Cable Cars on Mount Pilatus and Lunch at Alpgschwänd

July 17, 2019 -- Vacation Week 2, Day 3:  Another private cable car on our list of cable cars to try out.... On the Eastern Flank of Mount Pilatus, just above the town of Hergiswil on Lake Lucerne, is a restaurant called Alpgschwänd (also a farm where the cows graze in the alpine meadows) with its own private cable car which has been updated for public use. It's good for the restaurant, because cars can drive up to the lower station and people can ride up for a pleasant meal with a stunning view over Lake Lucerne. 

Since we can't get up there by car, our idea was to ride the cable-car from Kriens near Lucerne, to about 2/3rds the way up to the summit of Mount Pilatus to an area called Fräkmüntegg (large restaurant with view terrace, a huge high wire park in the trees, and the longest summer toboggan run in Switzerland) and to walk down to the restaurant from there, and then ride their cable car to the car park, and continue walking down to Hergiswil. But since the walk from Fräkmüntegg to the restaurant was only 30 minutes, and the subsequent hike down to Hergiswil only 50 minutes, we did a little 1-hour round tour hike below the massive steep cliffs of Mount Pilatus, before heading down to the restaurant for lunch.

As luck often has it lately, once again the only clouds basically far and wide congregated over the summit of this mountain, so that it ended up colder than expected, and I wasn't quite dressed for it. At the restaurant, we had a lovely spot indoors right next to a large open floor-to-ceiling window, so it was just like being on the terrace, but kind of drafty! Sunshine here would have been perfect...

Heading up Mount Pilatus with the city of Lucerne in the background.

The cable car to Fräkmüntegg is a peaceful 25-minute, 5-km long ride

Heading up to Fräkmüntegg beneath the summit of Mount Pilatus

    

From Fräkmüntegg, the large-cable cable car goes the rest of the way up to the summit of the mountain

First we walked 90 minutes below the cliff of Mount Pilatus, then after a nice meal at Alpgschwänd we took the 8-minute cable car ride down to the car park, and walked an additional almost one hour to Hergiswil.

Before heading down the mountain to Alpgschwänd, we did a one-hour walk in the meadows below the summit, then returned to Fräkmüntegg

We watched the people making their way through the high wire course

 

From the Fräkmüntegg station, the trail to Alpgschwänd heads past the summer toboggan run

Enjoying the longest summer toboggan run in Switzerland!

All of a sudden the entire herd of goats came whipping up to us, and accompanied us down to their farm

VIDEO:

It happens quite often that we get accompanied on our walks by a herd of goats...

After about 30 minutes of walking, we got to Alpgschwänd. This is another of those alpine pastures where cows spend the summer. And the owners have set up a restaurant with their own cable car. This was the view from our table.

On the terrace, people were smoking, as usual. So we sat "indoors", at this open wall, so it was almost like being outdoors! The roof was glass, so some sunshine would have been perfect! As it was, it was a bit drafty, but I loved the spot

The food was very tasty

After lunch, we let the proprietor know that we wanted to go down, so he started the cable car for us. The ride to the parking area took 8 minutes

Alpgschwänd restaurant with their own cable car station (we had lunch in the new addition on the left)

  

Heading down in the cable car

Another cable car ride to check off our list!

We were tired so we took the quickest way down the hill, along the stream. It took us about 95 minutes to get to the train station in Hergiswil, because I had a 20-minute nap on a bench on the way down.

Down below is Hergiswil, where we caught the bus back to Lucerne.

In the end we walked almost 2.5 hours after all: One hour round tour near Fräkmüntegg, 30 minutes to the restaurant at Alpgschwänd, and another almost one hour down to Hergiswil.