Alternatives to Luzern for 3 nights

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

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:

https://www.rigi.ch/_Resources/Persistent/2986272a37ec20b66c4703576b2b90106756d993/01%2520Winter-Fr%C3%BChling%2520Vitznau_15.12.2024-23.05.2025-EN.pdf

Weggis is connected to Luzern by ferry and by bus + train. We did both.

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).

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.

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!

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.

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.

Laurie, I neglected to ask-what hotel did you stay at in Engelberg, and how did you like it?

We are following in Lola's footsteps and will be staying at the Seehotel Gotthard in Weggis-we booked a lovely room with a gorgeous view of the lake, and we modified our transfer from Locarno to include a leisurely boat cruise from Fluelen to Weggis, which will follow a ride on the Treno Gottardo. We will board the boat around 2 PM, so we are planning to have a late lunch on board and have a light dinner in Weggis after we check in. The cruise from Fluelen to Weggis is just over 2 hours and covers a large part of the lake, so this cruise works nicely as our introductory Lake Luzern cruise as well. We will cover the short route between Weggis and Luzern on our departure day or one of the full days we have available for sightseeing-maybe there is a way to combine a half day in the Alstadt with a peek at Engelberg and Mt Titlis, so that possibility is on my do list for further research. We plan to devote Day 2 to Mt Rigi, which is practically in the backyard of the town of Weggis. Pilatus is more difficult to reach from Weggis, but that is another possible companion to our half day Alstadt walking tour and is also on my further research list.

I have yet to purchase tickets for the cruise part of our arrival day-the cruise tickets are not cheap, so I want to do some trades with the Tell pass and see if it is worth getting one of those for our short stay. My gut feel is that it is not unless we can realistically pack in the Alstadt, Rigi, and Pilatus into our available time.

Still on the table for discussion is an overnight at the Hotel Giessbach-we dropped the idea of staying there before Wengen because we didn't want to cut into the nights in Wengen or Weggis (our "W" trip segment!), so we will either visit Brienz/Giessbach/et.al at as day trip or an impromptu overnight on a weekday towards the end of our Wengen dates.

BTW Lola, I bought the book you mentioned in one of your posts (Slow Train to Switzerland), which I will explore on one of our numerous scenic train rides. Reading a good book with the Swiss Alps as one of my traveling companions sounds sublime!

I bought Saver Day Passes for the day we traveled by boat and Treno Gottardo from Weggis to Locarno. Those covered both train and boat and worked very well. But it may be too late to get a good price on the Saver Day Pass for your date. but it is worth checking:

https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/tickets/day-passes/saver-day-pass.html

We did not take the half-board option at Seehotel Gotthard; our group wanted to order off the full menu. We dined one night at the lakeside restaurant, where one grandson was fascinated by the bats flying around over the lake. Menu is meat- and game-heavy, though. The second night we ate indoors in the pizza restaurant.

Lola, thanks. Saver Day Passes were pretty pricey when I looked a week ago, so I got a Supersaver ticket for the Trreno Gottardo. That was before we switched our accommodations from Luzern to Weggis, so now I need to add tickets for a boat from Fluelen to Weggis or Luzern to Weggis. The former is 2x the cost of the latter, but the boat ride from Fluelen to Weggis looks pretty nice and is 2 hours long, so it would constitute our Lake Luzern cruise for our visit.

On a somewhat related topic: are PTP tickets good for any transport type between two points? I might move our departure from Locarno to an earlier time, in wehich case I would need a ticket to cover the Treno Gottardo from Locarno to Fluelen, then the boat from Fluelen to Weggis. I think a PTP would work for this combo since that is what is offered to me when I price the ticket for the Panorama Express from Lugano to Luzern, with a transfer to a boat from the train in Fluelen. Unfortunately, I can't find a way to force the routing to include a train-boat transfer at Fluelen, so I am not sure how exactly to purchase the correct PTP ticket for this route.

The restaurants at the Seehotel Gotthard are closed on our arrival day, so I've been looking around for alternatives. There are quite a few restaurants on Mt Rigi, so I thought that having dinner atop Mt Rigi would be a nice way to spend the evening. We could take the cable car from Weggis to Rigi Kaltbad (and on to Rigi Kulm), then return by cog railway to Vitznau and take the bus back from there. This obviously works best with nice weather, but if it is clear, we could schedule our dinner so we were at the restaurant at sunset, which would be quite scenic from the top.