Pilatus

Pilatus is the jagged ridge that stands behind Lucerne in every photograph of the covered bridge — 2,128 m, dark, and shaped unlike the rounded green hills around it.

It has the mountain’s own transport superlative: the steepest rack railway in the world, with a maximum gradient of 48%.

The golden round trip

The standard way to do it, and it works:

1. Boat from Lucerne across the lake to Alpnachstad — about an hour and a half
2. Cog railway up the 48% gradient to Pilatus Kulm — 30 minutes
3. Cable cars down the other side to Kriens — a large gondola then a smaller one
4. Bus back into Lucerne

It takes most of a day, and it can be done in either direction. Covered in part by a Swiss Travel Pass, discounted otherwise; see tickets and passes.

The railway

Opened in 1889, and the engineering problem it solved was that a normal rack would climb out of its teeth at that angle. The solution was a horizontal rack with cogs engaging from the sides rather than below — a system designed for this line and used nowhere else at this scale.

It runs from about May to November and closes for the winter, which is the main thing to check before planning around it.

At the top

Two hotels, a restaurant, and a set of galleries and tunnels cut into the summit rock with openings out onto the drop. The Dragon Path runs through the north face, and the view takes in Lake Lucerne, the Rigi opposite, and around 70 Alpine peaks.

In summer there is a rope park and the longest summer toboggan run in Switzerland at the Kriens end, 1,350 m of it.

The dragons and Pontius Pilate

The mountain has an unusual quantity of legend attached.

It was believed into the Middle Ages that Pontius Pilate’s body had been dumped in a lake near the summit, and that disturbing it would bring storms — so the Lucerne authorities banned climbing the mountain, on pain of penalty, until 1585, when a priest went up with a group and threw stones into the lake to demonstrate that nothing happened.

Dragons were reported living in the caves, and a fifteenth-century farmer’s account of one landing near him was recorded seriously by the city.

The dragon is now the mountain’s logo, which is a reasonable end to the story.

Pilatus or Rigi?

Directly across the lake from each other.

Pilatus — steeper, more dramatic, the record-holding railway, closed in winter, more expensive.

Rigi — gentler, open all year, far more walking, thermal baths halfway up, cheaper.

For a single excursion from Lucerne in summer, Pilatus. For a day you can spend rather than tick off, Rigi.

Getting there

• From Lucerne — boat to Alpnachstad, or bus to Kriens for the cable car.
• From Zurich — about an hour to Lucerne, so the whole thing is a long but feasible day trip; see around Zurich.

When to go

May to November for the railway. The Kriens cable car runs all year, so the summit is reachable in winter from that side.

The rule about clear weather applies: Pilatus is famous locally for making its own cloud, and the old saying holds that if it wears a hat, the weather will be fine, and if its collar is up, it will not.