Trip to Switzerland: 7-13th May 2010: Part1

If you are an Indian and watch Bollywood, you surely would have dreamt of going to Switzerland after watching one of those YashRaj movies… We too were eagerly waiting for summers, to cross off the item at the top of our “must visit in lifetime” list. And we didn’t have to wait for long.. While it was still pretty cold in Stockholm, weather.com told us that May is a good time to visit Switzerland. Tickets were booked for 6th of May by SAS from Stockholm to Zurich.
We were to reach Zurich pretty late at night (around 11pm), so we booked an Airport hotel (Holiday Inn Express Zürich Airport). Upon arrival, the hotel shuttle was waiting outside the airport, and within next 15 minutes, we were inside our hotel room. The hotel was very decent and we were ruing the fact that we have to check out early morning next day without enjoying the facilities provided.

The first step: Swiss Pass

Early next morning, after breakfast, we took the hotel shuttle back to airport, knowing that the airport has a connected train station. We had done some extensive research on Swiss train network we knew that the first thing we had to do was to get a “Train Pass”. We opted for a 8 day Swiss Pass (though our stay was for 6 days only, but the other option was for 4 days), which along with allowing free train travel on all land trains, provided discounts on mountain trains and free or discounted entry to various museums throughout Switzerland. The pass cost us around 320CHF per person (it is quite costly!!). There were various other passes available like “Regional-Pass Bernese Oberland" etc, but we found the Swiss pass to be most hassle free. Another important thing that we had discovered was that the site www.sbb.ch is excellent for trip planning. They had an amazing Nokia phone application as well which allowed saving train timetables offline. Apart from that, all train station’s ticket counter personnels were generally very helpful.

The Adventure begins : Off to Lucerne by Golden Pass Line, May 8 2010

Pics: Stunning views from the Golden Pass Line route

Visiting Switzerland is unique when it comes to “Top things to do”. While for all the other places I have visited, you have a list of  cities/monuments/museums/parks etc to visit, Switzerland has a list of “Train journeys to take” as one of its top attractions. The trains have what they call as “Scenic Routes” which give you breathtaking stunning views of the natural beauty that Swiss is famous for. Our travel from Zurich to Lucerne was on one such route, the Golden Pass Line. For the complete two hours of the journey, our eyes were glued to the windows and mouths open in awe!. The only other time I remember admiring nature so much was when I had visited Srinigar (Kashmir) in India… Pure bliss is how I would describe the feeling.

Excursion to Mount Pilatus with Frakmuntegg

    
Pics: Top row: Lake Lucerne boat trip and cogwheel rail, Bottom row: Views from Pilatus

The first thing we did on reaching Lucerne was to get to the tourist information center on the railway station, which was very helpful. After getting maps and other useful information, we rushed towards our hotel (Etap Hotel Lucerne), checked in, and left almost immediately. Our plan for the day was an excursion to Mount Pilatus. We had to decide between Pilatus and TItlis, and we chose Pilatus just for the fact that Titlis had some snow and we were sick and tired of all the snow in Stockholm, otherwise, Titlis is preferred by travelers generally. The complete journey was not covered by Swiss pass, and we had to pay around 32CHF extra per person for the trip. We got all the bookings done at the tourist information center itself.
We took the boat from Schiff Quay, right opposite the Lucerne railway station to reach Alpnachstaad. From there, we boarded the steepest cogwheel railway in the world to take us to the top. The boat trip on Lake Lucerne, was quite romantic with us occupying front seats on deck outside, and the cogwheel ride was quite an experience. At the top of Pilatus, initially we were disappointed as the weather was a bit cloudy, so the view was blocked.. But, thankfully it soon cleared out and we got some nice view of the complete valley…. On our way back, we chose the second route which is cable car down to Kriens and then bus back to Lucerne.. (again, t he tourist information guys had explained everything).

  
Pics: Toboggan run at Frakmuntegg

On the way down with the cable car, we took some time to explore the activities offered halfway at Frakmuntegg.. We tried the Frakigaudi Rodelbahn, Switzerland’s longest summer toboggan run. In simplified terms, it is riding down a hill in a small kind of cart which slides on a hemispherical metal tube.. (can’t explain it better.. see pics). It was quite some fun…

Excursion to Mount Rigi: The queen of mountains.. May 9 2010

Pics: On top of Mount Rigi

We were pretty tired on returning from Pilatus, so just went back to hotel for a nice long sleep. The next morning, we were at the tourist information center again, this time planning visit to Mount Rigi..which is known as the queen of mountains. We went to Arth-Goldau by train from Lucerne, and then took the Cogwheel rail up to the top. (Cogwheel station is outside of main train station, on the back side). The good thing was that just a fortnight ago, the cogwheel ride had been included in swiss pass.. so the complete trip was free for us.. :) .. The top of Rigi offered even better view than Pilatus (but, if you have time for only one, do Pilatus or Titlis, just for the fact that they are must do items on every travel itinerary.. :) )

Lucerne town and the Swiss Transport museum

Pics: Top row: Swiss transport museum, Bottom row: Chapel bridge, Old town church and Lion monument

On returning from Rigi, we headed towards the very famous, Swiss transport museum taking a train to Luzern Verkehrshaus station. It showcases transport mediums ranging from hundreds of years ago to the most modern ones. The most enjoyable activity there was the Airplane simulator experience..
We spend the evening walking around the Lucerne city seeing sights like Chapel bridge crossing the Reuss river, a wooden bridge with lots of paintings inside, beautiful Lion Monument or the Dying lion of Lucerne, old town with the church…. We ended the day with a nice dinner at an indian restaurant close to Dying Lion monument.
That brought an end to our well spent day, and also time to move on from Lucerne… Next morning we headed towards Interlaken.. but that and much more in the next blog.. :)