Travel in Lucerne
 

Hi,
We are travelling from Paris to Lucerne sept.28 on the TGV train so when we land what is the best way to get to our hotel in Kehrsiten? Also, can we purchase our Swiss travel pass once we get to Lucerne ? We are staying in Lucerne for four days and plan to do day trips.
Any help would be appreciated..

Yes, you can purchase the swiss travel pass in the main train station of Luzern (Hauptbahnhof).
A Tourist Info office is in the corner, near the front exit.

I don't know Kehrsiten personally, but it looks like you can take a boat directly from the Quai(lakefront) just in front of the train station (36-58 minutes by boat) OR take the local S5 train (direction Giswil) to Hergiswil, where you have to transfer to a boat for the final portion anyway (total trip time about 44 minutes).

Yes you can buy a Swis Travel Pass once in Lucerne at train station but if just staying in Lucerne area look at the perhaps better deal for what is covered Berner Oberland Pass- also sold locally and covers trains, boats, buses in Lucerne and Interlaken areas. For lots on Swiss trains and passes -www.sbb.ch (Swiss Railways site); www.budgeteuropetravel.com (Switzerland section of online European Planning & Rail Guide has suggetions by boat and train around Lucerne); www.ricksteves.com.

You may also wish to contact the hotel about the best way to get to from Luzern. If they have any way of transporting you to the Stanstaad or Hergiswil rail station, you'll have good options other than waiting for the boat. If interested in WWII history, the Military museum, Festung Ferigen, on Kehrsitenstrasse is recommended, although when we were there the captions were solely in German. Also, lunch or dinner lakeside at the restaurant of the Hotel Winkelried was a delightful experience.

" if just staying in Lucerne area look at the perhaps better deal for what is covered Berner Oberland Pass- also sold locally and covers trains, boats, buses in Lucerne"

I suppose Palen meant the Tell Pass
http://www.tellpass.ch/en/summer/exp...the_tell-pass/

BTW: will you go to Kehrsiten or to Buergenstock?

No I meant Berner Oberland Pass in case they wanted to day trip outside of Lucerne area - like to Interlaken area:

http://www.regionalpass-berneroberla...os/the-ticket/

These responses are helpful .thank you....

We are staying in Lucerne for four days and plan to do day trips.>

What day trips exactly -then you could know which pass if any is best. Sometimes just the Half-Fare Card is the best - unlikely to be traveling farther than what Berner Oberland Pass covers but if so then Swiss Travel Pass may be an option.

but do not buy any pass until you have compared prices with ordinary fares and what exactly is covered.

Be sure to take a boat ride on lovely Lake Lucerne - like the classic float from Lucerne to Fluelen, at the southern tip of the fjord-like eastern section of the lake - take trains back to Lucerne from there.

All those passes should be fully valid on boats.

https://www.rome2rio.com/s/Lucerne/Kehrsiten

Nice map showing it all!

Palen wrote: "All those passes should be fully valid on boats"

In order to make it clear:

Bernese Oberland Pass:
Free ride on Lake Thun and Lake Brienz,
full fare on Lake Lucerne, Lake Zug, Lake Aegeri and Lke Sarnen

Tell Pass:
free ride on Lake Lucerne, Lake Zug and Lake Aegeri,
full fare on Lake Thun, Lake Brienz and Lake Sarnen

Swiss Travel Pass:
free ride on Lake Thun, Lake Brienz, Lake Lucerne and Lake Zug,
full fare on Lake Sarnen and Lake Aegeri

This is what we plan to do in switzerland( while staying in Kehrsiten) . 1) mount Rigi boat to Vitznau and mtn.train to summit........

2) Train to Interlaken .
3) cruise on lake Lucerne
4) Bern
So do we have to book these in advance ? Do we purchase a Swiss travel pass , or Bernese Oberland , or half day pass?
It is confusing what each of these cover ....help?

2) Train to Interlaken>

You only going to Interlaken? If so skip it - nice enough town but nothing much for tourists to do (except shop at tourist shops lining the main street!) - but gateway to Jungfrau Region and so so many great panoramas (a distant visage from Interlaken) - take train to Grindelwald and be awed:

https://www.google.com/search?q=jung...w=1745&bih=863


And take some mountain trains and aerial cableways that make any Alpine scene around Lake Lucerne pale in terms of the glacier-girdled high Alps to places like Jungfraujoch - highest train station in Europe and a Top of the World look and feeling as they advertise it. (Mt Rigi is relatively low altitude - known for its views from a distance of the Alps - but not nearly the high Alps.

Anyway with four trips listed I have not done the maths but I'd say just buy regular tickets if nothing more - Half-Fare Card costs about $130 so would have to spend $260 for it to break even - but if go to say Grindewald and Jungfraujoch a definite yes. It seems you are not even with that traveling enough to warrant any pass but again do the maths. But definite no to Swiss Travel Pass.

So do we have to book these in advance>

No absolutely no need to book any of those in advance BUT if you want to take the Golden Pass trains with spiffy panoramic or observation cars with sides and roofs made mainly out of glass but otherwise same tracks and same scenery - those you may want to book in advance but not for regular trains Lucerne-Interlaken.

In any case take the scenic Brunig Pass route and not the mainline route via Bern that goes around mountains and not up and over them. GP trains take the Brunig Pass route as well as regular trains.