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Luzern (Lucerne) is a pretty city in itself—and pretty full of tourists. But our main reason for spending a couple of nights there was to make the trip on the cog railway up the nearby Mount Pilatus—something I’d last done as a teenager in 1970. Back then, camping with my parents and on a tight budget, we’d driven through Luzern to camp near Pilatus in a beautiful spot overlooking the lake. But this time we were taking the ferry from Luzern itself to the Pilatusbahn station at Alpnachstad.

The many quays for the ferries and cruises are right at the estuary of the Reuss river where it joins the Vierwaldstättersee, and just a few yards from the train station. We could tell which was ours from the large crowd waiting there, dominated by several large tour groups—the bane of any independent traveller. We had to sharpen our elbows to get a couple of decent seats outside towards the bow of the Gotthard, not something we’d had to do for the previous week’s travelling on the very efficient and orderly Swiss railways.

The boat made several stops before getting to Alpnachstad, picking up a few more passengers from smaller lakeside towns, and it was very pleasant sitting back on a calm lake watching the mountains pass by and trying to decide which was Pilatus. That was until the ticket collector came by and declared we were in a first-class zone and we had second-class tickets. Our choice was to move to the second class area, which was all inside, or stay where we were, and pay a heft premium. We chose the fresh air and view and paid through the nose for the pleasure.

On the final leg of the trip the ferry passed under a bridge as we left the large Vierwaldstättersee and entered a small lake, the Alpnacher See. We disembarked at a large quay at the end of that lake, and it was then just a short walk under a road and railway to the terminus of the Pilatusbahn, the cog railway. This is a major tourist attraction and with the number of people arriving by ferry, road and rail the place was a mass of humanity. But sharp elbows were not needed here, as everything was efficiently and fairly organised and the staff patient with even the most awkward customers.

The cog railway trip was a bit spoiled by rain and thick cloud, but still a great experience. The top of the mountain seemed more like a modern airport terminal, but if you worked at it you could find some excellent short (or long) walks through tunnels and along cliff edges, with great views through the gaps in the cloud. We’d planned to return the way we came, to double up on the experience of the cog railway and ferry, but in the end chose the “round trip” of taking a series of cable cars down the other side of the mountain to the Luzern suburb of Kriens and then taking a city bus.

We could have taken a train instead of the ferry, but despite the cost and hassle the ferry leg was well worth it, with views to the mountains in all directions from the middle of the lake. But the popularity of the well known tourist spots can be tough to cope with; having just done a trip through many of the must-see sights, next time I would tour Switzerland by criss-crossing lakes between lesser known towns and still get the amazing views and experiences without the crowds.