7 Mount Pilatus Day Trips from Zurich to Build a Day Around

1.Mt Pilatus and Lucerne Day Trip from Zurich With Lake Cruise

★★★★★★★★★★4.5 · 694 reviews · 10 hours (approx.) · from $250Our pick

Travel from Zurich to Lucerne and Mt. Pilatus with a multilingual guide such as Adolfo or Rafael. Explore Lucerne briefly, ride gondolas to 2,132 meters, walk the Dragon’s Path, descend by the world’s steepest cogwheel railway, and finish with a Lake Lucerne cruise in the summer season.

“Bus, train and cable car this tour has it all. Along with beautiful mountains, lakes and views all seen with very informative commentary from an experienced guide. A day well spent in nature with lovely professional people.”

Check availability →Read our full review

2.2-Day Alps Tour from Zurich: Mt Pilatus and Mt Titlis

★★★★★★★★★★3.5 · 24 reviews · 2 days (approx.) · from $804

Travel from Zurich to Lucerne, ride the cable cars and steep cogwheel railway on Mt Pilatus, then visit Mt Titlis for its glacier cave, Ice Flyer, and Cliff Walk. The trip includes transport, mountain tickets, breakfast, and a 3-star overnight stay. Confirm the hotel location before booking, as arrangements can vary.

“We stayed a night in Mt Pilatus. It was worth the money and the service was very good. Then we headed on to Mt Titlis. Everything was well planned and we were well taken care of.”

Check availability →Read our full review

3.Adventure to Pilatus Gold and Silver tour and Lucerne

★★★★★★★★★★4.5 · 15 reviews · 10 hours (approx.) · from $214Best value

Travel from Zurich to Mount Pilatus by panoramic bus and cable car, then choose Silver or Gold. Gold adds the steep cogwheel train and Lake Lucerne cruise. You also get free time in Lucerne, with guides such as Angelo and John assisting on selected departures.

“Please don’t buy this Zurich: an Adventure to Pilatus Gold and Silver Tour and Lucerne. I made that mistake and was sadly disappointed. The problems? 1) The drive there was ridiculous. It appeared at first that they were trying to load a recording, but couldn’t get it to work. The guide – I use the word loosely – fumbled around, then just turned it off. He gave a super brief, few sentence explanation of the Swiss government, then just ignored us and talked to the driver in German. There were five of us tourists on the bus, and we all spoke English. When pressed, he finally got the audio working,…”

Check availability →Read our full review

4.Guided Daytrip to Mount Pilatus and Lucerne from Zurich

★★★★★★★★★★3.5 · 9 reviews · from $269

Travel from Zurich to Lucerne and Mount Pilatus with a multilingual guide such as Monica Jorba, Lars Faber, Pedro, or Antonio. Ride the Dragon Ride cableway, the world’s steepest cogwheel railway, and a Lake Lucerne boat before returning to Zurich.

“Very interesting trip especially the cog railway up Mt Pilatus. Guide was very knowledgeable and friendly”

Check availability →Read our full review

5.Mount Pilatus (Private Tour)

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 7 reviews · 9 hours 30 minutes (approx.) · from $731Top rated

Travel privately from Zurich to Mount Pilatus and Lucerne in a luxury Mercedes with an English-speaking driver-guide. Ride the Dragon Ride cableway, descend by the world’s steepest cogwheel railway, cruise Lake Lucerne, and enjoy hotel pickup with a flexible schedule.

“The history and explanation rendered by Sandra was amazing. Very good and recommended tour for everyone.”

Check availability →Read our full review

6.Private trip from Zurich to Lucerne & Mount Pilatus

★★★★★★★★★★4.5 · 4 reviews · 8 hours (approx.)

Travel privately from Zurich to Lucerne and Mount Pilatus in about eight hours. Your driver-guide collects you at your hotel, takes you through Lucerne, and brings you to the mountain. Mountain transport, lunch, and the Golden Round Trip cost extra.

“Overall, our trip to Mt Pilatus was wonderful and worth the time. The best part of the actual tour was the unguided part - cogwheel train up, lunch at the top, gondola down. That was 5 stars. The car itself was very nice, and the driver did a great job getting us to and from. But this did not feel like a guided tour -- the tour part was really mediocre, and we encountered significant delays and got zero compensation for that.”

Check availability →Read our full review

7.Pilatus Panorama: Exclusive Private Golden Round Trip from Zürich

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 3 reviews · from $673

Travel from Zurich with a private guide, then complete the Pilatus Golden Round Trip by train, boat, cogwheel railway, gondola, and bus. Adrian is one guide who has led this route. From May to October, the boat and cogwheel railway operate; off season, gondolas replace them.

“It's great not to drive around in a car all day but still go a long way and see and do several different things. The guide Adrian was very helpful and did not talk to much like most of them do.”

Check availability →Read our full review