My memories of Lucerne
Lake Lucerne is like a miniature Switzerland. It lays out all the best features around its shores, leaving you to blend your holiday cocktail to taste,
Looking back through my rose-tinted memories, I started each new repping season full of eager anticipation. More truthfully, when I arrived on the shores of Lake Lucerne, I felt completely overwhelmed. There I was, all by myself, the sole holiday rep for the whole region. In just a few days, my first guests would arrive, eager to hear about the holiday highlights, yet I hadn’t set foot outside my tiny room. Beyond those four walls lay a cobbled city centre packed with shops, museums, art galleries, and photogenic hotspots of which I knew nothing.
Beyond the bustling city, the lake spread southwards, the waters lapping forested peninsulas, tranquil villages and sweeping bays. Criss-crossing the glacial waters, a fleet of paddle steamers linked the city to villages while historic railways and cable cars summited rolling hills and jagged peaks.
With all this on my doorstep, I would be an expert by the end of the summer, but for my first guests, I knew nothing. How would I answer their questions and help them plan their dream holiday? It was time to panic. I’m very good at panicking and did lots of it for the first few weeks.
Fortunately, Lake Lucerne was so popular that many of my holidaymakers were on their umpteenth return trip. Thankfully, they were happy to educate their clueless rep and genuinely shone as I encouraged them to share their knowledge. They enjoyed themselves so much they didn’t realise what was happening, and I received glowing customer satisfaction reports about how helpful I’d been.
Falling in love with Lake Lucerne
Lucerne is a perfect holiday destination. Elegant bridges span the river, leading tourists and locals to frescoed squares, bustling markets, pavement cafés and exquisite churches. The skyline is picture-perfect as you depart the city on the deck of a graceful steamer, and as the paddles beat through the water, you skirt precipitous wooded slopes to reach day trips a-plenty.
Yet more day trips await via Lucerne’s train station. In only 40 minutes, you can reach Zurich, 1 hour to Engelberg, and 2 hours to Interlaken, to name just a few.
Lake Lucerne is like a miniature Switzerland. It lays out all the best features around its shores, leaving you to blend your holiday cocktail to taste whether you prefer a double shot of hiking with a dash of sightseeing or a triple shot of museums, shaken and topped with a panoramic train journey.
Holiday highlights in Lucerne
Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge)
The Chapel Bridge is one of the most photographed landmarks in Switzerland. The covered wooden footbridge with its whimsical water tower almost burned down in 1993 thanks to a careless smoker and a discarded cigarette. Thankfully, it was quickly restored and crossing the bridge feels like stepping back in time as you pass below historic city scenes painted on the triangular roof panels above your head.
The Dying Lion Monument
Carved into a cliff face, the sorrowful reflection of the lion flickers in a rocky grotto pool. The moving work of art commemorates the Swiss guardsmen who died in the French Revolution.
The historic pedestrianised city centre
You don’t need an agenda to explore the historic centre, stroll the cobbled streets and indulge in a little window shopping (or actual shopping if you can afford it). Stop for a coffee in a frescoed square, or sip on a cool pint of Weizen Beer on a riverside terrace before enjoying breezy views from the city ramparts.
Lakeside promenade
The leafy promenade lined with bench after bench is my traditional spot for a picnic lunch. A 20 – 30 minute stroll takes you past luxury hotels and the Seebad (lake water pool) to reach the Swiss Transport Museum and Lucerne Lido with its sunbathing lawn, heated swimming pool and sandy beach. There’s a boat pier here for a quick return to Lucerne’s train station.
Museums
With a wide variety of museums, you may want to buy the Lucerne Museum card or check out the free museums included with the Swiss Travel Pass. For many, the Swiss Transport Museum is the highlight, but my personal favourite is the Glacier Garden open-air museum.
Vierwaldstättersee (the German name for the lake)
Vierwaldstättersee refers to the ‘four forest cantons’ surrounding the lake. The fleet of motor vessels and historic paddle steamers meander around peninsulas to unveil hidden bays and inlets, soaring cliffs and picturesque villages.
Lakeside summits
Iconic day trips include Mount Rigi, Pilatus, Bürgenstock, and more. Historic cogwheel railways, modern cable cars and glass elevators whisk you skywards to reach mountain restaurants, views, hikes, children’s playgrounds and more.
My favourite lesser-known holiday highlights in Lucerne
Château Gütsch
The distinctive white turrets float above the city like a fairytale. As a rep, I loved to peer through the windows of what was then a derelict hotel, the restaurant seemingly abandoned halfway through dinner service. Now reopened as a 4-star hotel, its long and varied history is centuries old, but the view over the city is timeless.
https://www.chateau-guetsch.ch/en/
Stanserhorn
The pointy pyramid-shaped Stanserhorn became my favourite go-to local mountain during my summer in Lucerne. I particularly loved the feeling of proximity to the Bernese Alps. I would linger on the viewing platform, studying the panoramic board and picking out the famous Eiger, Mönch & Jungfrau. Watching the sunset from here is amazing, and the revolving restaurant usually stays open late once weekly during the summer. If you’re feeling brave, you can even stand on the roof of the double-decker cable car to the top.
https://www.stanserhorn.ch/en/
Sunset cruise
One tiring day, after an evening welcome meeting in Vitznau, I boarded a paddle steamer back to Lucerne. To my surprise, I was on the sunset cruise. Up on the top deck, a sky of burning amber reflected in the cabin windows, lighting up the lake like a pot of molten gold. A distant boat sent a spread of ripples across the water as the dark silhouette of the city drew closer. You can join the cruise daily during the summer, and on peak season Thursdays (in 2024), you may even find an Alphorn trio on board.
Fronalpstock
This less-visited lakeside summit is on my list to return to one day. I love the upside-down perspective of the lake from its stuck-out-on-a-limb position to the southeast. Since it’s a bit more of a mission to get to than the more northerly peaks, it puts off the worst of the crowds (although not entirely, as there’s a very popular ridge hike).
A day trip to Interlaken
Taking the train over the panoramic Brunig Pass takes only 2 hours. Time flies as you skim turquoise lakes and scale mountains scattered with picture-perfect cows and chocolate box villages. This classic train route is a must-do experience for anyone staying in Lucerne or Interlaken. Look out for the eccentric bric-a-brac shop on the station platform at the top of the Brunig Pass. One day, I need to break the journey for a closer look at the rusty cowbells, vintage lampshades and obligatory three-legged rocking horse.
Guest grumbles
It’s raining!
While the possibility of rain is not unique to Lucerne, the city’s advantage is the abundance of bad weather diversions from shopping to museums to atmospheric boat trips. Or check out the MeteoSwiss App and hop on the train; it might not be raining a couple of hours away.
To maximise the likelihood of sunshine, combine a week in Lucerne with a week in the Ticino region of Switzerland. From Lucerne, you can travel on the Gotthard Panorama Express (previously known as The William Tell Express). This journey to remember combines a nostalgic paddle steamer (from Lucerne to Flüelen) with a rail-engineering masterpiece of spiralling tunnels and precipitous bridges to Lugano.
Gluten-free gems in Lucerne
The Alnatura Bio Super Markt sits on the edge of the historic old town, seemingly oblivious to the delight it gives my husband. If they had branches in every Swiss village, town and city, our holiday lunches would be so much easier. Best of all, they have a variety of freshly baked bread. The bread rolls are both gluten-free and tasty rather than pre-packaged and cardboard-like.
You can check out their other branches in Switzerland here.
Read more about our experiences travelling gluten-free in Switzerland here.
Finding facts and further information
For easy hiking ideas around Lake Lucerne, visit my blog post here.
Read my blog post on Lucerne’s magical Christmas markets here.
For further information on holiday highlights in and around Lucerne, you can start with the below websites.