GrandMoffJoseph

My wife and I will be spending a couple of days in Lucerne near the tail-end of a Austria-Switzerland trip we have planned out. While in Lucerne, we'll be staying at the Hotel Villa Honegg, which is a few minutes outside of the city itself.

Other than relaxing at the hotel, we plan only on seeing the old town for a bit, and hopefully taking a tour/whatever to see one of the nearby mountains.

So, my question is in two parts:

1. Since the hotel is not on a main bus/train path, would a car make it any easier to get to/from town? Or would the expense cancel itself out with the cost of cabs/bussses?

2. If renting a car is the best option, would it be easier to just rent in Zurich and drive down, or just take the train to Lucerne and rent from there?


Thanks for any/all advice!

greg5

You'll be a good distance away from Luzern as you're up on Burgenstock. Taking the lake ferry might be an option, but I'd think you're way better off getting a rental car. Parking is a bit expensive in Luzern, but it'll certainly be better overall than taking taxis. Of course, if you want to go out and have a bit of wine with your dinners, then don't drive and take a taxi.

You'll probably find it easier to rent a car from the airport in Zurich. If you have to drop the car off in Luzern, you might find the office closed as a rental office there would probably have limited hours.

factory81

I stayed up at the Holiday Inn (Express I think?) in Rothenburg. This is a bus ride out of Lucerne - and a walk through the country to the hotel (maybe a 1 mile walk). We actually hitch hiked this 1 mile route walk through the country once, Swiss people are so nice

There is good train service to Lucerne, and this place you are staying being so damn far away, I imagine you will have to use a combination of trains, taxis, and buses - depending on your tolerance for connecting with public transit. It won't be cheap with taxis that is for sure. Trains/Buses may get you most of the way there, and a long walk or taxi might be the rest of the way home.

Lucerne seemed to be weak on the light-rail vs. say Zurich. So they seemed to rely on buses to navigate the actual city/area of Lucerne. So don't expect light-rail to even come close to serving your needs here.

Like greg5 says, you are a good distance away from Lucerne, and I would not even say you are near it. You are a 28 minute car ride away (which seems quick for how far you are away).

Obviously the answer here is car, if you can afford to park it for a couple swiss francs an hour in Lucerne, pay 8 bucks a gallon for gas, and make sure you specify auto or manual. Given the super limited time we all have in Europe as Americans, I would get a car. Unless you like to take it slow and just embrace your surroundings. It isn't like walking through the Swiss countryside from a bus stop is torture, you know? But if you have a checklist of stuff to do - a car from your spot will be helpful.

Sedge

Congratulations--you've found a bit of Switzerland that's so far off the beaten path, it's (almost) inaccessible by public transit. That is difficult.

If you want to get to the hotel using transit, the route is as follows:

• Commuter rail (S4) to Stansstad, then
• Bus 321 to "Obbürgen, Abzw. Trogen", then
• walk 1.7 km

Google Maps will show the route if you ask it for directions to "Hotel Villa Honegg, Ennetbürgen, Switzerland"

Two points argue against using transit here:
(1) the walk appears to be over some hilly terrain, and
(2) service for bus 321 is very limited. There are 9 buses per day, between about 7am and 6pm.
You can get the full timetable by asking for trips to "Obbürgen, Abzw. Trogen" using the SBB website (rail.ch).

Unless the hotel is willing to shuttle you to/from Stansstad, you'll want your own car.