Take train up or down on Pilatus Golden Roundtrip?

September 2016 we are planing a day trip from Basel to Lucerne & Mt. Pilatus and the Golden Roundtrip seems to work well for our group of 6. We plan to take the train to Lucerne but then see that there are options for getting up and back to Mt. Pilatus; 1) boat, train, gondolas, bus or 2) bus, gondolas, train, boat. Your thoughts along with is 1st class worth the additional cost. The ticket resellers seem to offer version #2 which seems more restrictive due to the fixed timetable for the return train & boat.

Welcome FLGolfer!

Option 1 and 2 are exactly the same apart from the direction of traveling. So there's basically no preference for one or the other. A reason for option 2 could be to reach the top a bit earlier, when the sky is is clearer (on average, do check the forecast). Taking the boat back indeed means you have to take the timetable into account as it does not run very frequently.

First class only applies to the boat and it's not essential. You can consider it if you like a bit more space and the option to sit on the upper deck (that's usually where first class is).

Please see our Pilatus page for further details.

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