Advice on whether to do Mt. Pilatus

Hi,

We are returning to Switzerland for our 2nd visit in late June 2017.

Our itinerary (still planning) is to:

Arrive in Zurich and take the train to Engelberg where we will be based for 6N. We will be doing Mt. Titlis plus taking the cablecars or mt transport to walk around Trubsee flower trails, enjoy the scenery at Jochpass and take some scenic walks in the village itself. Just want to chill out and take it easy.

After our 6N in Engelberg, we will head for Wengen for a 7N stay. We were in the Jungfrau region in 2012 and this time we want to do some repeat rides as well as do some walks which we missed on our first trip (e.g. from Mannlichen - KScheidegg, cable car from Mannlichen to Grindelwald Grund, First Flyer, First Cliff Walk, Grindelwald Gorge, Murren, Lauterbrunnen valley walk). We won't need to go up to Jungraujoch since that was done on our first trip.

My question is since we are doing quite a bit of mt. railways and rides during our stay at Engelberg and Wengen, is it necessary to do Mt. Pilatus when we make a day trip to Lucerne from Engelberg? Will it be mountain sensory overload and its there anything to do once we are up on Mt. Pilatus?

If the Mt. Pilates trip isn't vastly different from what we will be doing in Engelberg and the Jungfrau region, we would rather just walk around Lucerne and visit the bridge or transport museum or some other interesting places other than another mountain. We love mountain scenery but sometimes there can be too much of a good thing.

Any advice is appreciated.

Hi Traveljet-

6 nghts in Engelberg seems like a lot, in my opinion.

Are you hiking?

Do you have extensive plans?

Luzern could absorb a few days...

Slowpoke

Hi Slowpoke,

We are the sort who just want to soak in the atmosphere instead of rushing from place to place. So spending a few hours each day on a particular activity and just chilling out a few hrs after that is normal.

We are retired in our early 60's, enjoy good long walks rather than difficult hikes.

The accommodation in Lucerne is very expensive so we rather base in Engelberg (Hotel Schweizerhof). This is because Mt Titlis & the Trübsee flower trails are on our list. We can do a day trip or two to Lucerne. That will already take 4days (excluding arrival day when we rest from the jet lag).

Its always good to have an extra day or two incase of bad weather. But we are still planning, so still subject to change:

5N Engelberg (walks, Titlis, side trip to Lucerne) + 3N Murren+6N Wengen

Just wanted an opinion whether we should just skip Mt Pilatus since we are heading for the Jungfrau region. I know its subjective as everyone's preference is different. Nevertheless its good to hear different opinions on whether its still worth visiting Pilatus.

Hi Traveljet -

It is difficult to give opinions about personal preferences. Certainly, compared to Engelberg or most any place in the Jungfrau region except the actual mountain tops at Jungfraujoch and Schilthorn, Pilatus has a very limited amount of walking space and distance, but very nice views of the lake. The views from the Jungfrau and Schilthorn are alpine, and you are familiar with them. There are also some nice lake views from the trails around Schynige Platte....

The very steep cog-rail train to Pilatus from Alpnachstad is a unique event in its own right. See attached. It might be worth it just for the ride up and down

These links may help you:

www.myswissalps.com/pi latus

map.geo.admin.ch/?topic=swisstopo&lang=d e&bgLayer=ch.swisstopo .pixelkarte-farbe&X=203509.50&Y=66 2105.00&zoom=11&layers =ch.swisstopo.swissima ge-product

www.myswitzerland.com/ en-us/pilatus-the-world-s-steepest-cogwheel-train.html

And, I've attached 2 or 3 really old images from Pilatus....sorry about the technical quality.

I've only visited Engelberg briefly, but I think 6 days there might become a bit confining for me, and Luzern is a bit of a ride from there. If you weren't already planning 7 days in the Jungfrau region, I'd suggest shifting some time to there. Since you have been there, you know how much there is to do and see (if the weather is good.)

You are certainly wise to take this position:

<<"We are the sort who just want to soak in the atmosphere instead of rushing from place to place. So spending a few hours each day on a particular activity and just chilling out a few hrs after that is normal.">>

Certainly constantly moving from place to place is tiring and time consuming. Personally, I'd pick a place for a base with a wider range of types of easily accessible activities, but, now we are really dealing with personal preferences. No question that Luzern is expensive, so it may be a poor choice for a base in that regard.

Have you considered staying on the other side of Luzern, which would give you quick access to a wider range of activities?

This thread might suggest a place:

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/2-night-stay-at-luzern-vs-meggen

This walk is easier to access if you are staying near Luzern or around the lake:

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/the-swiss-path-and-southern-lake-lucerne

Hammetschwand is another nice place for an easy walk, and not far off the route between Luzern and Engelberg....but closer to Luzern.

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/the-hammetschwand-lift

See my draft comments in this thread and some pictures there:

www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/eating-economically-while-traveling

Slowpoke

Hi Slowpoke

Many thanks and gratitude for all your links & attachments.. I know it takes time to post all this and its very much appreciated.

I will definitely be going through them and will get back to the thread if I need further advice. We may even try the Stanserhorn too. So with 5 or 6 days in Engelberg, we can make 2 side trips to Lucerne if we wish. Mt. Titlis and walking trails are interesting enough for us to be based in Engelberg, although it is around 50min train ride to Lucerne. Cities dont do much for us unless they are truly scenic so Lucerne will probably be an exception. But I am open to another base provided the accomodations are nice enough.

Hopefully it wont be too packed when we visitaround June 19 to July 3 next year. We are trying to plan our vacation where we fly back by July 3rd to avoid the summer crowds. The main walk we must must do is the Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg. The Jungfrau alpine region is truly breathtaking. So spending 3N in Murren + 6 or 7N in Wengen is no problem.

Once again, many thanks for your input. Will go through the links etc. Warmest regards.

<<"Cities dont do much for us unless they are truly scenic so Lucerne will probably be an exception. ">>

See attached -

<<"The main walk we must must do is the Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg.">>

Gets my vote. The two small figures you see in Passing Tschuggen are my daughter and granddaughter.

Slowpoke

<<"The accommodation in Lucerne is very expensive ....">>

True. However, you might compare rates with the Hotel des Alpes in Luzern. Rooms are nice. Kitchen, not so much. Good views. Great location. Certainly does not have the Alpine ambience of Engelberg. Full of tourists, of course.

Mentioned on this list:

www.myswissalps.com/lu cerne/hotels

Slowpoke

Hi, Slowpoke,

Thanks for the attachments. Have read and watched more videos on Lucerne. Will definitely prefer a less touristy crowded place - Engelberg had a nice apline village feel which we like, even if it means a longer train ride to Lucerne for our side trip.

On our last trip we also stayed in Beatenberg n had a beautiful view of lake Brienz/Thun. We enjoyed Wengen so much esp Mannlichen and the gondola to Grindelwald. Looking forward to our return trip.

<<"Will definitely prefer a less touristy crowded place - Engelberg had a nice apline village feel which we like, even if it means a longer train ride to Lucerne for our side trip.">>

Nice to have such beautiful places to relax in without hordes of tourists..

Certainly, Luzern is as you describe... a bit less so in late June than later, but, still, a busy place.

Sounds like a great trip.

What do you think about Pilatus?

Slowpoke

Hi Traveljet,

If you have a cloudy day not suitable for mountain trips while you are staying in Engelberg, you could visit the monastery and its Cheese dairy - we can recommend the cafe for a nice lunch!

Maggie

Hi Maggie,

Yes we will visit the monastery probably on the first or 2nd day when we are still resting to get over any jet lag. Thanks for the tip.

Dear Slowpoke, I watched some videos on Mt. Pilatus- to be frank wasnt so impressed. Perhaps we have been spoilt by the alpine scenery in the Jungfrau region and also the spectacular ride to Jungfraujoch with the North face etc. Mt. Pilatus paled in comparison. We may give the ride a miss and just enjoy the lakeside and Old Town in Lucerne which can be done on just a one day trip from Engelberg. Many thanks for your info anyway.

I will find time to post some photos of my 2012 trip on a separate thread under trip report - tried to add some here but for some reason, they dont appear. It says photos must only be 1MB which is rather limited. I couldnt fit even 1 photo in this post. Will figure out when I have more time.

Hi traveljet,

Images produced by digital cameras are indeed very large, but a much smaller size is perfectly fine for the web. That will also load them much quicker when people view them, hence the limit. If you're not familiar with shrinking images on your computer, websites like www.picresize.com, kraken.io and many others do a good job. It would be great if you submitted a trip report!

Hi Arno,

Thanks for the advice. I will see if I can figure out the photo shrinkage issue. Have a lot of nice photos to share and will need to jog my memory of 4 yrs ago when I work on the trip report.

I was trying to do a quick test on the resizing but instead of the resized photos of Lake Brienz and Beatenberg (which I selected from my camera roll in iPad after downsizing) , all 3jpg photos of some train route appeared instead. Sorry now I cant seem to delete the 3 images.

Will sort this out over the weekend. Maybe it cant be done via iPad?

Hi traveljet,

I will delete those 3 images, no problem. Our website should work on any device including an iPad, but working with images is easier on a PC, in my opinion. Looking forward to your images!

Hi Traveljet -

<<"We may give the ride a miss and just enjoy the lakeside and Old Town in Lucerne which can be done on just a one day trip from Engelberg. Many thanks for your info anyway.">>

That was the purpose of the information....to let you decide for your self. I found the cograil train to be the best part of the experience, because I particularly enjoy the lake views as you go up and down.

It's not the Jungfrau region, for sure!

Slowpoke

Thanks Arno for removing the previous 3 attachments. I am testing again with a new photo.

Testing 2 photos via laptop. At least these two look fine. Looks like I have to add photos via my MacBook instead of my iPad. For some reason or other, the photos via iPad when attached morph into a train route schedule. Appreciate if you delete the earlier attachment.

By the way, is there a limit on how many words that can be typed into a compose window for the trip report? I take it that each message can take up to 1MB of photos? If so, then maybe I may need to separate into 2 or 3 parts, depending on what I can recall. However, photos sometimes speak louder than words and it will be nice to share pics for Beatenberg, Wengen, Murren Jungfrau and Appenzell, St Gallen.

These worked well, thanks for your efforts. The first is a bit small but the other is perfect to show people what to expect.

From the top of my mind (I can't access all technical details now), you can attach up to 10 files of 1 Mb each. After shrinking, my images of a reasonable size (1024 px wide for example) take much less than 0.5 Mb on average. There is a limit on the number of words, but it's a very high limit. I don't think anyone has reached it yet ;-)

Hi Traveljet

My digital photo files are also far too big to post so I have been following Arno's advice to use www.picresize.com so that I can post them on here and it is very easy to use. I do the conversions on my laptop and save them in a folder I call "resized photos" then upload them from that folder.

Maggie

Hi Arno, thanks. Glad the 2nd photo worked out find. Now I have a better idea of how much to shrink.

Hopefully my memory of the 2012 trip hasn't completely faded (the experience is still fresh but the transport details not so). I hope to work on a systematic trip report n photos so it can hopefully be a useful rather than general one.

Maggie, thanks - Unfortunately the links Arno sent didnt work on the iPad as the resized pics when attached morphed into a strange train route pic. But I found an alternative way regarding the downsizing.

I already have my fav photos in the iPad camera roll for fast access and viewing with friends. So I attach the actual photos from the camera roll into the iPad email compose window. Then, in the email window, I select eg "medium". Voila! the photos shrink automatically. I then email these resized ones to myself and save them on my laptop. I forgot the iPad email compose window has an option to choose the shrink the sizes (small, med, large or actual) for my photos so this is great.

Hi Slowpoke, thanks for your pics. Enjoyed seeing them and appreciated the effort.

Regards