Lucerne

The covered wooden bridge over the Reuss, first built in the fourteenth century, with painted gable panels and the octagonal Water Tower beside it. Much of it burned in 1993 and was rebuilt; the scorched panels are the originals.

The Golden Round Trip is CHF 119.80: boat to Alpnachstad, the world's steepest cogwheel railway up to Pilatus Kulm, then cable cars down to Kriens. The cogwheel only runs May to November, and the train-instead-of-boat version is CHF 94.20.

Reached by cogwheel from Vitznau or Goldau, or cable car from Weggis. A Mount Rigi Railways day pass is CHF 84, and Rigi is one of the few summits the Swiss Travel Pass covers outright rather than merely discounting.

Far better than it sounds: rolling stock, aircraft, a planetarium and a chocolate ride. Adult entry is CHF 37 and covers the halls, the Hans Erni Museum, daytime planetarium shows and the Swiss Chocolate Adventure; buying those singly costs CHF 18 each.

Nine towers and a walkable stretch of medieval city wall above the old town, free to climb and open roughly April to November. The Zyt tower's clock is allowed to strike a minute before every other clock in the city.

Lucerne is about 45 minutes from Zurich, an hour from Bern and roughly two hours from Interlaken on the Luzern-Interlaken Express. The station sits on the lake, a hundred metres from the boat piers.

Lake Lucerne steamers run from the quays outside the station to Vitznau, Weggis, Alpnachstad and Flüelen on a published timetable, not as excursions. The Swiss Travel Pass covers them in full.

The old town is pedestrian, hotel parking is expensive, and every mountain worth going up has its own railway from a lakeside pier. Park outside the centre if you must drive.

May to October, when the Pilatus cogwheel railway runs and the lake boats are on full timetable.

November to March, minus the Christmas weeks: cheap rooms, and Rigi runs all winter.

July and August, plus the Lucerne Festival weeks from mid-August to mid-September.

Cross the Kapellbruecke before the coach groups, then loop the old town squares, Weinmarkt, Hirschenplatz and Kornmarkt, for the painted facades.

Climb onto the Musegg Wall and walk the rampart between the towers for the view down over the roofs to the lake.

Eat on the Rathausquai by the river, or buy from the Tuesday and Saturday market that sets up along the Reuss.

Boat to Vitznau and the cogwheel up Rigi, or the Transport Museum if the summits are sitting in cloud.

Dinner in the old town, then a concert at the KKL if anything is on. Lucerne goes quiet early; this is not a late city.

Just under an hour by train to Engelberg, then a rotating cable car to a glacier at 3,020 metres, with a suspension bridge and an ice cave at the top. Open year-round and priced for it.

Boat to Kehrsiten, funicular up, then Europe's highest outdoor lift bolted to a cliff face, delivering you onto a ridge walk five hundred metres above the water.