Mt. Pilatus Logistics
 

My wife and I will have two open days in Luzerne Sunday and Monday, May 26 and 27 and want to take the Mount Pilatus excursion. We’d like to wait until we get to Luzerne to purchase tickets in order to pick the best weather day. We’d prefer to take the train to Frakmuntegg and purchase tickets for the Cogwheel up, spend a bit of time at the summit and take the gondola down to Kriens and the bus back to the Luzerne train station.Do you think Mt. Pilatus will be jammed with tourists at that time of the year – and making purchasing an advance (Golden or Silver) package necessary – or is it prudent to wait and purchase on site? Can we assume that we can purchase the cog and gondola tickets at the base at Frakmuntegg – and can we use a credit card?
Thanks in advance to our Fodor friends.

In May there should not be crowds at Pilatus one would think - and after many days in Lucerne in past I rarely saw Pilatus poke its head out of smog or clouds - I'd wait until there.

Thanks. Shall I assume from your answer that we can buy the Pilatus trip (up the Cogwheel and down the gondola) when we're there?

Yes in May certainly even in summer - never heard of it being too full. But neckervd, our resident Swiss local along with another whose name is too unusual and long for me to remember - they hopefully will chime in too. Nice to take a boat to Alpnachstad then thrilling train to summit and cable down to suburban Lucerne for bus back to town center.

No local people would buy this kind of ticket more than 1-2 hrs ahead.

That's good to know. Assuming the weather is good, we'll likely take the train to the cogwheel, the gondola back to Luzerne and take a boat ride on the next day.

We did this very trip just as you are doing it and purchased everything there; no worries at all. It was a great outing!