Planning a trip to Lucerne, Switzerland? Here are 15 things to know before you go! We’re Jana
and Brett, we've spent loads of time exploring and researching Lucerne so you don't have to,
which really means that you can show up here—even if it's your
first visit—and feel like a confident traveler.
So get ready, because here are 15 practical tips about arriving by train,
getting a feel for the city, using the local guest card, and more.
For starters, Lucerne is located in the canton of Lucerne in central Switzerland.
It's the largest city in central Switzerland and the sixth largest
city in the whole country. It's situated on the northwestern tip of Lake Lucerne,
which also happens to be the second largest lake in Switzerland.
Since most of you are likely to arrive in Switzerland by plane, you'll be happy to
hear that Lucerne isn't too far from any of the Swiss airports. In fact, its central location
makes it easy to reach no matter where you are in Switzerland. From Zurich, it takes
about an hour. From Basel, about an hour and a half. And from Geneva it takes about 3 hours.
If you'd like more help navigating from a Swiss airport, you can find
specific directions in our Lucerne Travel Guide.
Switzerland has four national languages,
which really represent the fact that there are four linguistic and cultural regions:
Germanic, French, Italian and romance. Lucerne is located in the Germanic part of Switzerland,
so we find it helpful and fun to brush up on a few German words before visiting.
For example, Hallo, Danke, Bitte, and Schönen tag are easy words to use to
connect with the locals. Just keep in mind that the locals might actually be speaking
Swiss German—and a dialect at that. So even if you learn some Swiss German greetings,
they're probably going to vary depending on where you are in Switzerland. Thankfully, most people
speak High German and there are plenty of English speakers as well, especially in the tourist areas.
One byproduct of having four national languages is that there are often different ways of spelling
and pronouncing the cities and towns. So in German it's Luzern, and in French it's
Lucerne—and that's the form adopted by most English speakers. But which one is correct?
Well, since it's in the German speaking region of Switzerland,
Luzern is the one you're most likely to hear and read while you're here.
But either is totally acceptable. In fact, this dual language spelling is even adopted
by the official Lucerne tourism logo. So what's the lake called? Well, in German,
it's Vierwaldstättersee, and in French it's lac des Quatre-Cantons. And both
of these names represent the fact that this sprawling lake actually stretches
into four different Swiss cantons: Lucerne, Schwyz, Nidwalden, and Uri.
But since both of those are rather complicated for non-native speakers,
you have full permission to use the much simplified English name: Lake Lucerne.
If you come to Lucerne by train, you'll arrive at the central
train station called Lucerne Bahnhof. It's located right next to the lake,
directly across from where the boats dock, which is called the Bahnhofquai.
This is also where you'll find the main bus station with stops for all the important bus
lines. Lucerne is beautifully situated on the Reuss River, running right through the middle
of the city, dividing it into Altstadt or Old Town to the north and Neustadt or New
Town to the south. And the train station is just a five minute walk from old town.
Choosing to stay in either Old Town or New Town might be the most important decision you make
when you visit the Swiss city. Thankfully, Lucerne is pretty compact and easily walkable. There are
also buses that go between both parts of the city, so either one could be a great sightseeing base.
As a central hub, you may find yourself passing through Lucerne on your way to
another Swiss destination. So even if you're not spending the night here,
consider stopping for a few hours to explore. This is made so much more practical by the
abundance of luggage lockers available at the train station. They come in a handful of sizes
and are available 24 hours a day, starting at just five francs for a small locker for 6 hours.
So you really could leave one part of Switzerland in the morning, stop off in
Lucerne for a few hours of luggage-free sightseeing, and then find yourself in
an entirely different part of Switzerland by the evening. Gosh, I love this country.
And if you're staying overnight here, you'll benefit from the Lucerne guest card because
it offers three strategic benefits. First is the free use of buses and trains within
zone ten of the city network. Now, you could theoretically visit Old Town and never have
to use public transportation during your stay. However, there are a handful of places worth
visiting that are outside of the center but still reachable using the Lucerne Guest Card.
Another plus is the flexibility it gives you in choosing lodging. You could find
a place to stay that's just outside of the center,
but still a five minute free train ride away from the heart of Lucerne.
It's also worth knowing that you can use this Guest Card on the day you arrive before
you check in, on the day you depart after your check out, and any day in between. When asked,
you simply show the Guest Card. And if you don't have the guest card yet,
your confirmation of your lodging should work just fine.
A second benefit of the visitor card is access to free Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the city. In
our experience, the Wi-Fi just worked okay, but some Wi-Fi is better than no Wi-Fi.
And finally, there are lots of discounts available on museums and excursions, mountain railways and
cable cars and loads of activities throughout the entire Lucerne and Lake Lucerne region.
Speaking of mountain railways and cableways, there's a regional train pass available here
called the Tell-Pass. It covers just about any transportation you could imagine using
during a visit here, including all the major mountain excursions, boat rides on the lake,
and travel between Lucerne and nearby towns. It starts at 190 francs for two days.
But you really need to do a lot of day trips or mountain adventures to make it worth your money.
Now, we're not going to do a deep dive into Swiss train passes in this video,
but we have another one where we do just that, and all of our Swiss Travel Guides
discuss train passes too. So be sure to check those out later if you need more help.
Be mindful of opening and closing hours and days for shops and restaurants. In fact,
a lot of things here are still closed on Sundays and many of the shops are closed
during the lunch hour on weekdays too. In fact, there are so many differences from
one place to another and even one day of the week to another that we think it's a
good habit to just always check for the opening days and hours before you visit,
especially if you're coming between the summer and winter seasons.
For example, one of our favorite restaurants here stopped serving
warm food after 3:30 in the afternoon, and Brett’s favorite coffee shop is only open
from Monday to Thursday. But don't worry, if you really need something, the shops in and
near the train station tend to have longer hours and are open more days of the week.
But if you plan well, Lucerne will reward you. And a perfect example of this is the
weekly market. The Wochenmarkt takes place every Tuesday and Saturday until noon and is filled,
in their words, “with fresh bread, tangy mountain cheese,
freshly picked flowers and crisp vegetables.” It'll be hard to miss this with market stalls
spreading out along both sides of the river. So show up hungry and eat local and fresh.
All that bread and tangy cheese is probably going to make you thirsty. And while Switzerland
has some of the best water in the world, where can you find drinkable water when
you're out and about exploring the city? No, not at the grocery stores. Skip the
bottled water and instead fill up at one of the hundreds of fountains marked by Lucerne Water.
For each fountain listed, you can see if the water is drinkable, when the fountain was built,
and even learn a little bit of history, if you're interested. And if you have a tiny
bladder like me, you'll appreciate that there are public bathrooms on the map, too. So now
nothing should stop you from staying hydrated on your trip to Lucerne. How helpful is that?
It's highly unlikely that Lucerne is the only place you'll visit during
your trip to Switzerland. Beyond the easy connections to Zurich,
Basel and Geneva that we mentioned earlier, you can also reach Interlaken in an hour and
15 minutes by train or Bern in as little as one hour. But it's also
strategically positioned for visiting southern Switzerland and Italy as well.
Getting to Lugano, the largest city in the Italian speaking canton at the casino,
takes just an hour and 40 minutes by train—thanks to the Gotthard Base Tunnel,
the longest railway tunnel in the world with a length of 57 kilometers. But Como
is just 30 minutes past that, meaning you could go from the north side to the south
side of the Alps and from Switzerland to Italy in just a little over 2 hours.
We can't discuss Interlaken in Lugano without mentioning the scenic trains that connect both
of them to Lucerne. The route between Lucerne and Interlaken is part of the
Golden Pass Scenic Train and along the way, you'll pass three beautiful lakes:
Saarnen, Lungern, and Brienz, and head up and over the Burnigg Pass as well.
Between Lucerne and Lugano, you can enjoy the Gotthard Panorama Express, an underrated scenic
journey that includes a leisurely boat ride across Lake Lucerne and a first class train experience
along the Gotthard route to southern Switzerland. Which basically means you can take the efficient
and economical route or this scenic experiential route to get pretty much anywhere from Lucerne.
We like to avoid one night stays when we travel, so we recommend spinning at least two nights here
in Lucerne so you have one full day to explore the city. But with so many day trips and excursion
possibilities, you'd have no problem filling up to four days, especially if the weather is nice.
What should you do while you're here? Our Lucerne Travel Guide has the answers. It's filled to the
brim with insider tips to help you travel Lucerne with confidence. In fact, all of our
Swiss Travel Guides include detailed itineraries and point-to-point navigation to help you maximize
your time in Switzerland. So check out our guides, watch this next, and we'll see you in Switzerland!