July 2, 2025 • 35 mins
Lucerne captivates the imagination with its perfect blend of natural splendour and medieval charm. Nestled beside the crystalline waters of Lake Lucerne and surrounded by majestic Alpine peaks, this Swiss gem offers travellers an unforgettable experience that combines outdoor adventure with rich cultural heritage.
Join us as Carolyn from Holidays to Switzerland shares her passionate expertise about this enchanting destination. Having first fallen in love with Switzerland in 1988, Carolyn reveals her top five favourite experiences in Lucerne, starting with the iconic Chapel Bridge adorned with colourful flowers in summer and the surrounding Old Town with its beautifully frescoed buildings. She guides us through the essential lake cruise options, from short excursions to full-day journeys aboard everything from modern vessels to Belle Epoque paddle steamers.
We explore beyond the tourist centres to discover charming lakeside villages like Brunnen, where you can craft your own Swiss Army knife at the Victorinox factory, and uncover mountain adventures including the spectacular "Golden Round Trip" to Mount Pilatus via Europe's steepest cogwheel railway. For chocolate enthusiasts, Carolyn highlights boutique chocolatiers that offer artisanal tastings, showcasing Switzerland's expertise in chocolate beyond mass-market brands.
The conversation reveals hidden gems, such as the medieval Musegg Wall with its nine towers offering panoramic views. It offers practical advice about the best seasons to visit – from flower-filled summer days to the magical winter Light Festival, when historic buildings transform through artistic illuminations. Perhaps most valuable is Carolyn's insight about the most common traveller mistake: underestimating how much time Lucerne deserves within a Swiss itinerary.
Whether you're planning your first Swiss adventure or returning to explore more deeply, this episode provides the perfect blend of practical tips and inspirational insights to help you experience the very best of Lucerne. Listen now to discover why this lakeside city deserves a prominent place on your tr
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Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Lucerne.
Switzerland has lakes,mountains and medieval charm,
and in this episode, we'reuncovering the very best of it.
I'm joined by Carolyn fromHolidays to Switzerland to share
her top five favourite thingsto do in this stunning Swiss
city, along with insider tips,hidden gems and her number one
tip for first-time visitors.
Hi and welcome to the GlobalTravel Planning Podcast.
(00:22):
I'm your host, tracey Collins,who, with my expert guests, will
take you on a weekly journey todestinations around the globe,
providing travel inspiration,itinerary ideas, practical tips
and more to help you plan yournext travel adventure.
Hi everyone, and welcome toepisode 61 of the Global Travel
(00:50):
Planner Podcast.
This week, I'm welcoming myfriend, carolyn from Holidays to
Switzerland, who's going totalk all things Swiss with you
guys, and she was last on thepodcast in episode 6.
Can you believe that, carolyn?
So we are 55 episodes on fromthat point.
This time you're going to talkabout one particular destination
in Switzerland.
Anyway, that's going to beinteresting, as one of my
(01:11):
favorite places in Switzerland,but let's start off by just
introducing yourself, telling usall about what you do, about
your website, about your podcastand about your love for
Switzerland well.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Thank you, tracy, for inviting me back again.
I really enjoyed our last chat.
As you know, I could talk aboutSwitzerland all day, so it's
great to be back here and totalk about a favourite
destination of both of ours.
But yes, to give you and allyour listeners a bit of a
background about holidays toSwitzerland, I first visited
(01:44):
Switzerland back in 1988, a verylong time ago and I fell in
love the minute I entered thislittle village called
Lauterbrunnen, and I've beenfortunate to return there many,
many times.
But the short version of a verylong story is that in 2019, I
(02:04):
started a website calledholidays2switzerlandcom where I
shared, or share, all my tipsand advice for visiting
Switzerland the differenttransport, the different
destinations and so forth.
And when the pandemic hit andno one was travelling, I still
wanted to keep talking aboutSwitzerland, so I started a
(02:25):
podcast also called the Holidaysto Switzerland Podcast, and it
comes out weekly with brand newepisodes again with lots of
travel tips and info andinspiration for visiting
Switzerland.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I've noticed as well.
You've had some videos as wellon your podcast, so that's
really cool.
I saw Andy one of my favoriteone of your guests on an episode
the other day, so is thatsomething new that you've
decided to try out?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, I'm sort of been just dabbling a bit with
that with video.
I don't love being on video.
There are no well put it thisway, it takes a lot of editing
if you want to look great onvideo.
But it's been a lot of fun andI've been interviewing some
(03:17):
expert guests who are live onlocation in various places
around Switzerland, who aregiving us a tour and giving us
lots of information, so that,yeah, they've been a whole lot
of fun and there's quite a fewmore of those coming up as well
well, I think they're brilliant.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
They're a great way to be shown around a destination
by an expert and while you'reasking all your questions about
the destination as well.
So, yeah, I think they're a lotof fun and you know anybody.
The first thing you think aboutwhen you think about
switzerland is just the beautyof the country and it's just a
wonderful way to showcase it.
You can watch it and listen atthe same time so yeah,
definitely really cool yeah,that's one thing.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
That's, uh, that you miss.
When you listen to a podcast,although it's very convenient
when you've just got yourearphones in your ear, uh, you
don't get to see all thosebeautiful images, and when
you're talking about travel,that's really important.
So, yeah, doing the videoepisodes is a good way to
combine both.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
No, I think they're really fun and it kind of leads
us into the destination thatwe're talking about today, and
talking about beautifuldestinations in Switzerland
because, as you say, thedestination we're talking about
is a favourite of both of us.
I've visited I don't know howmany times.
My parents didn't live too faraway from from this particular
city, so I'll let you introduceit.
(04:33):
I'll also let you describewhere it is in Switzerland,
which area of Switzerland it isand what is it about this
particular destination thatmakes it so special.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Wow, we're going to be talking today about Lucerne.
Yes, definitely one of myfavourite places and, as you
mentioned, one of yours.
It's located in centralSwitzerland, but it's only about
an hour either by car or trainfrom Zurich.
So many visitors to Switzerlandfly into Zurich, so it's really
(05:05):
, really convenient to to get toLucerne and in fact you can
catch a train straight from theairport.
It'll go via the, the city, butthen continue on to Lucerne, so
it's very easy to get there.
What's so special about it?
Well, there's so special aboutit.
Well, there's so many things.
I mean, it's built besidebeautiful Lake Lucerne, which is
(05:28):
super, super, you know,impressive.
But it's also surrounded by allthese mountain peaks and
there's some mountains that youcan easily do a day trip or half
a day trip, even from Lucerne,so you can combine the city sort
of visit with the mountains andthe lake.
(05:49):
The city itself, it's justmedieval charm.
The Chapel Bridge is one of themost famous sites and you can't
help but fall in love with thatwhen you see it, this old,
medieval wooden bridge.
If you visit in summer, it'sadorned with flowers all along
(06:11):
the bridge, so it's justbeautiful.
The old town itself is veryattractive, a lot of the
buildings are covered in infrescoes on on the facades and
they have those pretty oriolewindows and it's, it's a city,
but it's it's just like a town,you know, and it's um, you've
got everything that you couldpossibly need there, but it's
(06:33):
not a huge, big bustling citylike you might find in in some
other destinations or in othercountries around the world.
So it's got everything.
I think, um, yeah, it's gotnature.
It's got everything.
I think, yeah, it's got nature.
It's got the attractivearchitecture, there's plenty of
museums.
I'm sure we'll talk more aboutsome of the things to do in a
(06:54):
moment, but yeah, it's goteverything.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
It really has.
I'm going to agree with you onthat, because you've got, you
know, like I say, it's a city,but it doesn't feel like you're
in a city.
You've got that beautiful lakeand you've got the backdrop of
the mountain.
So that's why I'm sure lots offamous people over the years
have bought houses on LakeLucerne.
I'm not surprised.
I'd be one of them if I was abillionaire.
I have to say, because there isa particular house on that lake
(07:18):
that every time I sail past itI'd love to buy that house.
If I ever become a billionaire,I'll be buying that particular
house there.
I don't, I don't know who itbelongs to, but I'm sure
somebody very, very wealthyanyway.
Let's talk about your fivefavorite things to do or
experiences and listen.
So I think, uh, for the kind ofability to do this podcast
(07:38):
within sort of 30-35 minutes,we're probably going to go into
a bit more detail on a few ofthem rather than all five,
because we could be here allweek, I'm sure.
But let's talk about what wouldbe your five experiences that
when you go, or things to seethat you go right, these are the
things that you really shoulddo if you go to Lucerne.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Okay, well, number one I'm going to start with, I
guess that the heart and soul ofof Lucerne itself.
So around the Old Town and theChapel Bridge area, if you're
arriving by train, you'llactually walk straight out of
the station and you'll almostsee the Chapel Bridge as soon as
you come out of the station.
(08:17):
So it's very, very close, it'svery central.
So I'd have to say, strollingaround the Old Town, visiting
the Chapel Bridge and the watertower which is beside it, has
got to be the first thing thatI'd recommend for anyone to do
when they're there.
Secondly is to go on a latecruise.
(08:37):
Now, even if you're only inLucerne for a short amount of
time, even if you're only therefor a day, you can do cruises
from one hour up to about fourhours.
So there's really something foreveryone.
There's lunch cruises, there'sdinner cruises, sunset cruises,
and on all different kinds ofvessels as well.
(08:58):
So if you want to go on a BelleEpoque style paddle steamer,
you can do that, or a luxuryyacht, yeah, they have
everything there.
So there's something foreveryone.
Number three I would say this isprobably not something that
everyone would immediately thinkof if they're going to Lucerne,
(09:19):
but I would say, visit one ofthe smaller villages that's
around the lake.
Lucerne itself, as we'vealready mentioned, is a stunning
city, but if you get away fromthere a little, you get quite a
different aspect or a differentfeel on the whole lakeside, uh,
vibe, I think.
Lucerne, of course, is verybusy with tourists, but if you
(09:44):
hop off, uh, hop off one of thecruises you know, 15, 20 minutes
away from lucerne, you're goingto uh get a much different feel
, a smaller town, quite adifferent ambience.
So it's a really nice thing todo.
Number four, of course, is amountain excursion, and with so
(10:08):
many mountains nearby to choosefrom, this can be a really hard
one.
Which one do I decide to visit?
Uh, mount pilatus is muchcloser.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Um, I know that's a favorite of yours I was gonna
say I'm wondering which one toget to because you know it'd be
pilatus really.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
But go on.
Yeah well, mount pilatus isvery easy to get to, as as they
all are, I guess, but mountpilatus is what's known as
lucerne's house mountain.
It's the closest and whenyou're standing in the city
center you can look up and seeit right there.
And you can get there by acouple of different ways.
So, depending on what time ofyear you go, if you're traveling
(10:50):
in summer, you can actuallytake europe's steepest cogwheel
train to get up to the top.
Year-round, you can take acable car, and you can do a
combination as well, of course,if you're traveling in summer.
So that's a really nice way todo that.
Other popular mountainexcursions from Lucerne are
(11:13):
Mount Riggi.
Of course you can cruise acrossthe lake and then go up Mount
Riggie on a cogwheel train aswell.
Mount Titlis, which is a bitfurther away above Engelberg,
but one of my favorites actually, is Mount Stansohorn, and you
can only visit this one fromabout, I'm going to say,
(11:37):
mid-april till early November.
You travel to Stans, which isabout 15 minutes from Lucerne,
and you go up to, you reach thesummit of the mountain, firstly
by this very historic funicularand then you change to a cable
(11:58):
car, which is a double-deckercable car and the top level is
open air so you can actuallystand there on this balcony in
the fresh air and go up to thetop of stanza horn and it's far
less popular or far less knownto international tourists.
So chances are when you gothere it'll be much less busy
(12:23):
than it is at some of thoseother three mountains that I
that I mentioned well, I haven'tdone that one, and I used to
live over there, so it justshows you.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
So, yeah, I'll have to.
I'll have to try that one nexttime I go, carolyn, for sure,
definitely.
So I know we're going to talkin a bit more detail about about
some of these in a second, andthen your last, last choice my
last tip is, of course, try somechocolate now.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
If you're going to switzerland yes, you're going to
try chocolate and you'llprobably taste some of the you
know more well-known brands.
But there are some really quiteboutiquey kind of chocolatiers
in Lucerne.
One is called Max Chocolatier,which is a very local little
(13:06):
company.
You can go in and do a tastingand buy some chocolates there.
At the Swiss Museum ofTransport they have what they
call Swiss Chocolate Adventure,so you can go through and have a
look at the production ofchocolate and it's a more of an
interactive kind of experience.
(13:28):
And then, just out of Lucerne,about eight minutes by train, is
the Aischbach Chocolate Factory, which is a really great
experience as well.
Again, a very small, localproducer.
You can do tastings.
They have a like an interactivearea exhibition, I guess you
(13:50):
call it, that you walk throughand you can make your own
chocolate bar.
And then, of course, there's acafe in a shop and you can go
home with you know as muchchocolate as you want.
So definitely, uh, yes, dotaste some chocolate, but try
some from a local producer, notjust one of the big name
companies oh, that sounds tastyas well.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
I have to say, I do have a weakness for swiss
chocolate, so that'd bedefinitely something that's
always on my on my list to haveswiss chocolate, to be honest.
So let's do a deep dive into acouple of these.
So I don't know which, whichones you've chosen, but, um,
which, which of those do youwant to do?
A little bit more of a kind ofuh, more of an itinerary idea, I
(14:33):
guess, in terms, if you'regoing to plan this in this, in
what should you expect and whenshould you do it?
Obviously, some of these thingsare better at certain times of
year as well, so, come on then.
I can't wait to find out whatare you going to do when we go
to CERN.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Okay, well, firstly, let's go to Mount Pilatus,
because I know you love it.
I'm really excited.
It really is a great excursion.
So if you can well, if you aregoing between usually early
April and around the end ofOctober, sometimes into November
(15:08):
, you can take what's called thegolden round trip.
So, starting in Lucerne now,you can go.
Do this in either direction,but I'm going to take you up the
mountain by cable car and downby train.
So we'll start in Lucerne andyou, from the station, take a
bus which takes less than 10minutes to get to a little, I
(15:31):
guess, a suburb called Criennes.
From there it's a short walk tothe cable car station, where
you hop on the first cable car,which takes you up to a place
called, or an area of themountain called, frackmuntig.
And once you're there, you caneither then just hop off and hop
(15:53):
into the next cable car, butthere's lots and lots of
activities to do at Frackmuntig.
So there's a toboggan run,there's rope park, there's a zip
line, there's barbecuefacilities and amazing views and
, of course, lots and lots ofhiking opportunities as well.
Once you've done everything youwant to do at Frackmontig, you
(16:15):
can then hop into the next cablecar, which is called the Dragon
Ride.
This is a huge cable car thatholds a lot of people probably
about 70, I would say and youtake the final.
It's about 10 minutes for thefinal leg up to the top of Mount
Pilatus.
When you're at the summit,there's quite a few activities
(16:39):
and things you can do as well orexhibitions to look at.
The views from up there arejust amazing, and I've been
lucky enough actually to stayovernight at one of the hotels
on the top of Pilatus and thesunset and the sunrise views are
there yeah you'll never forgetthem.
(17:00):
They're just amazing.
It's so, so good.
Lots of hiking well, a fewhiking trails you can do up
there and the opportunity to seeibex.
They have quite a smallishpopulation of ibex that live on
the mountains, so you often getthe chance to see them.
Once you're ready to leavePilatus, you can take the Worlds
(17:28):
I believe it is steepest cablecar down the mountain, which is,
yeah, an experience in itself,lots of fun.
And you then arrive at a littletown called Alpnachstad, which
is right on the shores of LakeLucerne.
So then you can hop on a boatand cruise back to Lucerne
(17:52):
itself.
So, yeah, that's the goldenround trip and it is brilliant.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Now, I've done that a couple of times, but I've done
it the opposite way around.
I started with the boat tripand ended with the bus trip back
into Lucerne itself.
But it's one of my favouritethings to do when I go to
Switzerland.
I love that trip, I just thinkit's so lovely, and that cog
railway you get some justfantastic views.
Then, when you get up to thetop of the mountain, the views
(18:18):
are just stupendous.
You just oh views.
Then, when you get up to thetop of the mountain, the views
are just stupendous.
You just oh.
Honestly, you just you takeyour camera out, you're just
shooting pictures left, rightand center, because it's so
gorgeous.
Yeah, that's right.
And then and then the, the uh,the little gondola is.
I like the little gondola whenthere's only a couple of you in
the gondola on the last bit.
That's really really pretty andyou get some fantastic views.
But yeah, it's a, it's a lovelytrip, that it really is.
(18:39):
Is there a way?
Because it's quite expensivewe're talking about Switzerland,
so you know it's not a budgettrip.
Is there a way that you can,you know, get a ticket that
might be a little bit cheaper ifyou're planning to do something
like that, because I knowyou're an expert on kind of rail
passes for Switzerland?
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Yeah, sure.
So yeah, you can just buy aticket for that day trip if you
want to.
But a lot of people, when theygo to Switzerland, they'll have
what's called a Swiss travelpass or if they're traveling in
multiple countries, they mighthave a Eurail pass or Interrail
(19:12):
pass and with those you do get adiscount off the cost of the,
the cog railway and the, thecable car tickets.
I know it's 50% discount withthe Swiss travel pass.
I think it might be 25%discount with the, the Eurail or
Interrail pass.
So yeah, you can definitelysave some money if you've got
one of those passes.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Wonderful.
And now I know you mentioned,or we talked about earlier,
about some of those otherexcursions that you can do up
the mountains, that riggy thatyou talked about earlier.
Have you got articles aboutthose Because we can link to
those in the show notes?
Because I know we've justtalked about Pilatus, but it
would be good also if anybody'slistening and think, oh, I fancy
one of the other ones.
We can link to those articlesin the show notes.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yeah, absolutely, thank you.
Yes, I've got articles onvisiting Mount Riggie, titlus,
pilatus and Stanza Horn, andalso an article which compares
the big three Pilatus, titlusand Rigi, because often you know
, people might think, oh notsure which one and how are they
different, rather than readingthree full articles, that it
(20:14):
sort of compares them all in theone article.
So, yeah, I'll give you thelinks.
That would be great if youcould share those yeah, no, oh,
that'll be really useful.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
So what?
What is the?
What is the second uh optionthat we're going to jump into?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
okay.
So the second option is tovisit one of those little
lakeside towns, just to get awhole different perspective.
I think of of lucerne and thelake lucerne area, of Lucerne
and the Lake Lucerne area.
One favourite of mine is a towncalled Brunnen, and this is.
I haven't looked up thetimetable but I think it's about
(20:53):
a 40-minute, maybe 50-minuteride on the boat from Lucerne to
Brunnen.
Brunnen is actually a home to aVictorinix outlet or factory,
so you can actually go there andmake your own pocket knife
Everyone's probably heard ofthis, the Swiss army knife.
Victorinix are the the officialmakers of those.
(21:18):
So you can can go into thisshop and choose the size and the
style that you want andactually make your own and
personalise it.
Now, you do have to book aheadto do that, but that's something
quite fun to do In the townitself.
I mean, I wouldn't say there's aheap of other things there as
(21:41):
in attractions.
There's a heap of other thingsthere, as in attractions.
There's a another smallmountain nearby so you can take
a cable car up to it, butthere's a beautiful lakeside
promenade that you can just havea stroll along, buy an ice
cream and as you wander along,or sit down and have a coffee
and yeah it's, it's just reallypretty.
Another couple of other littletowns that are also worth
(22:04):
visiting.
Uh, gersau is one which has avery attractive church that's
worth a look.
Uh, it's on um, the other sideof the lake, to brunnen, so it
gives you a bit of a differentperspective from you know the
views that you see of themountains.
And Beckenreid is another one.
(22:26):
I've actually stayed there acouple of times and and it's a
really nice little village aswell.
So I think just by doing that,most of those were all of those
towns you can actually reach byother forms of public transport
as well.
But it's nice to um, to take aboat from, from lucerne.
Why not combine your, yourcruise experience with with
(22:49):
visiting one of those otherlittle towns as well?
Speaker 1 (22:52):
oh yeah, I just think you can't go to lucerne without
going on that lake.
You really can't.
And then, in combining it withvisiting one of the little towns
is just the perfect way to doit.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
And do you have a third that you want to, because
you kind of that was quite asneaky, because you fit it in
the, the towns and the boat ridein that one very well done okay
, well, I mean, like I said atthe very start when I was giving
you my number one tip, it's gotto be just to wander around the
(23:22):
old town and take in some ofthose beautiful buildings.
I mean, you've got to walkacross the Chapel Bridge, look
up and see some of the medievalpaintings.
Now, unfortunately, althoughthe original bridge is medieval,
in 1992 it burnt down, whichwas just tragic, and it was had
(23:44):
it had on it up inside the, theroof.
It had all these paintings frommedieval times.
Fortunately, some of them wereactually had been removed for
restoration at the time.
So they were the ones that theywere able to save and they
they've been put back onto the,the new bridge now.
(24:06):
Um, so there's, yeah, there'sthat bit of.
You know, there's the oldhistory, but there's the new
history as well.
Um, so, definitely walk acrossthat.
Um, at one end of it you'llfind the Jesuit church, which
looks quite plain really fromthe outside, but when you go in
you'll just be blown away.
(24:27):
It's just pink marble and it's,oh, wow, all this gold.
It's, yeah, very, verybeautiful.
So that's definitely worth alook across back into the, uh,
the old town.
Like I said before, thebuildings have those beautiful
facades and oriole windows.
It's great to just wanderaround and find yourself in a
(24:49):
little alley or a little square.
Even if you don't know whereyou are, you know you really
can't get lost.
Um, so just stroll around andsee what you can discover.
There's lots of littleboutiques, little artisan sort
of workshops, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
And you might come across the.
I'm going to give it to thewrong name, probably, but the
lion sculpture.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Oh, yes, yeah, the dying lion.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
That's it in the wall , which is interesting to see as
well.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Yeah, it's very moving that, yeah, a lion carved
out of this huge bit of stoneand yeah, it's, it's, it's very
touching and there's usually goand look for that.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
And then there's there's some really lovely cafes
as well to go and have a uh,you know, a quiche and some
salad which is what we always doand a drink, and yeah, there's,
it's a.
It's a lovely town to just towander around in and you can
have a stroll along the lake aswell, and uh yeah, it really is.
And actually, when you're sayingabout the, uh, the chapel
(25:49):
bridge, um, I think I visited itnot long before actually, the
fire which was it wasdevastating at the time.
I remember when it happened, um, but it's, it's nice to see,
the last time I was back there,that you know it's all's all
been rebuilt and you can walkacross it.
And the last time I was thereit was all the flowers were out
in summer and there was swans onthe lake and it's just a
(26:10):
beautiful city to wander aroundas well, and it doesn't feel.
Now I've visited many times andI've never felt that it was
overcrowded.
It didn't feel like some citiesyou go to in europe where you
just can't get moved.
Looking at you, paris, um, youknow, and it's, it just doesn't
feel comfortable.
But I was feeling switzerland,I don't know.
It's because you've got thelakes, you've got that openness,
(26:31):
you've got the mountains.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
It just feels uh, less busy, yeah, yeah, I mean
it's um, it's really good, youknow, um just relaxing.
(27:05):
You've got the mountainbackdrop, the lake and the river
right there, the beautifulbuildings, and and just watch,
watch the world go by yeah,absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
And I was just going to say as well, and I think you
probably mentioned at the start,is that if you get the train,
the train actually, the trainstation is in the center of
lucerne, so you get off thetrain, you're literally two
minutes walk away from fromgetting on a boat.
It's that close, so it's, it'svery easy.
I mean, the swiss publictransport, anyway, is second
turn on it's.
It's fantastic.
Everything's joined up.
(27:34):
You know, you arrive by trainand a boat's leaving at the
proper time that you expect.
It does not.
You don't have to wait hoursand hours.
Everything's kind of likeclockwork there you go Swiss,
but it is, everything works likeclockwork, so it's really good.
Now, what about time of year tovisit?
Do you have a favorite time ofyear to go to Lisanne?
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Look, I usually visit during the summer.
Um, it's lovely I I enjoy thethe.
You know, the longer days uh,the warmer weather it's.
It's, yeah, a great time tovisit um winter.
Just gone I was in lucerne andit was beautiful as well.
(28:13):
It's nice to see um the roof ofthe chapel bridge.
You know, had snow on it and,and it was just a very different
atmosphere.
We're actually lucky to bethere during the week of um the
light festival, so every Januarythey have a light festival
where lots of those um buildingslike the Jesuit church and the
(28:36):
water tower are illuminated withthese amazing light
installations.
So it was really nice to wanderaround the the town at night
and see that.
And there's quite a lot goingon in winter actually, with
Christmas markets and other sortof festivals and things that
they have as well.
This year I'm actually going tobe visiting in autumn or fall,
(29:00):
so that'll be yeah.
Yeah, I'm looking forward tothat seeing, seeing how, how
different um the vibe is and and, uh, how different the
mountains look um in autumn.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
But um, summer is definitely a great time to visit
too yeah, definitely it can'tbe if there's warm days and
sunny skies and you know thebrightness of all the lightness
and the warmth.
Yeah, I've just haven't justspent winter in Europe.
I don't think I'll be hurryingback.
I have to say I just find it Imean it was magical, uh that you
can't be in some ways, youcan't be in northern hemisphere
(29:33):
winter, because the the, yes,the cold, but just the Christmas
atmosphere and the lights andjust the whole.
It's just brilliant Christmasmarkets, um, but I don't know, I
think I've got soft and mildage and I like the warmth, but,
yeah, very special time to gothough, for sure.
Now, is there any other hiddengems or honourable mentions that
you'd like to kind of sneak inthere about Lucerne?
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Well, there is one.
I guess it's a hidden gem and Ihave to admit that I'd been to
Lucerne quite a few times beforeI'd actually been to this thing
.
It's called the Musegg Wall, soit's actually the old
fortifications of Lucerne and ifyou're at the Chapel Bridge you
probably don't really notice itbecause it's kind of hidden a
(30:21):
bit behind the buildings in theOld Town.
But it's not very far.
It's probably only a five toten minute walk from the Chapel
Bridge through the Old Town andyou come up and you're up on a
bit of a hill, but the medievalfortifications are still there
and there's nine towers.
Four of those towers you canactually still climb up and when
(30:46):
you do you just get the mostamazing views over lucerne and
the lake, with the mountains inthe distance.
So it's, yeah, definitely worthworthwhile hunting, hunting out
the moose egg wall and going upone of the towers to to get
those views and probably stayingmore than a few hours in
Lucerne as well.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
because I was going to ask, because this will
probably lead to the nextquestion, which is kind of you
know, because you help a lot ofpeople plan their travels to
Switzerland, is there kind of aI hate the term mistake, but is
there something that you seetravellers kind of do when they
visit in Lucerne, that you kindof go?
Speaker 2 (31:24):
oh, probably best of all you did, yeah, well you, you
did steal, steal my thunderthere, tracy sorry I was.
I was going to say don'tunderestimate, you know the time
that you need in in lucerne.
I know when people go toswitzerland they want to try and
pack in as much as theypossibly can.
They want to see all the places, and so many people will only
(31:48):
allow a day, or sometimes evenless, in Lucerne.
They say, oh, we'll just stopin Lucerne on our way from
Zurich to the next place.
But honestly, like you couldspend three or four days in
Lucerne and and still not seeeverything or do everything that
you want to do.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
So don't skimp on on the time that that you allow for
lucerne, if you can possiblyhelp it yeah, no, I agree 100,
and I've been there quite anumber of times and it's, uh,
it's definitely worth more thana couple of hours in your
itinerary, which is I've seenpeople do in the past.
But and I guess that leaves methe question I always end my
episodes with, which would bewhat is your number one tip that
(32:26):
you would share with anyoneplanning to visit Lucerne for
the first time?
Speaker 2 (32:30):
I would say, once you get there, have a look around
you and then just go and wander,just go and get lost down those
little back alleys.
See where it takes you, becauseeven though I've just said, go
and get lost, you can't actuallyget lost.
You'll always find your wayback to the river, to the lake,
(32:51):
to the chapel bridge, the mainhub there of the city.
But some of the things thatyou'll find when you're off
wandering down those littlealleyways, yeah, yeah, they're
the sort of things that thatstick with you, I think yeah,
absolutely 100.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Well, thanks so much, uh for coming on the podcast
again, carolyn, and talking allthings swiss.
This time, the focus on lucerne.
Um, it's been great to chatabout it because it's it's such
a beautiful city and um,definitely 100.
If you visit in switzerland,you should be adding that in
your itinerary.
That's my recommendation, and Iwill put links to your podcast
and to your website and to someof the specific articles as well
(33:33):
that we've discussed in theshow notes for this episode,
which will be atglobaltravelplanningcom.
Forward slash episode 61.
But, carolyn, it's been great,as always, to chat all things
Swiss.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Thanks again for having me, tracey, it's been
wonderful chatting to you and,as always, happy global travel
planning.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Thank you for joining us on this episode of the
Global Travel Planning Podcast.
For more details and links toeverything we discussed today,
check out the show notes atglobaltravelplanningcom.
Remember, if you enjoyed theshow, please consider leaving us
a review on your favoritepodcast app, because your
feedback helps us reach moretravel enthusiasts, just like
you.
Anyway, that leaves me to say,as always, happy global travel
(34:15):
planning, thank you.
Lucerne.
Switzerland has lakes,mountains and medieval charm,
and in this episode, we'reuncovering the very best of it.
I'm joined by Carolyn fromHolidays to Switzerland to share
her top five favourite thingsto do in this stunning Swiss
city, along with insider tips,hidden gems and her number one
tip for first-time visitors.
Hi and welcome to the GlobalTravel Planning Podcast.
(00:22):
I'm your host, tracey Collins,who, with my expert guests, will
take you on a weekly journey todestinations around the globe,
providing travel inspiration,itinerary ideas, practical tips
and more to help you plan yournext travel adventure.
Hi everyone, and welcome toepisode 61 of the Global Travel
(00:50):
Planner Podcast.
This week, I'm welcoming myfriend, carolyn from Holidays to
Switzerland, who's going totalk all things Swiss with you
guys, and she was last on thepodcast in episode 6.
Can you believe that, carolyn?
So we are 55 episodes on fromthat point.
This time you're going to talkabout one particular destination
in Switzerland.
Anyway, that's going to beinteresting, as one of my
(01:11):
favorite places in Switzerland,but let's start off by just
introducing yourself, telling usall about what you do, about
your website, about your podcastand about your love for
Switzerland well.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Thank you, tracy, for inviting me back again.
I really enjoyed our last chat.
As you know, I could talk aboutSwitzerland all day, so it's
great to be back here and totalk about a favourite
destination of both of ours.
But yes, to give you and allyour listeners a bit of a
background about holidays toSwitzerland, I first visited
(01:44):
Switzerland back in 1988, a verylong time ago and I fell in
love the minute I entered thislittle village called
Lauterbrunnen, and I've beenfortunate to return there many,
many times.
But the short version of a verylong story is that in 2019, I
(02:04):
started a website calledholidays2switzerlandcom where I
shared, or share, all my tipsand advice for visiting
Switzerland the differenttransport, the different
destinations and so forth.
And when the pandemic hit andno one was travelling, I still
wanted to keep talking aboutSwitzerland, so I started a
(02:25):
podcast also called the Holidaysto Switzerland Podcast, and it
comes out weekly with brand newepisodes again with lots of
travel tips and info andinspiration for visiting
Switzerland.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I've noticed as well.
You've had some videos as wellon your podcast, so that's
really cool.
I saw Andy one of my favoriteone of your guests on an episode
the other day, so is thatsomething new that you've
decided to try out?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, I'm sort of been just dabbling a bit with
that with video.
I don't love being on video.
There are no well put it thisway, it takes a lot of editing
if you want to look great onvideo.
But it's been a lot of fun andI've been interviewing some
(03:17):
expert guests who are live onlocation in various places
around Switzerland, who aregiving us a tour and giving us
lots of information, so that,yeah, they've been a whole lot
of fun and there's quite a fewmore of those coming up as well
well, I think they're brilliant.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
They're a great way to be shown around a destination
by an expert and while you'reasking all your questions about
the destination as well.
So, yeah, I think they're a lotof fun and you know anybody.
The first thing you think aboutwhen you think about
switzerland is just the beautyof the country and it's just a
wonderful way to showcase it.
You can watch it and listen atthe same time so yeah,
definitely really cool yeah,that's one thing.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
That's, uh, that you miss.
When you listen to a podcast,although it's very convenient
when you've just got yourearphones in your ear, uh, you
don't get to see all thosebeautiful images, and when
you're talking about travel,that's really important.
So, yeah, doing the videoepisodes is a good way to
combine both.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
No, I think they're really fun and it kind of leads
us into the destination thatwe're talking about today, and
talking about beautifuldestinations in Switzerland
because, as you say, thedestination we're talking about
is a favourite of both of us.
I've visited I don't know howmany times.
My parents didn't live too faraway from from this particular
city, so I'll let you introduceit.
(04:33):
I'll also let you describewhere it is in Switzerland,
which area of Switzerland it isand what is it about this
particular destination thatmakes it so special.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Wow, we're going to be talking today about Lucerne.
Yes, definitely one of myfavourite places and, as you
mentioned, one of yours.
It's located in centralSwitzerland, but it's only about
an hour either by car or trainfrom Zurich.
So many visitors to Switzerlandfly into Zurich, so it's really
(05:05):
, really convenient to to get toLucerne and in fact you can
catch a train straight from theairport.
It'll go via the, the city, butthen continue on to Lucerne, so
it's very easy to get there.
What's so special about it?
Well, there's so special aboutit.
Well, there's so many things.
I mean, it's built besidebeautiful Lake Lucerne, which is
(05:28):
super, super, you know,impressive.
But it's also surrounded by allthese mountain peaks and
there's some mountains that youcan easily do a day trip or half
a day trip, even from Lucerne,so you can combine the city sort
of visit with the mountains andthe lake.
(05:49):
The city itself, it's justmedieval charm.
The Chapel Bridge is one of themost famous sites and you can't
help but fall in love with thatwhen you see it, this old,
medieval wooden bridge.
If you visit in summer, it'sadorned with flowers all along
(06:11):
the bridge, so it's justbeautiful.
The old town itself is veryattractive, a lot of the
buildings are covered in infrescoes on on the facades and
they have those pretty oriolewindows and it's, it's a city,
but it's it's just like a town,you know, and it's um, you've
got everything that you couldpossibly need there, but it's
(06:33):
not a huge, big bustling citylike you might find in in some
other destinations or in othercountries around the world.
So it's got everything.
I think, um, yeah, it's gotnature.
It's got everything.
I think, yeah, it's got nature.
It's got the attractivearchitecture, there's plenty of
museums.
I'm sure we'll talk more aboutsome of the things to do in a
(06:54):
moment, but yeah, it's goteverything.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
It really has.
I'm going to agree with you onthat, because you've got, you
know, like I say, it's a city,but it doesn't feel like you're
in a city.
You've got that beautiful lakeand you've got the backdrop of
the mountain.
So that's why I'm sure lots offamous people over the years
have bought houses on LakeLucerne.
I'm not surprised.
I'd be one of them if I was abillionaire.
I have to say, because there isa particular house on that lake
(07:18):
that every time I sail past itI'd love to buy that house.
If I ever become a billionaire,I'll be buying that particular
house there.
I don't, I don't know who itbelongs to, but I'm sure
somebody very, very wealthyanyway.
Let's talk about your fivefavorite things to do or
experiences and listen.
So I think, uh, for the kind ofability to do this podcast
(07:38):
within sort of 30-35 minutes,we're probably going to go into
a bit more detail on a few ofthem rather than all five,
because we could be here allweek, I'm sure.
But let's talk about what wouldbe your five experiences that
when you go, or things to seethat you go right, these are the
things that you really shoulddo if you go to Lucerne.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Okay, well, number one I'm going to start with, I
guess that the heart and soul ofof Lucerne itself.
So around the Old Town and theChapel Bridge area, if you're
arriving by train, you'llactually walk straight out of
the station and you'll almostsee the Chapel Bridge as soon as
you come out of the station.
(08:17):
So it's very, very close, it'svery central.
So I'd have to say, strollingaround the Old Town, visiting
the Chapel Bridge and the watertower which is beside it, has
got to be the first thing thatI'd recommend for anyone to do
when they're there.
Secondly is to go on a latecruise.
(08:37):
Now, even if you're only inLucerne for a short amount of
time, even if you're only therefor a day, you can do cruises
from one hour up to about fourhours.
So there's really something foreveryone.
There's lunch cruises, there'sdinner cruises, sunset cruises,
and on all different kinds ofvessels as well.
(08:58):
So if you want to go on a BelleEpoque style paddle steamer,
you can do that, or a luxuryyacht, yeah, they have
everything there.
So there's something foreveryone.
Number three I would say this isprobably not something that
everyone would immediately thinkof if they're going to Lucerne,
(09:19):
but I would say, visit one ofthe smaller villages that's
around the lake.
Lucerne itself, as we'vealready mentioned, is a stunning
city, but if you get away fromthere a little, you get quite a
different aspect or a differentfeel on the whole lakeside, uh,
vibe, I think.
Lucerne, of course, is verybusy with tourists, but if you
(09:44):
hop off, uh, hop off one of thecruises you know, 15, 20 minutes
away from lucerne, you're goingto uh get a much different feel
, a smaller town, quite adifferent ambience.
So it's a really nice thing todo.
Number four, of course, is amountain excursion, and with so
(10:08):
many mountains nearby to choosefrom, this can be a really hard
one.
Which one do I decide to visit?
Uh, mount pilatus is muchcloser.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Um, I know that's a favorite of yours I was gonna
say I'm wondering which one toget to because you know it'd be
pilatus really.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
But go on.
Yeah well, mount pilatus isvery easy to get to, as as they
all are, I guess, but mountpilatus is what's known as
lucerne's house mountain.
It's the closest and whenyou're standing in the city
center you can look up and seeit right there.
And you can get there by acouple of different ways.
So, depending on what time ofyear you go, if you're traveling
(10:50):
in summer, you can actuallytake europe's steepest cogwheel
train to get up to the top.
Year-round, you can take acable car, and you can do a
combination as well, of course,if you're traveling in summer.
So that's a really nice way todo that.
Other popular mountainexcursions from Lucerne are
(11:13):
Mount Riggi.
Of course you can cruise acrossthe lake and then go up Mount
Riggie on a cogwheel train aswell.
Mount Titlis, which is a bitfurther away above Engelberg,
but one of my favorites actually, is Mount Stansohorn, and you
can only visit this one fromabout, I'm going to say,
(11:37):
mid-april till early November.
You travel to Stans, which isabout 15 minutes from Lucerne,
and you go up to, you reach thesummit of the mountain, firstly
by this very historic funicularand then you change to a cable
(11:58):
car, which is a double-deckercable car and the top level is
open air so you can actuallystand there on this balcony in
the fresh air and go up to thetop of stanza horn and it's far
less popular or far less knownto international tourists.
So chances are when you gothere it'll be much less busy
(12:23):
than it is at some of thoseother three mountains that I
that I mentioned well, I haven'tdone that one, and I used to
live over there, so it justshows you.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
So, yeah, I'll have to.
I'll have to try that one nexttime I go, carolyn, for sure,
definitely.
So I know we're going to talkin a bit more detail about about
some of these in a second, andthen your last, last choice my
last tip is, of course, try somechocolate now.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
If you're going to switzerland yes, you're going to
try chocolate and you'llprobably taste some of the you
know more well-known brands.
But there are some really quiteboutiquey kind of chocolatiers
in Lucerne.
One is called Max Chocolatier,which is a very local little
(13:06):
company.
You can go in and do a tastingand buy some chocolates there.
At the Swiss Museum ofTransport they have what they
call Swiss Chocolate Adventure,so you can go through and have a
look at the production ofchocolate and it's a more of an
interactive kind of experience.
(13:28):
And then, just out of Lucerne,about eight minutes by train, is
the Aischbach Chocolate Factory, which is a really great
experience as well.
Again, a very small, localproducer.
You can do tastings.
They have a like an interactivearea exhibition, I guess you
(13:50):
call it, that you walk throughand you can make your own
chocolate bar.
And then, of course, there's acafe in a shop and you can go
home with you know as muchchocolate as you want.
So definitely, uh, yes, dotaste some chocolate, but try
some from a local producer, notjust one of the big name
companies oh, that sounds tastyas well.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
I have to say, I do have a weakness for swiss
chocolate, so that'd bedefinitely something that's
always on my on my list to haveswiss chocolate, to be honest.
So let's do a deep dive into acouple of these.
So I don't know which, whichones you've chosen, but, um,
which, which of those do youwant to do?
A little bit more of a kind ofuh, more of an itinerary idea, I
(14:33):
guess, in terms, if you'regoing to plan this in this, in
what should you expect and whenshould you do it?
Obviously, some of these thingsare better at certain times of
year as well, so, come on then.
I can't wait to find out whatare you going to do when we go
to CERN.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Okay, well, firstly, let's go to Mount Pilatus,
because I know you love it.
I'm really excited.
It really is a great excursion.
So if you can well, if you aregoing between usually early
April and around the end ofOctober, sometimes into November
(15:08):
, you can take what's called thegolden round trip.
So, starting in Lucerne now,you can go.
Do this in either direction,but I'm going to take you up the
mountain by cable car and downby train.
So we'll start in Lucerne andyou, from the station, take a
bus which takes less than 10minutes to get to a little, I
(15:31):
guess, a suburb called Criennes.
From there it's a short walk tothe cable car station, where
you hop on the first cable car,which takes you up to a place
called, or an area of themountain called, frackmuntig.
And once you're there, you caneither then just hop off and hop
(15:53):
into the next cable car, butthere's lots and lots of
activities to do at Frackmuntig.
So there's a toboggan run,there's rope park, there's a zip
line, there's barbecuefacilities and amazing views and
, of course, lots and lots ofhiking opportunities as well.
Once you've done everything youwant to do at Frackmontig, you
(16:15):
can then hop into the next cablecar, which is called the Dragon
Ride.
This is a huge cable car thatholds a lot of people probably
about 70, I would say and youtake the final.
It's about 10 minutes for thefinal leg up to the top of Mount
Pilatus.
When you're at the summit,there's quite a few activities
(16:39):
and things you can do as well orexhibitions to look at.
The views from up there arejust amazing, and I've been
lucky enough actually to stayovernight at one of the hotels
on the top of Pilatus and thesunset and the sunrise views are
there yeah you'll never forgetthem.
(17:00):
They're just amazing.
It's so, so good.
Lots of hiking well, a fewhiking trails you can do up
there and the opportunity to seeibex.
They have quite a smallishpopulation of ibex that live on
the mountains, so you often getthe chance to see them.
Once you're ready to leavePilatus, you can take the Worlds
(17:28):
I believe it is steepest cablecar down the mountain, which is,
yeah, an experience in itself,lots of fun.
And you then arrive at a littletown called Alpnachstad, which
is right on the shores of LakeLucerne.
So then you can hop on a boatand cruise back to Lucerne
(17:52):
itself.
So, yeah, that's the goldenround trip and it is brilliant.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Now, I've done that a couple of times, but I've done
it the opposite way around.
I started with the boat tripand ended with the bus trip back
into Lucerne itself.
But it's one of my favouritethings to do when I go to
Switzerland.
I love that trip, I just thinkit's so lovely, and that cog
railway you get some justfantastic views.
Then, when you get up to thetop of the mountain, the views
(18:18):
are just stupendous.
You just oh views.
Then, when you get up to thetop of the mountain, the views
are just stupendous.
You just oh.
Honestly, you just you takeyour camera out, you're just
shooting pictures left, rightand center, because it's so
gorgeous.
Yeah, that's right.
And then and then the, the uh,the little gondola is.
I like the little gondola whenthere's only a couple of you in
the gondola on the last bit.
That's really really pretty andyou get some fantastic views.
But yeah, it's a, it's a lovelytrip, that it really is.
(18:39):
Is there a way?
Because it's quite expensivewe're talking about Switzerland,
so you know it's not a budgettrip.
Is there a way that you can,you know, get a ticket that
might be a little bit cheaper ifyou're planning to do something
like that, because I knowyou're an expert on kind of rail
passes for Switzerland?
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Yeah, sure.
So yeah, you can just buy aticket for that day trip if you
want to.
But a lot of people, when theygo to Switzerland, they'll have
what's called a Swiss travelpass or if they're traveling in
multiple countries, they mighthave a Eurail pass or Interrail
(19:12):
pass and with those you do get adiscount off the cost of the,
the cog railway and the, thecable car tickets.
I know it's 50% discount withthe Swiss travel pass.
I think it might be 25%discount with the, the Eurail or
Interrail pass.
So yeah, you can definitelysave some money if you've got
one of those passes.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Wonderful.
And now I know you mentioned,or we talked about earlier,
about some of those otherexcursions that you can do up
the mountains, that riggy thatyou talked about earlier.
Have you got articles aboutthose Because we can link to
those in the show notes?
Because I know we've justtalked about Pilatus, but it
would be good also if anybody'slistening and think, oh, I fancy
one of the other ones.
We can link to those articlesin the show notes.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yeah, absolutely, thank you.
Yes, I've got articles onvisiting Mount Riggie, titlus,
pilatus and Stanza Horn, andalso an article which compares
the big three Pilatus, titlusand Rigi, because often you know
, people might think, oh notsure which one and how are they
different, rather than readingthree full articles, that it
(20:14):
sort of compares them all in theone article.
So, yeah, I'll give you thelinks.
That would be great if youcould share those yeah, no, oh,
that'll be really useful.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
So what?
What is the?
What is the second uh optionthat we're going to jump into?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
okay.
So the second option is tovisit one of those little
lakeside towns, just to get awhole different perspective.
I think of of lucerne and thelake lucerne area, of Lucerne
and the Lake Lucerne area.
One favourite of mine is a towncalled Brunnen, and this is.
I haven't looked up thetimetable but I think it's about
(20:53):
a 40-minute, maybe 50-minuteride on the boat from Lucerne to
Brunnen.
Brunnen is actually a home to aVictorinix outlet or factory,
so you can actually go there andmake your own pocket knife
Everyone's probably heard ofthis, the Swiss army knife.
Victorinix are the the officialmakers of those.
(21:18):
So you can can go into thisshop and choose the size and the
style that you want andactually make your own and
personalise it.
Now, you do have to book aheadto do that, but that's something
quite fun to do In the townitself.
I mean, I wouldn't say there's aheap of other things there as
(21:41):
in attractions.
There's a heap of other thingsthere, as in attractions.
There's a another smallmountain nearby so you can take
a cable car up to it, butthere's a beautiful lakeside
promenade that you can just havea stroll along, buy an ice
cream and as you wander along,or sit down and have a coffee
and yeah it's, it's just reallypretty.
Another couple of other littletowns that are also worth
(22:04):
visiting.
Uh, gersau is one which has avery attractive church that's
worth a look.
Uh, it's on um, the other sideof the lake, to brunnen, so it
gives you a bit of a differentperspective from you know the
views that you see of themountains.
And Beckenreid is another one.
(22:26):
I've actually stayed there acouple of times and and it's a
really nice little village aswell.
So I think just by doing that,most of those were all of those
towns you can actually reach byother forms of public transport
as well.
But it's nice to um, to take aboat from, from lucerne.
Why not combine your, yourcruise experience with with
(22:49):
visiting one of those otherlittle towns as well?
Speaker 1 (22:52):
oh yeah, I just think you can't go to lucerne without
going on that lake.
You really can't.
And then, in combining it withvisiting one of the little towns
is just the perfect way to doit.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
And do you have a third that you want to, because
you kind of that was quite asneaky, because you fit it in
the, the towns and the boat ridein that one very well done okay
, well, I mean, like I said atthe very start when I was giving
you my number one tip, it's gotto be just to wander around the
(23:22):
old town and take in some ofthose beautiful buildings.
I mean, you've got to walkacross the Chapel Bridge, look
up and see some of the medievalpaintings.
Now, unfortunately, althoughthe original bridge is medieval,
in 1992 it burnt down, whichwas just tragic, and it was had
(23:44):
it had on it up inside the, theroof.
It had all these paintings frommedieval times.
Fortunately, some of them wereactually had been removed for
restoration at the time.
So they were the ones that theywere able to save and they
they've been put back onto the,the new bridge now.
(24:06):
Um, so there's, yeah, there'sthat bit of.
You know, there's the oldhistory, but there's the new
history as well.
Um, so, definitely walk acrossthat.
Um, at one end of it you'llfind the Jesuit church, which
looks quite plain really fromthe outside, but when you go in
you'll just be blown away.
(24:27):
It's just pink marble and it's,oh, wow, all this gold.
It's, yeah, very, verybeautiful.
So that's definitely worth alook across back into the, uh,
the old town.
Like I said before, thebuildings have those beautiful
facades and oriole windows.
It's great to just wanderaround and find yourself in a
(24:49):
little alley or a little square.
Even if you don't know whereyou are, you know you really
can't get lost.
Um, so just stroll around andsee what you can discover.
There's lots of littleboutiques, little artisan sort
of workshops, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
And you might come across the.
I'm going to give it to thewrong name, probably, but the
lion sculpture.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
Oh, yes, yeah, the dying lion.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
That's it in the wall , which is interesting to see as
well.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Yeah, it's very moving that, yeah, a lion carved
out of this huge bit of stoneand yeah, it's, it's, it's very
touching and there's usually goand look for that.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
And then there's there's some really lovely cafes
as well to go and have a uh,you know, a quiche and some
salad which is what we always doand a drink, and yeah, there's,
it's a.
It's a lovely town to just towander around in and you can
have a stroll along the lake aswell, and uh yeah, it really is.
And actually, when you're sayingabout the, uh, the chapel
(25:49):
bridge, um, I think I visited itnot long before actually, the
fire which was it wasdevastating at the time.
I remember when it happened, um, but it's, it's nice to see,
the last time I was back there,that you know it's all's all
been rebuilt and you can walkacross it.
And the last time I was thereit was all the flowers were out
in summer and there was swans onthe lake and it's just a
(26:10):
beautiful city to wander aroundas well, and it doesn't feel.
Now I've visited many times andI've never felt that it was
overcrowded.
It didn't feel like some citiesyou go to in europe where you
just can't get moved.
Looking at you, paris, um, youknow, and it's, it just doesn't
feel comfortable.
But I was feeling switzerland,I don't know.
It's because you've got thelakes, you've got that openness,
(26:31):
you've got the mountains.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
It just feels uh, less busy, yeah, yeah, I mean
it's um, it's really good, youknow, um just relaxing.
(27:05):
You've got the mountainbackdrop, the lake and the river
right there, the beautifulbuildings, and and just watch,
watch the world go by yeah,absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
And I was just going to say as well, and I think you
probably mentioned at the start,is that if you get the train,
the train actually, the trainstation is in the center of
lucerne, so you get off thetrain, you're literally two
minutes walk away from fromgetting on a boat.
It's that close, so it's, it'svery easy.
I mean, the swiss publictransport, anyway, is second
turn on it's.
It's fantastic.
Everything's joined up.
(27:34):
You know, you arrive by trainand a boat's leaving at the
proper time that you expect.
It does not.
You don't have to wait hoursand hours.
Everything's kind of likeclockwork there you go Swiss,
but it is, everything works likeclockwork, so it's really good.
Now, what about time of year tovisit?
Do you have a favorite time ofyear to go to Lisanne?
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Look, I usually visit during the summer.
Um, it's lovely I I enjoy thethe.
You know, the longer days uh,the warmer weather it's.
It's, yeah, a great time tovisit um winter.
Just gone I was in lucerne andit was beautiful as well.
(28:13):
It's nice to see um the roof ofthe chapel bridge.
You know, had snow on it and,and it was just a very different
atmosphere.
We're actually lucky to bethere during the week of um the
light festival, so every Januarythey have a light festival
where lots of those um buildingslike the Jesuit church and the
(28:36):
water tower are illuminated withthese amazing light
installations.
So it was really nice to wanderaround the the town at night
and see that.
And there's quite a lot goingon in winter actually, with
Christmas markets and other sortof festivals and things that
they have as well.
This year I'm actually going tobe visiting in autumn or fall,
(29:00):
so that'll be yeah.
Yeah, I'm looking forward tothat seeing, seeing how, how
different um the vibe is and and, uh, how different the
mountains look um in autumn.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
But um, summer is definitely a great time to visit
too yeah, definitely it can'tbe if there's warm days and
sunny skies and you know thebrightness of all the lightness
and the warmth.
Yeah, I've just haven't justspent winter in Europe.
I don't think I'll be hurryingback.
I have to say I just find it Imean it was magical, uh that you
can't be in some ways, youcan't be in northern hemisphere
(29:33):
winter, because the the, yes,the cold, but just the Christmas
atmosphere and the lights andjust the whole.
It's just brilliant Christmasmarkets, um, but I don't know, I
think I've got soft and mildage and I like the warmth, but,
yeah, very special time to gothough, for sure.
Now, is there any other hiddengems or honourable mentions that
you'd like to kind of sneak inthere about Lucerne?
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Well, there is one.
I guess it's a hidden gem and Ihave to admit that I'd been to
Lucerne quite a few times beforeI'd actually been to this thing
.
It's called the Musegg Wall, soit's actually the old
fortifications of Lucerne and ifyou're at the Chapel Bridge you
probably don't really notice itbecause it's kind of hidden a
(30:21):
bit behind the buildings in theOld Town.
But it's not very far.
It's probably only a five toten minute walk from the Chapel
Bridge through the Old Town andyou come up and you're up on a
bit of a hill, but the medievalfortifications are still there
and there's nine towers.
Four of those towers you canactually still climb up and when
(30:46):
you do you just get the mostamazing views over lucerne and
the lake, with the mountains inthe distance.
So it's, yeah, definitely worthworthwhile hunting, hunting out
the moose egg wall and going upone of the towers to to get
those views and probably stayingmore than a few hours in
Lucerne as well.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
because I was going to ask, because this will
probably lead to the nextquestion, which is kind of you
know, because you help a lot ofpeople plan their travels to
Switzerland, is there kind of aI hate the term mistake, but is
there something that you seetravellers kind of do when they
visit in Lucerne, that you kindof go?
Speaker 2 (31:24):
oh, probably best of all you did, yeah, well you, you
did steal, steal my thunderthere, tracy sorry I was.
I was going to say don'tunderestimate, you know the time
that you need in in lucerne.
I know when people go toswitzerland they want to try and
pack in as much as theypossibly can.
They want to see all the places, and so many people will only
(31:48):
allow a day, or sometimes evenless, in Lucerne.
They say, oh, we'll just stopin Lucerne on our way from
Zurich to the next place.
But honestly, like you couldspend three or four days in
Lucerne and and still not seeeverything or do everything that
you want to do.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
So don't skimp on on the time that that you allow for
lucerne, if you can possiblyhelp it yeah, no, I agree 100,
and I've been there quite anumber of times and it's, uh,
it's definitely worth more thana couple of hours in your
itinerary, which is I've seenpeople do in the past.
But and I guess that leaves methe question I always end my
episodes with, which would bewhat is your number one tip that
(32:26):
you would share with anyoneplanning to visit Lucerne for
the first time?
Speaker 2 (32:30):
I would say, once you get there, have a look around
you and then just go and wander,just go and get lost down those
little back alleys.
See where it takes you, becauseeven though I've just said, go
and get lost, you can't actuallyget lost.
You'll always find your wayback to the river, to the lake,
(32:51):
to the chapel bridge, the mainhub there of the city.
But some of the things thatyou'll find when you're off
wandering down those littlealleyways, yeah, yeah, they're
the sort of things that thatstick with you, I think yeah,
absolutely 100.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Well, thanks so much, uh for coming on the podcast
again, carolyn, and talking allthings swiss.
This time, the focus on lucerne.
Um, it's been great to chatabout it because it's it's such
a beautiful city and um,definitely 100.
If you visit in switzerland,you should be adding that in
your itinerary.
That's my recommendation, and Iwill put links to your podcast
and to your website and to someof the specific articles as well
(33:33):
that we've discussed in theshow notes for this episode,
which will be atglobaltravelplanningcom.
Forward slash episode 61.
But, carolyn, it's been great,as always, to chat all things
Swiss.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Thanks again for having me, tracey, it's been
wonderful chatting to you and,as always, happy global travel
planning.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Thank you for joining us on this episode of the
Global Travel Planning Podcast.
For more details and links toeverything we discussed today,
check out the show notes atglobaltravelplanningcom.
Remember, if you enjoyed theshow, please consider leaving us
a review on your favoritepodcast app, because your
feedback helps us reach moretravel enthusiasts, just like
you.
Anyway, that leaves me to say,as always, happy global travel
(34:15):
planning, thank you.
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