Mount Titlis
Mount Titlis is one of the most scenic and popular destinations in Switzerland, high in the Alps. It's an easy day-trip that can be done in six hours. The best way to get there is take the train to Engelberg, then a cable car to the top. Alternatively, you could drive if you have a rental car, or you could come up by tour bus. There are package tours that you can purchase ahead of time, or in Lucerne, but we always find that the nicest way to get there is by train.
It's good to get an early start, so leave after breakfast and then you can get back to town perhaps by 2:30 in the afternoon. The train station is easy to reach from most parts of Lucerne in a five or 10 minute walk.
You can also watch the video on the dedicated video page.
The train station is a modern and functional building, which also has one of Switzerland's most popular vegetarian restaurants, Tibbits. You can purchase your train ticket at the office one flight up from ground level, as well as the ticket for the cable car that will bring you up to Mount Titlis and then back down again. If you have the Swiss Travel Pass there is no charge for the train ride and you get a discount on the cable car.
Altogether it takes about two hours from Lucerne to the top of Titlis: 43 minutes for the train, and one hour to walk to the cable car and ride up. Then you spend about one or two hours up top and two more hours coming back down to Lucerne.
The first 15 minutes on the train is through suburbs of Lucerne, which have been steadily growing in recent years with more housing, but it's still a small city, population under one hundred thousand, with a quarter-million in the broader metropolitan area.
After leaving town the scene transforms to rustic green fields and mountains. You are going to see many cows in the pastures and miles of green fields covered in grass and clover, the silage they are growing for animal feed.
Farmers will be out cutting the grass, stacking up wood, and other related activities along the way. They are able to get three crops out of one plot of land during the season, which they fertilize by spraying cow manure, so their dairy production is an organic closed-loop.
One of many great things about traveling by train is that it's very easy to strike up conversations and you'll run into all sorts of international travelers. The train does stop 3 or maybe 4 times along the way, picking up a few people, or dropping them off.
You might even see several covered wooden bridges, and a parade of cows along the main roadway, and other farming activities. Stay alert looking out the windows and you'll have lots of photo opportunities.
I've done this beautiful excursion about 25 times and never get bored of the majestic scenery. Getting to Titlis is half of the pleasure of the day. It is also a lot of fun running around in the snow on top, but this journey is one of the more scenic rides in Switzerland.
Slide the train windows down for your best photographs and view so you don't get any reflection of the window glass in your picture.
As the train gets closer to Engelberg the mountains grow higher and you'll see quite a bit of snow up top, where you'll get the first indication regarding visibility at the top.
Then we level off and get to Engelberg station at the end of the line, so there is no great rush to get off the train, which is going to be parked here for quite a while.
Engelberg is a ski resort in the wintertime and it's a year-round destination because of Titlis. The 10-minute walk to the cable car is especially pleasant along the stream and passing gardens with vegetables and flowers.
Your main hope is for clear weather because the mountain view is the main reason for this trip, looking into the central Alps of the Bernese Oberland. Sometimes it's partly cloudy and you wait 5-10 minutes for the clouds to part, but you'll almost always have a very nice view.
This is the world's first rotating gondola and rises in elevation from 3500 feet in Engelberg all the way up to 10,000 feet at the top of the mountain.
Upon arrival at the top it is easy to just follow the crowd off the cable car and into the pavilion, and then take an elevator up a few flights to the viewing platform.
Your first goal is to go on outside to the open-air terrace, which provides some of the best views of all into the mountains. When you come out on this terrace you will be dazzled by the rising slope of snow in front of you but be sure to take a good look from the back of the terrace towards that distant mountain range, where you can see right into the heart of the Swiss Alps, the Bernese Oberland.
When you're at the top of Titlis it really only takes one hour to see the sights, but there are various attractions that could keep you busy for another hour or two, including lunch, finding different viewpoints, a cliff walk, and the Ice Flyer cable car.
You can walk right onto the glacier from the panorama terrace and frolic in the snow. It's cold enough that the snow never melts, but in the summer with typical sunshine you're going to feel comfortable with just a light jacket.
If visibility is not so good when you first arrive, wait around because it'll probably clear up. The weather changes rapidly on the mountaintops.
One of the most exciting attractions is called the Titlis Cliff Walk, at the far end of the snowfield a couple hundred meters from the observation terrace. It's a pedestrian suspension bridge that gives you dramatic views looking all around, and even straight down 500 meters beneath your feet.
This bridge is so popular that the concept has caught on and expanded throughout Switzerland. Now you find quite a few of the mountain peaks that have an attached bridge or outside metal walkway to give you some added thrills.
You can slide down the snowy slope on your butt if you like. Some people grab a piece of plastic or cardboard and if you feel adventurous there's an inner tube ride.
We are standing on a glacier, which is a river of ice and compacted snow, and thanks to the clever engineers, you can walk inside the glacier through the ice tunnel.
It's an ice tunnel they call the grotto which they have carved into the glacier itself, with colorful lighting inside and some ice sculptures. It is great fun and very safe with secure footing on a nonslip rubber mat.
As you have seen there's a lot to do up on the top of Titlis, so you could easily spend two or even three hours up here, especially if you're going to have a meal.
For some more fun on the cable car trip down you can get off the gondola at the next-to-last stop and rent a scooter to coast down the final mile.
ENGELBERG
If you just missed the train, or have some extra time, you can take a walk in Engelberg town and maybe grab a bite to eat. You'll find that Engelberg has some pretty little gardens, nice houses and spectacular mountain vistas.
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The main street is for pedestrians, just a few hundred meters long. There are several bakeries and convenience stores that offer sandwiches to go.
You could even spend a few days here in Engelberg. There are some hotels open year-round, and in summertime, there's hiking. They've got 500 kilometers of hiking trails, and in the winter it is the largest ski resort in central Switzerland.
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When you finish with Mount Titlis you return to town the same way by train, enjoying the scenery a second time in reverse.
Be sure to consider the other excursions we suggest to Mount Rigi, Mount Pilatus and Bürgenstock.