Trip Report, June 2022: Central Switzerland By Car & Train—Zürich To Lucerne/Kriens

TUESDAY, MAY 31: RALEIGH/DURHAM TO ZÜRICH

Thankfully, Switzerland had eliminated all of its COVID-19 domestic restrictions in April and its pandemic-related entry restrictions on May 2; as US citizens, all we would need to enter the country was our passports. Not having to go through the stress of filling out reams of government paperwork and obtaining negative COVID test results before this international departure was a great relief. Being in a high-risk group (due to our age), we continued to wear KN95 masks in all crowded indoor situations and anywhere we could not socially distance.

Our journey was scheduled to start with a late-afternoon flight on American Airlines from Raleigh/Durham (RDU) to Philadelphia (PHL). However, when we checked in for our flight, AA offered us the option to fly three hours earlier at no extra charge. We decided to take that flight and have a longer layover in PHL in case of flight delays.

With the earlier flight time, there was plenty of time to get something to eat at PHL so that we would be able to skip the in-flight food and sleep as much as possible during the overnight flight to Zürich (ZRH). Of course, the logical dish to try was a Philly Cheesesteak. There are a number of options for this local delicacy in the airport; we decided to try Local Tavern (www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g52610-d5217980-Reviews-Local_Tavern-Essington_Pennsylvania.html). The two beers we had, an IPA and a Porter, were good and so were the fries. The sandwiches, however, were a real disappointment: they had lots of meat, but little flavor and no detectable grilled onions! In fact, they were so dry that we actually tried putting BBQ sauce on them, but it was no help. Airport food is what it is, but I had hoped for a better version of a regional specialty.

Prior to the trip, we had made an effort partially to adjust to Central European Summer Time, which is six hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time, by gradually moving our wake-up, dinner, and bedtime three hours earlier. After boarding, we settled in Premium Economy with our “Do Not Disturb” signs, sleep aids, eye masks, KN95 face masks, and industrial-strength ear plugs. We managed to sleep fairly well for most of the 8-hour flight and arrived the next day reasonably rested. We awoke shortly before breakfast was served; the best we can say is that it provided some calories.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1: Zürich To Lucerne/Kriens

ZRH is a large and confusing airport, but fortunately there is an excellent interactive map (www.flughafen-zuerich.ch/en/passengers/practical/guidance/interactive-map) that gives step-by-step walking directions. Once we had negotiated customs and immigration formalities, we headed to the Zürcher Kantonalbank ATM to acquire some Swiss francs (CHF). The map information said that the bank had a staffed counter, where I hoped to obtain some CHF coins for parking meters or pay toilets. There is only an ATM; however, it has the option to customize the denominations of the bills you withdraw.

Finally we made the trek to the car rental area. John had arranged our Europcar rental through Gemut.com and we thought we were supposed to pick it up at the airport. In reality, the car was at an off-airport location in Kloten, about a 25 CHF taxi ride away. A small glitch, but instead of a VW Golf we were given a slightly larger Škoda Octavia for the same price. The rental agent was quite helpful in going over everything in detail, which probably wouldn’t have happened at the airport. It was a diesel and (surprisingly for Europe) an automatic transmission. There was plenty of luggage space for our two carry-on suitcases and small daypacks; there was also a cover for the baggage compartment. We had planned to use our own Garmin Nuvi with a Europe chip and preprogrammed waypoints, but it was not compatible with the USB ports in the Octavia. Fortunately, the car came with a very nice navigation system that was included at no extra charge.

When renting in Switzerland, it is important that the car has a Vignette sticker (needed to drive on expressways), a high-visibility vest and a warning triangle in case of an accident or breakdown, and a blue parking disc. After checking out the car, we were on our way to Lucerne by about 10:30 a.m.

Our first stop was at our hotel in Kriens (www.kriens-tourismus.ch/#/home), a suburb of Lucerne, where we would spend two nights. Understandably, our room was not ready this early, so we checked our luggage and went out for our first adventure.

Long, sunny walks help us overcome jet lag, so John had planned a visit to Pilatus Kulm (www.pilatus.ch/en/) to do some hiking. The terrace near the top of the mountain (6795 ft, 2070 m) can be reached either by a cogwheel railway or by a gondola plus a cable car. With the STP, the tickets for either option are discounted by 50%.

We chose to take a round trip from Alpnachstad on the cogwheel railway: with a gradient of 48%, it is the steepest in the world. The railway opened in 1899 and the original steam-powered rail cars were replaced by electric cars in 1937. This is the last year of service for those vintage cars; they will be replaced at the end of this summer season by new cars with panoramic windows.

We had another slight glitch here. The parking lot is metered and we needed coins to feed the meter. Luckily, it turned out that the parking fee could be combined with the fee for the cog railway; you just need to tell the cashier the number of your parking space. However, the cashier’s card reader would not accept any of our credit cards and we ended up paying cash. This was the only place where we had a problem using our credit cards. On the bright side, this gave me some CHF coins!

Pilatus Kulm is actually a massif, comprised of several peaks. From the upper station, there are trails to viewpoints on the three highest peaks: Tomlishorn (7000 ft, 2132 m), Esel (6953 ft, 2118 m), and Oberhaupt (6913 ft, 2106 m). A fourth trail, the Dragon Path (via Chriesiloch), is carved into the mountain and offers repeated views through holes in the rock; the gallery is lined with paintings that depict the dragon legends associated with Pilatus. Unfortunately, both the Dragon Path and the Flower Trail to the Tomlishorn were closed. The weather was not great and the visibility was extremely poor, so we ended up only hiking to the Oberhaupt overlook.  Inside the station, there was a gift shop (no Swiss flags) and a person in traditional Swiss garb playing an alphorn and yodeling. After waiting unsuccessfully for the weather to clear, we took the cog railway back down. The 30-minute train ride itself was fun though and we had some lovely views of the Alpnachersee (the southwestern arm of Lake Lucerne) and the valley (complete with wildflowers and Alpine cows) that the train runs through.

We got back to the Hotel Sonnenberg (sonnenberg.ch/en/home/) with just enough time to check in and freshen up before our dinner reservation. Our room was small but functional and the bathroom served us nicely. The only negative thing about our stay was the Alps-shaped bath soap, which didn't lather well and dissolved quickly.  The view of Lake Lucerne and the nearby mountains from our room was lovely, even though there are some power lines in the way. The hotel is located near the top of Mt. Sonnenberg (2300 ft, 700m), a popular recreational area. There is an antique funicular that runs between Kriens and the mountaintop (not included in STP). We never had time to enjoy the trails on the property, but they looked interesting (sonnenbergbahn.ch/fileadmin/Redaktion/Downloads/20220317Saisonflyer2022enPRINT.pdf).

We really enjoyed the Hotel Sonnenberg’s Panorama Restaurant. Tonight we elected to try the 4-course tasting menu. That is composed of dishes from their standard menu, but they select two starters (one cold, one soup), a main course, and dessert. One starter was a cream cheese terrine with a liquid center of wild garlic pesto. The “power soup” was a spinach and green pea blend with toasted almonds. We also had two Swiss wines by the glass. The white was Riesling that tasted like a cross between Alsace and Germany. It was oily, rich, and essentially dry, but with the residual sweetness of Riesling. The red was a Merlot from Ticino. It was young, but went well with the rack of lamb with peppermint jus on beetroot puree. Dessert was carrot cake on carrot puree with mascarpone-lime cream and yogurt ice cream. All the food is sourced from within Switzerland and was amazing and original. Service by Claudia was super; she not only served us at dinner, but also managed to get our iPhones to connect with the hotel’s WiFi.

THURSDAY, JUNE 2: LUCERN/KREINS

Today the weather was much better and it turned out to be a really nice day. In the morning, we went to Titlis (www.titlis.ch/en) to absorb more Alpine scenery. The parking lot in Engelberg had “tap to pay” kiosks, which worked fine with my credit card. Both the round trip to the Titlis summit station and the separately-priced Ice Flyer are discounted 50% with the STP.

The Titlis Xpress, a gondola that goes directly from Engelberg to Stand, was not operating today. Instead, we rode a funicular from Engelberg to Gerschnialp, a cable car from Gerschnialp to Trübsee, another cable car from Trübsee to Stand, and finally the Rotair (a revolving cable car) from Stand to the summit station. All of the cars were crowded with a large multi-generational group of tourists from India; some of whom were also masked.

Once at the summit station (9948 ft, 3020 m), we slogged through ankle-deep snow to an observation deck with panoramic views. Then we slogged through more snow to the Ice Flyer, a chair lift that crosses over the face of the Titlis Glacier. At the end of the ride is the Glacier Park, a snow park where you can ride snowtubes or minibobs (they look like big plastic dustpans) down a track. John didn’t want to do either of those at first, but we ended up taking each ride twice and I think he was glad he did it. I thought it was great fun!

After taking the Ice Flyer back across the glacier, we did the Cliff Walk; that is a suspension bridge and catwalks attached to the mountain behind the glacier. At the end of the Cliff Walk is the Ice Cave, which is a man-made tunnel cut through the glacier, not a natural ice cave. The gift shop here was closed, but I could see that they didn’t have any Swiss flags.

We descended on the gondola and one cable car to the Trübsee station, where we got off to walk around for awhile by the Trübsee, a beautiful Alpine lake surrounded by well-labeled wildflowers. Then we took the other cable car and the funicular back down to Engelberg.

Next we drove counterclockwise around the southern end of Lake Lucerne to Vitznau. From there, the oldest cogwheel railway in Europe chugs all the way to the summit of Rigi (www.rigi.ch/en/). There is a different cogwheel railway from Arth-Goldau and a cable car from Weggis. No matter which route you take, the ride is free with the STP.

The lower Rigi Bahnen station in Vitznau has a small gift shop (no flags) and clean, free toilets. We arrived between trains, so we had time to enjoy an ice cream cone while we waited. We did not have to obtain a ticket; we only had to show the STP to the conductor.

From the summit station, we walked uphill towards the Rigi Kulm Hotel. The path splits into two parts: a steeper, shorter one (indicated by a carving of a young man) and a gentler, longer one (indicated by a carving of an elderly man). We took the shorter trail to Rigi peak (5800 ft, 1798 m) for great views of the surrounding mountains. There are some other short trails on the summit and we walked around until it was time to take the railway back down.

We completed our circumnavigation of Lake Lucerne and returned to the hotel. We were so impressed by the food at the restaurant yesterday that we returned tonight and it was even better! We got the smoked Swiss salmon starter; it was beautiful and fantastic. It had fresh greens, great salmon in a strudel basket, and horseradish-flavored mascarpone cheese. Our main courses were stuffed chicken breast wrapped with bacon and a veggie medley, and breaded eggplant over pea puree with sliced trumpet mushrooms. Each part hit a highlight.

By the time dinner was finished, we could see that the weather was now clear on the top of Pilatus. Alas.

What a great trip you had. I was there the same time.

So glad you took advantage of the sale on the 1st class pass. I did the same and am now spoiled and think I will only travel 1st class in Switzerland from now on. 😊

This seems like a novel and very comprehensive approach to trip reporting. I cant wait to read it! Thank you for taking the time to port this, boyle.cr

Andi--

John and I write reports like this for all our trips; it helps us remember what we did if we decide to revisit an area. We hope that others will benefit from our experiences.

Usually we post on cruisecritic.com because we do extensive pre- and post-cruise traveling. I had thought to put this report on TripAdvisor, but they don't want you to include web links. Rick Steves was the next best site, but it was a bit of a pain breaking the report into so many pieces. I did post a report with the links to all six pieces to make it easier for people to find the individual sections of the report.