Lucerne

Lucerne joins a lake city to the high mountains more closely than anywhere else in Switzerland. Steamers, cogwheel railways and a summer of orchestral music make it the classic lake-and-summit stay, about three-quarters of an hour by train from Zurich and an hour from Basel.

Lucerne lies at the north-western end of Lake Lucerne, where the Reuss leaves the lake. The Kapellbrücke, the covered wooden bridge of the fourteenth century, crosses the river at an angle beside its stone water tower; it was largely rebuilt after a fire in 1993, and its painted gable panels were restored. Behind the Old Town, with its frescoed squares, the towers of the Musegg Wall still stand along the hill, and the Lion Monument of 1821, carved into the sandstone, commemorates the Swiss Guards who fell in Paris in 1792.

The lake itself is the reason to stay. Its arms reach deep into the mountains of central Switzerland, and a fleet of paddle steamers links the villages of the shore. From Vitznau, Europe’s first mountain railway has climbed the Rigi since 1871; from Alpnachstad, the Pilatus railway, the steepest cogwheel line in the world, rises at gradients of up to 48 per cent. On the waterfront by the station, Jean Nouvel’s KKL Luzern houses a concert hall renowned for its acoustics.

Summer is the season of the lake: swimming from the lidos, evenings on the steamer decks and walks on the Rigi and Pilatus, whose cogwheel railway runs from May to November. From mid-August to mid-September the Lucerne Festival in Summer brings the great orchestras and conductors to the KKL, and the lakefront hotels fill with its audience.

Spring and autumn are quieter and often clear, with fresh snow on the summits above a still lake. Winter is calm in the town; the Rigi stays open for winter walking and sledging, and the slopes of Engelberg and the Titlis are about an hour away. Lucerne’s Fasnacht, the carnival that opens with a dawn explosion of drums and masks on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, takes over the Old Town for six days.

On the lakefront promenade, Mandarin Oriental Palace, Luzern occupies the Belle Époque palace of 1906, restored with large suites facing the water and the Alps. A few minutes along the quay, the Hotel Schweizerhof Luzern has been in the hands of the Hauser family for five generations. Across the lake, the Bürgenstock Hotel & Alpine Spa stands on a ridge high above the water, reached from Lucerne by boat and funicular, and at the foot of the Rigi the Park Hotel Vitznau, a turreted Belle Époque house on the shore, is known for its restaurants and one of the largest wine cellars in Switzerland.

LVXE books Mandarin Oriental Palace, Luzern through Mandarin Oriental Fan Club, and the Bürgenstock Hotel & Alpine Spa and the Park Hotel Vitznau through LHW VITA — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges each programme attaches to the stay. For the Schweizerhof, LVXE advises on the stay and arranges it directly with the hotel. Lake-view rooms in town are in heavy demand during the Lucerne Festival, and are best reserved well before the programme is announced.