We are currently booked for 3 nights in Luzern, but after reviewing our list of desired activities, I am now wondering if we would be better off staying elsewhere on Lake Lucerne. We would like to see the Alstadt, but our main objective is to spend time in the mountains, specifically day trips to Mt Rigi, Mt Pilatus or both. Another factor is the cost of accommodations, which seems unusually high in Luzern, even for Switzerland, so relocating to another town or village on the lake could also save us some money. Looking at the SBB route maps, I see a few smaller towns and villages that are connected by train or bus (or a ferry) that might be possibilities, so I wanted to ask to see if anyone had any favorite destinations that might work.
Posted by
Michigan
524 posts
Yes! Please consider Engelberg! Our family stayed there for three nights and then ended our trip in Lucerne for three nights before flying out of Zürich. I really wanted to provide our kids with a “snow in July at the top of the mountain” experience, and Mount Titlis in Engelberg was perfect. I think it’s only about an hour away by train from Lucerne.
You’ll take a series of three cable cars from Engelberg up to the top of the mountain, if the weather is promising. The third cable car is a rotating one so you get great views all the way around. The views at the top were spectacular, and we had brought a picnic lunch to enjoy up there in one of the dining rooms. It was really interesting for our Michigan kids to watch other tourists who had never experienced snow before. Those visitors were awestruck, and not sure how to walk on the snow. My kids scrambled up and then slid down a snowy slope on their feet, and also on their rear ends, laughing the whole time.
We got off the cable car in Trubsee on the way back down and walked along with the cows to the beautiful lake there. There were hammocks on the lake shore and rowboats you could take out onto the beautiful lake. And when we were ready to continue back to the valley, we just caught the next cable car. That experience was a highlight for all of us because we felt like it was a best kept secret. I don’t think we will ever forget the joys of that day.
Check it out… It was a wonderful experience for our family!
Laurie
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17610 posts
Engelberg is nice but it will add quite a bit of time getting into Luzern, and Rigi. Pilatus would be closer, assuming you take the cogwheel train up from Alpnachstad. But isn’t your trip in early May? Has that changed? The cogwheel rail up Pilatus starts running May 12.
If you wish to stay in a lakeside town, I will say that we really like Weggis, specifically the lakefront Seehotel Gotthard.
https://www.gotthard-weggis.ch/en/
The have a 3-night special in May with a lakefront view room for 669 CHF, or 223 per night. A “city view” room is a bit less. Other hotels (back from the lake) and rental apartments would be less.
Weggis is nice for visiting Rigi, as the cablecar up to Rigi Kaltbad, which is part of the “loop “, starts at Weggis. If my husband and daughter hiked up the Mark Twain Discovery Trail from Weggis to RK and rode the cablecar back down. If you prefer to do the loop, going counter-clockwise, you can ride the ferry to Vitznau for the cogwheel train ascent. Unlike the steeper Pilatus train, the Rigi train from Vitznau runs year-round. In May they will be on the winter-spring timetable:
Weggis is connected to Luzern by ferry and by bus + train. We did both.
Posted by
OP
SoCal
109 posts
Laurie and Lola, thanks for the tips.
Laurie, I had not considered Engelberg, so I will take a closer look at that this evening. I found Engelberg on the SBB route planner, so I will check out the accommodations options for our Luzern dates, which as Lola mentioned, are in early May (3 nights in the second week to be precise)-that could preclude Engelberg as an option if it is still "between seasons" as so many areas in Switzerland are in the late April-late May time frame. Since Engelberg is decidedly not on the main tourist trail, I suspect it may not be fully up and running, but I want to look at it anyway-if nothing else, it will be another good option for trip #2 (or 3 or 4 or 5....)
Lola, thanks for the info on the Pilatus cog railway dates - I think the cable car on the north side will be open, so maybe we can still see both if we manage to get two nice weather days. Thank you for the hotel recommendation - I ran across the Seehotel Gotthard on an early pass through looking for accommodations and thought it looked great, but they had no vacancy for the dates I had when I first searched (which were over the first weekend of May, a rather popular holiday weekend in Europe as I discovered!). They do have availability for our new dates, which was good news, and its proximity to Rigi is a very nice amenity. You mentioned Vitznau, which also would work, so I will likely concentrate my search in this area.
It is worth mentioning that the other option we are considering involves skipping Luzern and adding the 3 nights to one or both of the destinations that are currently planned for before and after Luzern, which are Locarno and Wengen, respectively. We could split the extra nights between the two or devote all three to one or the other. Locarno has a lot going for it, and it still seems under the radar (hope I don't change that with my observation!), so an extra 3 nights would be easy to fill up with sights and activities. If we take the 3 nights and add them to our Wengen stay, we could either extend the time in Wengen or use them for a companion stay in Murren or Gimmelwald, which I know several others on the forum have done in the past (and are likely to repeat in the future).
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17610 posts
If your current order of travel is Locarno—-(Luzern area)—-Wengen, you could make a very enjoyable journey of it by taking the Treno Gottardo from Locarno to Flüelen on the lake, and catching a boat there to either Vitznau or Weggis (either one works). Shorten your stay there to 2 nights and use the one intervening day to explore Rigi. Add that spare night to either Locarno (it sounds like that appeals to you a lot) or Wengen.
After Vitznau (or Weggis), continue to Wengen by ferry to Luzern and train from there.
Posted by
OP
SoCal
109 posts
Lola, thanks again! We had been planning to take the Treno Gottardo although if we stay in Weggis, taking the Panorama Express with the boat option would get us to Weggis without having to book an extra boat trip from Luzern. Two nights does seem like the optimal time span-we could explore the Alstadt on our arrival or departure day, then dedicate a full day to Rigi, which I think will cover all our "desirements".
Another idea I had was prompted by a suggestion from our Wengen hosts-they recommended we plan to spend the day on Lake Brienz and have lunch at the Giessbach Hotel, so I have been looking at that. I discovered that the Giessbach offers a free "Nostalgia Pass" for hotel guests that covers the cost of boat cruises on Lake Brienz for the entire day, the Brienz Rothorn cog railway, and the funicular between the hotel and the boat dock. That seems like a great deal, and since Brienz is enroute anyway, it would be easy to make the Giessbach Hotel an interim stop enroute to Wengen. For that I might be inclined to borrow a night from our Wengen stay since Brienz was one of the day trip we had been planning. That still leaves us with 4 full days in Wengen, which will cover our top priority activities, which includes a trip to the Schilthorn and Plz Gloria, a day hiking in the Lauterbrunnen Valley or up to Gimmelwald, and maybe the Jungfraujoch or something fro Grindlewald. A day trip to Bern is our fallback plan if the weather is bad, but with that list, 4 full days should be plenty. Wengen will cover the halfway point of the trip, so a day of contemplating the Alps from our Wengen apartment is also a nice option!
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17610 posts
I have always wanted to stay a night at Grandhotel Giessbach, ever since I saw it from the train from across the lake. Just haven’t made it, as our trips are so focused on hiking.
I just finished reading a book you might like before your trip. For one thing, it will sell you on the idea of spending a night at the GH Giessbach.
It is called “Slow Train to Switzerland”, by Diccon Bewes, a Brit who moved to Switzerland.
It describes the first Thomas Cook guided tour to Switzerland in 1863, by train, boat, mule, and on foot. He follow one participant, a woman he calls Miss Jemima. She and others in the UK a Junior United Alpine Clubsigned up for a very rigorous journey through the Alps, often rising at 4 or 5 am to begin the day. There was very little tourism infrastructure in those early days, and what hotel did exist had few amenities (no ensuite bathrooms and often only 3or 4 toilets serving the whole hotel. The ladies did some very rigorous hiking on steep slopes and glaciers in their crinolines and long dresses.
The author retraces the journey with his mother as best they can, describing each day in Jemima’s trip along with their modern-day one. One of the places they stayed was Grandhotel Giessbach,. The author says that without the guidance. Of the tour to follow, they would not have known of this hotel. But he was charmed,mand very glad they visited for a night.
Posted by
OP
SoCal
109 posts
Lola, that sounds like a very interesting book-I am always up for books on hiking, which is a passion we apparently share, so I will see if I can find it. While I am thinking of it, I wanted to ask if you had booked the half board plan with the Seehotel Gotthard-there are a few places to eat in Weggis, but the convenience of having dinner at the hotel at the end of the day is very appealing, so long as the food justifies the convenience factor.
The Hotel Giessbach has quite a setting, high above Lake Brienz, and since most day trippers are gone by 5 PM or so, only the hotel guests are left to share the spectacular views and the sunset. The only wrinkle is the date we would visit-the Brienz Rothorn Railway begins operation to the first stop (Planalp middle station) on 10 May, which is within our Wengen dates, so we are debating whether we want to splurge and book a night there from Wengen instead of enroute prior to Wengen. We would have a double booking for one of our Wengen nights, but the Giessbach feels like the kind of place that such a splurge might be worth it. We could also forgo the cog railway and stay there before the railway begins operation, but after spending time with Google Earth, I'm not sure I want to miss that view, with Lake Brienz below and the majesty of the Bernese Alps as a backdrop.
I am also looking at a one night stay at the Hotel Pilatus Kulm, which has an equally spectacular setting atop Mt Pilatus (at least close to the top). The hotel also have availability for our dates, so despite my distaste for one night stands, I feel that these two destinations warrant a departure from that rule. Booking the Hotel Pilatus Kulm is a bit of a dice roll with regard to the weather, so we could revert to a day trip or just settle for a day on Mt Rigi from Weggis.
Posted by
OP
SoCal
109 posts
Laurie, I neglected to ask-what hotel did you stay at in Engelberg, and how did you like it?