Mount Pilatus
After our lovely first day in Lucerne we spent the second on Mount Pilatus, overlooking Lucerne. Pilatus is composed of several peaks, of which the highest (2,128.5 m [6,983 ft]) is named Tomlishorn.
There was an extra charge for the toboggan. It was an exhilarating experience. I highly recommended it. You can see the video I made of my run here
Next stop the Jungfrau Region
There are two popular ways to get to Mount Pilatus, the golden route and the silver. The golden route enables you to go from Lucerne to Alpnachstad by boat (black line) then up to the peak using the cog wheel train (red line) and down to Kriens via the cable cars (green line) then lastly you take a bus back to Lucerne (yellow line). The silver route omits the boat ride and instead you take the train back to Lucerne.
Knowing that a 40 min boat ride would not appeal to the boys we opted for the quicker method, the silver route.
But before I get to that, every blog I read it mentioned to check the weather of the peak.. it could be vastly different from the weather in the town. Make sure you go on a clear day.. again could differ from the town. So we checked the weather and it should it to be cold. So we dressed in layers.
We started by taking the free bus into town. Then we took another free bus to Kriens. On the bus we saw other people also heading to Pilatus who most definitely not dressed for a chilly mountain day.
After getting off the bus there is a 10 minute steep walk up to the cable car. We saw more people in shorts, t shirts and tank tops. We were starting to get a little concerned that we had dressed too warmly. It can't be that all of these people we wrong and only we had checked the weather at the peak..? Turned out we were the ones in the wrong and we had dressed to warmly :(
At the cable car station you buy your tickets. Thanks to the Swiss Travel Pass we got 50% off on all our tickets. There are multiple stops before you get to the peak. We got out at the first stop Krienseregg where there was a lovely playground.
Playground from up above.
Once the boys had their fill of the playground we boarded the cable car again and got off at the second stop Frakmuntegg. On this stop there were many activities like zip lining, obstacle courses as well as a toboggan run. We went straight for the toboggan run!
Once we were done we took the cable car, this one named the Dragon Ride to the summit.
The first thing we did when we got to the summit was have lunch. We ate at the Pilatus Klum restaurant. Many place in Switzerland did not have hostess' seating you, you just had to grab the first table you could find. Many couple even shared tables. So we hovered until we were able to find a spot.
Lunch was very good. No pictures to share. And look at that view!
Afterwards we headed off to hike Tomlishorn. Which to our dismay was closed. So instead we hiked Oberhaupt.
We got some ice cream to cool down and then got in line for the cog wheel train. This Pilatus railway is considered to be the steepest rack railway in the world built in 1873. It is a 40 minute journey down to Alpnachstad.
Once in Alpnachstad we caught a train back to Lucerne.
We ate pizza at La Bestia. Blueberry walnut, if you could even fathom such a thing!
What an amazing trip with spectacular views! Lucky you :)
ReplyDeleteOh wow the view is amazing!!!
ReplyDeleteJennifer
Curated by Jennifer
What a great adventure. It's odd that the weather check was so inaccurate.
ReplyDeleteThe toboggan looks really fun.
What a memorable adventure.
ReplyDeleteBernie,
The Style Fanatic
Sounds like an exciting adventure! And what magnificent views!
ReplyDeleteThe views are spectacular!
ReplyDeleteHappy Monday, Hena!
Oh wow it looks like a fantastic day with such great sites and even fun things for the kids to enjoy! It always amazes me the combos people dream up for their pizzas :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous adventure you are having. Enjoy!!
ReplyDeleteThat looks like so much fun! What a wonderful family!
ReplyDeleteFantastic photos! The taboggan run is precious. Will have to eatch a few times.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos of the scenery! Mount Pilatus seems so familiar... I need to pull out my 50 years old photo albums and see if I went there!
ReplyDeleteOh very beautiful view
ReplyDeleteThe photos are amazing
What a fun time you had in Switzerland. It's such a beautiful place, and Nel just visited there this week. I like that picture of the steps climbing up to the opening. The blueberry walnut pizza sounds different, but looks delicious. The views that you got on camera were spectacular! What a fun and memorable trip!
ReplyDelete~Sheri
**I like the name Olivia too, thank you for sharing. ; )
what stunning views!! gosh the photos were beautiful :)
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like such a neat area to explore! I often struggle with how to dress for mountain tops (especially when hiking!) as it can be cooler at the top but I have found that it's not ALWAYS colder at the top. At least you had a beautiful clear day to see so nice and far.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you had a fabulous holiday by all those sweet smiles. The scenery is breathtaking! Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteA perfect day! Thanks for sharing this amazing view with us... I am a little curious, though: what was the verdict on that blueberry & walnut "pizza"?
ReplyDeleteThe views are absolutely exhilarating and it looks like you had perfect weather!
ReplyDeleteWow, what stunning views. At least you weren't too cold. It would have been a miserable day if you all had been too cold.
ReplyDeleteHell yeah what bloody nice views I like
ReplyDeleteThe view from up above is something worth going up there.
ReplyDeleteOh wow! Such an amazing place to see for sure:)
ReplyDeleteThe views are so beautiful! What a fun place to visit!
ReplyDeleteWow, what an adventure, and the view is absolutely breath-taking! xxx
ReplyDeleteWow! The scenery looks spectacular and those views are so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteJulia x
https://www.thevelvetrunway.com/
What an incredible view! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.kathrineeldridge.com
What a great trip! The toboggan run looks fun! We went on something similar in the Smokey Mountains last year. I can't imagine blueberry and walnuts on a pizza!
ReplyDeleteWow, what a wonderful adventure. Those views are majestic! I always slightly obsess over dressing right for the weather on trips lol...better safe than sorry though and dress in layers. Happy travels!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous photos! But blueberry walnut pizza?
ReplyDeleteThat is quite an amazing view! The toboggan sounds so fun too.
ReplyDeleteMount Pilatus is so beautiful and I love the mountains. What a wonderful trip to Switerland.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, such beautiful views! This sounds like such a fun trip, especially the zip lining and the toboggan runs. You also have me super curious about blueberry walnut pizza!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful view
ReplyDeletehttps://www.melodyjacob.com/2023/07/whats-meaning-of-flower-colors.html
I've never been on a cable car but that entire trip looks like fun.
ReplyDeleteThat appears to be a wonderful time! What a beautiful and loving family!
ReplyDeletewww.melodyjacob.com
great place.... beautiful view
ReplyDeletewow...i have been following on IG but these pictures are amazing. we had the same problem with mt. washington when we got to the top. very low visability!!
ReplyDeleteYou had a very beautiful and joyfull Tryp to Switzerland. Seeing the fabulous mountains of this country. I like so much the photographs that you posted. Have a nice summer.
ReplyDeleteWow, wow and wow. That looks like a fabulous day. Thank you for showing some of the highlights. How was that unusual pizza?
ReplyDeleteI can't fathom that pizza combo but it looks delicious. That toboggan run looks amazing. What a fun trip so far!
ReplyDeleteI’m really enjoying reading about your family’s trip to this beautiful location! Wonderful photos too!
ReplyDeletethis looks like a really fun day. that's a great tip about checking the weather at the top before you go to make sure it's clear. Those views are fantastic!
ReplyDelete