Mount Pilatus tours from Lucerne start at the station or the lakefront and bring you back the same afternoon. You choose a coach half-day, a small group, a hike with lunch, a winter day or a guide of your own.
Meet at the Alpenquai coach park, ride the gondola and cableway up from Kriens, and take the cogwheel down to Alpnachstad. You get about 90 minutes free on the summit. The boat home runs until 18 October 2026.
From $197 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Up to 15 of you meet a local guide at Platform 7. You stop for about an hour at Fräkmüntegg, walk the last stretch to the summit, spend two hours up top, then ride the cogwheel down and the boat back.
From $271 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Your hiking guide meets you by track 3 at the station. The bus and cable car take you up, you walk an easy summit trail, and a Swiss barbecue lunch, meat or vegetarian, is in the fare.
From $154 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A small group of up to 15 with an English-speaking guide. An electric bus takes you to Kriens, the gondola and cableway lift you up, and you have about three hours on the summit with a lunch break.
From $405 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Your guide collects you from your Lucerne hotel for up to 7 people. You go up one side, down the other, and home across the lake in first class, with about three and a half hours on the mountain.
From $693 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Two mountains in ten hours with your own guide, for up to 6. You spend about four hours on Pilatus, cross the lake to Vitznau and ride the cogwheel up Rigi. Lunch is extra.
From $974 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Three private days from your Lucerne hotel: mountain lakes, waterfalls and two passes first, then the boat to Alpnachstad and two hours on the summit. Hotels are not included, and free cancellation ends 6 days before.
From $2,097 per person
Full refund up to 6 days before; 50% refund 2-6 days before; no refund under 2 days
Up to 15 people with a local guide, an hour at the middle station, the cogwheel down and the boat back to Lucerne. $271 a person.
Check availabilityIt is a half day on the mountain that starts in town and ends in town. You meet your guide at the railway station or the Alpenquai coach park, and the tour gets you to a valley station: a coach or bus to Kriens, or a boat or train to Alpnachstad. From there the lifts do the climbing, and you come back the other way.
Most of the group days follow the Golden Round Trip. You ride the gondola and the cableway up from Kriens, spend your time on the summit, take the cogwheel down to Alpnachstad, and cross the lake by boat to the pier by the station. The hike and the winter day stay on the Kriens side, up and down by gondola and cableway.
No early train from another city and no long coach ride. You walk to the station or the lakefront, and the valley stations are a short ride away.
The loop uses a bus, a gondola, a cableway, a railway and a boat. On a tour, your guide knows where each one leaves and keeps the group moving, so you look at the view instead of the signs.
The group days take 5 to 6 hours, so the rest of your day is free for the lake and the old town.
The coach half-day gives you about 90 minutes free on top. The small group gives you two hours up there and an hour at the middle station. The hiking day walks you along a summit trail and feeds you a barbecue lunch.
The alternative is the railway company's own loop ticket, bought at the counter or ahead, and ridden without a guide. Here is how the two compare for one adult.
| A guided day from Lucerne | The loop ticket on your own | |
|---|---|---|
| Fare | $154 to $405 a person | CHF 119.80 in second class, 2026 |
| Getting to the lifts | Coach, bus or train with your guide | Bus 1 to Kriens, or the boat or train to Alpnachstad |
| Guide | With you all day; the coach half-day gives free time on top | None |
| Time on the summit | About 1.5 to 3 hours | As long as the lifts run |
| The boat | On the loop days, until 18 October 2026 | In the ticket, until 18 October 2026 |
| Length | 5 to 6 hours | About 4 hours 30 minutes for the loop |
Go on your own if you hold a Swiss Travel Pass and like to plan. The pass carries you on the boat and the bus for free and takes half off the mountain. Book a tour if you want every connection made for you and a guide who knows the day. The ticket route, step by step, is in Mount Pilatus without a tour.
An easy guided hike along a summit trail, lunch on the mountain, and the bus and cable car in the fare. $154 a person, from the station.
Check availabilityStill weighing it up? Read how to choose the best Mount Pilatus tour, or plan a whole day around the mountain with Lucerne and the mountain in one day, hour by hour.
Anyone with a Swiss Travel Pass and a free morning. The loop ticket costs half with the pass, and the boat and bus are free. See the Mount Pilatus ticket prices first.
Anyone who wants a guide to themselves. A Mount Pilatus private tour collects you from your hotel and moves at your pace.
Anyone staying in Zurich without a night in Lucerne. A Mount Pilatus tour from Zurich takes care of the coach both ways.
Anyone set on the boat after 18 October. It does not sail again until the next season. Come earlier, or take the train to Alpnachstad.
Lucerne days, Zurich days and the railway's own tickets sit side by side on Mount Pilatus Tours.