I hiked up from Alpnachstadt. There is a decent sized car park by the cogwheel railway station and a public toilet for getting ready/cleaning up afterwards. The route up took about 2h45min, but that was with getting a sweat on and with no stops, so 4h-4h30min is more realistic. The path was very clearly signposted, safe, never too steep or requiring scrambling. Great views towards the second half, and well worth the effort. Plan ahead and book the cogwheel railway down to avoid disappointment and save those knees.

The ride up Pilatus was pretty straightforward. Tips is to do it from Kriens (and not from the other way). I started at 8.30am and the first cable car ride went off at 9am. Spent a while walking up the top of pilalus and had a short coffee break at the restaurant. It took about 2 hours in total. There is a cave walk in and out of the mountain. Overall experience was pleasant and the view was breathtaking. Tips: do the trip from Kriens and not other way round. As we reached the cogwheel down at Pilatus Kulm. The queue to buy tickets and the queue to talk the cogwheels were horrible. People were standing in the hot sun queueing up for the ride up. Also, there is no need to reserved a cogwheel space if you are doing it from Kriens, provided if it’s on a weekday. I didn’t even have to use my reserved ticket for the cogwheel as there were no queue!

My wife and I did the Golden Route on our own. The trip is very impressive as evidenced by the many glowing reviews. I’m posting a review to highlight the advantages of buying tickets from the Pilatus Shop Luzern if you’re going on your own. The store is centrally located and charges the same price as online. The woman working at the store explained the details of the route and answered all of our questions. It made our trip a lot easier and saved us a lot of internet research regarding the mechanics of the trip. We were very glad that we purchased our tickets there.

On a clear day, the trip to the top of Pilatus is a must! Go early in the morning to avoid the crowds. Once on the summit, a variety of explorations are available. Two of us hiked out along a trail which provided information about the flowers of the region. This one was of medium difficulty. Others simply stayed and enjoyed the view. Two hotels are located on the mountain along with a few dining options. Though guide books recommend taking the cog rail to the top and the cable cars down, that may be fine. When we bought our tickets at the Pilatus store in Lucerne, we were advised to reverse the course since we wanted to include the boat ride. What a great suggestion! I must admit, the Pilatusbahn team accommodated the crowds by adjusting the schedules and sending the cog rail up more often than on the schedule.

The most beautiful views in the world. Two hotels on top and hiking everywhere. There are also activities for the younger people. Lunch was fabulous at the hotel overlooking the mountain. We did the hardest trail and it was not difficult at all. Took the train up and the cable car down. Gorgeous!!

The highlight of our trip. We did the boat to the cogwheel to the top. Spent ~3 hours up there including a meal, and then did the gondola to the alpine slide and then the cable car back down. Very, very awesome, all of it. There was a decent wait for the alpine slide, but that's because we did it on the way down and got to the mountain late (we traveled to Luzern first that day). I'd do it early if you can to beat the crowds. You could also do it "backwards," but I wanted to have reserved seats for the cogwheel going up to avoid lines. Do it in reverse probably doesn't require that. Either way, do it...Jungfrau sucked for us, I'd suggest this instead if you have to choose.

We stayed in a hotel overlooking the mountain so as we saw it was a good visability and a clear warm day in Lucern, figured it was a good day to go up the mountain. We took the city bus (free with our hotel stay), up to Krien stop, followed the signs for Mount Pilatus, booked the trip up via the gondola and cable car and down via the cogwheel train. We bussed back to Lucerne to save time but we could have taken the cruise back. Weather was perfect, the mountain is magnificent and there are plenty of stops along the way. There is a great playground at the first stop and the food at the top was good too.

It's not just that the views at the top are amazing, they are spectacular in fact. But the whole journey to top and back is an unforgettable experience. We took the Kriens Zentrum gondola route on the way up. Came down the cog wheel train to Alpnach station and did the boat journey back to Lucern. The day we went was exceptionally pleasant and the views were clear. Had a great 1 1/2 hour hike around the peak so got the full 360 degree visual treatment. A swiss travel pass is highly recommended. You get a discount on the gondola as well as cog wheel train. And the boat ride is free, along with any train and bus travel. I also recommend Kriens as the starting point so you end up on the lakefront in the city center, have a meal and proceed with other sightseeing. Check out the boat timings in advance before coming down to Alpnach. We narrowly missed our first boat and had to hang around the dock for an hour for the next one

Teens wanted to do the toboggan run so we took the bus to Kriens super easy and grabbed the gondola up to Frakiguadi. It was a beautiful day and could see really far from the ride. Had to wait in line for a bit to do the run but we enjoyed our time up on the mountain.

We took the train to Kriens and then took the gondola up. The first gondola is small and seats about four people. The second one is huge and can get very crowded. With the half fare care, it was CHF 39. The views are beautiful. You’re truly on top of the clouds. There’s a restaurant that overlooks the mountains at one of their two hotels. They start serving lunch at 11. Like anywhere in Switzerland, it can be pricy. They also have a cafe inside. Bathrooms are available. The walk to the view points are not too difficult. We did ride the toboggan. It was 9CHF. They lend you a phone holder as you have to use both hands. Lockers free since you can’t take your bags with you. It is easy and fun. It takes about 4-5 minutes to reach the bottom. You are then pulled back up.