In Lucerne for 3 days, what to do besides Mt Rigi?
A traveler is visiting Lucerne, Switzerland for 3 days, arriving from Milan. They plan to explore the city, spend a day at Mt Rigi, and seek ideas for their last day along with advice on whether to buy a Swiss Travel Pass or a Tell Pass.
- Consider visiting Pilatus or taking a scenic boat trip on Lake Lucerne for your last day.
- The Tell Pass is great for Lucerne, but check if the Swiss Travel Pass might be more cost-effective depending on your travel plans.
- When planning trips, confirm the prices and distances to see which pass offers the best value for your itinerary.
AI-generated summary-
Hi!
I will be in Switzerland, Lucerne for 3 days before moving on to Germany (taking train in from Milan).
Planning to spend 1 day to explore the city of Lucerne itself and another day for Mt Rigi.
Any recommendation on where we can go on the last day?
Also, should I buy a swiss pass / tell pass, or any other pass?
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Hello jerniice,
Pilatus and Titlis are very popular. Also trips on Lake Lucerne. Even a long day trip to Jungfraujoch (http://www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfraujoch) is possible if the weather is favourable enough to warrant the expense. See http://www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne/activities.
A Tell Pass is ideal for Lucerne but won’t help with travel from Milan or to Germany (or much with a trip to Junfraujoch). If you book your trip from Lucerne to wherever you are going in Germany using the Deutsche Bahn website (https://www.bahn.com/e n/view/index.shtml) you may find a cheap saver fare.
Before you can know for sure which pass suits your travel plans you need to do the sums based on the cost of all your planned trips on trains, boats, cable cars etc. You can use the Swiss Train Timetable (http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable) to work out the fares for any trip. When you go to buy a ticket the fare you see on the right hand side of the page will normally be the half-fare price. Double it to get full fare. With A Swiss Travel Pass it is free provided it is shown as free on the Area of Validity map ( PDF downloadable from http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/validity).
You should read “How to choose the best travel pass” (http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass).
Depending on what time of the year you are travelling you could take the Gotthard Panorama Express (http://www.myswissalps.com/go tthardpanoramaexpress) from Lugano to Lucerne or follow the same route on regular trains/boats.
Hi jerniice –
<<“I will be in Switzerland, Lucerne for 3 days before moving on to Germany”>>
When? Seasons make a difference.
Slowpoke
Thanks for the advice rockoyster 😀 Travelling is so expensive in Switzerland, so I am thinking how I can make the full use of my 3 days there with the least cost.
I’ll most probably purchase the tell pass as it is cheaper than a swiss pass. My tentative plan (do advice if it can be better):
Day 1 – Reach Lucerne at noon. Explore Lucerne
Day 2 – Mt Rigi (fully covered by tell pass)
Day 3 – Any recommendations?
slowpoke, I’ll be in Switzerland from 1 June to 4 June.
Hi jerniice –
<<“slowpoke, I’ll be in Switzerland from 1 June to 4 June.”>>
Nice time of year to visit the Luzern area. Wild flowers are blossoming in the meadows all over Switzerland, unless they are covered with snow at high altitudes. May be rainy.
There are some useful maps of Luzern linked in my posts in this thread:
http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/zurich-airport-to-luzern-how-to
I was concerned that you might want to visit the high Alps.. Jungfrau region. Up there, it is the tail end of Winter, many hotels and tourist services don’t reopen for the summer season until later in June, the snow is no good for skiing but the hiking trails at 2000 meters and higher tend to be impassable. So, not many tourists.
The “main” cograil train line is running. Schilthorn is open. It’s possible as a long day from Luzern, but, as long as you don’t pay the very high price to go all the way up to Jungfraujoch, it’s a possibility. Even though the train ride back and forth is quite scenic, I’d not recommend it. If indeed you want to do it, however, here is some information:
http://www.myswissalps.com/be rneseoberland
http://www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfrauregion
Bern is accessible and makes a nice, part of a day trip.
A ride on the Lake is very nice. I think the southern part is best.
Pictures in this link about a walk near the southern part of the lake give you an idea of what it looks like. If you like to hike, those trails are nice.
http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/the-swiss-path-and-southern-lake-lucerne
That is south of the boat ride Vitznau for the trip to the Rigi:
http://www.myswissalps.com/ri gi
When you came in from Milano, did you go on the scenic route over the Gotthard, or take the new fast tunnel under the Alps?
<<“Day 3 – Any recommendations?”>>
Did you check the link that Rockoyster provided?
Here it is again, as a sublink on the full Luzern page
http://www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne
Pilatus is very different from the Rigi.
Slowpoke
Attachments:
OOOPs0-
You have not yet come in from Milano-
my mistake.
so –
Rockoyster’s comment about the Gotthard Panoramic Express comes to miind.
There are two route main routes through the Alps between Italy and Switzerland.
To Luzern, the usual route is to go via the Gotthard Pass, because of excellent and frquent train service.
The passage though the Alps for years has been on the scenic Gotthard Pass route which mostly goes over the Alps, with some tunnels. Scenic, and masterpiece of rail engineering.
The new route, which is roughly 30 minutes faster, goes through the new “Gotthard Basis Tunnel” at high speed.
The scenery inside the tunnel is rather boring, 😉
The train ride over the pass, passing over the “Gotthard-Panoramastrecke” is combined with a boat ride from Flüelen to Luzern. The combination is called the Gotthard Panorama Express.
http://www.myswissalps.com/go tthardpanoramaexpress
I recommend that you consider it for your trip from Italy.
Reservations will be needed. It is possible to tale the same routing on regular trains and boats, if your schedule does not match the one train a day on the”Gotthard Panorama .
If you are exploring on the timetable, enter “Goeschenen? or “Gòschenen in the “via” box.
Slowpoke
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