Mount Pilatus tours from Zurich take you to the summit and back in one day, with an hour or more in Lucerne on the way. You choose a guided coach from the Sihlquai bus station or a private car from your hotel.
Check in at the Sihlquai bus station for a ten-hour day with a guide in English and Spanish. You get an hour in Lucerne, ride up from Kriens and down by cogwheel, and cross the lake by boat until 18 October 2026.
From $207 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A driver-guide collects you anywhere in Zurich in a Mercedes, for up to 12. You spend about four hours on the mountain, an hour on the lake and an hour and a half in Lucerne. Child seats are available.
From $678 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Ten hours with a guide in English and Spanish, an hour in Lucerne, up from Kriens and down by cogwheel. $207 a person.
Check availabilityIt is a full day out of the city with the lifts paid and the driving done for you. The coach leaves the Sihlquai bus station beside Zurich main station in the morning, stops in Lucerne for about an hour of free time, and takes you on to the gondola in Kriens. You ride the gondola and the cableway up, spend about 90 minutes on the summit, and take the cogwheel down to Alpnachstad.
From there the day follows the Golden Round Trip home: a boat across the lake to Lucerne, until 18 October 2026, and the coach back to Zurich. The private day does the same loop from your hotel door, by car, with about four hours on the mountain.
By rail you change in Lucerne, then find a bus or a boat, then the lifts. On the coach day you step off at the valley station and follow the guide.
Both days give you time in Lucerne: an hour on the coach day and about 90 minutes on the private one. It is enough for the bridges and the lakefront.
The coach day is guided in both languages, and the guide rides every lift with you. On the summit the time is yours.
The private day collects you anywhere in Zurich in a Mercedes, with a driver-guide who stays all day. Child seats are available.
The alternative is the train to Lucerne and the railway's own loop from there. Here is how the two compare for one adult.
| The coach day from Zurich | The train and loop on your own | |
|---|---|---|
| Getting there | Coach from the Sihlquai bus station | 41 minutes to Lucerne by train |
| The mountain | Lifts, boat and coach in the fare | CHF 119.80 for the loop, 2026, plus your train |
| Guide | English and Spanish, all day | None |
| On the summit | About 1 hour 30 minutes | As long as the lifts run |
| In Lucerne | About an hour | As long as you like |
| Length | 10 hours | Your own timetable |
The train wins if you hold a Swiss Travel Pass: it covers the train, the boat and the bus, and halves the mountain. The coach wins if you want the day planned and a guide beside you. How to ride it yourself is in Mount Pilatus without a tour.
About four hours on the mountain, an hour on the lake and time in Lucerne, for up to 12. $678 a person.
Check availabilityWant Lucerne to be more than an hour? The whole day, hour by hour, is in Lucerne and the mountain in one day, hour by hour.
Anyone who can sleep in Lucerne. A Mount Pilatus tour from Lucerne is half the length, and you start fresh from the lakefront.
Anyone with a Swiss Travel Pass. Your train, boat and bus are already paid. Book the mountain on the Mount Pilatus tickets page and go on your own.
Anyone who wants the loop without the city. The coach day puts an hour in Lucerne into the day. If you would rather spend it on the summit, a Mount Pilatus private tour lets you choose.
Anyone who wants Rigi as well. Only the private day from Lucerne does both mountains. See Pilatus or Rigi.
Zurich days, Lucerne days and the railway's own tickets sit side by side on Mount Pilatus Tours.