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A Day Trip To Mount Rigi
An easy and beautiful day trip from Zurich is an excursion to Mount Rigi near Lucerne. Also known as Queen of the Mountains, Rigi is a mountain located in Central Switzerland surrounded three lakes – Lakes Lucerne, Zug and Lauerz.
The summit, Rigi Kulm, is located at 1,798 meters above sea level and offers amazing views of the surrounding countryside. You get views across the Alps as well as 13 lakes and the whole of the middle of Switzerland. You can even see as far as Germany and France from the top.
There are often plenty of paragliders to watch up here.
Rigi Railways is in fact Europe’s oldest mountain railways and was founded in 1871. We drove from Zurcich to Vitznau, where we parked the car in a public car park (please note that we had to search to find one with spaces, so travelling by train might be a wise option).
Then we took the train from Vitznau (the red trains) but you can instead take a gondola from Weggis which joins the train at a higher point, or you can take the blue trains from Goldau on the other side of the mountain.
The views on the journey are simply stunning – typical Swiss chocolate box scenery.
When we reached the top we had a reception committee waiting for us – a group of men playing in a traditional folk band.
At the summit you need to walk some quite steep steps and you will find there is a restaurant and cafeteria, a communications tower, various look out points and plenty of places to wander round and admire the view.
There are also many hiking trails and there is a symbolic stone in commemoration of a tie up with a mountain in China.
However, the main attraction is simply the amazing view.
We went during late Summer early Autumn and it was totally breathtaking. However, we were told that the colours of the landscape in Autumn are even better. In Winter of course, Rigi becomes a ski destination.
Do check what times the train return to the bottom as we missed the 17.01 train and discovered that the next one to Vitznau was an hour later at 18.01. Back in Vitznau, the scenery is again very beautiful and it is definitely worth a stroll along the lake and past the marina.
Railway From Vitznau to Rigi
Rigi-Bahnen AG, Bahnhofstrasse 7, 6354 Vitznau
Tel: +41 (0)41 399 87 87
F0r more information visit the Rigi website here.
Prices: The Halbtax card is valid at Rigi and children under 6 are free. For detailed pricing information see here.
As well as taking the train from Vitznau, you can also take the Gondola from Weggis or the train from Goldau. See more information here.
Click here for Google Maps directions.
See Google Map below:
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1 comment
Wow, what a beautiful scenery. It reminds me of my hometown.