Switzerland
Lucerne
Lucerne: Covered Bridges and a Lakeside Old Town
Covered wooden bridges cross the river Reuss where it leaves the lake, and much of the medieval town wall still stands in Lucerne. It is not on the Rhine, so on a river cruise a Lucerne day means a transfer, and the train from Basel takes about an hour.
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Good to know
Reaching Lucerne
Lucerne lies on Lake Lucerne in central Switzerland, not on the Rhine, so a Lucerne day on a river cruise means a transfer by road or rail. Your cruise line will tell you how its visit is arranged.
- Trains between Basel and Lucerne take about an hour.
- Lucerne station is the largest terminus station in Switzerland, and lake boats leave from beside it.
- About 86,700 people lived in the city in 2025.
- The city center lies on both banks of the Reuss, just below the lake.
Lucerne on Your Own
Lucerne's old town is small, and most sights are within about 20 minutes' walk, so a day here can be done on foot. If your ship is at Basel, allow about two hours of train travel in total on top of your time in the city.
- The bridges: Cross the Chapel Bridge, then follow the river to the Spreuer Bridge, painted with a Dance of Death.
- The Lion Monument: Carved into the rock in 1820 and 1821 to a design by Bertel Thorvaldsen, the dying lion honors the Swiss Guards killed when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris in 1792.
- The Musegg wall: Much of the town wall built in 1386 still stands, and you can walk a section of the rampart; four of its towers are open to visitors free of charge between April and the start of November, so check before you go.
- On the lake: Scheduled boats run roughly hourly to lake towns. A trip the full length of the lake to Flüelen takes about three hours, so pick a shorter round trip.
- Getting back on time: If you travel on your own, take a train that gets you back to Basel with a wide margin. All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, your ship posts the exact time, and a ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own.
Tipping and Currency
By law, service is included in the bill in Switzerland, so a tip is not expected, but you may round up the bill or add a few francs if you are happy with the service. The currency is the Swiss franc, although euros are widely accepted and many price lists show both.
- For coffee, you can round the bill up to the nearest franc.
- If you were not happy with the service, there is no need to tip.
Carnival, Concerts and Art
Just before Lent, Fasnacht fills the old town with masked street parades and bands of wind instruments and drums called Guugemusig, and the Lucerne Festival of classical music is held at the culture and congress building designed by Jean Nouvel.
- The building's main concert hall is known for its acoustics, and it also houses the Lucerne Art Museum.
- The Rosengart Collection on Pilatusstrasse shows more than 200 works of early modern art, including 125 by Paul Klee and about 50 by Pablo Picasso.
- The Bourbaki Panorama on Löwenplatz is a circular painting 115 meters long, by Édouard Castres, showing the French army of General Bourbaki crossing into Switzerland to be interned in February 1871.
A Brief History
Lucerne grew up around a Benedictine monastery and gained importance from trade on the route over the Gotthard Pass. An alliance with the forest cantons in 1332 and victory over the Habsburgs at Sempach in 1386 made it a strong member of the young Swiss Confederation.
- Around 750: The Benedictine monastery of St. Leodegar was founded here.
- 1178: Lucerne gained independence from Murbach Abbey in Alsace, and the town itself was probably founded that year.
- 1332: Lucerne joined Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden in the Swiss Confederacy on 7 November.
- 1386: Lucerne defeated the Habsburgs at the Battle of Sempach, and the Musegg town wall dates from the same year.
- 1567: The Jesuits arrived, and Lucerne remained Catholic through the Reformation.
- 1798: The French army marched into Switzerland, and the Old Swiss Confederacy collapsed.
- 1859: The railway from Basel via Olten reached Lucerne, and the city's station opened.
- 1866 and 1868: Richard Wagner settled at Tribschen, and Queen Victoria visited, touring the Chapel Bridge and the Lion Monument.
- 1993: Fire destroyed two-thirds of the Chapel Bridge's paintings, and the bridge reopened in 1994.
- To learn more ashore: The Historical Museum of Lucerne, in the 16th-century former arsenal on Pfistergasse beside the Spreuer Bridge, holds about 3,000 objects from the history of the city and canton.
Lucerne with Children
The Swiss Museum of Transport shows trains, cars, ships and aircraft and has a planetarium and a large-format cinema. It is a 30 to 40 minute walk along the lake from the center, and it can also be reached by bus or by boat.
- Younger children: The Glacier Garden shows rock carved by glaciers and has a mirror maze.
- School age: The Transport Museum has an aerial photograph of all of Switzerland at a scale of 1:20,000. Adult entry cost CHF 37 in 2026, with lower prices for children, so check before you go.
- Teenagers: If you are staying in Lucerne before or after the cruise, Mount Pilatus can be reached from Alpnachstad on the Pilatus Railway, the world's steepest cogwheel railway, which runs from about May to November depending on snow.
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