My husband and I will be traveling from to Lucerne from our "home base" of Basel in September. I would like some travel suggestions. Can we ski at this time of year? What is the best mountain to view by cable car? Is the toboggan worth a visit? Any good restaurants to not miss? What is the “The Golden Round Trip”? Is this a "must do"? Any help is greatly appreciated!
Posted by
Edmonton, AB, Canada
668 posts
Unclear as to what you mean by "from to Lucerne from our "Home base" of Basel. Are you staying in Lucerne for some time or just a day trip? Are you staying in Basel for an extended period?
If you are looking for a mountain view from Lucerne, there is a round trip - boat, cog railway, cable car bus - to Mt Pilatus that gives good views on a clear day.
Basel is an interesting city. A good walk along the river, interesting city hall and cathedral.
Posted by
OP
Advance, NC, USA
3 posts
We will be "staying" in Basel for three nights and doing day trips from there. I wasn't sure if Lucerne was the best place to view the Alps by cable car or not. Would it be better a better day trip to go on Gimmelwald? I know Rick highly recommends this village.
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9110 posts
Is there a specific reason why you are staying in Basel? Basel isn't really a central location to do many of the popular day trips in Switzerland; especially the Alps. If you want to explore the mountains it's best to overnight in the Berner Oberland region instead: Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, Murren, and Gimmelwald. If you must stay in one of the cities, Luzern is a better choice. Rick's Switzerland Guidebook has all the details:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYy_maSNnco
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17442 posts
The "Golden Round Trip" has nothing at all to do with the Golden Pass scenic train mentinoed by Steve.
The Golden Round Trip is a loop up Mt. Pilatus by boat and cogwheel train, and down by cablecar to Kriens and back to Luzern. Iain describbed it above. It is very popular and also fairly expensive, but well worth it if you want a boat trip in your Swiss plan. If you goal is simply to visit a mountaintop close to Luzern you can ride up and down via the cablecar. You can also ride a cablecar up Mt. Rigi from Weggis, which is a nice boat ride away from Luzern.
As for which is "best" to visit from Luzern, that depends on what you like. Pilatus is rugged and spectacular, but there is limited hiking on the top. There is an "adventure park" with a ropes course and (I believe) a summer luge.
Rigi is green and gentler, with nice hiking on wildflower-lined paths.
Summer skiing has been available in the past on Mt. Titlis, near the village of Engelberg, a 90-minute train ride from Luzern. You will see it mentioned in many guidebooks and websites. However, the current website for the mountain, www.titlis.ch, does not mention skiing at all among the summer activities. You can ride a series of lifts to the top (passing over glacier crevasses) and visit the glacier ice caves. Even if skiing were available, it wouldn't be worth the time and expense---it's not great skiing.
Luzern is a lovely city and well worth a visit in its own right. You could spend half a day exploring the city and half doing a mountaintop excurions if you like.
If you are looking for nice daytrips from Basel and have the time, you could do both this and a Berner Oberland on separate days. The Schilthorn is spectacular, and you can visit Gimmelwald on your way down if you like. I think Rick recommends it mainly as a place to stay overnight---there is not much to "visit" in the village itself. It's really about the alpine scenery.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19274 posts
Don't be confused if you don't always see directions to Lucerne. Canton Luzern is German speaking, so they might use the German spelling, Luzern, although Swiss Rail uses both German and French.