Suggestions for short boat ride on Lake Lucerne (Luzern)?
 

We are leaving for Switzerland in only 5 days (!!) and I am still pulling together our itinerary of activities. We will be in Lucerne for two nights and would like to take a short boat trip to see some of the scenery. However, I just discovered on the lakelucerne.ch that the one hour cruise we had wanted to take (Villa and Castle) will stop running for the season the day before we arrive. It appears our only other option for a short trip would be just take one of the regular boats, as the other cruises are many hours long.

Does anyone have suggestions for where to go on one of the regular boats that will: 1. let us see some great scenery and 2. hopefully take us to a town worth seeing. By "short trip" I am hoping for something half an hour to 45 minutes away one way. We will have our two year old daughter with us and will already be making her sit still for many plane and train rides, so I do not want this to be too much additional sitting for her. I do see several people on the board have recommended seeing Vitznau, if that were REALLY worth it I suppose we could go for it (timetable says it is a 1 hour ride from Lucerne).

Also, I know it is a lake so this is perhaps a silly question, but are the boat rides ever rough? My husband tends to get seasick so this would be good to know in advance ;)

we hired a private boat and took a ride on lake lucerne 10 years ago when we were married there. it was wonderful and beautiful! i honestly don't remember the name of the boat rental but, if it is still there, it is a gorgeous restored wooden boat with refinished inside cabin. the owners names were phillipe & rita bucher and they were our wedding witnesses.

i also remember the lake being fairly calm - it was a bit rainy the day we went but the sights, sounds and smells were gorgeous!

Since you don't give your dates I wlll let you look it up, at http://www.lakelucerne.ch/de/fahrpla.../fahrplan.html - the map shows the towns where you can get off, and www.sbb.ch will tell you if there is a train station there to get you back quicker than the boat (which is slow!).

Yes, if it's windy, the boat sways - some people don't get bothered, others turn green at the slightest movement, so... The winds can come down the valleys from the top as if they were propelled in chutes, and churn up the lake prety good - it's mountain country after all, so that's not unusual.

The charms to look for are no in the towns or villages, but in the views you have while on the water.

Thanks! Good to know about it getting a bit choppy, we will probably only do the boat if it is calm and good weather. I have a few backup plans in case it is not.

DalaiLlama - I looked around at the website you posted; but couldn't tell if the regular routes are covered by the Swiss Pass? I assume it is, but can't seem to find the information.

It's a short (45 minutes or thereabouts) ride to Bürgenstock. A few steps from the dock is the funicular up to the Bürgenstock resort hotel and restaurant complex. You could walk around the hotel grounds or go on a longer walk, or have a drink at the outdoor cafe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%BCrgenstock
http://www.buergenstock.ch/en/home.html

This link has the boat connections:
http://www.buergenstock.ch/en/resort...nnections.html


DalaiLLama, you are one of the most frequent posters about Switzerland, do you live there?

To yk:

Public boat rides are included in the Swiss Pass, as per http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/en/c...ts/swiss-pass/
where it says

Swiss Pass

The Swiss Pass affords you unlimited travel on Swiss Travel System’s public transport network on either 4, 8, 15 or 22 consecutive days or one entire month. Choose your personal travel route from approximately 20’000 kilometers of train, (postal) bus or boat routes. Your personal choice includes the classic scenic routes, the public transport systems of 41 Swiss cities, and gives you 50% discount on most mountain-top trains and cable cars. To top it off, you will profit from free entries to approx. 400 museums and other interesting discounts accorded to you by our Bonus Partners.

Available at our points of sale abroad, at Swiss train stations and online in the Ticket Shop.

To MLF611; For 30 yrs but not currently, just a frequent visitor these days

DL - I thought you might have lived there, I'm a former resident and frequent visitor (business and leisure), just found out I'll be moving back. Can't wait!

"...might have lived there..." Yes, as I said, 30 yrs

Thanks for the advice. We actually ended up just doing a boat trip to Weggis and enjoyed it quite a bit. It was only 40 minutes and the scenery was beautiful. Our daughter was actually in good spirits and loved the ride, too, so we decided to make the trek up Mt. Rigi, which was great as well.

audreyleigh, we too took a similar trip last week; but in the other direction. We went up Mt Rigi via Arth-Goldau, then down via cog railway + cable car to Weggis, then the ferry ride to Luzern. You are absolutely right about the wonderful scenery, though my favorite was the cable car ride down to Weggis. The view was incredible.

Want to add that there's nothing "regular" about the "regular" boats, as they are incredible sights themselves. The one yk and I rode from Weggis to Luzern is "Uri", a paddle steamer built in 1901 and is listed as by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers as a historical landmark, as it is the oldest vessel with the type of diagonal compound steam engine.

When you board the Uri (or several others on Lake Luzern and Lake Geneva), you can see the reciprocating crankshafts on the deck below. Those are immaculately kept and the site is as incredible as the Lake outside, and I am not exaggerating a bit.

Just joined this forum. Sorry for the late reply. Funny you mention the Uri. My cousin is the captain of this great paddle wheeler. I grew up on this lake, lived there for 28years before I moved to CA in 1990.
DalaiLlama, where did you live?