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Rigi Kulm to Rigi Kaltbad Hike

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Hi! I'm going (solo) on the RS Switzerland tour in just under two weeks. The tour begins in Luzerne. I get in on Saturday early-afternoon, and the tour begins at 5:00 the next day. I am trying to figure out what to do on that Sunday I have before the tour meets for the first time at 5pm. I'm thinking about going to Rigi Kulm via boat & cog train, then hiking down to Rigi Kaltbad, then taking the cog train and boat back to Lucerne. Here are my questions:

1) When hiking Rigi Kulm to Rigi Kaltbad, does that hike take you along the cliff walk part of the Mt. Rigi Panorama Trail? I hear that cliff walk is spectacular and I don't want to miss it! I can't seem to find a trail route that details whether or not the cliff walk is part of the Rigi Kulm to Rigi Kaltbad trail.

2) Is it feasible to take the 8:12 boat to Vitznau, followed by the funicular up to Rigi Kulm, have a good look around there, maybe get a bite to eat, then leisurely walk/hike down to to Rigi Kaltbad, cog back to Vitznau, boat back to Lucerne AND be back before 3pm so I can shower and catch a cat nap before the tour group meets at 5:00?

Originally I was going to book with Get Your Guide a trip to Rigi Kulm but the only available starts at 9:45 and is 7 hours in length, getting me back too late.

Thanks for any advise you can give. I appreciate this travel forum so much!

Patty

Posted by
20799 posts

I don't know about 1. But yes, it is practical to do what you describe in 2. As an alternative, you can take the cable car down from Kaltbad and catch the boat back to Luzern from Weggis after a short walk down through town to the dock.

Posted by
17168 posts

The cablecar down from Rigi Kaltbad to Weggis and boat back from there would be considerably faster.

Posted by
17168 posts

Okay, I looked up the Rigi Kulm hike. According to this blog, the Cliff Walk trail takes you to Rigi Scheidegg, and then you ride a cablecar from there down to Kräbel to catch the train down to Arth-Goldau and then crack to Luzern. This would be on the “back side” of the mountain.

Before I found that, I looked up the timing for the Rigi roundtrip (returning by boat from Weggis) if you want to hike down to Rigi Kaltbad. The answer from SBB is yes, you can get back by 3 pm. If you take the 8:12 boat to Vitznau you meet the 9:15 train up to Rigi Kulm, arriving there at 9:47.

You then have more than 3 hours to hike down to Rigi Kaltbad to catch the 13:40 cablecar down to Weggis and walk through town to the boat dock for the 14:05 boat back to Luzern, arriving there at 14:47.

You can find the timing for the other route on SBB, using the times I gave you for the outward journey to Rigi Kulm. Use Kräbel (Scheidegg Talstation) as the starting point—-this is the bottom of the cablecar you would ride down from Rigi Scheidegg after your hike. You will see that the 13:35 cablecar will get you down to Arth-Goldau, where you catch the train to Luzer, arriving at 14:41, in good time for your shower and nap.

Sounds like a fun day either way.

Posted by
19 posts

Sam and Lola,
I now see that taking cable car down from Rigi Kaltbad to Weggis, and boat back from there, would be faster. I'd really like to hike from Rigi Kulm to Rigi Kaltbad... I just need to find out if that route will pass the cliff walk or not (I really want to do that bit!).

Lola, Thank you so much for the timings for all of this. I thought it was doable, but wanted to be sure. That was really kind of you to take the time to research this for me!!!

All the best and happy travels,

Patty

Posted by
20799 posts

Assuming this is for July 28, the one way full fare price to Rigi Kulm with the boat and cog train is 80 CHF, so r/t is 160 CHF. Kaltbad to Luzern with the cable car and boat is 59 CHF one way. So that is at least 139 CHF for the day. You can buy a Saver Day Pass now for 97 CHF that will cover all of this.
https://www.sbb.ch/en/buying/pages/kontingent/kontingent.xhtml

Posted by
17168 posts

Here is the blog I referred to, describing the Panorama trail/ Cliff Walk from Rigi Kulm to Rigi Scheidegg. The map shows the path. It is different from the trail down to Rigi Kaltbad. But they do describe a version that takes you to Rigi Kaltbad—- just scroll down to see that.

https://swissfamilyfun.com/rigi-panoramaweg/

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