[DanW]

9 October 2018 at 16:33:12 #818643

My wife and I will be arriving Zurich airport Wednesday May 22 in the late afternoon at the end of our two week trip to Europe. We would like to spend as much time in Berner Oberland as we can. We just need to arrive Frankfurt by Sunday night for our flight back to the US early Monday morning.

I thought it would also be memorable to take a boat ride on Lake Lucerne and go up Mt Pilatus, but I don’t know if the Lucerne side-trip is worth the time. If we were to try it, would it make more sense to:

1. Spend Wednesday night in Lucerne and use the first part of Thursday doing the boat ride/Mt Pilatus, before taking the train over to Grindelwald Thursday afternoon? Or
2. Take the train straight over to Grindelwald Wednesday evening and try to catch Lucerne boat ride/Mt Pilatus on Sunday on our way to Frankfurt? Or
3. Same as #2, but take the train to Lucerne Saturday night to do the boat ride/Mt Pilatus Sunday morning before taking the train to Frankfurt?

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[Removed user]

10 October 2018 at 6:43:16 #897674

Hi DanW and welcome to MySwissAlps!

#2 would be too long a day I think (Grindelwald- Lucerne boat trip – Pilatus – Frankfurt).

• Check schedules/ connections here: http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable (timetables for next year are released in the coming weeks but it won’t change trip duration much, if any).

If you decide you want to add on Pilatus (http://www.myswissalps.com/pi latus) and Lake Lucerne (http://www.myswissalps.com/bo atlakelucerne) I’d do 1 night in Lucerne on your way in or out.

[DanW]

12 October 2018 at 19:53:31 #897675

I thought of a 4th option. Spend Wednesday night in Lucerne and take an early evening boat cruise on the lake. Do they run short cruises into the evening?

Then Thursday morning go up Mt Pilatus before continuing on to Grindelwald in the afternoon. How would I search the timetables to make the trip up Pilatus via gondola from Kriens and down the other side via cogwheel train to Alpnachstad?

As I am just beginning to research rail pass options as I formulate possible itineraries, how much of this trip would be covered by Regional-Berner Oberland pass? From the map, it looks like only the trip down Pilatus would be covered.

Alternatively, it looks like a 2-day Tell pass would cover a boat cruise, the entire Pilatus journey, and rail as far as Interlaken Ost. Does that sound right?

[Removed user]

13 October 2018 at 9:02:19 #897676

Hi DanW,

They do offer evening cruises on Lake Lucerne yes: http://www.myswissalps.com/bo atlakelucerne

You can search the timetable for Lucerne to Pilatus via Kriens or via Alpnachstad to give you those options. http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

The Regional Pass – Bernese Oberland covers the train to Alpnachstad (on the way to Pilatus) but doesn’t cover any trips up mountains in the Lucerne otherwise. You can see the PDF map as well as mountains covered by the pass here: http://www.myswissalps.com/re gionalpassberneseoberl and/validity

The Tell Pass is much better for trips around Lucerne but covers nothing once you arrive in Interlaken. http://www.myswissalps.com/te llpass/validity

The Swiss Travel Pass, while not as good as either pass for their own region, is probably a good option as it covers both areas pretty well and gives discounts to the mountains. It really will depend on what routes and mountains you decide to do. Use the spreadsheet here to compare costs between the various passes once you have settled on your daily itinerary. http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/ticketspasses/prac tical/chooserailpass