Things To Do in Lucerne

The best panoramas are the views from any of Lucerne's nine lookout towers, which are clustered in an orderly row within a 5-minute walk uphill and north from the center of town. Part of the old fortifications erected along the north side of the medieval sector, they were all built in a different style between 1350 and 1408. At twilight, they stand in dramatic silhouette against the sky. The nine towers are known collectively as the Museggtürme; you can climb only three of them. Admission is free, and they're open from May until the beginning of October from noon to 8pm daily. You can also take a short walk on the old outer wall of the city.

Although our only walking tour is for the independent traveler, guided walking tours are also available; contact the tourist office for more details. These tours cost around 18F. In summer, tours depart daily at 9:45am; in winter, tours are conducted only Wednesday and Saturday at 9:45am.

Nearby Attractions

There are dozens of half-day and full-day excursions from Lucerne -- so many that we recommend you allow at least 5 days to see the city and its environs. There are several points of interest around Lake Lucerne. Most of them can be reached by paddle steamer along the lake. While en route, you can enjoy a panoramic view of the water and mountains. Lake Lucerne (Vierwaldstättersee) winds its way 39km (24 miles) into the alpine ranges of the heart of Switzerland. Many excursions can be combined with a trip to the top of a mountain by cable car or funicular. Summer is the peak season.

Schiffahrtsgesellschaft Vierwaldstättersee (Lake Lucerne Navigation Co.; tel. 041/367-67-67; www.lakelucerne.ch) operates a flotilla of lake steamers that chug across the surface of Lake Lucerne, much to the delight of sightseers, who appreciate the steep mountains rising on all sides. Round-trip passage from Lucerne to the lake's most distant point, Flüelen (4-hr. round-trip) costs 100F in first class or 67F in second class, and departs from the quays opposite the Hauptbahnhof in Lucerne. In midsummer, departures begin at 9:15am and continue every hour or so throughout the day. Wherever you decide to disembark en route, find out the departure time of the last boat back to Lucerne. Usually, the last boat from Flüelen departs before 4pm. All boats have a restaurant, or at least a cafeteria, onboard.

The William Tell Express offers an opportunity to see regions of German- and Italian-speaking Switzerland in one leisurely and scenery-stuffed full-day excursion. Between May and mid-October, it transports participants, as part of a 5-hour travel experience, twice a day from Lucerne, via Lugano, to Locarno. The rest of the year, there's only one daily departure. Begin with a 3-hour boat ride from Lucerne to the lakeside hamlet of Flüelen. From there, you'll hop aboard a specially designed train with panoramic windows and skylights for a continuation of the trip across some of the most jagged and precipitous mountain scenery in the world. Included in the package's one-way price of 174F per person (Lucerne to Locarno) is a simple meal, served aboard the lake steamer during the first part of the journey. Some passengers opt for an upgraded package, priced at 214F per person, each way, which features a more elaborate three-course meal aboard the boat and some touristic trinkets and souvenirs which are included in the price. Reservations, preferably finalized several days in advance, are vital. To make them, and get more information, call tel. 041/367-67-67 or visit the website at www.wilhelmtellexpress.ch.

Few other cities in Switzerland rely as heavily on the tourist trade as Lucerne, so you'll be faced with a barrage of mercantilism at virtually every street corner. Most obvious of the "heavy artillery" sales involves wristwatches and folk handicrafts. The biggest jeweler in town is Bucherer, Schwanenplatz 5 (tel. 041/369-77-00), whose sprawling displays of luxury goods are rivaled only by the showrooms of Gübelin, Schweizerhofquai (tel. 041/417-00-21; www.guebelin.ch). Less consciously upscale, and more folkloric in their orientation, is the town's main outlet for handicrafts, Casa Grande, Grendelstrasse 6 (tel. 041/418-60-60). Embroideries and linens for dining rooms and bedrooms are the offerings at Sturzenneger, Buobenmatt 2 (tel. 041/410-19-58). Some of the pieces come from Switzerland's embroidery center of St. Gallen, others from less evocative factories in the Far East, but many are of heirloom quality.

Souvenirs of your trip to Lucerne are a lot less expensive, and a lot more workaday, at the town's mass-market department store, Nordmann & Co., Weggisgasse 5 (tel. 041/419-76-99). The outlet sells housewares, clothing, school supplies, and anything you'd need to run a home. The store also has a limited collection of Swiss souvenirs. More upscale, and more specifically geared to clothing for men, women, and children, is Globus, Pilatusstrasse 4 (tel. 041/227-07-07; www.globus.ch).

Hofstetter & Berney, Schweizerhofquai 6 (tel. 041/410-31-06), features a well-rounded collection of music boxes. The staff will tell you about the differences in tones and the complexities of sounds produced by the various instruments, all of which are made in Switzerland and which contain varying numbers of musical notes. Some of them might reproduce strains from Pachelbel's Canon, others a replica of the Austrian National Anthem.

Confiserie H & M Kurmann, Bahnhofstrasse 7 (tel. 041/210-19-18; www.art-confiserie-kurmann.ch), is the most distinguished pastry-and-chocolate shop in Lucerne. Many of the residents of Lucerne remember this shop from their childhoods, when its pastries and chocolates were likely served as part of their birthday parties. Today, it's one of the few deeply entrenched big-name pastry makers in Switzerland that hasn't set up additional branches in other parts of the country. Everything is, as you'd expect, highly caloric and highly tempting.

The richly nuanced architecture of the city itself is the backdrop for the outdoor fruit and vegetable market, conducted during spring, summer, and autumn from both banks of the river every Tuesday and Saturday from 8am to around 1pm. Between May and October, Lucerne hosts a rowdy, somewhat disorganized flea market where the contents of estate sales and whatever anyone discovered in his or her grandmother's attic is displayed along either side of Untere Burgerstrasse. And the first Saturday of every month throughout the year, during daylight hours, artisans and craftspeople from throughout the region congregate at the Weinmarkt to display and sell their wares.

Flashy lights and spinning wheels of fortune are found at the Grand Casino (also known as Casineum), Haldenstrasse 6 (tel. 041/418-56-56; www.grandcasinoluzern.ch). You can try your luck at 140 slot machines. Poker, roulette, and blackjack are also available.

On a more cultural note, if you speak German, you can enjoy performances at the Stadttheater, Theaterstrasse 2 (tel. 041/228-14-14; www.luzernertheater.ch). Directly on the lake on the rail station side of town, it's the home of Lucerne's major theater group. Operas in their original language are also staged here. The Allgemeine Musikgesellschaft Lucerne is the local resident orchestra, presenting performances at the KKL Congress Center from October to June, or at the Kultur und Kongress Zentrum . For more information, call tel. 041/210-50-50.

In the late 1990s, the city of Lucerne inaugurated one of the most dramatically modern, large-scale buildings in central Switzerland, the Kultur und Kongress Zentrum (KKL), Europaplatz 1 (tel. 041/226-77-77; www.kkl-luzern.ch), as a glittering showcase to corporate conventions and the performing arts. Poised beside the railway station in starkly modern contrast to the spires and alpine architecture of the rest of Lucerne, its controversial shape may remind newcomers of an enchanted "music box" that glitters with acres of glass and metal panels in shades of forest green, dark blue, and red. It was designed with a spectacular copper-sheathed roof by noted Parisian architect Jean Nouvele. Its auditoriums have some of the best acoustics in the world, thanks to rotating panels behind the stage. Expect heavy use of this site for classical, rock, and heavy-metal concerts. (For information about the concerts that will be presented here, check out the posters in front of the building, or call the concert hall itself at tel. 0848/800-800 or 0900/552-225.) A snack bar and cafe are also on the premises.

The Altstadt (Old Town) always brims with pubs and cafes. Mr. Pickwick's Pub, Rathausquai 6 (tel. 041/410-59-27; www.pickwick.ch), is the most authentic looking and the most popular British pub in Lucerne, with a sudsy, woodsy-looking decor that's awash with Brits, beer, and anyone else who simply wants to toss back a pint or two from a riverfront location near the northern end of the Old Town's covered bridge. It generally stays open nightly until 1am, which is very late by the standards of Lucerne.

Many hotels have more subdued bars, especially the National, Haldenstrasse 4 (tel. 041/419-09-09), which has a glossy American-type bar, and the Palace Hotel, Haldenstrasse 10 (tel. 041/416-16-16), which also has one American-style bar. The most ultracool place in Lucerne is the Lounge Bar of the Hotel, Sempacherstrasse 14 (tel. 041/226-86-86).

Suite Lounge, on the top floor of the Hotel Monopol, Pilatusstrasse 1 (tel. 041/220-13-15), is our favorite nightclub in Lucerne. We say that partly because it's crowded with the kinds of hip and available people you can talk to, and partly because it boasts one of the most dramatic physical settings of any nightclub in Switzerland. To reach it, you'll wait in line on the lobby level of the hotel, a Belle Epoque beauty that sits across the plaza from the railway station. An attendant will funnel clients, in elevator-size blocks, into a lift that will haul you to a point beneath the hotel's ornate copper-sheathed cupola. Here, recently released dance music, three bars, and a pair of outdoor terraces combine to create an instant party ambience that virtually everyone finds invigorating. By all means, climb to the club's highest point for open-air views of Lucerne that are among the best in the city. Incidentally, this nightclub's name (P-1) derives from a simplification of its address (Pilatusstrasse 1).

The Loft, Haldenstrasse 2 (tel. 041/410-92-44; www.theloft.ch), is a serious contender for the title of the most hip and with-it nightclub in a town that's loaded with worthy competition. Music is a sophisticated blend of whatever you might have expected in London or Los Angeles, and the crowd is young and beautiful. The decor includes at least two bar areas and a balcony that overlooks a high-tech dance floor ringed with free-standing candelabrum, whose candles seem to flicker in rhythm to the music. There is a cover charge of 10F to 15F.

The terrace of the Penthouse Bar at the Hotel Astoria, Pilatusstrasse 29 (tel. 041/226-88-88), offers a panoramic view over the rooftops of the city and the dramatic mountainscape beyond. Large sofas are an invitation to linger. On weekends, DJs keep everybody in a party mood. BLUE is a lounge bar at the also-recommended Renaissance Lucerne Hotel, Pilatusstrasse 15 (tel. 041/266-87-87), featuring the most exotic cocktails in town. Blue is the dominant theme here, but the style of the bar ranges from Asian to mock Louis XVI.