MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial Lake Lucerne & Rigi after stay in Jungfrau region
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Hi,
I’m making a plan for my parents to visit Luzern. They will have one day in Luzern and before that, 3 days in Jungfrau region.
Our current plan is after Jungfrau, go back to Interlaken, take a boat trip to Brienz, take the train to Lucern and have one relaxing day there before coming home. My parents have the Eurail Pass so the boat trip on Lake Brienz is free.
However, upon knowing that it’s generally agreed on this forum that Lake Luzern is more impressive than Lake Brienz, my parents wonder if they should skip Lake Brienz and spend more time discovering lake Luzern and a mountain nearby, say Mt. Rigi. The problem is, they are currently visiting Norwegian fjords and it’s also said somewhere here that the topography of Lake Luzern is like a fjord :-). My parents are not sure if a boat trip on Lake Luzern is still worthy then? Besides, are Mt. Rigi and Mt. Pilatus much different from Jungfraujoch / Mt Schilthorn? Although my parents are natural lovers, they would welcome a change in scenes and experiences, not repetition, given their limited time.
To sum up, my parents may make a trip to Mt Pilatus / Rigi via Lake Luzern. But if it’s not worthy after what they’ll have visited, they can always spend the day at a more relaxing pace in Old Town Luzern. Any advice is appreciated please.
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Hi TVU732 –
<<“The problem is, they are currently visiting Norwegian fjords and it’s
also said somewhere here that the topography of Lake Luzern is like a
fjord :-). My parents are not sure if a boat trip on Lake Luzern is
still worthy then?”>>
I’ve never been in a fjord. I’ve seen pictures. The part of Lake Lucerne that is most like a fjord is probably the southern part, called der Urnersee (Lake Uri).
There are lot of pictures in the latter part of this thread showing that part of the lake, so your parents can see for themselves:
http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/the-swiss-path-and-southern-lake-lucerne
It is certainly true that in many places, mountains rise directly from the shore of the lake. But, other areas of the lake in thenorthern parts do not have that feature. My impression is that the topography and scenery around Lake Lucerne have a great deal more variety that the scenery along a fjord.
Rigi is different from the other mountains named. It barely rises above the tree line. Grass and trees. There is a nice village at Rigi-Kaltbad. I got some pictures on a cloudy day from up there (e were staying at the Hotel Bergsonne). Attached. Pilatus is craggy, with only a small area on top.
The Jungfrau region has mountains like that, but also has a lot of varied scenery and places, as in the attached images from near Männlichen, above Wengen. There are some nice villages. and nice villages.
The Rigi, Pilatus, Jungfraujoch, Schilthorn all have named pages on this website.
Search for their names. There are some pictures
Slowpoke
The Swiss lakes are rather different to the Norwegian Fjords – much larger population for a start – so bigger lakeside towns, more things to visit. I love both Lake Luzern and the Fjords.
The repetition issue with mountain tops is a bit of a difficult one, in some ways mountain tops are the same, in other ways they are all different. I hope you get what I am trying to convey here.
In other words the concept of mountain tops is generally the same, you go up on a mountain rack railway or cableway, reach the top station where there will usually be a restaurant and viewing terraces, normally it is then a short (sometimes also steep) walk to the actual peak of the mountain. From that summit you will get a panoramic view of surrounding mountains – in some cases 360 degrees. So all those elements are essentially the same. But, obviously, what you actually see will be different as you will be in a slightly different area of the Alps.
Hmmn… thought I added some pictures…..they are not there, so, here is another try. See earlier post for references.
Severll form the Rigi, which is the least craggy mountain of those listed, and so is a bit different. It still falls within 1960man’s generic description, but the nature of the terrain is different.
The one of the rack rail is to show just a bit of the scenery on the way up….less craggy , below the tree line. The last one is taken from the top of the Rigi.
A pair show the lake near Luzern and Bürgenstock. That is the northern part of the lake
The photo from the dock at Brunnen shows the nature of the southern part of the lake.
Slowpoke
Attachments:Thanks for your information and pictures. I think we’ll choose between Mt. Rigi and Mt. Pilatus based on:
– Which trip is less dependent on the weather?
– Which trip is shorter and easier to coordinate? (We prefer boat trip, train, and cable way, not bus.)
– Which one has better view of Lake Luzern and more varied scenes on the way?
From the photos, the view in EllenS’ photo is really picture-perfect, and it seems that the view from Mt Rigi is blocked by other peaks of similar height. Pictures may be wrong though so feel free to correct me.
Anway, whatever we choose, the general consensus here is to skip the Lake Brienz part and focus on Lake Luzern, is that right?
<<“Anway, whatever we choose, the general consensus here is to skip the Lake Brienz part and focus on Lake Luzern, is that right?”>
That is what I would do.
Slowpoke
<<“From the photos, the view in EllenS’ photo is really picture-perfect, and it seems that the view from Mt Rigi is blocked by other peaks of similar height. Pictures may be wrong though so feel free to correct me.”>>
Pilatus is higher. 2118 meters vs. 1797 meters at Rigi Kulm.
This map gives altitudes:
Some of my photos were taken from partway up the Rigi. Rigi Kaltbad is at 1433 meters, the Bergsonne at about 1471:
When you are the top (Rigi Kulm) you have extensive views in all directions, and no close by mountains block the views. Of course, you cannot see through Pilatus, but you can see around it and past it. If the weather is clear enough, you can see all the way to the Jungfrau and nearby peaks. You can check that by tracing the sight line on the above topo map (first link) , and you will see that nothing is in between to block the view.
You also have good views of the Uri Alps.
One night when we were staying at the Bergsonne, just above Rigi Kaltbad, we saw a lightning storm in the distance, over the mountains.
The next morning, with map in hand, we concluded that we were looking at the region near Zermatt or Brig and Visp.
Slowpoke
Thank you slowpoke. My parents are visiting Luzern soon. I believe they can’t go wrong with either choice, so what they choose will depend much on the weather. We found the webcams on the websites of Mt Pilatus and Mt Rigi very informative in our case.
Thanks for the links.
The webcams give an impression difficult to get any other way.
Slowpoke
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