About Lucerne

The bridge and the wall

Lucerne grew up in the 8th century around a monastery, and by 1332 it had become the first city to join the young Swiss Confederation — the alliance born just across the lake on the Rütli meadow. Its icon, the Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke), was built in 1333 as part of the town's fortifications: Europe's oldest covered wooden bridge, angling across the Reuss beside its stone Water Tower.

A 1993 fire destroyed much of the bridge and its 17th-century gable paintings; Lucerne rebuilt it within a year, and walking its length at dusk, flowers spilling from the railings, remains the definitive Swiss postcard. Above the old town, the Musegg Wall keeps nine of its medieval towers — several climbable, with the city's best free views.

The saddest lion and the loveliest square mile

Mark Twain called Lucerne's Lion Monument — a dying lion carved into a sandstone cliff in 1821 for the Swiss Guards who fell defending the Tuileries in 1792 — 'the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world'. It sits ten minutes from the frescoed guild squares of the Altstadt, where the painted facades of Weinmarkt and Hirschenplatz look almost too perfect to be real.

On the lakefront, the modern KKL concert hall by Jean Nouvel hosts one of Europe's great classical festivals each summer, and the Swiss Museum of Transport — the country's most-visited museum — delights families with everything from steam engines to space capsules.

The lake and its mountains

Lucerne's real magic is its position. Lake Lucerne — Vierwaldstättersee, the 'lake of the four forest cantons' — twists between cliffs like a Norwegian fjord, and historic paddle steamers still work its waters. Three legendary summits ring the town: Pilatus, reached by the world's steepest cogwheel railway; Rigi, the 'Queen of the Mountains', whose sunrise Victorians crossed Europe to see; and the glacier of Titlis.

Any one of them is a half-day trip; the 'Golden Round Trip' up Pilatus by boat, cog railway, cable car, and bus is the classic. In town, food runs from Lozärner Chügelipastete — a puff-pastry crown filled with veal ragout — to fondue restaurants along the river.

Timing a visit

Summer is boat-and-mountain season and the busiest; December's Christmas market and misty lake mornings are quietly magical; carnival (Fasnacht) in February turns this dignified town gloriously mad for a week. Lucerne is 45 minutes by train from Zurich and its airport, and sits on the Gotthard Panorama and GoldenPass scenic rail routes — many travellers ride in from Interlaken over the Brünig Pass, one of Switzerland's prettiest ordinary train rides.

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