Mount Pilatus Private Tour from Basel: Golden Round Trip with Lake Cruise
4.9
11 Ratings
Basel
Embark on a private tour from Basel to Mount Pilatus and experience the Golden Round Trip. Ride the world's steepest cogwheel railway, enjoy a lake cruise, and take in breathtaking views with a knowledgeable tour guide.
Duration:
8 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
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Highlights
- Basel SBB Station - Your tour starts with the one hour train ride from Basel to Luzern.
- Lake Lucerne - Continue your tour with the one hour lake boat transfer from Luzern to Alpnachstad. After leaving the bay of Luzern, the boat glides along the shore of Hergiswil and Stansstad to the bay of Alpnach. On the entire boat tour you have the surrounding mountains in sight.
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Alpnachstad - Alpnachstad is the connection point between the lake boat and the steepest cogwheel train in the world.
Within 35 minutes the cogwheel train climbs along the ridge and passing alpine meadows to Pilatus Kulm. -
Mount Pilatus - Arrive at the mountain station Pilatus Kulm of the Pilatusbahn, where a viewing terrace, a panorama gallery and two mountain hotels are located on the scenic local mountain.
Visit several attractions at Mt. Pilatus like the dragon gallery, the viewpoint, the scenic terraces and the multimedia presentation. - Fräkmüntegg - The largest rope park in Central Switzerland, tree tents, the toboggan run, hiking trails and fantastic barbecue areas invite you to relax.
- Krienseregg - The Krienseregg is perfect for families. In the versatile local recreation area you will find marked, varied circular hikes and large picnic areas
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Kriens - In terms of population, Kriens is the third largest municipality and the second largest city in the Swiss canton of Lucerne. It lies at the foot of Mount Pilatus and borders Lucerne to the east.
At Kriens you leave the aerial cableway and after a 10 minutes walk to the bus stop, you board the local bus to Luzern. - Luzern - Return travel from Kriens to Luzern within 10 minutes by local bus.
- Chapel Bridge - As the old town is just footsteps away, you will walk along the river and cross the wooden bridge, one of the most known sights of Luzern.
- Basel SBB Station - Return travel from Luzern to Basel within one our by train. The tour ends in Basel.
What's Included
- All transportation fees included for boat, cogwheel railway, gondola, and bus
- Comprehensive coverage of all taxes, fees, and handling charges
- Exclusive local tour guide service from Swiss Travel Guide for your group
What's Not Included
- food and drinks
- personal expenses during the tour
Additional Information
Pilatus Mountain is a sprawling massif with multiple peaks, towering above Lucerne. You can scale its heights via the Pilatus Railway, the planet’s steepest cogwheel railway, that runs from Alpnachstad from May to November, depending on the snowfall. Alternatively, aerial panorama gondolas and cableways operate year-round from Kriens.
The quintessential ‘Golden Round Trip’ consists of a boat journey from Luzern to Alpnachstad, a cogwheel train ride up the mountain, and a descent via the aerial cableways and panorama gondolas to Kriens. A bus ride returns you to Luzern from Kriens.
A tour guide will accompany you on this picturesque journey through diverse terrains, breathtaking vistas, and into hidden spots beyond the usual tourist path.
- a minimum of 2 people per booking is required
- children must be accompagnied by an adult
- for wheelchair assistance - please contact us before booking
- Please note: Boat and coghwheel railway will operate Mai to October only. Off season, the tour will be performed by travelling to mount Pilatus both ways by gondola, the tour will be finalized with a 1-hour tour on the lake Lucerne by panoramic boat after the return travel from mount Pilatus.
Location
Basel SBB Station
Centralbahnstrasse 22
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.9
(11 Ratings)
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Robin_a
Oct 31, 2023
Switzerland Experience - The dragon walk was astounding. If you only have one full day in Switzerland, this is a must see tour to experience the Alps.
Review provided by Viator
James_w
Aug 11, 2023
Roman our guide was... - Roman our guide was terrific! He was very knowledgeable and very easy to be with. We thought our excursion was one of the highlights of a week long cruise.
Review provided by Viator
720cynthiaw
Oct 17, 2022
Top of the World View on Pilatus - This was a full day adventure with our local guide, Mr. Abraham. He picked us up at our hotel, guided us to the train station where we travelled from Basel to Lucerne, took us to the top of Pilatus by cable car and a short hike, showed us around Lucerne and got us back to the train station to finish the day. Mr. Abraham provided a lot of historical information about Switzerland, Lucerne and Pilatus, as well as shared his personal experiences of hiking Pilatus. He is 75 years young, and still hikes the peak periodically. We had a thoroughly enjoyable day in Switzerland mostly due to Mr. Abraham's attention to detail. It was well worth the expense to have a private, personal guide for this tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sally_h
Sep 28, 2022
Adrian provided a white... - Adrian provided a white glove experience! We especially loved the lake cruise and learning the history of Lucerne.
Review provided by Viator
Mary_m
Oct 19, 2021
MIdwest gratitude - Adrian was our personal guide and he did a fantastic job in taking care of us. He made sure we had the best experience. He did a lot of planning to make sure we had low wait times for traveling and the traveling modes were fun and unique !! He was accommodating in every way. He is a very good historian and we had a perfect day. Thank you Adrian !!
Review provided by Viator
James_l
Oct 14, 2021
An Excellent Tour - This was an excellent tour. It included several kinds of transportation - train, ship, cog railway, gondola from the top of Mt. Pilatus, and bus. Our guide Adrian was great and extremely helpful. The views from the top of Mt. Pilatus were amazing and riding in the oldest/longest cog railway in the world was very interesting. The tour includes a lot of venues in a single day but got us back in Basel for dinner.
Review provided by Viator
Kristi_b
Nov 14, 2019
Great trip! - Adrian was a great guide for our day to Pilatus. We had an excellent day and saw a lot on the tour. Fun taking so many modes of transportation. Switzerland is beautiful.
Review provided by Viator
Anthony_c
Jun 27, 2019
Great Day!! - What a great way to spend a day, and with a great guide - Oskar. It starts with a nice train ride from Basel to Lucerne when Oskar gave us lots of information about Switzerland, it's history etc. We then had two gondola rides to get to the top of Pilatus: the first was a small four person gondola, and then the second was a 50 passenger gondola! When then enjoyed the sites from the top of the mountain and a light lunch. Then it was down the mountain on the cogwheel train - what a thrill - before our one hour boat ride on the lake. after a brief walk around Lucerne, we then headed back to Basel. I highly recommend this trip if you are spending a day in Basel.
Review provided by Viator
Soniahcks
Jul 3, 2018
Highlight of our holiday - From the moment we left our hotel with our lovely guide, Sabine, the day was interesting and entertaining traveling by boat, train, bus, gondola, funicular railway we ascended mount Pilatus and were transported around Lake Lucerne. Loved the individual attention from our guide who was both knowledgeable and spoke impeccable English. Don't leave Basel without doing this trip.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Scott_s
Sep 1, 2023
Trams, trains, boats, cog railways, and cable cars! - This would have been 5 stars if weather was better. No view from Mr. Pilates this day. Our guide, Roman, was absolutely terrific.
Review provided by Viator
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