If spending time in the city of Lucerne, Switzerland then you must save at least half a day to complete the Mt. Pilatus Loop. This loop can be completed a couple different ways, by cable car, cogwheel train and by boat. All giving you different a unique and stunning views of Mt. Pilatus.
Mt Pilauts sits 2128 meters below and on a clear day you can see 73 peaks!
First, I will share with you how we completed our travels around the mountain.
Arriving at the Lucerne train station we used their locker system to hold our luggage while we explored throughout the day. We actually stayed the evening in Interlaken, so this could easily be completed as a day trip.
Getting to Pilatus: Gondolas
The Pilatus Bergbahnen station is about a 50 minute walk from the train station. Do able and maybe even more so if staying in certain parts of town. We used their public busing system to get to the station.
Pilatus Bergbahnen:
From there buy your ticket. The earlier in the morning the better to avoid crowds. But I will say going in June I never felt like we were fighting crowds as other tourist spots often are.
From the station you will take the gondola up to the top. We loved looking down on on the fields and homes, I have never seen so much firewood but I guess they need a ton of firewood for their snowy winters on the mountain.
Look for the church on the right going up.
The cable car takes you all the way up.
More information on the gondolas and time tables can be found here.
**The cable car operates year round
Visitor Center
It seemed to me that the top would only be a restricted viewing area. But there were many paths leading off the top to get different viewpoints. We took a few short paths and turned around after while. I am sure you could spend hours and hours walking around the paths at the top. If ready for some adventure I am sure you can even just take the cable car or train up the mountain and take one of the many hiking trails down. I am sure it would offer some incredible views if you had the time and correct walking shoes.
The visitor center has many food options, from create your own picnic to sit down meals and the Queen Victoria Restaurant.
Hotel Bellevue sits at the top of the mountain with 20 rooms. Could you imagine spending a clear night checking out the stars from the peak? What a dream!
Recently they have added the Dragon ride and some ropes features for children to climb around on, and they have a toboggan run (longest in Switzerland!) if heading down the mountain after the cable car.
We descended down the mountain on their cogwheel railway.
Cogwheel Train down the mountain
The next part of the loop is taking the cogwheel down the mountain. This cogwheel is actually the steepest cogwheel railway in the world! It has a gradient of 48% on some parts of the railway!
When ready to go down make sure you check their time tables to get the next train out. The cogwheel seems to leave about every 40 minutes. So if on a time crunch make sure you don’t miss it.
Get a window seat as you will see rock formations, pastures with cows and watch the mountain goats make their way down the steep hillsides.
The ride takes about 30 minutes.
For more information the the cogwheel and time tables visit here.
**The cogwheel cannot operate with snow on the tracks. It is usually open from May to November, but you can always double check on their site to see if it is open.
Back to City Center
We took the public transit back into the city to make the adventure more affordable and to have some time to eat and explore the city.
BUT…..If looking to compete the entire loop you can also get to the city center of Lucerne by boat. The one hour boat takes you across the beautiful blue Lake Lucerne. The boat docks right outside the cogwheel train station to hop on right away. This company books it all for you to help you complete an entire loop.
The great part about this adventure is that you can pick and choose what parts you want to complete.
Cable Car or Cogwheel to ascent. Descent via hiking, toboggan runs, via cable car or cogwheel. Then you can decide how to want to get to the start. Boat ride, drive a personal car or use their public transportation to get to either the cable car station, boat dock or cogwheel station.
**If you have certain rail passes for Switzerland you can even get up to a 50% discount!
What Do I Need?
- Bring some sort of hydration as you will be gone for a few hours. If you planned ahead it will be much cheaper and environmentally friendly than buying bottles at the Visitor Center. I bring these two collapsible water bottles to every place we travel ( this and this )
- If hiking take a shoe with a good grip. I love my Ahnu’s
as they as look okay walking around downtown as well.
- If just hanging around the observation deck with a few short paths I used my TOMS Canvas Slip-Ons
as a sturdy but casual shoe and they worked great for this particular adventure.
Make sure you take the time to spend in the charming town of Lucerne.
If heading to the Lauterbrunnen Valley near Interlaken Switzerland be sure to check out the Murren-Gimmelwald via ferrata.
Find places to stay near here by searching here:
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