1st trip to Switzerland and spending 3 days in Lucerne week of April 24th. Would love to see the mountains Rigi, Pilatus, Titlis and take a boat ride on Lake Lucern. With only 3 days (via train/public transportation) what is the best option and most optimistic itinerary if we can only visit one or two mountains?? Any other must see day trips from Lucerne?
Posted by
www
20 posts
how many nights? 2 or 3?
you can do all you suggested. In Lucern there is also the Glacier Museum which is worth seeing if you like mountains and it has a cool mirror maze.
Personally I would stay in Lauterbrunnen and make Lucerne a day trip. The Jungfrau is more beautiful than Rigi, Pilatus, & Titlis. Though I did fall in love with Switzerland when I was 16 from a trip to Pilatus. Jungfrau web cam
Also it is all weather dependent - always be early at the lifts 7am , to avoid the crowds.
Rick suggests 3 days in this Bernese area: Rick's ideas
Posted by
OP
California
9 posts
Thank you for the suggestions. We will be staying 3 nights in Lucerne, using that as our base. I'll take a look at Jungfrau, had been focusing on Pilatus, Rigi or Titlis due to their proximity to Lucerne and it looked pretty easy via public transportation.
Posted by
Michigan
481 posts
It is a short and easy/frequent train ride from Luzern to Engelberg. We spent two nights and two days in Engelberg. Our Saturday was glorious all day long, and we had a magnificent trip to Mt. Titlis. We also got off the cable car in Trubsee and encountered cows with bells ringing, and more beautiful scenery. There is a lake there, with rowboats and hammocks, and it was beautiful.
After Engelberg, we traveled to Luzern and stayed there for three nights before going home. Since we'd really wanted - and enjoyed - a snowy mountaintop experience in July, we did not choose to go to Mt. Pilatus nor Mt. Rigi. We did enjoy a beautiful lake cruise to Weggis, and had an excellent lunch there after our wanderings.
The rest of the time in Luzern we just explored the city on foot, as we were winding down from 2+ weeks of busy travels in France and Switzerland.
Laurie
Posted by
Portland, Oregon, United States
907 posts
My two cents. You will love Lucerne, I cretainly did. You can easily day trip the lake and Rigi. Catch the boat from Lucerne to Wiggis and Vitznau, catch the Rigi Bahn from Vitznau. Take as long as you want on the Rigi. Then boat back. If you can get on the real "paddle wheeler" Unterwalden and watch the guy oil the machinery. Very cool.
Or, you can take a long boat ride around the entire lake and do Rigi as well. Just buy the right ticket and check the time tables.