Alright, so I decided to set myself up in Lucerne for a bit. Figured it looked pretty central on the map, you know? Easier to hop around to different spots without packing up my bags every single darn day. Plus, seemed a bit more manageable than Zurich or Geneva, size-wise.
Figuring Out Where to Go
First thing I did was grab one of those free maps from the hotel. Spread it out on the little table. Okay, lots of mountains, lots of lakes. Looked good. Mount Rigi, Mount Pilatus kept popping up in the brochures. Then there were towns further out, like Interlaken. Seemed like a lot, honestly. I wasn’t trying to run a marathon here.
My thinking was, keep it simple. What could I get to easily? Trains and boats seemed like the way to go. Switzerland’s pretty hooked up that way. So I basically picked a couple that looked cool and didn’t involve ridiculously early starts or multiple complicated changes.
- Mount Rigi: Heard you could go up one way, down another, maybe involve a boat. Sounded like a plan.
- Lake Lucerne Cruise: Seemed like a no-brainer. Right there on the doorstep. Easy afternoon thing.
- Maybe a smaller town nearby? Considered Zug or somewhere, but decided to stick with the big views first.
Hitting the Road (or Water)
So, the Rigi trip. That was something. I decided to do the boat thing first. Walked down to the docks near the main train station in Lucerne, easy peasy. Hopped on a boat heading towards Vitznau. The ride across the lake itself was worth doing. Just seeing the mountains surrounding the water, pretty impressive stuff.
Got off at Vitznau, and the little red cogwheel train was right there waiting. Seriously, like step off the boat, walk twenty feet, get on the train. Climbed right up the side of the mountain. Steep! The views just kept getting better the higher we went. Up top, yeah, it was spectacular. Walked around a bit, took it all in. Went down the other side on a cable car to Weggis, then caught another boat back to Lucerne. Full circle. Definitely recommend doing a loop like that. Felt like you got more bang for your buck.
Another day, I just did the Lake Lucerne thing. Didn’t even go anywhere specific, just bought a ticket for one of the round-trip cruises. It was nice just to sit on the deck, feel the breeze. Saw little villages dotted along the shore, fancy houses, castles even. Much more relaxed than the mountain trip. Good way to spend a few hours if you didn’t want a full-day trek.
Was Lucerne a Good Base?
Yeah, looking back, it worked out great. Super easy to get around. The train station is right in the middle of things, boats leave from right nearby. Never felt like I wasted a whole day just traveling to the start of the day trip, you know? Everything was pretty accessible.
I ended up getting one of those Swiss Travel Passes. Bit pricey upfront, but honestly, it made things dead simple. Just flash the pass, hop on the train, hop on the boat, even got me up Rigi I think. Didn’t have to fiddle with ticket machines every five minutes. For someone like me who just wants to get going, it was worth it.
So yeah, if you’re thinking about exploring that part of Switzerland, planting yourself in Lucerne for a few days and doing trips out from there? Solid plan. Worked for me anyway.
