2-Day Mt. Rigi Tour from Zurich

This is a must see. A great few days of rest and relaxation. My husband and I did this half way through our Honeymoon as a reset.

This was not a tour. We were bused to the cable car to Mt Rigi. The tour escort then left us. There was confusion about our booking, and then they realised they had not given us our accomodation vouchers.

We had a wonderful time. The mountain, the people, the food, the wine were all so special. However, we suggest that the tour would be much more enjoyable for people if we were given more detailed instructions in writing as to where to go and what to do in each place. We did not have internet most of each day so no GPS and no instructions did not allow us to see all that we wanted to. For example, when we arrived in Mt Rigi, the instructions we had led us to believe that the hotel was at the summit of Mt Rigi. It is not. Rather than a gondola and train schedule, written instructions would be much more useful. Such as, exit the gondola and walk out onto the plaza, your hotel will be directly in front of you. Drop your luggage there and then head to the train station which is on the opposite side of the plaza to the right as you walk out of the hotel. You can take the train up or down the mountain. If you go up, you will go to the summit where you will find hiking trails, a viewing tower, a restaurant which is cafeteria style with a large deck. Here’s what we recommend….. When you go to dinner at the hotel, the restaurant where your dinner package is included is on level 1 (not the large restaurant on the plaza) and this is also where your breakfast that is included in your package is served. It was also not clear to us if we could go explore the other towns on the train line with our same ticket, like Wiggins for example. The spa and mineral baths were lovely and enjoyable. There is no gym to speak of at the hotel. The second day, same feedback….can you get off the boat and get back on without buying a new ticket? Is ghe restaurant on the boat any good? Our driver from day one told us there were lockers to store our luggage in Lucerne. He may have even told us they were in the train station. However it would be so much more helpful if we had written instructions that said get off the boat, head toward the large archways that lead you to the train station. Enter the station and go to your far left to track 15. Walk about 100 meters past a bakery and the lockers will be be on the right between you and track 15. We also would have appreciated a list of things to see in Lucerne and directions. For example we did not find the lion monument and without GOS we just didn’t get to see it. Can you rent bikes in Lucerne? Is there a tourist office there? If so where? Perhaps the MOST important thing is crystal clear instructions on where to meet the return bus and what to look for (a photo of the bus and the location). The driver from day one said, behind McDonalds. First question, is there only on McDonalds in Lucerne? Second, this Mc Donald’s literally had 3 fronts. There was no clear back. Third, we came in a 10 passenger van and came back on a coach bus and did not know wha we were looking for. How about, the Mc Donald’s is in the building with the Hotel Monomet. It is across the street from the train station. If you walk out the front of the train station where the arches are you will turn left, cross the street (the name of the street would be helpful) and you’ll see the hotel/McDonalds. The large coach bus will be on the street to the left of the building again, name the street. We waited over 39 minutes past departure time for people wandering all over Lucerne looking for this bus. Why not provide a map with all of thes critical items as well as attractions? There was a tiny cartoon map of Lucerne in our packet but nothing was marked on it and it had nothing discernible other than the covered bridge on it. . Just a few hours of preparing a great visitor packet would have made this so much better. You must assume that visitors will not have internet access to look things up.

Go to Rapperswil SG (by train) and visit the house Hintergasse 29. This is a verry nice house in the historic old town. When you put a small change in the letter box at the house door, you will be lucky and you will find a lot of happines🤗 This Ist typical for a visit in this part of the okd town. The house is verry small - but it is the most beautique one! You will have a lot of fan!

I'm so glad I booked this excursion way back in February when I first knew I'd be going to Zurich on business in May. I booked it because it was near Zurich, so perfect for a weekend trip, and it had something for me (spa experience), something for my husband (mountain hiking) and something we both love (cruise), and we could explore both Mt. Rigi and Lucerne, and everything was laid out for us -- it was a no-brainer! It sounded too good to be true, and I had not heard of Viator, so I was a little leary. BUT this tour really delivered! My favorite part was staying at the Mt. Rigi Kaltbad Mineral Baths and Spa. It just so happened to be raining the Saturday we arrived, which was the perfect excuse to just stay inside and enjoy the hotel and spa experience. We spent a few hours floating around in the spa, which offers spectacular mountain views, and a variety of options of heated pools and saunas. (Massages were pretty much booked up ahead of time, so if that's important to you then book ahead.) There is an outdoor heated pool that we really enjoyed, with the crisp mountain air and views, yet the water was heated. Luxurious! After the spa, we got cleaned up and spent a couple of hours in the bar -- again, with floor to ceiling windows, just soaking up the view, which is ever-changing because you are actually high enough to be in the clouds! It was very romantic and cozy. Then we went to dinner, and the service was very friendly. I'm not a foodie, but the food was also very good. And great that it was already included in the package, as well as breakfast the next morning. We had a seat by the floor to ceiling windows for breakfast and it was just glorious. It was sunny the second day, so that's when we enjoyed Mt. Rigi. My husband got up early and hiked it up and down for exercise, and then came back and had breakfast with me, and we took the train up the mountain. We checked out of the hotel at 11am and placed our bags in the storage room. (Reviews are correct, that the luggage room is not secured, but it just seems everyone trusts everyone there, and we were not missing anything afterward.) Mt. Rigi was a lovely experience. We walked around up there for an hour or so, before taking the train back down to the hotel. The train and gondola stations are right at the hotel, so very convenient. We collected our bags and took the gondola down to the where we got the boat to Lucerne. It's about a 10 minute walk to the boat, and not so easy with luggage. (We had more luggage because this was part of a longer vacation and we were between hotels.) My husband got cranky at this point, which was the only time. The boat ride was very serene, and my husband calmed down after awhile. We checked our bags into the Lucerne train station lockers and then explored Lucerne. (Fortunately, my husband knew this service was available from previous experience.) We had a couple of hours to walk around, and then located the bus according the directions we were given. The bus was on time, and the ride was pleasant. I read some reviews that this tour was not "guided" enough -- just with directions laid out ahead of time. For us, it was perfect, as we don't like to be part of a big group tour at all times -- we just like having a package put together for us. However, for first time travelers to Europe, they might need more guidance. Anyway, we LOVED our experience. It almost felt like a honeymoon, even though we are married 17 years, and were not looking for a honeymoon experience. We definitely recommend!