How accessible is the town of Zermatt, Switzerland from Lucerne?

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Petra_au

Actually, Gondola lifts are VERY widely used in Switzerland. Another name for them is a cable car.

Anyway...if you are in Lucerne, there are a number of trips available to the nearby mountains. I would recommend either Mt Pilatus or Mt. Rigi.
To get to Mt. Pilatus, you first take a boat ride from the lake, and then by cog railway (which is the steepest in the world with a gradient of up to 48%). Your descent is by large Gondola and then a smaller cablecar...and then back to Lucerne for a short bus ride.

Or Mt Rigi...first by boat then up by railway.
You can buy a special ticket that allows travel up to two mountains or you can possibly get a discount if you already have a Eurail/Inter rail pass etc. of some kind. There is a tourist information office at the train station to help you.

Or you can visit nearby Engelberg (1 hr by train from Lucerne), to go up to Mt Titlis, which features the world's first revolving gondola which travels over a glacier.

Zermatt is a lovely little resort town...and you can take a lovely cogwheel train ride up to Gornergrat from the town's train station for great views of the Matterhorn and surrounding mountains.
But, I wouldn't recommend a day trip, because it would be too limiting, considering it will take you up to 5 hrs travel one way. Allow at least one to two days stay in Zermatt.

Hope you have a great time...Switzerland is breathtakingly beautiful.

madonna_toller

You are real sweet and a typical american (in a lovely way) to ask for gondolas etc. to get up a swiss mountain. Gondola's are in Venice/Italy. Tram's are only operating in major citie's (impossible in mountain area's) but "Swissnick" answered your question just fine. Hope you enjoy your visit.

kiwi

yes, there's a train. YOu can check it out here
http://www.sbb.ch/en/index.htm

swissnick

Yes, there is a train connection from Zermatt to Lucerne (via Brig-Berne, taking 4:35 hours). The return ticket costs 208 Swiss Francs!!! So you should ask for an alternative like a weekly railway pass or even a day ticket or similar - all these possibilities would be far cheaper.

(railway services: see second link)

Near Zermatt I would not know a good place to go right up onto the mountain - but in Lucerne the mount Pilatus is very recommendable.

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