Visiting Mount Pilatus
Michele and I are spending a month or so in Switzerland, to chill and to hike. This is the story and photos of our first chapter in the visit, at Mount Pilatus above Lucerne.
See the photo album.
The first chapter in our visit to Switzerland was Mount Pilatus. Pilatus is a mountain that overlooks the wonderful city of Lucerne. In typical Swiss fashion, there's a cable car up, an insanely steep train up, and a hotel up on top. It's been on my list of places to visit for years.
We like to start our visits to Europe by staying somewhere within a few hours travel of the airport and then taking a few quiet days to recover from jet lag. We've also learned it's good for us to go up in elevation as much as possible to acclimate a little before hiking in the peaks. And, this year, we planned to be in Switzerland for the 1st of August, which is Swiss National Day, so we wanted to be somewhere that would celebrate it or give us a good view of the bonfires the Swiss light on top of many of the mountain peaks. So we decided to stay in the hotel at the top of Pilatus as the perfect spot to celebrate being in the country at high, convenient, and gorgeous elevation.
The weather was cold and rainy the entire time we were there, except for brief periods of clear skies and sunlight. On the downside, that made it hard for us to hike - although we got in a few short ones, and managed to get very wet once. On the upside, it was wonderfully chilly and the clouds made everything mystical. Swiss National Day was a muted affair up on top of the mountain, with storms stopping the annual bonfire tradition. Actually... it might have been better if it had been a muted affair, as they had live traditional Swiss music at dinner... which included accordions.
Pilatus is a special place. Amazing views in all directions. So deeply Swiss with the funicular, gondola, and little trails burrowing into the mountain. It's particularly wonderful and quiet after the day tourists leave and there's no one left on top except the hotel guests and a skeleton staff.
It was a wonderful place to stay.. wouldn't surprise me if we return there on future trips as an ideal post-arrival settling spot.
See the best photos from our Pilatus trip in my Pilatus photo album.
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