A really beautiful day trip in Switzerland is taking the train from Zurich to Lucerne. It’s an easy ride and Lucerne is a beautiful town that sits on Lucerne Lake. The mountains surrounding the lake are absolutely incredible! Here is our guide to taking a day trip to Lucerne, Switzerland including getting there, what to do and if a boat trip is worth the money!
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Getting to Lucerne
Lucerne is located about 115 kms southwest from Zurich. The train from Zurich train station to Lucerne train station takes about 45 minutes and is very easy to navigate! The train can get busy so make sure to get there a few minutes beforehand as it’s a popular route.
We spent the week in Switzerland with Dave’s family who all got the Swiss Pass. The Swiss Pass is a travel pass valid throughout Switzerland for travel on buses, trains and boats for a specific length of time. There are a few different options depending on whether you’re traveling consecutive or nonconsecutive days and if you want unlimited access or discounts. With our Eurail Global Pass we were looking to take trains around the country so the Swiss Pass allowed them to as well while saving a lot of money.
- Both their Swiss Passes and our Eurail Passes allowed us to take the train to Lucerne as well as to Interlaken for no additional money!
The Lucerne train station has various sizes of lockers to store luggage if you’re stopping on the way from somewhere else. We threw our bags into storage, spent the day in Lucerne and then continued on to Interlaken that night with all of our stuff! It cost 9 Euros for 24 hours for the largest size locker that we were able to fit both my 40L backpack and Dave’s 44L backpack with room to spare!
- One reason we always travel with a daypack is for a day like this! We put our big bags into the lockers but were able to take out things we needed for the day like a portable battery and some snacks.
Is a Lucerne Boat Trip Worth the Money?
One of the big things to do in Lucerne is take a boat trip out onto Lucerne Lake. Like most everything in Switzerland it doesn’t come without a large cost. So the question becomes, is a Lucerne boat trip worth the money?
To preface this we don’t usually pay high ticket prices for things. Traveling long term we’ve had to pick and choose what is really important to us. We’ve spent the money on a few things such as Sugarloaf Mountain in Brazil and the Dubrovnik City Wall in Croatia and even though they cost a lot, both ended up being so worth it! We think the boat ride on Lucerne Lake fits into that same category. The views the entire way are absolutely stunning and like something from a postcard. It was completely worth it and you should absolutely do it!
Tickets were $45 USD round trip per person. If you have the Swiss Pass this boat ride is completely covered in the pass. With our Eurail Pass we had extra benefits in Switzerland one of them being in Lucerne so we took full advantage. By showing our Eurail Global Pass we got the tickets half price making them $22 USD round trip per person.
Travel Truth: If you have a Eurail Pass make sure to look at what other benefits your pass gets you! It actually gave us quite a few discounts like this in Switzerland that we could have missed if we didn’t look ahead of time.
Read More: 7 Day Switzerland Itinerary
What To Do in Lucerne
Take a Boat Trip on Lucerne Lake
Now that we’ve deemed a boat trip on Lucerne Lake worth the money go ahead and make sure you do it! Even if you’re visiting just for the day it’s still totally possibly to go out on a boat and still have time to do other things.
Our boat trip took about 2 hours and honestly I could have stayed and done it again and again. There was a second class area in the front of the boat with benches and high top tables. Inside there was a bar and food area with tables. Then outside on the back of the boat was a first class area with more chairs to sit. They kind of squish all the second class tickets into one area and reserve the back to first class in an effort to get you to upgrade. Honestly though you could be sitting on the top of the boat and still get amazing views so get yourself a spot and get your camera ready!
On the way there our boat made two quick stops and then looped back. We simply stayed on and just went in a big circle back to Lucerne.
- Staying on for the loop meant we got different views throughout the entire ride.
- It was really comfortable sitting outside even in October. We got so lucky to have a nice and sunny day but it definitely can get a little windy! I always make sure to pack a scarf for days like that when its both warm and cold.
The boat dock area is directly across from the Lucerne train station so we chose to do a boat trip first and then everything else after. We were all glad we did it that way because then we weren’t stressed about getting back. If you’re visiting during a really busy time this also is a good option to make sure it doesn’t sell out for the time you want.
Read More: How to Spend 4 Days in Interlaken, Switzerland
Walk the Museggmauer (City Wall)
The Museggmauer is the city wall in Lucerne that dates back to the 14th century. It’s about a 10 minute walk from the town area of Lucerne so it’s easy to get to by walking. You do have to climb a staircase to get up to the entrance and then another staircase to get on to the wall. The staircase up to the wall is also pretty narrow!
From the wall you get views looking out over the lake and the town of Lucerne. It’s one of the best viewpoints of the area and is an amazing photo location!
Walking the Museggmauer is completely free which again is something we so appreciated! You don’t need hours to walk it as it’s not too long but the views alone are worth the climb up. There are 4 towers that stand up from the wall. We climbed up the last tower which gave us views looking down onto the wall we had just walked along and then about two-thirds of Lucerne Lake.
Cross the Kapellbrücke
Kapellbrücke is a covered bridge that crosses Reuss River and is decorated with large arrangements of flowers on either side. The flowers, the bridge and the turquoise water make it such a beautiful picture! Cross over the Kapellbrücke and you’ll get to the main town area of Lucerne.
- The bridge does get crowded but if you can be patient you can get some really beautiful pictures there. Don’t forget once you’ve crossed to turn around and look back too!
Read More: Day Trip to Grindelwald, Switzerland
Wander around the town of Lucerne
You’re likely to walk through the town of Lucerne getting to the Museggmauer or just while wandering around. There are quite a few small walking streets full of shops. We were a little surprised to see how built up the shopping area was. There are quite a few restaurants and cafes along the Reuss River where a lot of people were eating. We actually saw a lot of people waiting to eat too so if you’re short on time definitely take into account that some of those restaurants get busy.
The street along the river gets very busy and on a really nice day can be a bit crowded to walk down. We much preferred the streets a little farther up closer to the wall where there were less people.
Many shops and restaurants in Germany and Switzerland are closed on Sunday so we weren’t sure about visiting Lucerne on a Sunday. But we found everything that we wanted was open and operating normally! So if you’re looking to visit on a Sunday like us no need to worry! Of course always check the schedule ahead of time but for activities like exploring the city and eating at restaurants you’ll have plenty of options!
A day trip to this beautiful lakeside town was a perfect introduction to Switzerland! Whether it’s on your way to somewhere else or just a day trip from Zurich make sure to spend at least a day exploring Lucerne!
