I’ve struggled to get this post on Lucerne together for a variety of reasons. The main reason is one I’ve mentioned before and which is consistently the culprit behind my blogging breaks – busy season is in full swing at work. However, I can’t fully blame my lack of inspiration to blog on busy season since I’m on a reduced work schedule this time around and actually have had a couple of free evenings. The other reason is that Lucerne is the city that I feel we did the worst job of exploring during our entire backpacking trip. We really had to cut back on our food and activity spending in Lucerne, and we had the worst Airbnb experience we’ve ever had. Thankfully, the location of the Airbnb was great, so we were able to spend most of our time out and about, but we were also pretty tired so we didn’t embrace the beautiful city of Lucerne like we usually would.
That being said, Lucerne is a gorgeous fairytale town surrounded by snow-capped mountains and nestled by part of Lake Lucerne. It sits in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. You should definitely visit. I really hope to go back one day and take it all in!
Day 1
Kapellbrücke
After arriving in Lucerne from Zurich by train, we checked into our Airbnb (which was quite the experience that I’m sure I’ll address in another post) and were ready to explore. One of our first stops was the wooden footbridge called Kapellbrücke, or Chapel Bridge. If it looks familiar to you, it’s probably because it looks a lot like the wooden bridge in the Harry Potter movies. Daniel and I both remember reading something about it inspiring the bridge in the movies, but I can’t find anywhere to verify that, so I’m not certain it’s true. Regardless, this is a very interesting bridge to cross through because there are several original 17th-century paintings under the covering, despite several of the originals being destroyed in a recent fire. 
Lion Monument
We then walked up to the northern part of the city to see the Lion Monument. The Lion Monument was sculpted in the early 1820s and was created in honor of those in the Swiss Guards who were massacred during the French Revolution in Paris. Mark Twain once called this monument “the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world.”
Dinner that night was McDonalds (see above where I mentioned we had to cut back). Would you believe me if I said that the meal below cost us $30?
Day 2
Swiss Transport Museum
For our second day in Lucerne, we decided to spend most of the day at the Swiss Museum of Transport. We took the ferry across the lake to get there, paid $30 each for the base admission fee, and spent several hours in the museum. It was definitely a top-class museum, and I recommend it to everyone (especially if you have kids in tow), but be prepared to pay the steep admission fee.
When we entered, we walked around the gift shop to check out the Swiss candy options.
The museum is separated into exhibits for each type of major transportation (navigation, rail, road, cable, and aviation). Each exhibit houses original, historic vessels and realistic models. Our first stop was the train exhibit which was partly under construction.
We then went to the navigation exhibit, my favorite of the day.
I think Daniel’s favorite exhibit was the road transport exhibit. He read every single word of the timeline of the automobile. We both learned a lot!
We ended the afternoon in the aviation exhibit where we got to walk through old planes and learn about the history of flying.
We ended the afternoon by walking all the way back to the city center.
City Center
Rathaus Brauerei
We ended the afternoon with an early Swiss-German dinner of charcuterie and pretzels at Rathaus Brauerei.
Gletschergarten Luzern
After dinner, we ended the evening with quick visit to the Lucerne Glacier Garden and exhibits. It was interesting but not a Lucerne “must-do” in my opinion. However, if you are looking for a great view of the city, there is an excellent viewpoint at the back of the glacier garden (see photos below).
Randomly enough, there is an optical illusion exhibit toward the back of the glacier museum, and we had fun exploring it and taking a break from all of the serious learning during the day.
The Next Day
The next morning we went to the Starbucks at the train station to get some blogging and work done. I had to take a picture of my caramel latte because I’ve never seen such a beautiful drink made at a Starbucks!
Our next stop was our final stop in Switzerland – Geneva!
Our time in Switzerland was part of a 2.5 month trip across Western Europe. Click here to check out all of my posts from this adventure!
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{Thanks for reading! Want to know a little more about me? I’m a CPA learning how to balance a career with frequent travel while planting roots at home in Austin, TX. When I’m not exploring my home city with my husband Daniel or cuddling with our chubby orange cat Banana, I’m probably planning, packing, traveling to, or daydreaming about our next adventure. After all, my travel mug collection is never complete. If you have wanderlust too, be sure to follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat (emilya89), or subscribe to my blog!}
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