Bürgenstock, Switzerland

One of the nice excursions out of town when you're visiting Lucerne is a nature hike along the face of a cliff, and it's easy. Starting with boat ride to Burgenstock then a funicular ride up the hill for some hiking through the forest.
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If you're on your way to Mount Pilatus for an excursion you can make this easy stop along the way. You'll find the boat ride gives scenic vistas of mountains all around Lake Lucerne and it just takes thirty-five minutes to get there.
The boats also have food-service, some with an elaborate lunch at the restaurant. Hop off at the Burgenstock dock. You can use one ticket that will take you all the way to Pilatus and get off partway here at Burgenstock and then get back on the boat and continue to Pilatus later.
You'll need to purchase a ticket for the funicular lift which you can do at the office right here on the dock. The sign on the dock says Kehrsiten-Burgenstock.
You ride this funky, old-fashion funicular to the top, and notice the open air balcony. It's the original railcar, the oldest funicular in Switzerland, first opened in 1888, reaching maximum a gradient angle of 58°. It's pulled up the steep hill by cables with automatic electric propulsion.
Upon reaching the top you can take a lovely nature hike following the signs to the cliff walk.
This is a level path with sweeping views across the lake and straight down the rock face of the mountain looking down about 1000 meters.
The map shows the route in a summary, you go up the hill by funicular and then you walk along this cliffside trail, from the Burgenstock resort over to the elevator, along the face of a vertical thousand-meter high cliff with beautiful views out across Lake Lucerne.
This cliff path was built between 1900 and 1905 and its legendary. Rits name is the Felsenweg and it's actually part of a slightly longer trail system.
You could keep going and walk all the way around the Burgenstock mountain and that would take you about two hours, or do the easy short hike. Up ahead you'll find the elevator will lift you to the top of the mountain.
The trail is quite level with the change in elevation of just about 100 meters along its course and at some point you could take a little shortcut up a staircase or do the loop switchback trail.
It's even accessible for baby carriages and wheelchairs, so you don't need any fancy climbing gear to enjoy this experience, and yet you get that robust feeling of an adventure, and being out in nature on the edge, at the top of this steep cliff.
Although this trail is well known, especially among the Swiss it really does not draw a lot of tourists because it slightly out of the way.
So it's a great opportunity for the visitor to Lucerne who's spending a few days there and wants to do something a little bit different, enjoying this perfect nature hike.
It's the highest, public, external elevator in Europe and fastest in the world, just takes fifty seconds to go up 152 meters, and provides a double thrill of quickly speeding skyward surrounded by the spectacular view.
But it's not free. You pay ten Swiss francs one-way or you can get a round-trip for thirteen Swiss francs. It's called the Hammetschwand
lift and was first built in 1905.
At the top you can relax and enjoy the views, sit at the outdoor cafe and have a drink, or you can have a meal in the Taverne 1879.
Now the elevator is open during the season, from early May until the end of October and the hours are 9:30in the morning until 5:30 in the afternoon.
At the top you’re at an elevation of 1132 meters.
They're doing some farming up here the old-fashioned way with a large hand scythe, keep the weeds down.
And notice how steep the hill is as that rock goes tumbling down.
A series of short hiking trails continues through the forest, very easy to walk on. They are either paved or they have a smooth gravel surface and the gradient is really not steep at all. So it's very pleasant walking in the shade of the tall trees of the forest. It's big enough to give you a feeling of adventure but small enough that you will not get lost, a little disoriented perhaps, but there are signposts to help you find your way.
Elevation is just over a thousand feet high and there's a plateau that features a 9-hole golf course. Burgenstock has always been popular holiday center, with luxury hotels that were first built from 1872.
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