Mount Pilatus: Mystical Alpine Adventure

Embark on a mystical adventure to Mount Pilatus from Zurich. Discover the legendary dragon stone, the burial site of Pontius Pilate, and a petrified man. Take a panoramic gondola ride, enjoy breathtaking views, and explore Lucerne’s charming Old Town.

Duration: 10 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Zurich - Meet the expert driver-guide in the lively city of Zurich, where the adventure begins. Step onto the panoramic bus, crafted for comfort and stunning views. As you settle in, watch the cityscape transform into rolling green meadows, sparkling lakes, and majestic Alpine peaks.
  • Kriens - The driver-guide will take you to Kriens, where…
What's Included
  • Free time to explore Lucerne
  • Cruise on Lake Lucerne (Gold option)
  • Cogwheel train from Pilatus to Alpnachstad (Gold option)
  • Dragon and flower path
  • Cable car including Dragon ride
  • Guide
What's Not Included
  • Food and beverage
Additional Information

Discover the enchantment of Mount Pilatus on a small-group tour in a cozy panoramic bus. This stunning Swiss landmark is rich in legend: believed to be the resting place of Pontius Pilate, home to a petrified guardian, and the site where a dragon stone fell from the sky in 1420.
The adventure begins with a scenic gondola ride from Kriens, followed by the…

Location
Ausstellungsstrasse 5
Ausstellungsstrasse
Swisstours bus will be waiting for you at Zurich Sihlquai bus station. Please check in directly with the driver
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.3
(11 Ratings)
5 stars
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1 star
Susan_r
Jun 9, 2025
Wonderful - Wonderful tour with a lot to see. Our guide Angelo was amazing accommodating and helpful on the tour and beyond.
Review provided by Viator
Hannah_h
May 25, 2025
Amazing!!! - Today has to be one of the best days of my life. John, the guide, was very friendly and accomodating. The day was amazing. I purchased the gold option and it was well worth it. Plenty of opportunities to grab food and drink, take a jacket as it’s cold up the top and don’t hesitate booking.
Review provided by Viator
Lisette_m
May 24, 2025
Angelo was the best! Beautiful day! - Amazing Day! Beautiful scenery Angelo was wonderful! Very knowledgeable and pleasant! A day full of adventure!
Review provided by Viator
Heidi_b
May 10, 2025
Make sure to bring a... - Make sure to bring a jacket as the temperature at the top of the mountain can be 30-40 degrees colder than in the town
Review provided by Viator
Praveena_m
Apr 7, 2025
Our tour guide John was... - Our tour guide John was great! Very friendly and helpful. And Pilatus mountain was very beautiful. Well worth it
Review provided by Viator
Dana_c
Jul 28, 2024
Wonderful Day Excursion - It's a self guided tour, but enjoyable. The view from the mountain top depends on the weather. However, the views traveling up and down were breathe taking. The gondola goes up one side and the train goes on the other side. I recommend riding both, since we saw the ibex while riding the train and not the gondola. The more or less time you spend on the mountain will determine how much time you have in Lucerne. Plan accordingly, since the boat will take some time to get there. It is a relaxing ride with gorgeous views as well.
Review provided by Viator
Wendy_f
Jul 9, 2024
Like a dream!! - BOOK THIS TOUR!!!! While it is a long day, this tour had it all! Cable car, gondola, train and a gorgeous scenic boat ride! We were blessed with beautiful weather and clear skies so we were able to enjoy breathtaking views of Mt. Pilatus from all angles and also the stunning views from the boat! I only wish we had slightly more time in Lucerne, but other than that, everything was absolutely perfect!!
Review provided by Viator
Michaelburg
Nov 13, 2024
mt Pilatus was incredible - Tour was great as far as what was offered and for the location Mt pilatus was incredible my only complaint would be the price for what was offered if i was to do it again i would just get an uber to the locations and purchases the pass. i had silver so there was no guide. i will say a driver for the first half of the trip was great and very nice man and the Swiss tour bus was clean and nice i do wish for the price we paid that they would have picked us up from the hotel.
Review provided by Viator
Sondra_b
Dec 20, 2023
Not an informational tour - I love the tour and the only reason I am giving it a 4 star instead of 5 is I like hearing the history of the area or any interesting facts about where I am going or seeing. The guides were super nice and accommodating but no information except Zurich is clean etc.
Review provided by Viator
Paulbcasey
May 16, 2025
Horrible tour - Please don’t buy this Zurich: an Adventure to Pilatus Gold and Silver Tour and Lucerne. I made that mistake and was sadly disappointed. The problems? 1) The drive there was ridiculous. It appeared at first that they were trying to load a recording, but couldn’t get it to work. The guide – I use the word loosely – fumbled around, then just turned it off. He gave a super brief, few sentence explanation of the Swiss government, then just ignored us and talked to the driver in German. There were five of us tourists on the bus, and we all spoke English. When pressed, he finally got the audio working, but the only played it for a few minutes, then abruptly turned it off after it said we’d be stopping at the famous Lucerne Lion. I believe that was because they weren’t taking us to the Lion. They skipped it. 2) They didn’t follow the posted itinerary. Instead of taking us up the mountain first, as we were told they would, they flipped it and we were taken to Lucerne at 9 a.m., a full hour before anything opened. No open stores. No restaurants. The bigger problem was: they dropped us not at the Rolex store, where other folks who took tours told us they were dropped, but in a bus parking lot across the river and a full 20-minute walk from the town center. The weather was horrible, raining and cold. I asked for a map, so we could see the sights. They scrounged around and pulled out a brochure with a one-inch map without any of the sights marked on it. No map for us to follow. Even hotels hand those out. When we complained, they told us to use Google. 3) The small map in the brochure had only one thing marked on it, the pickup spot in the center of Lucerne. If that had been our pickup spot – and it is where we heard the other tours picked up – we could have walked over and had a couple of hours in Lucerne, then met the bus. Instead, we were told that wouldn’t be our pickup spot. We had to walk back to the bus lot, across the river. That meant, we had to allow another 20-minutes to walk back to the bus. Since we needed to spend more than 40 minutes walking, we had little time to see anything in Lucerne or forshopping once the stores did open at 10. 4) The weather had continued to worsen. They can’t control the weather, but they could have controlled the schedule, giving us more time in Lucerne once things opened up, since they should have realized conditions on the mountain were bad. Instead, we were then shuffled off to Mount Pilatus, again with no info, no commentary, not even an account of how high the mountain was. We were told how to use the cable car to go up the mountain, given tickets, and told they’d pick us up in three hours. Once we got to the top, the weather was awful, snowing and fog so dense we couldn’t see more than two feet in front of us once. We couldn’t see anything. The mountain slippery with ice and snow, we couldn’t go anywhere. There was NOTHING to do but have a little lunch at the restaurant, but we had THREE HOURS to kill. The snow worsened, and we headed down the mountain early. 5) When we complained, the driver and guide drove us back to Lucerne, but again dropped us at the bus lot. There wasn’t time for the forty-minute walk to and from Lucerne, so we found a place to get a coffee right near the lot. We watched and buses came and went. All of them were empty except for the drivers. No other tourists showed up. The other drivers had obviously dropped their clients elsewhere and the drivers were using the lot to sit in the buses until it was time to pick up. When our bus returned and we complained, the guide insisted they had no choice, that Lucerne only allowed drop off and pick up at this lot. We didn’t believe them. Still don’t. If that were true, we would have seen other tourists coming and going. We saw none. In summary: this was a horrible tour. They should have accommodated for the weather, followed the itinerary they published on the internet, and taken us to the mountain first for an hour or so, before the snow started. We might have been able to see something. They could have then driven us to Lucerne when the restaurants and shops were open. They skipped the famous Lion altogether, although their own recorded message said we’d be seeing it. And they literally dumped us at Mount Pilatus in a dense fog and left us there for 3 hours with absolutely nothing to do, nothing to look at. We would have been better off taking a train from Zurich to Lucerne and an Uber to the mountain. We got no commentary, no local color, saw none of the sights, and were unable to shop. This tour sucks.
Review provided by Viator
From $204
up to 10 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).