Swiss Family Pletcher: Day Trip to Lucerne

Today Mat and I took the kids for a trip to Lucerne for the day. It is only an hour by train and we really wanted to do the CogWheel train up Mount Pilatus before the weather got bad.

We had a great day. We did something called the "Golden Round Trip" which included the boat ride, the CogWheel, and the Cable Car. Right now Basel is doing a great deal where we can buy our train ticket to Lucerne and that covered all of our local transportation in Lucern (trams and buses there as well as the boat and cable car). And it got us half price off on the CogWheel ride. PLUS - the kids were COMPLETELY free . Because they are under 16 and they we a Junior Travel Pass for them, they can travel on any mode of transportation in Switzerland for free.

We took along a picnic lunch and snacks, and by the time we got on the boat it was 11am, and we had an hour ride. So we decided it would be a great time to pull out our goodies and eat. We brought a very Swiss lunch of Salami, bread, cheeses and fruit.

The boat ride was great. We road the length of Lake Lucerne and took in all the scenery as we cruised along. We had an overcast day, but it wasn't especially cold, so we were able to sit outside for most of the ride.

Once we got off the boat, we were directed right to the CogWheel. None of us had ever done this before and it was amazing. This small train went straight up the side of the mountain and a very steep incline. It was great. We road right into the clouds.

The only sad part about our day was that it was overcast. Which meant at the top of the mountain - no view down into Lucerne and the Lake. Luckily we will have an opportunity to visit again so we can get a better view.

Feeding the birds some of our bread

None the less - the top of the mountain was breathtaking. We were 7000 feet in the air and above the clouds. The kids loved it. Well - Finley didn't love it because she doesn't like being high up, but she didn't hate it. There is a hotel at the top of Mount Pilatus and we all decided we need to stay there sometime.

We did some hiking along the cliffs before we headed back down

Took this for Aunt Betty - we always look for yellow flowers for her that grow in odd places

We even saw some mountain goats

Finley doesn't love heights, so she and I spend a lot of time together on the hike hugging the sides

We saw a guy playing an Alpine Horn when we returned from our hike, so we stayed to listen for a little while

And we saw a fountain, so I snagged a picture.

After our hike we headed down the mountain via the Cable Car. The cable car was a lot of fun and brought us to the bottom of the mountain quickly.

We spent about an hour walking around the Lake side area of Lucerne before heading home. The kids were getting tired, and we knew we would be returning in the future, so we got on the train and came back to Basel. It was a great day and I am so glad we made our first day trip.

Fountain!