Europe's Steepest Cogwheel Railway to Mount Pilatus

The Pilatus railway from Alpnachstad, at 48-degree gradients, is the steepest cogwheel railway in the world. It has been running since 1889. The carriages are angled sideways to keep passengers level as the train climbs almost vertically through pine forests, then alpine meadows, then bare rock to the Pilatus Kulm station at 2,070 metres. The view from the top, on a clear day, encompasses 73 alpine peaks and the complete Lucerne lake system below.

Lucerne is the most beautiful city in Switzerland — which is to say, one of the most beautiful in Europe. The Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrucke), a 14th-century wooden covered bridge spanning the Reuss river with medieval paintings in its rafters, is so ridiculously photogenic that photographers who have been there twenty times still find themselves taking the same photographs. The old town on both banks of the Reuss is essentially unchanged since the 16th century. The lake reflects the surrounding mountains in conditions that require considerable effort not to find moving.

The Pilatus round trip — boat from Lucerne to Alpnachstad, cogwheel railway to the summit, gondola and cable car back to Kriens, bus to Lucerne — takes a full day and is one of Switzerland's classic excursions. The summit has a hotel, restaurant, and (in winter) ski slopes. On warm summer days, the terrace at Pilatus Kulm, with a cup of hot chocolate and the entire Swiss Plateau below you, is an unreasonably good place to be.