5 AMAZING THINGS TO DO IN CENTRAL SWITZERLAND.
Welcome to Switzerland. The land of chocolate, cows, cheese…. but also, the land of high mountains, deep blue lakes and medieval cities.
At the moment, we’re experiencing a heat wave in Switzerland. Luckily, we can always escape the heat into the mountains or cool off with a refreshing dip in one of our many lakes. If you’re dreaming about spending your summer in Switzerland, this post is just for you (although most of these ideas are just as suitable for winter. Except for one maybe, but you’ll see).
With an area of a little over 40.000 km2, Switzerland is a rather small country. And an extensive network of public transport and highways makes travelling around very easy. Nevertheless, Switzerland has got so much to offer, and one single post just wouldn’t do it justice. Therefore, I’m focusing this post on Central Switzerland, one of my absolute favorite Swiss regions.
City life in
Lucerne
No trip to Central Switzerland would be complete without a stop in the city of Lucerne. The city is located right on the shore of lake Lucerne and is surrounded by an impressive mountain panorama.
Whether you’re planning on spending the whole day in the city or just want to make a quick stop on the way, the one thing you can’t miss is a stroll across the famous Chapel Bridge. The approximately 200-meter-long bridge is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe. It contains wooden paintings, Some dating all the way back to the 17th century.
But there’s also a lot more to do in Lucerne. Wander through the beautiful, traffic free old town, explore the Swiss Museum of Transport, Switzerland’s most-visited museum or remember the Swiss Gard at the Lion Monument.
If you’re looking
for a place to eat, check out the Wirtshaus Taube. Here’s where you can taste
traditional dishes from Switzerland and Lucerne, prepared following the
original recipes. Isn’t food the best way to fully immerse yourself into a
foreign country and culture?
And off into the
mountains: relive railway history at Mount Rigi
Mount Rigi, “the queen of the mountains”, is one of our most popular mountains. Admittedly, we have many higher peaks in the country, but you just can’t beat the 360° view from the top at 1.797 meters.
No mountain railway story in the Alps is longer than the one at Mount Rigi: the Vitznau – Rigi Kulm cogwheel train started operating in 1871, making it Europe’s first mountain railway. Up to this day, you can ride in one of the beautifully restored, historic carriages dating from between 1871 and 1911.
Mount Rigi was the first mountain I ticked off my Central Switzerland bucket list. And even though I grew up in the Swiss alps (albeit in a different region) and should be used to mountain vistas by now, the view just completely blew me away. If you’re looking for a relaxing mountain experience, Rigi might just be the mountain for you too!
Tipp: we combined our trip to Mount Rigi with a boat ride across Lake Lucerne from Lucerne to Vitznau. There we hopped on board of the historic cogwheel train and made our way to the top.
Next off: a ride with
the world’s steepest cogwheel train at Mount Pilatus
I work for a Swiss Tour Operator, offering day tours to some of Switzerland’s most popular destinations. One, if not the best seller in our program is the Golden Round Trip at Mount Pilatus.
For a good reason: the view from Mount Pilatus is simply amazing. On a good day, you can spot no less than 73 alpine peaks from the top, as well as Lucerne, lake Lucerne and multiple other lakes.
Another reason for the Golden Round Trips popularity is its diversity: the trip starts with a scenic boat ride across Lake Lucerne. You can then hop on board of the world’s steepest cogwheel train and slowly make your way up to the top at 2.132 meters above sea level.
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To top it off:
watch the sunrise above the Swiss Alps at Grosser Mythen
One of my personal highlights this summer was the sunrise hike at Grosser Mythen. Grosser Mythen thrones high above the charming little town of Schwyz. The town itself is absolutely worth a quick stop too.
Since I’m spending all summer in Switzerland this year, I wrote a little summer bucket list. One of the things on this list was watching the sunrise from the top of a mountain.4 or 5 times a year during summer, the Rotenfluecable car runs for 30 minutes from 4 to 4.30 AM. As this cable car ride saves about 1.000 meters of altitude on the Mythen hike, we decided to go for it.
From Rotenflue, a quick downhill walk leads to the start of the Mythen hike. 47 turns, 400 meters of altitude and about 45 minutes later we arrived at the top. 10 minutes before the sunrise and just in time to finds a good spot to set up the camera.
A fresh cup of hot
coffee was probably the best thing that morning (besides the sunrise of
course). There’s a little restaurant at the top of Grosser Mythen and to our
great surprise, they had opened up early to serve hot coffee and snacks.
And if you’ve had enough of mountains? Time for a swim in Lake Lucerne
In all four official Swiss languages, lake Lucerne is called lake of four cantons. That is because the lake, which is the 4th largest in the country, stretches across four different cantons (wow, that are a lot of fours…)
A big part of the lake is surrounded by steep mountains, which results in many beautiful views. But in other parts, the shore is flat and ideal for spending a day at the lake. If you visit Central Switzerland in summer, you should definitely go for a quick dip (or spend a whole day near or on the water).
In summer, the lake can warm up to a refreshing 20+ degrees, making it perfect to cool off on a hot summer day. There are plenty of great places for a swim at Lake Lucerne, but here are some suggestions from Lucerne Tourism:
- Lido in Lucerne,
Lucerne’s oldest lido with a 300-meter-long beach, mountain and city views
- Winkelbadi in Horw, where
you can swim with a panoramic view of Mount Pilatus and Stanserhorn
- StrandbadStansstad, where
you can swim in the lake or in a big heated public pool (26°)
Tipp: if you stay near the lake (keep reading for a hotel suggestion), I absolutely recommend waking up for a sunrise or early morning dip. There’s no better way to wake up and start the day!
Where to stay: SeehotelKastanienbaum
As I said at the beginning of my post, Switzerland is rather small and Central Switzerland is easily and quickly accessible from where I live. Therefore, I visited most of these places on day trips.
However, if you want to spend more than a day in Central Switzerland, SeehotelKastanienbaum is a great place to stay for a night or two. The hotel is located in Horw on the shores of lake Lucerne. It has its own private lake access with a little beach and as well as a pool.
The rooms are rather basic, but an excellent view of the lake, Mount Rigi and BĂŒrgenstock make up for it. If the weather allows it, you can take all your meals on the big terrace. Both breakfast and dinner were delicious. I can definitely vouch for the “Fischknusperli” – crispy fried fish fillets with an array of salads.
SeehotelKastanienbaum is a great spot for a relaxing night or two away from it all, or for a longer stay at Lake Lucerne and in Central Switzerland.
There you go, a complete guide on how to spend a few unforgettable days in Central Switzerland. If you have time to spend a few nights, that’s amazing. But even if you only have one day to spare, Central Switzerland is absolutely worth a visit!
I hope you enjoyed reading this post. And if you have ever been to Central Switzerland before, I would love to hear about your experiences in the comments.
If you love this series, or if you want to travel Switzerland, Comments Below.
By: Sara | Country: Switzerland
Swiss Tour Coordinator
Owo beautiful place..đ
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful।।।।।
ReplyDelete