Luzern and Central Switzerland
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Luzern and Central Switzerland - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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1. Mt. Pilatus
To reach the mountain by cable car, get a bus from the train station in Luzern to the suburb of Kriens, where you catch a tiny, four-seat cable car that flies silently up to Fräkmüntegg (4,600 feet). From there, change to the sleek, multilevel 55-passenger cable car that sails through open air up the rock cliff to the summit station (5,560 feet). A 10-minute walk takes you to Esel, one of the central peaks that make up Pilatus. From a platform here, views unfold over the Alps and the sprawling, angular Lake Luzern. Once you reach the top, glorious views are everywhere. The flat main trail on the top leads in and out of the mountain, and comes replete with striking cavern windows that offer drop-dead-gorgeous vistas. The main view takes in Luzern, which looks like a toy village. The refurbished Hotel Pilatus-Kulm, once graced by Queen Victoria, features 27 rooms and three suites in Alpine-chic style. Meanwhile, it still feels like the 19th century in the restaurant, where the food is spiced up by the views just outside the elegant sash windows. There's also the simpler Hotel Bellevue in a more modern building; it has 20 rooms. A super variation for the trip from Mt. Pilatus to Luzern involves riding one of the steepest cogwheel trains in the country—often down gradients inclined nearly 48%—through four tunnels that pierce sheer rock, to Alpnachstad. From there, take the train or the ferry, which leaves from the jetty across from the train station, back to Luzern. The trip to Mt. Pilatus costs SF72 regardless of whether you start in Kriens or Alpnachstad. To go on to Engelberg, get off the Luzern-bound train at Hergiswil, where you can cross the tracks and climb aboard the small, private Stans–Engelberg train that heads up the Engelbergertal (Engelberg Valley).
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2. Verkehrshaus der Schweiz
Almost a world's fair in itself, the complex of buildings and exhibitions—both indoors and out—includes live demonstrations, dioramas, and a 1:20,000 scale photo of Switzerland that you can walk on in special slippers. Every mode of transit is discussed, from stagecoaches and bicycles to jumbo jets and space capsules. The museum also houses a planetarium and an IMAX theater. It's easily reached by steamer, car, train, or Bus 6, 8, or 24. If you're driving, head east on Haldenstrasse at the waterfront and make a right on Lidostrasse. Signs point the way.
Lidostr. 5, Luzern, Luzern, 6006, Switzerland041-3704444Sight Details
Rate Includes: SF32 -
3. Brunni
The best views of Titlis and the Engelberg mountain panorama are from the south-facing Brunni resort, reached by cable car then chairlift from Engelberg. It’s networked by pretty paths, including a barefoot route, and has facilities including several restaurants, a summer toboggan run, and a large playground.
Wydenstr. 55, Engelberg, Obwalden, 6390, Switzerland041-6396060Sight Details
Rate Includes: SF44 round-trip -
4. Gletschergarten
This tourist attraction, excavated between 1872 and 1875, uses light effects to illuminate stones that have been dramatically pocked and polished by Ice Age glaciers. A private museum on the site, the Alpineum, contains impressive relief maps of Switzerland, and there’s an elaborate 19th-century hall of mirrors that seems oddly out of place but is delightfully fun. A panoramic expansion affords views across Luzern and Central Switzerland’s mountainscape.
Denkmalstr. 4, Luzern, Luzern, 6006, Switzerland041-4104340Sight Details
Rate Includes: SF20 -
5. Mt. Titlis
Set 19 km (12 miles) south of Stans and towering over Engelberg, this is perhaps the most spectacular of the many rocky peaks that surround the Obermatt's long, wide bowl. Thanks to a sophisticated transportation system that benefits skiers, hikers, climbers, and sightseers alike, it's possible to ride a small cable car up to the tiny mountain lake (and famous ski area) called Trübsee (5,904 feet). From there, change and ascend to Stand to catch the famous Rotair cable car, which rotates to give 360-degree panoramas on its way up to the summit station on the Titlis. At the top is a multilevel structure that seems to conjure up Disney's Space Mountain: four rock-embedded, fortress-thick floors lead to stores, an ice grotto (serving drinks from a solid-ice bar), and a restaurant with views that take in the Jura Mountains, the Graubünden, and Bernese Alps.
Gerschnistr. 1, Engelberg, Obwalden, 6390, Switzerland041-6395050Sight Details
Rate Includes: SF96 round-trip -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
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6. Natur-Museum Luzern
Unusually modern display techniques bring nature lessons to life here. The museum focuses on local natural history, with panoramas of early Luzern settlers and live animals for children to meet.
Kasernenpl. 6, Luzern, Luzern, 6003, Switzerland041-2285411Sight Details
Rate Includes: SF10, Closed Mon. -
7. Stanserhorn
A two-part journey on a nostalgic 1893 funicular and an ultramodern, open-top cable car takes you to the Stanserhorn (6,200 feet), and from its peak you can see the Titlis, the highest point in central Switzerland. A "convertible" version of the cable car lets you feel the wind in your hair.
Stansstaderstr. 19, Stans, Nidwalden, 6370, Switzerland041-6188040Sight Details
Rate Includes: SF74 round-trip, Closed mid-Nov.–mid-Apr. -
8. Stoosbahn
The world’s steepest funicular railway, Stoosbahn, connects Schwyz/Morschach with Stoos, a pretty, car-free village amid mountains that look like sleeping dinosaurs. The funicular, which resembles a line of barrels, can climb to a record-breaking gradient of 110%. A 20-minute bus ride connects Schwyz with the valley station. In Stoos, transfer to the Klingenstock chair lift. From the top, there are spectacular panoramas of the fjord-like fingers of Lake Luzern, and it’s the starting point of the popular Stoos-Fronalpstock ridge hike.
Grundstr. 232, Schwyz, Schwyz, 6430, Switzerland041-8180808Sight Details
Rate Includes: SF48 return trip
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