time there made it good to work around some of the rain days we had. It seems it was an unusual summer with so many days of rain (we hit rain during our first week), but worked around it.
I stayed with relatives/friends the entire time for lodging. I was only allowed to pick up one lunch tab in Bern. Friends/relatives were very hospitable.
My dad’s home time is a ‘suburb’ of Lucerne, and always had a lot of time around there. I didn’t go up Pilatus this time, but did on all earlier trips. This was also the second time I didn’t see the Matterhorn.
You probably really don’t have the time to work in the Glacier Express (one of the 5 scenic rail journeys), but that was a really good way to see a lot - my mom and I did it together (although we didn’t start at St Moritz, we picked it up in Chur) and one pre-pays to have an enjoyable lunch on the train. Mom and I also spent two nights in a hotel in Zermatt and really enjoyed that - but again that takes time to get there and you only have 7 days. You might have time for one of the scenic rail journeys on another trip.
If you start in Zurich, and see a bit there; Lucern. Then if traveling next to Bern, I would suggest going to Interlaken/Spiez/Thun and maybe stay a night there. Can see the Bernese Oberland with going up Niederhorn (lift from Beatenberg). We did the boat trip on a nice day around Lake Thun after going up Neiderhorn, but there are several on the various waterways. Niederhorn elevation is 1950 m.
If you have the Swiss train/bus/boat pass, you will get a ‘area of validity’ map. I en-largened it and had mine laminated - it was a very good visual reference.
Rick Steves’ book was very good.
If it was my trip, I would use as much of the train/bus/entry discount and not pay extra for the scenic rail journeys.
You can almost always get a decent meal at a Bahnhof (train station restaurant) at a reasonable cost for the area, and lunch around towns can be the most reasonable. Stop at a bakery and pick up fresh baked goods, and buy cheese/deli meat to also save on some meal costs. Dinners can get pretty pricey, and your hotels bills with or w/o bfst.
Feel free to PM me with questions on trip specifics, like if I had done X,Y,Z, and what I thought of it.
If you want to pick up souvenirs, there are several decent shops in a few blocks in the tourist area of Lucerne near the water.
Just ran across this article titled Things to do in Bern https://www.theguardian.com/swiss-cities/2017/mar/17/things-to-do-in-bern-einsteins-house-scent-tours-and-brown-bears?
Thanks for the information! Rick Steves books/website is my travel bible. I have started a thread on his forum, also.
A problem we are running into, is that I don’t think we can do both of the two things that we really want to do in such a short trip, without making travel uncomfortable. Those two things are staying in Murren, and taking the Bernina Express. We only want to stay in three hotels max (for seven nights, and the last night has to be in Zurich). To do both of those things, we’d have to have an incredibly long travel day or stay and additional night somewhere else. I think you just can’t have it all in one week!
Originally I’d looked at the Glacier Express, and it sounds like a really long twisting and turning ride. I’m thinking our latest plan might be to spend three nights in Luzern (I booked the hotel that @doschicos recommended, but now I might cancel it and get something closer to the train station in town, it looks a little time consuming to get to without a car). Maybe a Gasthaus like @TooOld4School recommended. Then take day trips to see some of the places you guys recommended, whether it’s Bern, Lausanne, mountain trip, lake excursions, maybe Golden Pass train to Montreux. Then three nights in the Berner Oberland in Murren. Last night in Zurich before the flight.
Just trying to have the most enjoyment without the hassle of too many bag drags.
Sounds like your trip is shaping up @busdriver11.
People that visit Switzerland always want to go back.
Bern or Luzerne are good for trinket/souvenir. I got my kids’ Swatch watches in Bern but they are at major stores - had a very big variety and they both liked what I got them.
Hope you have grand weather and you enjoy everything you do.