DAY 2 (16th September 2022) – Lucerne (Mt. Pilatus and City Centre)
We were certainly much fresher for the adventure of this new day, after calling it an early night the night before. On this day, we would conquer Mt. Pilatus and walk to the nearby Tomlishorn outlook. After Mt. Pilatus, we had planned to head to the Hammetschwand Elevator, and then get back to the city for a walkabout.
But we had to abort the planned 1-hour hike to the 152.8m-tall Hammetschwand Elevator though, due to the unyielding weather. The journey to the trail head of the hike was a really interesting one, though. We did not disembark from the bus at all, and we took the same bus back into town, where we spent the rest of the evening walking around Lucerne town centre. But it rained heavily intermittently throughout the evening, so we didn’t get to see much.
Mt. Pilatus (Fräkmüntegg)
After breakfast, we packed our stuff and headed out for our first destination of the day. There were two ways to get to the top of Mt. Pilatus – by cable car via Kriens and by cogwheel via Alpnachstad. We decided that we would do both – go up one way and come down by the other. So, a short bus ride later, we were dropped off along a busy road in Kriens, and had to take a 15-minute uphill walk to the Kriens Cable Car station.
We got off at the penultimate station called Fräkmüntegg to walk around a bit before continuing on. There was a sort of mini-adventure theme park here, with activities like zipline and other high-rope activities, which would certainly get anyone’s adrenaline pumping! But not for us, though! We preferred to just walk around the area.
Then finally, after enjoying our walks in the area, we hopped onto the last leg of the cable car ride, and headed up to the top of Mt. Pilatus. On the way up, we saw outside the window, a small chapel built precariously at the edge of the adjacent hill. The chapel is distinct also because it had a red arrow-shaped structure sticking up from the roof! And up a small hill nearby, there stood a lonely cross overlooking whatever is down below. What an amazing sight!
We found out later that the chapel is named Klimsenkapelle, at an altitude of 1864m above sea level, first inaugurated in 1891 as part of Hotel Klimsenhorn. Queen Victoria had been a guest at the hotel at some point. However, the hotel was demolished in 1967, while the chapel was not, and is still being maintained by a foundation.
Mt. Pilatus (Pilatus Kulm)
Mt. Pilatus Station is a huge imposing station which is the final stop for the cable car and the cogwheel train. There is a hotel, a restaurant and an open-air platform affording us the view of the entire valley below. You would have noticed that Mt. Pilatus has a dragon as its emblem as there are several myths and stories about residents in the valleys having close encounters with a dragon (or two). These stories have stayed as popular folklore, and they say that even now, a dragon resides somewhere in these mountains….
Mt. Pilatus (Tomlishorn Path)
There are many hiking paths to and from the top of Mt. Pilatus, and one of the more popular one is the mountain walk to Tomlishorn. The path starts immediately after the hotel along the open cliff side and winds its way along a very narrow path, hugging the side of cliff. The path is simple enough to traverse, and the view is breathtaking.
The path is well-managed and there are strong steel ropes along the sides of the path to protect the hikers from falling off the trail. Certain parts of the trail were evidently cut into the rocky surface of the mountain, so there were some places with overhanging rocks over the path. As we neared the end of the trail, there were a series of stairs built into the hillside to lead us to the top of Tomlishorn. There were places to sit and rest at the small plateau at the top.
Along the way, we were met by a herd of mountain goat, just going about their business, enjoying the last bits of summer grass that sprung up from between the rocky surface. Their brown coat of fur camouflaged them somewhat. They did run across the pathway once in a while, but physical contact with humans would be extremely rare.
We met up with BL later, who did not follow us all the way to the end. He started a slow trek back to the hotel and rested there as the weather turned for the worse. A cold front blew in, clouding the entire area. Glad we made it to the top of Tomlishorn and back.
We climbed on board the cogwheel and headed down slowly back to the lakeside, this time to Alpnachstad, just a small suburb with several buildings and a bus-stop.
Hammetschwand Elevator
We had planned to make a visit to this cliffside building, which had a vertical lift going more than 150m straight up from the ground level. At the top of the lift is a platform, from which we would have been able to see the whole of Lucerne city below us. To get there, we first took a bus to Stansstad Bahnhof, and then took another bus (Bus No. 321) to the drop off point named Trogen. From Trogen, a 1-hour walk (3.1km) to the base of the Hammetschwand Elevator.
Much to our surprise, the road from Stansstad Bahnhof was narrow, barely passable to two vehicles at a time, and the bus route was through many fields and meadows where the residents raised cows. Trogen “bus-stop” turned out to be nothing more than a small signpost indicating it as such, almost in the middle of someone’s fields! We did make an effort to get there, but the lashing rain meant that we had to abandon the idea immediately! One hour trudge in the rain wasn’t something we were looking forward to.
So, in the end, it turned out to be nothing more than a circuit bus ride through the countryside, passing by a super luxurious-looking hotel, named Waldhotel Spa. The bus driver and the other passengers were pretty amused to see us just riding the bus and not getting off anywhere! And so, we ended up back at Stansstad Bahnhof, where we caught another bus back to the city.
Lucerne Town
Off and on throughout the evening, the skies would open up and let loose a torrent of rain. Whenever we could, we would just dodge into some of the shops that line the main streets. We ended up at Da Ernesto, an Italian restaurant, by the side of the River Reuss with the full view of the Kapellebrucke and we had our dinner before heading back to our hotel.
Summary Day 2
Overall, Day 2 was a blast for all the different reasons – the picturesque mountain views at Fräkmüntegg, Mount Pilatus and Tomlishorn, the countryside ride on the bus and the dinner by the River Reuss… All added up to the charm of our trip to Switzerland so far. And we still had many days to go!
