LUCERNE, Switzerland — Measured strictly by height, Mount Rigi is not one of Switzerland’s great mountains.
Measured by view, it’s another story.
Our Swiss Tourism group trekked to the top of Mount Rigi today, which is an interesting trip from a railroading standpoint because the trip to the top of the 1,798-meter (5,988-foot) summit is served by not one but two cog railways — one from Vitznau, reached by boat from Lucerne, and one which connects to the Swiss rail system at Arth-Goldau. But its general attraction is that, while it is hardly a towering peak in a land with 48 mountains over 4,000 meters (or more than 13,000 feet), the fact that it sits largely by itself in central Switzerland means that on a clear day, it is possible to see 24 of the country’s 26 cantons. Imagine the attraction of a view in which you could see 46 of 48 states in the continental U.S., and you get the idea.
It does this with what is, relatively speaking, grades that are manageable enough that — in a country where hiking is somewhere between a serious form of exercise and a national obsession — many people choose to hike up the entire distance (probably a 4- or 5-hour effort). More will ride the train up and hike down.
Our group, on the other hand, chose the less strenuous and most popular way both up and down the mountain: by rail. We arrived by steamship from Lucerne (yes, steamship — the Swiss fleet on Lake Lucerne still includes five steamers, although only two are running at this time of year) in Vitznau at 12:09. By 12:15, we were on an absolutely packed train (the weather remains clear, sunny, and hot; everyone is taking advantage of the late arrival of fall) of the Vitznau-Rigi Bahn, riding to one stop below the summit, Rigi Staffel, where we had lunch at the Lok 7 Restaurant. As a bonus for a railroad journalist, this is named for a preserved steam locomotive that still runs on the Rigi Bahn once a year. As an additional bonus, the restaurant sits between the two different lines up the mountain, meaning these were our views from our table.
After lunch, we took the short ride up the final segment of the railway, then walked to the top of the mountain. This was the view of the summit station, Rigi Kulm, from the path to the top of the mountain:
And this is the view from actual top of Rigi, looking at the town of Arth, basically in the center of the shot. The Arth-Goldau SBB station is at the right edge of the photo; I had changed trains here earlier in the trip:
There is certainly much more I could say here, but it’s late, so I’ll just tell you that we concluded the day by taking the other rail route, the Arth-Rigi Bahn, down the other side of the mountain to Arth-Goldau, where we caught a train back to Lucerne. Very good day, very good trip, and I can only hope the weather is as cooperative when our Trains Majestic Switzerland tour is here in about a week and a half.
