Hi, we will be in Luzern for 3 days in June. We would like to take day trips to the mountain towns by train and return to Luzern the same day. What towns should we visit? Al

Engelberg.

A boat trip along the length of the Lake Lucerne to Flüelen.

Brienz/Meiringen

You have several options:

Take the boat on Lake Lucerne to the various small towns. Froma couple you can take either the cogwheel train or the cable car to the top of Mt. Pilatus or Mt. Rigi.

You can also take the train to Interlaken and from there up the Jungfrau. (But call Jungfrau train station before you go. Often it is sunny in the valley but cloudy higher up in the mountains - meaning you'll see nothing.) From Interlaken there are ahost of cute towns you can take the train to. I esp like Wengen.

I think it's possible to take the train down and back to Lugano. It's a beautiful city and it's a different aspect to Switzerland. Ticino is nice. Take a few hours and have a nice lunch.

Blackduff

When we were in Luzern last year, the only daytrip we took was to Pilatus. We then shifted base to Lauterbrunnen, which is in the B.O. and it was easier getting up into the mountains from there.

Going up to Jungfrau from Luzern is going to be a long trip, from what I remember. There are lots of other places you could daytrip to from Luzern. Maybe some Swiss experts will give you some advice.

In under two hours you can travel by train to the pretty little town of Engelberg, then take the titlis Rotair (cable car system) up to Mt. Titlis.
The trip up requires two changes of gondolas (I recommend stopping halfway up at Trubsee, a mountain lake, to have a picnic, then continue up over the glacier fields in a revolving gondola)---I liked this trip better than the other "big mountains...ie Jungfrau."

I echo the others who say to spend the time in the area around Luzern, rather than venturing as far as the Berner Oberland given the short time frame. The beauty of the lake area is astounding and you will get a real flavor of the beauty of Switzerland. We also stayed in Wengen, but I think just doing a day trip to that region would be taxing, and not necessary given all the other wonderful things closer to Luzern.

I do not have too much specific advice; my husband took the kids up Mt. Pilatus while I did something else with my oldest, and the pictures were wonderful! (if you have kids, they have a great ropes course and an alpine slide). We just relaxed by the lake in Vitznau, but given more time we would have explored the area more. However, the time we spent just by the lake was absolutely magical!

Vitznau is a very small town, and if you want to make a stop in a town (in addition to going up Rigi) you might look into Weggis, which is bigger and probably would have a lake view restaurant.

I did the reverse of this a couple of years ago...we were staying in Grindelwald, and the weather was poor for hiking or seeing anything in the mountains, so we decided to daytrip to Luzern. While it was a worthwhile trip, it is also a 3-hour train ride (with the change at Interlaken Ost) from point-to-point, so we spent 6 hours on trains to have 3-4 hours to hoof it around Luzern.

So, for my time, I'd probably do more local trips as suggested above...the time we spent was certainly good in our particular situation (bad weather in the mountains, but OK for city tromping), but overall, a lot of time on a train when it isn't necessary isn't a good day for me. My parents have done the Titlis trip, and Engleberg as well, and thoroughly enjoyed that trip.

<b>I liked this trip better than the other &quot;big mountains...ie Jungfrau.&quot;</b>

Jungfrau - elevation 3578
Titlis - elevation 3020

So, I don't Jungfrau isn't too much really higher. It's how the ascent is different.

So, I would think both should be called high mountains.

Blackduff - voting for day trips to Titlis

Thanks for all the replies. Keeping in mind that we would like to see mountains, would it be better if we stay in Interlaken? Al Meilan

Al
If you stay in Interlaken, you'll still have to take a train to the mountains. You'll have to head towards the first train to Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen. Then you will take another train up to Kline Shidegg (sp??) and then change over to the train which brings you to the top of Jungfrau.

This brings you to the top of Jungfrau after taking most of the morning.

From Lucern to Titlis takes 37 kms. That's about 20 miles. Titlis is located in Engleberg-this is elevation of 1,000. This valley has three or more large mountains in that valley. Titlis is the higher certainly but the other mountains are important too.

If you want to walk around in the mountains, Titlis is good but the back side of this mountain has another ski area. I think this is called Melche Fruit (I really killed the spelling on this)and it's a great ski area and even better for walking in the summer time.

SkateDancer posted about Vitzau (sp?). I think that this is where the steam train which rides up to Rigi. You can ride up the the mid-level and then walk the distance. Rigi gives great views over the Alps.

You want to see the mountains but if you sit at the terrace cafes and sip a drink, you can watch a large selection of big mountains. Lucern gives a beautiful view of the Alps.

Blackduff