Pilatus – Titlis day trip from Lucerne

  • Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    25 January 2017 at 23:26:08 #810667

    Hi,

    My wife and I will visit Switzerland mid October and need to maximise our time and see the mountains in particular. We will have a Swiss pass and will spend a couple of days in Lucerne. I understand weather is always a problem hence I wanted to know if a visit to Pilitas and Titlis was doable in a day if the weather gods behaved and what would be the best travel plan. (would like to include the lake boat trip.)

    thanks Ron D

  • Effortlessly learn from the questions and answers in the forum. Receive a daily e-mail with new discussions.

    Annika
    Moderator
    7103 posts
    26 January 2017 at 13:00:50 #858459

    Hi Ron D, welcome to MySwissAlps!

    It’s doable, but it will be a long and full day and you won’t be able to enjoy many hours up at the mountain tops. I’d advise to leave early. The timetable and our Pilatus and Titlis pages will help you plan your trip. If you’d like to incorporate a short boat ride, the so-called "Golden Round trip" to Pilatus would be best.

    If weather forecasts look favorable while you’re there, you might prefer two trips on sepate days.

    Note that you don’t need the Swiss Pass as that’s a product for Swiss residents, but the Swiss Travel Pass. The trip to Pilatus is free; Titlis is discounted. Validity can be checked at myswissalps.com/swisst ravelpass/validity, purcase options at myswissalps.com/swisst ravelpass/price.

    I hope this helps!

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    27 January 2017 at 22:23:33 #858460

    Thanks Annika, much appreciated.

    My bad, I meant Swiss Travel Pass. When is the best time to Purchase? I don’t think they are available this early for October; are they ever discounted at any time e.g. for off-season.

    regards Ron D

    Slowpoke
    Participant
    7567 posts
    27 January 2017 at 23:09:58 #858461

    Hi Ron-

    In mid-October, Luzern is the best possible base for you.

    You have low and high altitude options. Good mountains, nice lake, and lots of other stuff.

    http://www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne

    Do you have any special interest, besides seeing the mountains?

    If you were in the Bernese Oberland, near the Jungfrau, you would be running into the time when high altitude trails get could closed because of snow…depending on which year and which weather god is in control of the snow. 😉 Even with closed trails, you could see a lot of spectacular mountains from the villages, trains and train stations, as long as there were no clouds in the way.

    http://www.myswissalps.com/be rneseoberland

    Slowpoke

    Annika
    Moderator
    7103 posts
    28 January 2017 at 10:56:04 #858462

    Hi Ron D,

    You can already purchase your Swiss Travel Pass for October, no problem. Retailers are listed at myswissalps.com/swisst ravelpass/price. You’d best use the official SBB tourist webshop through http://www.swissrailways.com/ en. You can fill out October as your start date and pick the e-ticket option (no shipping or handling fees) when asked for delivery options.

    Of course you can wait a while and see if interesting promotions come along. We can’t tell yet if this will be the case. If so, discounts will be announced in our rail forum and listed at myswissalps.com/swisst ravelpass/promotions.

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    29 January 2017 at 2:36:08 #858463

    Thanks for the info,

    We will enter and leave Switzerland via Italy. Our plan is to first have a base at Brig where we might fit in the Matterrhorn and Jungfrauoch if we are lucky. Catch Glacier express to St Moritz and return and stop over at Chur. Quick stop in Zurich before going to Luzern as next base for a few days (Pilitus, Titlis etc). Finally back to Brig via a boat trip to Fluelen I think where we will have another chance at the mountains there if unlucky the first time. Too Busy?

    regards Ron D

    Slowpoke
    Participant
    7567 posts
    29 January 2017 at 7:06:56 #858464

    Hi RonD –

    The timetable will help you work out the timing of your plan. It could be quite difficult to do what you are describing, unless you have can spread out some of your journeys over several days. Some of your prposed journeys can make for very long days. I have attached some information on travel times, by way of screen captures.

    http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

    Take a look at the screen grabs from the timetable – attached – and the Lake Lucerne boat schedule in late October- – linked here, below. I have shown the journey from Brig to the Jungfraujoch, and also a journey from Luzern to Brig via Flüelen. Each shows four journeys at different times.

    You might want to consider a base in Interlaken instead of Brig for the Jungfrau and Zermatt. Of course, that would add a bit of time to get back to Visp or Brig for the Glacier Express.

    The screen grab of the journey from Luzern via Flüelen shows four versions of a journey chosen with train travel only. In each image I have selected one journey of the four, and expanded it by clicking on the “+” sign to the left of the journey. The default mode is to use the fastest time unless you force it to go via an intermediate stop.

    Boat service is limited in the Fall and Winter, and takes about 3 or 4 hours from Luzern to Flüelen. Not sure whether you would be on the Fall schedule or the Winter schedule, since we don’t have your dates of travel. Also, it is unclear how much time you plan to spend in Switzerland.

    http://www.lakelucerne.ch/en/ timetable-fares/timetable/

    http://www.lakelucerne.ch/fil eadmin/lakelucerne/con tent/Dokumente_Downloa ds_PDF/01_Fahrplan-Preise/01_Fahrplan/Sai sonaler_Fahrplan/2017/ 2017_Fahrplan_Winter.p df

    By the way, the German name of Lake Lucerne is “der Vierwaldstättersee” – the Lake of the Four Forest Cantons.

    This map will help you, too:

    map.search.ch/?pos=695040,171136&z=2

    Zoom in far enough and you can see the train tracks/rail routes.

    Milano Centrale is easily accessible from Luzern via the Gotthard Pass route, or from Brig via the Simplon Pass and Domodossola.

    Slowpoke

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    29 January 2017 at 21:56:33 #858465

    Many thanks for info and suggestions,

    We will have 8-9 days in Switzerland arriving Oct 9th departing Oct 17th. and plan the catch the early Glacier express on Oct 11 (looks like there are two that run this day). I have managed to use the timetable provided and associated maps for all our internal trips including boats and mountain transport; all looks very comprehensive – how reliable is this – do they really run like a Swiss watch?

    Looks like we will be travelling to the fall timetable and the boat/lake timetable unfortunately is not in English but the boat timing appears to align as far as I can tell with the other provided timetable I used which has boat transport as an option.

    best regards Ron D

    Slowpoke
    Participant
    7567 posts
    30 January 2017 at 1:43:44 #858466

    >>”how reliable is this – do they really run like a Swiss watch?”>>

    Yes.

    And, with 8 or 9 days, it could work out well. Should be a great trip.

    Slowpoke

  • The thread ‘Pilatus – Titlis day trip from Lucerne’ is closed to new replies.

About MySwissAlps

We’re passionate tourists and locals. We share tips about how to plan a trip to Switzerland. MySwissAlps was founded in 2002.

Get a free account for a worry-free trip

  • Join our 10730 members and ask us questions in the forum
  • Access to member-only promotions
  • Detailed maps and weather forecasts

Planning your first Switzerland adventure?

Get a jump-start with Annika’s 20-minute e-mail course, “Switzerland for beginners”. Subscribe to our newsletter to unlock the course.