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Lake Lucerne (in German: Vierwaldstättersee or the lake of the four forest Cantons) is of course ringed by spectacular mountain and lake views, but also by a lovely and extensive trail infrastructure, with a wide variety of trails including hiking paths, mountain trails, bike routes for both road and mountain bikes, and even trails for inline skates and wheelchairs. Switzerland Mobility is your best resource for finding and using these trails, with mobile and desktop websites and a great app that has a lot of free features but is well worth the CHF 35 annual fee for SwitzerlandMobility+.

Anyway, on this hot and sunny day, I set off from Weggis, where the tourist office offers rental bikes at a rate of CHF 25 per day (20% off with a local tourism card).

From Weggis, I took a boat to Treib, then the Treib-Seelisburg Bahn (aka TSB) to Seelisburg, where the bike journey began.

The route, a partial circumnavigation of the lake, first climbs from the TSB station up to a nice view overlooking the Urnersee, then past the small Seeli (little lake) and down into Emmetten. From there, a steep descent to Beckenried is followed by fairly flat but spectacularly scenic lakeside views along national bike route 4 to Luzern, then follows regional route 38 up the steep ridge through the Meggenwald. Finally, there’s the wide open descent to Küssnacht, some ice cream, and the surprisingly hilly return to Weggis via Greppen. The end of the route was pretty dicey in that Google predicted that I would arrive at the Weggis boat dock precisely 1 minute after the boat was scheduled to leave, so I had to book it, pulling into the bike rack with mere moments to pull off my pack and gear (camera mount, phone mount, etc.), lock the bike, leave the key at the tourist office, and sprint to the boat just as they were pulling up the gangway. As I got on board, huffing and puffing, the boat lady asked “where are you going?” (A good call since the boats go in two directions from that spot.) “Vitznau,” I said, breathlessly, whereupon she gave a satisfied nod and let me pass. Exciting!

Check out a few photos of the ride, below, along with some video selections.

One of the most popular destinations in the Luzern region is Mt. Titlis, the lofty, usually snow-covered summit of which is reachable by a series of trains, buses, and cable cars. It’s always packed. In the past I’ve only ridden down from Trübsee, a midpoint, after enjoying the scenic but lengthy Four Lakes Trail from Melchsee-Frutt, but on this day I decided to join the throngs riding up to Titlis.

Alas, the Titlis express was under repair so all of us were consigned to the older funicular and cable car combination. After waiting in line for about half an hour, I decided that I could skip the line by walking up the first section. A friendly Titlis staffer said it would take “about an hour,” so why not?

So I began walking up. It was a bit steep but on a road, so no worries. It was at this point I noticed a shortcut on the Outdooractive app.

I should note that the SchweizMobil app did not show the shortcut. Anyway I took a shot. Ultimately I did reach the top of the funicular and caught the cable car up to Trübsee, but it was a bit of a bushwhack/scramble to be sure.

Anyway it turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day. Check out the photos, route, and video montage below.