[Anonymous]

6 October 2017 at 17:26:34 #813449

Hi, Any suggestions you would have for 3 days & 4 nights in Vitznau?

We will have a car but I’d prefer to park it at the hotel and then take rail, boats and cogwheel. We want to visit Luzern; take a trip to Mount Pilatus and Mt. Rigi, and maybe travel by rail to Interlaken and/or Bern. I understand that the cable car and gondola, and perhaps even some boats will not be running during our visit – Nov. 2-5, 2017, so how would we get to Mt. Pilatus?

Would it be advantageous to get the Swiss Half Fare Card since we will be traveling by boat to and from Luzern from Vitnau and possibly by rail to Interlaken or Bern on one of our days?

Do you know what the round trip cost for a boat/ferry to and from Luzern to Vitznau would be? Also, any suggestions for restaurants in Luzern, Vitznau and Bern or Interlaken? Do you know if the paddleboat steamer will be running during our visit? Thank you for any help you can give us.

This is our first visit, albeit short, to Switzerland and we’d like to see as much as possible in the few days we are there. We are not hikers or skiers. Thanks again for any help you can give us.

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[rockoyster]

Reply 1 of 9 • 6 October 2017 at 22:08:33 #870676

Hi LynnZee and Welcome to the MySwissAlps Forum,

To try to answer some of your questions . . . .

I understand that the cable car and gondola, and perhaps even some boats will not be running during our visit – Nov. 2-5, 2017, so how would we get to Mt. Pilatus?

The cog-wheel railway from Alpnachstad will still be running to top of Pilatus. You can reach Alpnachstad by train or boat from Luzern.

Would it be advantageous to get the Swiss Half Fare Card since we will be traveling by boat to and from Luzern from Vitnau and possibly by rail to Interlaken or Bern on one of our days?

You can use the SBB timetable (http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable) to work out the full-fare for any route. For ferries you need to select BAT/BAV in the Advanced Search. Note that the first price you see will most likely assume you have a half-fare card if it says “from . . .”.

The break-even point is reached if you plan to spend twice the cost of a Swiss Half Fare Card on full fare tickets. After that the SHFC starts to save you money. You may find a 3-day Swiss Travel Pass more convenient as you then don’t need to bother buying individual tickets. Cost would probably be covered by free Pilatus and Rigi trips. See http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass

You can also get to Luzern via bus/train from Vitznau. Or over Rigi to Arth-Goldhau and on to Luzern (for something different).

Do you know what the round trip cost for a boat/ferry to and from Luzern to Vitznau would be?

See timetable search referred to above.

Do you know if the paddleboat steamer will be running during our visit?

For the ferries a much reduced winter timetable comes into play on 23 October. See 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_B B.pdf It appears the paddle steamers (normally shown by a little paddle steamer icon on the timetable) do not operate in winter.

[User]

Reply 2 of 9 • 9 October 2017 at 4:23:20 #870677

Thank you so much, Rockoyster, for all this great information. I will check it all out in order to make the best decisions. This website is absolutely wonderful:-)

[User]

Reply 3 of 9 • 9 October 2017 at 15:33:46 #870678

Hi Lynzee-

<<“Would it be advantageous to get the Swiss Half Fare Card since we will be traveling by boat to and from Luzern from Vitnau and possibly by rail to Interlaken or Bern on one of our days?”>>

Rockoyster has given you a very complete answer, including the correct way to cost out rail travel options.

I’ll add a guesstimate.

Based on what you describe as your plans, especially if you go up to the Rigi and/or Pilatus, or add the trip to/from Interlaken, my guess is that the Half-fare card at 120 CHF will probably pay for itself. However, it will probably be close, that is, not a whole lot better. If you were to include a bit more long range travel for a few more days, I’m sure it would save you money. It also will give you a roughly 50% discount on local trams and buses, and on a day card for Luzern, if you wish to use the city’s buses.

Interlaken –

The real treat at Interlaken is to go further in the valley to Lauterbrunnen take the cograil train ( which will be running) at least as far as Kleine Scheidegg, returning via either Wengen/Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald.

With your case in Vitznau, I might tend to drive to Lauterbrunnen to save some time, then take the cograil train. One hour 15 mintes from Luzern, but more like one hour and 35-45 minutes from Vitznau (Check the timetable after October 18th, when the new edition comes out). Adding the trip on slow mountain railways makes a very long day. Public transport from Vitznau takes about 2 hours 15 minutes to Lauterbrunnen, and the journey over the Brunig Pass is reasonably scenic.

After October 18th, when the new timetable is available , check the timetable for November 4th, and the transport to Schilthorn up from Lauterbrunnen. They shut down for maintenance in November, but I thought it was later in the month. If it is running, that would be quite adventure. You could even drive as far as Stechelberg and park near the base of the cableways.

Bern is closer and nice for a short day trip. Once per hour, one hour trip, on the hour, from Luzern..

Trains at intermediate times taking a bit more time run several times per hour.

Slowpoke

[User]

Reply 4 of 9 • 11 October 2017 at 5:37:00 #870679

Sloepoke, you’re wonderful. I just saw a TV show about Switzerland & the Lauterbrunnen area & also Schilthorn. And they talked about the cogwheel train. I will definitely look into taking that day trip. Since we have a car, that’s a great suggestion to drive to Lauterbrunnen & then take the cogwheel to Schilthorn. Thank you again for all your suggestions. 😉

[User]

Reply 5 of 9 • 11 October 2017 at 8:04:44 #870680

Hi LynZee68 –

Sorry, i was not clear.

The cograil train does not run to Schilthorn; you will use cableways…cable cars with large cabins. The German word for this kind of cableway is “die Luftseilbahn”, so you will see “LSB” as an abbreviation in the timetable:

http://www.myswissalps.com/sc hilthorn

This explains the routes for getting up there. Both go through Mürren:

http://www.myswissalps.com/sc hilthorn/gettingthere

The cograil runs from Lauterbrunnen up through Wengen to Kleine Scheidegg thence down to Grindelwald. At Kleine Scheidegg, another connecting cogwheel train goes up to Jungfraujoch.

http://www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfraujoch/gettingther e

This map may help. In the menu, under “Traffic” turn on “Mountain Transport.” Do it after you zoom in to the Jungfrau region or the whole map will be obscured by blue dots for the stations.

map.search.ch/?pos=638864,158584&z=32 &poi=bergbahn,parking.

I have zoomed in to a level which shows the rail lines, as well.

Slowpoke

[User]

Reply 6 of 9 • 12 October 2017 at 17:17:06 #870681

Thanks, again, Slowpoke, for your many great suggestions. We will try to fit in a trip to Schilthorn if time allows. This forum is so very helpful and you have been terrific. Thank you again. We are getting more and more excited as our holiday approaches.

[User]

Reply 7 of 9 • 12 October 2017 at 18:51:55 #870682

Glad I could help. Enjoy your trip. You are going to wish you had more time, even in November. 😉

Slowpoke

[User]

Reply 8 of 9 • 13 October 2017 at 5:15:55 #870683

I know! I’m already trying to talk my boyfriend into going back with me next year. He’s going to be sorry he didn’t come with me this time:-) Danke nochmal fur eure hilfe!

[User]

Reply 9 of 9 • 13 October 2017 at 8:05:18 #870684

<<“Danke nochmal fur eure hilfe!”>>

Bitte sehr. Eine gute Reise!

Slowpoke