I’m generally comfortable with whatever happens when I travel.  However, it’s a little different when you’re in charge of taking your mom and youngest sister around Europe for the first time.  So, the pressure was on to make this trip perfect.  Everything was going great and we were in my favorite city yet, Lucerne. While we were planning, my wife had recommended we make the halfday trip to the top of Mount Pilatus.

The trip began just outside the train station.  There you can buy tickets for the journey.  The ticket covers three separate transportation segments, the first of which departed from the shores of Lake Lucerne.  We boarded the ferry for a 30 minute ride to Alpnachstad.  After arriving there, it was a short walk to the “world’s steepest cog railway.”

The journey only got better after we boarded the cog train.  This was my sister’s first trip to the top of a real alpine mountain.  As we proceeded increasingly higher, I enjoyed watching her excitement.  The ascent took another 30 minutes but we enjoyed the entire trip.  Finally, we had reached the terminal at the peak of Mount Pilatus.

“As enjoyable as the trip up Mount Pilatus was, reaching the top was definitely the highlight.”

Our first impulse was to go to the top.  With the summit within sight, our hike began.  Fifteen minutes and several pictures later, we’d reached the top.  From the summit we could see the famous Klimsenhorn chapel below on the ridge.  Obviously, we wanted to make the hike down to it.  The church was small and somewhat underwhelming inside, but the hike provide unique views of the mountain above.

We stayed atop the mountain as long as we could but the last gondola ride of the day was quickly approaching.  On the ride down, we were able to look back on the amazing place place we had been.  Arriving at a lower ridge, we proceeded to the cable cars and rode down with a delightful woman who lives in Lucerne.  We had planned to take the train back to town but she offered us a ride back with her husband.  This personal interation with someone who knew the area was the perfect end to what had been a wonderful day.

I thought before we left that Lucerne would be one of my favorite destinations, but because of our visit to the top of Pilatus it was without question the highlight of the trip.  The combination of a historic city and the memorable mountaintop provided diversity we hadn’t experienced anywhere else in Europe.  If you find yourself in Lucerne, don’t make the mistake of skipping a trip up Pilatus.