Hiking through Switzerland at 4,000 feet

Switzerland has been on my European bucket list for ages. The blue skies, crisp fresh air, lush rolling hills…It all seems so majestic. So, when the opportunity presented itself to join my in laws on a quick five-day stint, I jumped at the chance to see those rolling hills in person…and boy did I ever.

We set our sights on Lucerne, in central Switzerland, as our home base. We were traveling from Berlin (my in laws and Mr. Dave ran the Berlin Marathon), and took a direct flight from Berlin to Zurich, followed by a 45-minute train ride from Zurich to Lucerne.

Lucerne is the most populated city in central Switzerland, and is nestled right on the lake, making it one of most picturesque little “cities” I’ve ever visited. Additionally, Lucerne is surrounded by mountains, with Mount Pilatus, being the largest peak at nearly 7,000 feet. So basically, everywhere you look, is beautiful and breathtaking. Up until this point, a lot of the beauty in my travels has centered around the cities themselves, but this trip was all about the outdoor scenery.

Knowing that we wanted to get the most out of our fresh-air escapades, we immediately set our sights on tackling Pilatus our first day. I say “tackling” and maybe you’re wondering if we hiked the 6,982 feet to the top, and the answer is absolutely not. Instead, we opted for the more enjoyable route which was the “golden round trip”. This ticket allowed us access to Pilatus via the cogwheel - the STEEPEST cogwheel in the world - followed by a gondola ride back down the other side of the mountain. To get to the start of the cogwheel, we took a ferry across lake Lucerne.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned my fear of heights on this blog before, but that fear was truly put to the test throughout this entire Swiss adventure. From the cogwheel rides, gondolas, and actual hiking itself, I had quite a few little freak outs. But, I survived, and am here to share the experience with all of you!

Once at the top of Pilatus, we hiked a few paths etched along the mountain. This was when we could actually see the Swiss Alps, pretty far off in the distance. These views made my acrophobia a smidge better. But only a smidge.

After lunch (there’s a great little hotel at the top of Pilatus with a delicious lunch!), and a little more exploring, we found ourselves heading back down the mountain to town. On our way down, we came across this “adventure” park with a ropes course and luge track! In an impromptu moment of excitement, we decided to get off the gondola, and try our hand at luging down a mountain - when in Switzerland right? This was hands down my favorite part of the trip. Although, I have to admit, I was a little nervous as there were very little safety precautions (I AM A HUGE WUSS, OK?), but once I learned we were able to control our own speed, it was completely fine. It was definitely a MOMENT flying down the mountain, seeing the nearby town of Interlaken in the distance, and the Alps, even further out.

On our third day, we were craving some more mountain views, but this time we had to put in the work. Mount Rigi is another nearby peak that is almost entirely surrounded by water - including Lake Lucerne. Just like before, we took the ferry from Lucerene, and began our 2.5 hour trek at Hotel Rigi Vitznau.

I’m not kidding when I say that 90 percent of this journey was straight uphill. There was about 10 minutes worth that flattened out, but the rest, was nearly walking on the balls of our feet, upwards. As I sit here typing this, I’m already starting to get short of breath.

But as you can tell from these photos, the views were spectacular.

When it was all said and done, we hiked 3.8 miles with a max elevation of 4,752 feet. It was the most physically challenging feat I’ve ever done, especially while carrying a certain tiny person on my back, (who managed to sleep and coo throughout the entire hike, only reminding me how uber relaxed she was…) but, I am happy to have accomplished it. In the last photo, you can see we found snow at the top of the mountain!

Something I’ve learned throughout my entire time abroad, is that an experience (such as these hikes) is truly better and more enduring than any piece of chachki or souvenir you could ever buy. Eventually “things” break, or get thrown into some bin in the attic. I even find that after awhile, the thrill of the purchase fades. But something that doesn’t get tossed aside are memories - experiences thoroughly “lived”. And I’ll carry the memories from this hike, and all of the tremendous views from Switzerland with me for a lifetime.