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Swiss Pass doesn’t cover boat ride on Lake Lucerne

I tried to go on the 1 hour boat ride on Lake Lucerne because I was told it was included in the Swiss Pass in the RS book on Switzerland. This information must be old. Here is what I was told by the boat company,

“SGV - Lake Lucerne
No it isnt. You have to pay the half Price with the swiss pass.

SGV - Lake Lucerne
It lasts one hour… And it goes from Lucerne to Kastanienbaum and back again to Lucerne.

SGV - Lake Lucerne
It costs CHF 16.50 per Person. And it leaves at pier seven.”

Just thought we’d let others know.

We’ve been using the pass thoughout our 7 days here. It’s been worth the price. Particularly when we went up the mountain 3 times in Gimmelwald.

The book contains other great information we’ve used.

Posted by
6462 posts

Unless things have changed and certainly that can happen, the Swiss Pass covers the trip to Mt. Rigi which includes a boat ride to Vitznau. I suppose if someone just wanted the boat ride, one could just get back on the ship in Vitznau.

Posted by
16895 posts

Thanks for the report. It may take more looking into. The 2018 coverage map for the Swiss Travel pass shows a number of routes on Lake Lucerne to be fully covered, as do these, for anything that's "regularly scheduled":

https://www.lakelucerne.ch/en/timetable-fares/prices-tickets/.

https://www.lakelucerne.ch/fileadmin/lakelucerne/content/Dokumente_Downloads_PDF/01_Fahrplan-Preise/01_Fahrplan/Ausflugsfahrplan/2018/03_Sommer/Ausflug_Luzern_Sommer_2018.pdf

Posted by
17427 posts

The SVG website itself says the Swiss Pass is valid for all regularly scheduled cruises on the lake.

https://www.lakelucerne.ch/en/timetable-fares/prices-tickets/

However, if you scroll down to Kastanienbaum on the departures page, you will see an asterisk by the round-trip cruises on the Panorama-Yacht Saphir.

https://www.lakelucerne.ch/fileadmin/lakelucerne/content/Dokumente_Downloads_PDF/01_Fahrplan-Preise/01_Fahrplan/Abfahrt_der_Schiffe/2018/03_Sommer/2018_Abfahrt_der_Schiffe_Sommer_alle_korrigiert.pdf

While Incould not find that asterisk explanation in any of the keys, I would assume from the OP's experience that trips on this yacht are not deemed "transport", but rather a type of sightseeing cruise, and therefore are not fully covered on the Swiss Pass. Analogous to the difference between trains and scenic gondola rides in the mountains.

But trips on the regular lake boats definitely ARE covered with the Swiss Pass.

Edit: I found the asterisk explanation on the first page of the above link, for Luzern departures. The Kastanienbaum trips are marked with an asterisk and the key at the bottom says "special ticket only."

Posted by
17427 posts

And there are other roundtrips on that schedule marked with an asterisk for the Special Ticket, such as the 10:30 Brunch-Schiff and the 18:30 Vierwaldhäppchen Schiff.

Posted by
7209 posts

If it’s just a part of your normal journey from point A to point B from train to boat to cogwheel...it’s all covered by the Swiss Pass. Look for your journey on SBB and see the multi modes of transport for your journeys. Now, if you’re talking about a dinner, lunch, breakfast cruise or some sightseeing boat that takes you out and around and back then no, of course it’s not covered.

Posted by
217 posts

Just rode the boats several times on lake luzern. That is probably a special one. Somehow I knew to watch for that. I have no idea where I learned that.

Posted by
3 posts

I wanted to thank everyone for their posts. We went on a great write today - for free - by going to piers 1 & 2 and finding the right boat. The TI folks were also very helpful. We went to Weggis. Took the gondola up to Mt. Riggie. Road the cog train all the way to the top. Fantastic Views!! Fantastic Time!!

BIG THANKS.

You may now close this thread.

Posted by
7209 posts

Ahhh - Weggis is one of my favorite Swiss destinations. Pilatus and Rigi are both very nice. Glad you found the correct boat!

Posted by
33821 posts

Weggis is an excellent choice to have made.

Any of the small boat stops has something great to do at.