In Lucerne you have the chance to visit two mountains, the Pilatus and the Rigi.

Pilatus

The mountain Pilatus was the first one on our to do list for that day. It is a mountain overlooking Lucerne and composed of several summits. The highest is named Tomlishorn and 2.128 meters high. There we took the cogwheel railway. This is the steepest one from Alpnachstadt. It is quite expensive to get up to the Pilatus (45€ per person), but I think it’s worth to do it. But the cogwheel railway is only opened from May to November. Another way to get up on the mountain are the aerial panorama gondolas and the aerial cableways from Kriens. They are opened the whole year. 

Once you’re up on the Pilatus, it is just amazing. You have so a beautiful and stunning view over Lucerne, the Lake Lucerne and the Alps. First you have to get used to the air on 2.128 meters of high. But as soon as you feel comfortable, you run around to see every corner of the Pilatus. After the first excitement, you can walk a path around the mountain. I saw tourists with flipflops there, but I think it is advantageous to wear sturdy shoes. Personally, I wore my alpine boots, because they are comfortable and they keep me grounded.

During the walk, we saw goats. We even had to climb over them, because they were lying on the path and didn’t intent to move.

After the walk, we ate something at their restaurant, but this reminds me more of a canteen as of a real restaurant. But the food was ok. After spending a few hours up on that mountain, we took the cogwheel railway to get down.

Rigi

This mountain is not that high as the Pilatus, but also impressive. It is also a massive of the Alps. Its main summit is named Rigi Kulm and is 1.798 meters above the sea level. Although the Rigi is famous for being a mount of Lucerne, its summit is located not in Lucerne, but in the canton of Schwyz. To get up on the mountain, you have to take the railway, the Rigi Railways, which is Europe’s oldest mountain railways.

But for me, the Rigi was a flop. As we took the railway to get up, we saw already the fog on the top of the mountain, but, as naiv as we are, we thought that this would disappear. As we arrived on the top, things went from bad to worse with the fog. We took a little walk on the mountain, but the fog was so tight that we could hear the bells of the cows, but we couldn’t see them. After staying almost half an hour on the Rigi, we decided to heading back to our hostel, because it wasn’t worth to stay there and getting sick by the end.

So one really important tip that I can give – it is not worth to pay for getting up to a mountain if you can already see the fog from the dale. We payed almost 37€ per person for getting up there, for only seeing fog. Don’t waste your money!