This is my husband and I's first time to Switzerland (we are in our mid 20s)- we will be traveling from Germany (mid November) and have about 4-5 days to see the Lucerne area. We are trying to figure out an itineray... Any suggestions for restaurants, bars, attractions? ... any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! =)

Hi megan_le,

This is just off the top of my head:

Arrival day: scope out the sights right in town, like the Weinmarkt Square, Kornmarkt Square, Altes Rathaus, Hirschenplatz, Kappellbruecke, Spreuerbruecke, Jesuitenkirche, the Lion Monument, and the Musegg Walls. There is also a Transportation Museum if you want to explore the history of trains in Switzerland. These sights are all in or close to the historic town center.

On the next day, take an excursion to one of the mountain peaks nearby: Pilatus, Rigi, or Titlis (www.pilatus.ch, www.rigi.ch, or www.titlis.ch).

On the third day, take a long ferry ride around the lake, stopping in one or two of the lakeside villages to explore.

On the fourth day, either cool out, shop, go back to your favorite sights, or rent a bike from the train station and cycle along the lake.

My favorite restaurant is the Rotes Gatter in the Des Balances hotel -- great food and fabulous views.

Sorry, I'm not up on the great bars --

You can get much more information (including a cyber guided tour of the town) at www.luzern.org and ferry schedules at www.lakelucerne.com.

Hope this helps.

s

Lucerne is a nice city. If you do a cable car ride to the top of Pilatius don't make the mistake we did on our first trip there years ago: We thought the fog would clear as we went higher. It did not. We arrived at the top of the mountain to look at ....nothing. It was all fogged in. The post cards of the view looked fantastic. We had a good laugh and headed down.

INTERLAKEN is not that far away if you have time to explore. BERN is also not all that far. We toured the national Parliament a few years ago and watched the Swiss assembly in action for a few minutes from the gallery.

BARS? Don't remember any and never try to anyway. I am sure they have a few.

The only bar I know about is Mr Pickwick, right on the river, next to Hotel des Alpes. It's English-pub style... we had a beer or wine right around sundown and looked over at Mt Pilatus on the other side of the river...
We stayed at a plain-but-clean hotel about 1 block behind the Jesuit Church (see a map) and near the other wooden bridge (close to the Musegg Wall). Our twin/dbl was about $90, including some breakfast. It is across from a small church whose bells ring quite a bit. My husband thought it bothered him, but now he says he'd go back to same hotel should we revisit.
We walked to the hotel from the train station - it's about 800 meters or 1/2 a mile.

http://www.goldener-stern.ch/hotel_e.htm

I would suggest a train ride to the village of Engelburg ... it is the "end of the line". It is a lovely village ringed by the alps. I have been twice - just for the quiet time it afforded me on trips with students.

Hello Megen,
I'm going to assume that if you are in your mid-20s, cost might be an issue. If incorrect, apologies in advance.

For reasonably priced restaurants with good food:
1. Des Alpes has very good fondue, raclette and gemischter salads. Nice view of Reuss and Pilatus, too.

2. Cafe Hug in the Altstadt next to the Spreurbrucke also is on the river and has great pastries, wonderful Raclette (can you tell I like that) and very good prices. Try their sunporch overlooking the river.

3. Restaurant Fritschi--near the Manor dept store--very good schnitzel

As for things to do:
1) do a city walk across the two covered wooden bridges over the Reuss (Kappelbrucke and Spreuerbrucke) and then hike around the medieval ramparts. You can climb into one or two of the towers--though they close them during the winter months, which might include november.

2. Lowendenkmal--Lion monument--great carving into a stone cliff--must be seen.

3. Bourbaki Panorama--near the Lowendenkmal. This 360 degree panorama of the surrender of french troops during the Franco-Prussion war (if memory serves) is amazing. Quite moving.

4. Boat trips may or may not be operating in November. But if you have a warm day and the boats are operating, it can be fun. Might combine with a trip to Pilatus, taking a gondola up, a cogwheel down (if it operates in Nov) and a boat back to Luzern.

5. Transport Museum is interesting.

6. Visit the beautiful churches: Jesuitenkirche on the Reuss, Franziskaner church nearby, Hofkirche not far from Bourbaki Panorama.

7. for a hokey, but fun time, you might go for the lunch or dinner show at the Stadtkeller restaurant. They have this "Swiss cabaret" type show, with people singing, yodeling, alpen-horning and clowning around. It's fun, even though you know it's a touristy thing.

Luzern is not a late nite hotspot, and I'm old enough not to spend much time seeking them out. But it does have a casino that younger folks seem to like, Mr. Pickwick's mentioned above, draws a younger crowd, and I recall seeing a disco next door to Fritschi's.

Luzern is a great place to visit. Enjoy your time there.

I think Lucerne was one of my favorite places on my first trip to Europe. It was so beautiful, so relaxing. I can't tell you any names of places that we ate and I don't think I oo'd and ah'd over the food particularly but it was good. Had fondue a couple of times..I'm a cheese-a-holic..Mt. Pilatus was just amazing..no fog that day..I will say the gondola ride up was..well, not for the faint of heart. Had a funny experience in one of the restaurants..I thought I had gotten rid of all my French francs so went to pay for dinner and somehow I had missed a few franc notes..the waitress took a look at them and threw them back down on the table and said quite abruptly.."Frenchie, Frenchie, NO GOOD!!!" My jaw dropped I think but I went in my wallet and pulled out my VISA card and said back.."VISA, VISA, GOOD?" To this day when my brother and I get together and there's something we don't like we say "Frenchie, Frenchie, NO GOOD"! Anyway, aside from the Lion Monument and the rest, this is just the greatest place to stroll around, I think you will love it there.

tagging

Two additional suggestions. The Rosengart Collection is a wonderful little art museum. And if the price is not too daunting, have dinner at The Old Swiss House--the food is excellent and the staff could not be friendlier.

Bars? I love going to the Cucaracha in the Schiller hotel. They have an excellent happy hour with nice snacks. Super Marguaritas. If you like Mexican, there food is very good too. It's located in the newer part of town.

At night, you can head up to the top of the Schiller. There's a real "in" bar on top for younger people.

Two more restaurants:

1. La Lupin between the Löwendenkmal and the end of the old city. Good food and reasonable prices.

2. Someone mentioned Manor, a department store. Actually, if you go into Manor and go to the top floor, they have a nice self-service restaurant with good food. They also have seating on the roof for a nice view. Of course in November, the roof seating might be closed.

Stadtkeller might be closed in November too. However, check Luzern events in their website and you might catch a real yodel concert somewhere in town.

November is always very IFFY with the weather. Last year we had a splendid November with perfect hiking weather. But that was almost a bit unusual for us.

I love Luzern for the town and the surrounding areas. I live about 40 min. away.

Travel chic, Lucerne spent a lot of money building a new cultural venue with a great symphony hall where they hold music festivals. There is a nice elegant restaurant on the second floor where you can dine before or after a concert.

Eating lunch inside Manor is quite inexpensive, another similar place is on the second floor of COOP in oldtown.

It's nice for future reference, but are you all aware that you seem to be offering suggestions to megan who posted in October about going in November -- of last year?