Lucerne's Lakes and Mountains Short Break

Looking to add a short easy-going hiking adventure to add to your European vacation? Lucerne's Lakes & Mountains Short Break offers fantastic mountain and lake views and comfortable accommodations for 4 nights. Public transport is used to keep the ascents to a minimum and you should be comfortable travelling in cable cars and cog railways with a steep incline. Stay in Lucerne, Weggis and Beckenried in hotels with lake views and spend one night in the Pilatus-Kulm hotel, a truly unforgettable experience.

Slower Adventures | Where walking and cycling meet easy-going exploring, our Slower Adventures are the perfect combination. Most days are filled with picturesque journeys with some free time to dive into the destination and experience the people, local food and culture as you go.

Inn to Inn Walking | Walk from place-to-place changing accommodations each night. Generally staying in B&Bs, inns, and guesthouses.

Solo Travellers, Families with Teens

The minimum age for this tour is: 12 Years

This trip is graded ‘easy—moderate’ overall, as the hikes are around 5-11km/3-7mi, and quite straight forward as cable cars and cog railways are used to take care of the tough ascents and descents. You should be in reasonably good shape to get the most from this trip. Its a perfect trip for a first time hiking adventure as the public transport infrastructure is fantastic, giving you lots of flexibility. You should however be comfortable using cable cars and steep cog railways as these are an integral part of the trip. 

Please be aware that earlier/later in the season there may be some residual snow lying in patches on some of the trails, but this will not require any special equipment or skills.

Your accommodation will be a mix of a 4* spa hotel, 3* superior hotels and 3* hotels. In Lucerne, Weggis and Beckenried we book lake view rooms where possible. If these are not available, a small reduction will be taken off the cost of your trip

Single Rooms & Solo Hikers

This trip is available to solo hikers and a supplement is payable. Single rooms are on request and again a supplement is payable.

Meals

Continental breakfasts are included. One 4 course dinner is included at the Pilatus Kulm Hotel. Other dinners and lunches are not included so you are free to choose where you eat each day. Lucerne has numerous restaurant options, and in the smaller towns of Weggis and Beckenried you can eat at a local restaurant or at your hotel. Lunch can be bought at restaurants along the way or you can pick up a packed lunch from the bakery or supermarket. Food in Switzerland is hearty and traditional, with cheese being one of the dominant ingredients! Fondue and raclette are popular and a must try. Roesti is another classic which is a bed of grated then fried potato, with various toppings like cheese, bacon or fried eggs.

You will be walking on a well-signposted trail on which you can discover a fascinating, culturally influenced mountain world. Navigation is straightforward as you can use the Macs Adventure app which has maps, GPS tracks, and daily route info. Simply download the GPS tracks for offline use and follow the route on your phone with the assurance that navigation will be simple, and you can’t get lost.

You will find more information on downloading the app in your Macs Adventure Account.

Our hikes usually begin and end at a central point in town (such as a church, bus stop, etc.). Access routes to your accommodation are not included in our km/mi daily figures. However, the Macs app will guide you to your accommodation. You just need to go to the ‘Itinerary’ on the applicable day, open the section about your accommodation, and click on the ‘Get Directions’ button.

This trip is available to start any day of the week, from the end of June til the end of September, subject to availability. Any time during this period is ideal for hiking, in late June/early July you can experience Alpine flowers at their finest while in bloom. August can be busy as this is the main holiday making month for many Europeans.  

Fly into Zurich , Bern or Geneva then continue by train to Lucerne (1, 2 or 3.5 hours). From Lucerne, take a boat or train/bus to Weggis. Train timetables and details of public transportation in Switzerland are available via the excellent travel planner at www.sbb.ch.

From Lucerne train station, you can get to any major European destination easily. Direct trains to Zurich airport take just 1 hour.

Luggage transfer is included in this trip. Just leave your bag at the hotel reception by 9am in the morning, and it will be delivered to your next hotel by 6pm that day. Please limit your baggage to one bag per person with a maximum weight of 20kg/44lbs per person.