Welcome to Mt. Rigi, Queen of the Mountains! If you’re looking for that classic Swiss alpine experience, you’ll definitely find it here. Stunning views of the lakes and mountains surrounding Lucerne, green cow pastures, wildflower-covered hills, and plenty of walks or hikes that can be enjoyed by any traveler.
Today we’re going to show you everything to do here at the top of Rigi Kulm, take you along on some of the most popular hikes, then we’ll explore Rigi Kaltbad, and of course we’ll tell you how to get up here and which tickets or passes are best.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Since we’re already up here, let’s show you the view!
Want to Watch instead of Read?
Rigi Kulm
Rigi is one of the lower peaks near Lucerne, at just under 1800 meters (5900 feet). From the Rigi Kulm station, there’s a short paved path past the hotel. Then the trail splits and you can take either option. The left is steeper but shorter, and the right is easier and better for strollers or those with limited mobility.
You’ll know when you reach the top because look at these views! You can see a grand total of 620 mountain peaks and 13 different lakes! In particular, we can spy:
The city of Lucerne, Vierwaldstättersee (also known as Lake Lucerne), Pilatus, and our hometown mountains of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau!
Obviously, the reason to walk up to this point is for the views, so take plenty of time to look in every single direction.
There is this tower you can walk up, but it honestly only takes you a few feet higher and doesn’t necessarily give you better views.
Things to do at Rigi Kulm
Before you head somewhere else on the mountain, there are a few other things to do at Rigi Kulm.
First, is the Mountain Chapel appropriately named the Queen of the Mountains. It’s a simple stone building but we always like to peek in and see what the inside looks like.
Next is the hotel with a self-service restaurant. We don’t typically recommend eating at the mountaintop restaurants for a variety of reasons — usually because there are better restaurants elsewhere. But if you need something, you can also grab a quick snack from the hotel, bistro, or the little kiosk in the train station.
Better yet, Kessiboden is just a short walk from here. Bring your cash and an appetite for authentic Swiss fondue in a super neat location!
Or hike 20 minutes to the Chäserenholz cheese dairy. They produce 12,000 kilograms of 15 different types of cheese every single summer, and there are even tours available.
That’s the gist of what you can do up at the top station of Rigi Kulm, although there’s more to do at the lower stations, which of course we’ll be showing you soon!…but how do you get up here?
How to reach Mt. Rigi
Did you know that the Rigi Bahn is the oldest mountain railway in Europe? Or that there are 9 different mountain trains and cable cars on Mt. Rigi? Cool but confusing, right? Here’s what you need to know.
There are really 3 main ways to reach Rigi:
- A 45-minute cogwheel train from Arth-Goldau, which runs all year long.
- A 30-minute cogwheel train from Vitznau, which also runs all year long.
- Or a cable car from Weggis to Rigi Kaltbad, and then a cogwheel train from Rigi Kaltbad to Rigi Kulm, which takes a total of 35 minutes. But note that while the cable car is open on weekends all year long, there are usually a couple weeks in the spring and fall when it’s closed during the week for maintenance.
Here’s a really helpful overview map of the entire Mt. Rigi area!
How to reach Mt. Rigi from Lucerne
By the way, Rigi is a great day trip from Lucerne! You can follow our 1-Day City Guide to explore the town, and then spend another day coming here. And if you’re coming from Lucerne, you have 3 solid options:
You can take a direct train from Lucerne Bahnhof to Arth-Goldau and then the cogwheel up to Rigi Kulm, which takes around 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Or you can ride a boat or a combination of train and bus from Lucerne to Vitznau, and then the cogwheel up to Rigi, which takes between 1 hour 40 minutes and 2 hours.
You could even boat from Lucerne to Weggis, but note that you have to walk 15 minutes uphill (850 meters distance, 63 meters in elevation) to the cable car station that goes up to Rigi. This also takes just under 2 hours total.
How to reach Mt. Rigi from Zurich, Switzerland
And Rigi can also make a great day trip from Zurich! From the Zurich main station, you can be standing on top of Mt. Rigi in just an hour and a half! But in this case, you’ll probably want to take the most convenient route which makes one connection in Arth-Goldau.
It’s also good to know that the Rigi transportation lines are accessible to everyone, including travelers with strollers or wheelchairs. This is a question that we get asked a lot, and since we don’t travel with strollers or wheelchairs, we aren’t the best source of information. But the Rigi website has a list of barrier-free routes or they invite you to contact any of their staff for assistance.
Hiking on Rigi
At this point, you can take the train down to our next stop of Rigi Kaltbad, or you can hike there, which is exactly what we’re gonna do.
As you probably know, Brett’s a nerd about all things Swiss train tickets and passes. And Jana is a nerd for fun facts. So here’s your fascinating fact of the day: there are more than 120 km of hiking trails on Rigi! And we love how accessible this mountain is to every kind of traveler because there are easy paved paths and hikes for all ability levels. But if you’re having a hard time narrowing down the list of summer hikes, here are 3 to consider.
1 | First is the Rigi Classic Hike. If you want minimum effort with maximum views, pick this trail. It starts from Rigi Kulm and gently descends for 1 hour and 10 minutes until you end in Rigi Kaltbad. Along the way you’ll have epic views, especially from the Kaenzeli lookout, which is particularly nice at sunset. And look, if England’s Queen Victoria could do this walk back in 1868, then we think you can do it too.
2 | Next is the Rotstockweg. Walk from Rigi Kulm to Rigi Staffel along the same trail as the Rigi Classic Hike, then follow signs to the Rotstock viewpoint. This is where the Rigi weather camera is, which means it has 360° views of lakes and mountains that honestly rival what you can see from Rigi Kulm! After about an hour of mostly downhill hiking from Rigi Kulm, you’re at Rigi-First, which is less than 20 minutes from the Rigi Klösterli or Rigi Kaltbad train stations. Or you can even continue your hike by linking up to the next trail on our list.
3 | The last trail is the Rigi Panorama Hike. It winds from Rigi Kaltbad to Rigi Scheidegg along an old train line, across a historic railway bridge, through a tunnel, and past an old water station for the steam trains. It’s 6.4 km long and takes right around 2 hours. And once you’ve finished in Rigi Scheidegg, you can ride a cable car and the cogwheel train back down to Arth-Goldau.
Food and Restaurants on Mt. Rigi
We made it to Kaltbad for a quick snack (dessert!) at Gratalp Stübli Restaurant.
There are a few other restaurants near here as well. Regina Montium looks to be the best spot for foodies since it’s won multiple awards for its 5-course and 9-course menus made exclusively with Swiss ingredients.
Then there are 3 restaurants at Hotel Rigi Kaltbad, ranging from homemade cakes to Swiss specialities to fine dining. And the Spa has a small bistro with great snacks and small plates as well. Speaking of the spa, that’s where we’re headed next.
Mt. Rigi Wellness and Spa
First things first, Kaltbad literally translates to “cold bath.” 600 years ago people used to take pilgrimages here to bathe in the cold water. But today, you don’t need to do a cold plunge.
The Rigi Kaltbad Spa transports water from the Three Sisters Spring and sustainably heats it to a perfectly warm 35°C/95°F. You can relax in various areas of the indoor pool, like the whirlpool or bubble loungers, while gazing out the massive windows at the mountains. Or just pop outside to swim in the outdoor pool for an even better view.
Beyond just the thermal baths, the Rigi Kaltbad Spa has a full range of services like massages, steam rooms, hot tubs, and relaxation areas.
By the way, we actually went and enjoyed the spa but no phones or cameras are allowed, which is why we have no footage to show you. But trust us, it was so worth it!
We especially liked floating outside in the fresh air while gazing at the mountains. We visited during sunset so the colors were magical, we watched a distant rain shower pass through, and our sore muscles (from hiking) appreciated the warm water!
Things to do at Rigi Kaltbad
In addition to the spa, there’s minigolf next door to the Hotel Alpina. The Rigiland Adventure Playground. Another little alpine church to peek into. And even the Mt. Rigi Village Shop.
I expected to find some self-service farm fridges up here in the mountains, but I didn’t expect to see a complete little grocery shop! It’s stocked with everything you’d need for a picnic, a light snack, and even some Swiss goodies to take home with you.
Speaking of going home, let’s chat about tickets and passes.
Tickets and Train Passes for Mt. Rigi
The standard round trip ticket costs 78 CHF (in 2024), and this is the same price whether you travel from Vitznau or Arth-Goldau, or even if you go up one way and down the other.
But there’s no reason for you to pay full price!
You get a 20% discount if you’re an overnight guest in Lucerne or one of the nearby towns and have their Guest Card.
And travelers with the Half Fare Card, Eurail, and Interrail passes pay half price — as well as guests staying overnight on Mount Rigi. But keep in mind that these discounts cannot be combined.
But if you want an even better deal, you can travel to Rigi for completely free using the Swiss Travel Pass, SBB Day Pass, or Saver Day Pass — or by using the Tell-Pass which covers nearly every boat, train, bus, cable car, and gondola through a large portion of Central Switzerland! In fact, that’s what we’re traveling with right now.
In addition, kids under 16 travel for free on Mount Rigi Railways as long as they’re accompanied by an adult; otherwise, they pay half price. And dogs can travel for free, too.
Special Tips for Visiting Mt. Rigi
But if you aren’t traveling with one of the passes that 100% covers a trip to Rigi, we highly recommend the Rigi Day or Multi-Day Ticket for anywhere from 1 to 10 consecutive days. It gives you unlimited travel on the cogwheel trains from Vitznau or Arth-Goldau to Rigi Kulm, as well as the cable cars between Weggis and Rigi Kaltbad or Kräbel and Rigi Scheidegg.
The 1-Day Ticket costs the exact same amount as a roundtrip ticket, and all of the discounts we mentioned earlier for ticket prices are valid for this too.
And note that, while there are still 5 other cable cars on Mt. Rigi, they each have their own rules and discounts available, which is just way too much detail to share in one video. But you can find all of the necessary info on the Mt. Rigi website.
Since lots of you are probably planning to ride the boat from Lucerne to Weggis or Vitznau, there is a single ticket that combines a Rigi Day Ticket with a one-way or roundtrip boat ride. But frankly, it costs exactly the same as what you’d pay for both of those individually. So unless you just really want the most convenient option and you know for sure you’ll stick to your plans, you might as well buy these separately when needed.
I know this is a lot of information, but we’ve got three more little nuggets to share that will hopefully make your trip even better.
1 | The first is that buying two one-way tickets is about 25% more expensive than buying a roundtrip ticket. So unless you’re planning to hike all the way up or all the way down, a roundtrip ticket is the better deal. And since the Rigi Day Ticket is the exact same price as a roundtrip ticket — go with the Rigi Day Ticket for even more flexibility!
2 | Second, bikes cannot be transported on any of the main cogwheel trains or cable cars that we’ve mentioned. So if you want to do a little biking, you’ll need to look into the two cable cars — one on either side of the mountain — that provide bike transport for a small fee.
3 | And third, if you’re looking to combine a visit to Rigi with the Rigi Kaltbad Spa that we mentioned, you can get a combo Rigi Railways Day Ticket and Mineral Spa entry for just 88 CHF full price, or 70 CHF with a Half Fare Card — saving you 10-31 CHF!
And if you can’t already tell, Mt. Rigi makes a great day trip from Lucerne, which you can learn more about in our 1-Day City Guide to Lucerne . So check that out next and we’ll see you in Switzerland!
