Rigi

Rigi is not high, at just under eighteen hundred metres, and that is rather the point: it stands alone between Lake Lucerne, Lake Zug and Lake Lauerz, so the view runs out in every direction over water and lowland to the high Alps behind. Nineteenth century travellers came up for the sunrise, on foot or carried in chairs, and in 1871 the first mountain rack railway in Europe was built from Vitznau to bring them. A second line was added from Arth-Goldau and a cable car later from Weggis. The summit is a rounded grassy dome with a mast on it, ringed by paths, and the shelves below hold meadows, cattle and the small spa at Rigi Kaltbad.

What you actually see

• The summit dome at Rigi Kulm - open grass with lakes on three sides.
• The 1871 rack railway - the first mountain line of its kind in Europe, from Vitznau.
• The ridge paths - easy walking between the stations through meadow and woodland.
• Sunrise above the fog - the reason the mountain became famous in the first place.

When to go

Year-round. Autumn and winter often put the summit above a sea of low cloud filling the lake basins, which is the mountain at its best. Summer is for the walking paths and long evenings. Sunrise means an early train or a night at the top, and it is worth checking the webcams before committing to either.

Honest expectations

The view is wide rather than dramatic, and anyone expecting a jagged peak finds a grassy hill with a transmitter mast and a hotel on it. Costs mount if you ride up one side and down the other. Weekends bring large numbers, the summit is exposed to wind, and in low cloud there is nothing to see at all.

Nearby

Lucerne and its lake below, with Pilatus across the water and Stoos to the east.