On our way back home after a visit to St. Moritz, we used the motorway instead of the mountainous route we previously took.
To see photos of the mountain passes we visited on that route, click here.
_
We passed Chur, stopped at Lucerne for lunch and then sneaked up to Mount Pilatus for the night. Not quite ready to go home.
We were very glad to find that there were spaces in the Parkplatz in front of the gondola station at Kriens, and that it would allow overnight parking.
The first section of the ride from Kriens to Kriensregg and then Fräkmüntegg took about 20 minutes and there was a gain of about 900 meters. We were the only passengers in the 4-person cabin, and had the full 360 degrees-view of the Lake Lucerne area.
The second half of the ride up to Pilatus Kulm was the “Dragon Ride” – an aerial cableway that claims to give a sensation of flying. It is quite new since it was built in 2015. The trip was only about 5-7 minutes and can carry about 50? passengers.
The photos above were actually taken on the day of our departure. Because on our ascent the previous day, the weather was not cooperating (photo below). According to Wikipedia, one of the possible derivations of the name of this mountain is “pileatus,” meaning “capped” or “cloud-topped.”
There are two hotels (50 rooms in total) at the mountaintop but we could only book a room in Hotel Bellevue. The other Berghotel Pilatus-Kulm was closed due to the off-season or COVID. On arrival, the plaza at the top – known as Pilatus-Kulm was obscured by fog. We were seriously concerned that our plan to see sunrise the next morning might be ruined.
All the shops and eateries were closed after the last cable car and cogwheel train descended from the plaza around 17:45. The hotel booking included a prix-fixe dinner at the only restaurant – Queen Victoria – in the historic Berghotel Pilatus-Kulm. The two hotels were connected by the plaza and underneath it is the concourse for the cable car and cogwheel train.
Although the shops were closed, throughout the evening, we could roam freely outside on the terrace and stroll indoors to look at the windows of shops and some exhibits about the history of the Berghotel Pilatus-Kulm. Apparently, Queen Victoria rode up the Pilatus on horseback in 1868 before the hotel was built but her visit probably sparked an interest in this mountaintop.
The terrace with empty tables looked quite eerie in the fog.
At the prix-fixe dinner, there were enough guests in the traditional dining hall to not feel like a haunted house. The food was typical continental dishes. The night was made special by the cozy candle lights on our tables, with reflections on the window contrasting the heavy fog outside.
Luckily, the fog cleared overnight. To see sunrise, we left the hotel at 6:30 am to climb to the top of Esel (2,118 m [6,949 ft]), one of the three peaks accessible from Pilatus-Kulm.
A side of Esel was casting a shadow in the rising sun on Hotel Bellevue (photo above). Berghotel Pilatus-Kulm was built in 1890 and completely renovated in 2010.
See our next post for photos of sunrise at the summit.