This large cable car travels the upper section of the journey to the Mt Pilatus viewpoint, from the Fräkmüntegg station to Pilatus Kulm.

Open: year round, except two week maintenance break end of October.

The cable car fits 55 people. It departs every 15 mins. The ride is 3min40, traveling a distance of 1,387 m, ascending 646 m.

Tickets

When you buy round trip cable car tickets for Kriens-Pilatus, it includes this cable car and the lower section gondola from Kriens. For this type of ticket, we like to buy via GetYourGuide, which allows full refunds up to 24h in advance.

For other types of tickets (i.e. one-way) and to apply discounts, buy tickets via Pilatus.ch.

Free with Lucerne Tell Pass. Discount with Swiss Travel Pass and Swiss Half Fare Card.

➡️ If you are doing the Golden Round Trip from Lucerne, the package ticket includes the cable cars as well as the boat from Lucerne and cogwheel train on the south side of the mountain.

How to get there

Many visitors start with the smaller Pilatus gondola from Kriens to Fräkmüntegg (Schlossweg 1, 6010 Kriens). Then transfer to this cable car for the remaining journey to Pilatus Kulm.

If you are doing the Golden Round Trip, you might start by riding the Alpnachstad cogwheel train up to Pilatus Kulm. Then ride this cable car down the other side of the mountain.

Opening times

The gondolas and cable car run mostly year round. They close for a maintenance break usually a couple days in early April and two weeks starting in late October. During this break, you can instead ride the Alpnachstad mountain train to reach Pilatus Kulm.

From mid April to mid October, the gondola runs from 8:30, last ride down 17:30. From mid November to early April, the schedule is a little shorter, starting at 9:00, last ride down at 16:30.

See Pilatus.ch for current opening times.