[RoseK]

16 June 2019 at 19:18:28 #822306

This is a report for a short trip, early May, with my 10 years old son.

My two cents, before the details:

1. May is a surprising period. Two weeks before the trip I’ve seen clean hiking trails in web cameras of Rigi and Mürren. But after a snowy week, we reached to deep snow covered trails. The other hand, we had awesome scenic views of low snow line.
2. The Swiss Travel Pass made the trip comfort and flexible. No worry about ticket purchase. We were prepared to change the plans according to the weather.
3. SBB app – comfort, reliable, very useful. (play.google.com/store/ apps/details?id=ch.sbb.mobile.andro id.b2c&hl=en_US)
4. Weather app – I used MeteoSwiss which gave me detailed forecast, for each interest point, in hours level. Very useful while preparing each day according to the forecast. (play.google.com/store/ apps/details?id=ch.admin.meteoswiss &hl=iw)

Day 1

Arrival to Luzern from Basel airport at 18:00, still at daylight. Sunset is late – a great benefit of this season. After arranging at the hotel, we still had time for a short trip in the city. Right near the hotel there was a great view point to the Pilatus. It stood there, looked very close, covered by snow from top to bottom. A week before our arrival, the mountains had got a lot of snow.

Each day, at that view point, we followed the snow line going upper and upper.

Day 2

One day trip to Bernese Oberland area – Schilthorn.

Luzern-Interlaken express – We were totally fascinated by the scenic sights of this journey. The beautiful shores of Lake Lungern were already covered with snow, which became deeper while the train climbed higher.

The views of Lauterbrunnen valley, and the cablecar to Grütschalp were breathtaking. The valley was green, but on the side of the mountain the trees were shimmering with snow, and the landscape gradually turned white. Our plan was to walk from Grütschalp to Mürren, but we gave it up because the area was covered by deep snow. We still enjoyed the wonderful sights on the bus ride. Walking in Mürren, from the bus stop to the cable car station in the snowy landscapes, while the Jungfrau side opposite, was unforgettable.

The day was partly cloudy, and the rise to Schilthorn was most of the time in the clouds, but from the top we could still see the three famous peaks.

After the beautiful descent to Schtechelberg, we were too tired to walk to Leuterbrunnen. We got on the bus and went down a little before Lauterbrunnen, so we enjoyed walking a while in this amazing place.

Day 3

Trip to Mt. Rigi. This was a sunny day, and from the boat to Rigi we could enjoy the amazing views around Lake Lucerne. The climb to Rigi by the cogwheel train was beautiful, and the landscapes quickly changed to white. There was an excellent visibility at Rigi Kulm. We could see the beautiful views of the snowy mountain slopes, lake Lucerne, and the surrounding mountains. We planned to walk from Rigi Kulm to Rigi Kaltbad, but again we had to give it up.

When we came back to Lucerne, we still had time to walk by the lake and enjoy this beautiful city.

Day 4

This day was rainy. The snow line of the Pilatus was already much higher than the first day…

We spent this day visiting our relatives, and then by train to Basel for the back flight at 6:00 am.

Because of the early flight, we spent the last night in a hotel in Saint Louis. We had a difficult to find the correct buses from Basel SBB to Saint Louis. The SBB App didn’t show it, because it was on the French side of Basel. The tourist information office at Basel SBB gave us guidance, that didn’t appear on Google Maps – line 11 to Schifflände, then line 604 (French bus) to Saint Louis.

I want to describe the experience of public transport in Switzerland. The spacious trains allow comfortable ride in front of large windows to the nice view.

The staff are kind and helpful. Thanks to the ticket controller who saw us standing in a full carriage, and recommended us to cross three first-class carriages to reach another second-class carriage, which was almost empty.

The toilets in the trains and train stations are clean and comfortable, and most of the times free.

Summary: This was an unforgettable experience for us.

We got great help on this site and forums, from the initial planning stages, to detailed travel planning tips. Thank you, http://www.myswissalps.com/.

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[Removed user]

17 June 2019 at 6:05:08 #915344

Hello Rose and welcome back home!

Thanks a million for sharing your experiences with us, including the fantastic pictures and of course also for the nice appreciation of our forum.

We’re glad to hear we’re able to provide helpful support.

Already planning your next trip..?! 😉

Take care and thanks again.

Best,
Steph

[rockoyster]

17 June 2019 at 10:08:20 #915345

Thanks for sharing. Love that “Schilthorn above the clouds” shot. 😎

[RoseK]

17 June 2019 at 21:03:29 #915346

Thank you Steph.

As you wrote, I got a lot of information and advices here. I really appreciate it.

I’m still not planning my next vacation, but sure that will be in Switzerland again…

[RoseK]

17 June 2019 at 21:12:14 #915347

I guess the sight without the clouds is much more impressive… But the weather gave us two full days without rain. We couldn’t ask for anything better than that.

[TUKAIKOL]

1 July 2019 at 12:30:47 #915348

Hi Rose,

Can you help me with these two queries

1. Lucerne where do you stayed..Can you share the name of the hotel.

2. Why you visited Rigi and Pilatus and left out Titlis. If one has the option to visit only one what should be your advise.

[RoseK]

1 July 2019 at 19:45:34 #915349

Hi TUKAIKOL,

1. We stayed at ibis budget Luzern City.

2. We visited especially Mt Rigi for two reasons:

• There are many easy hiking trails on Mt. Rigi. We wanted to walk from Rigi Kulm to Rigi Kaltbad. Finally we gave up this plan, because the mountain was covered by deep snow.
• Mt. Rigi is 100% covered by Swiss travel pass. Mt. Pilatus and Mt. Titlis are 50% covered. For our first trip to Switzerland, I saw no reason to do the more expensive trip.

Rose