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This mountain doesn't call.
He doesn't need that at all.
At most he asks for an audience, it is not for nothing that the Rigi is nicknamed “Queen of the Mountains”.
A title that aroused curiosity and wanderlust at the beginning of the 19th century.
The Rigi is an elitist loner and a Swiss dwarf at that.
No other mountains have joined it, and it barely comes close to the 1,800 meter mark.
But on Rigi Kulm, its highest peak, the landscape pulls out all the stops.
From here you can see almost everything that has a place in the Swiss mountains, including the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.
Experiencing the sunrise up there was a must for every traveler to Switzerland at the time.
"It was a billowing chaos of huge mountain masses, the peaks adorned with immortal snow and flooded with the golden splendor of the trembling light," enthused the American author Mark Twain in 1879, who was as much a Who's Who of Rigi visitors as Goethe, Leo Tolstoy, the Bavarian King Ludwig II and Richard Wagner.
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Because the hike to the summit was too difficult for the guests, they let themselves be lifted up in a carrying chair.
The British Queen Victoria took it sportier, rode up on horseback and noted her joy with royal composure in her diary: "We are amused."
At first people laughed at plans for mountain railways
A few years after her mountain tour, Majesty would have been even more amused, because she would have been able to comfortably climb the rock massif with the Rigibahn.
It was ceremoniously opened on May 21, 1871 with a trip from Vitznau to Rigi Staffelhöhe and has since been praised as the first mountain railway in Europe.
Actually a cheated honor, because the Ostermundigen quarry railway was only inaugurated five months after the Rigibahn, but it had been unofficially in operation since 1870.
At first, plans to build mountain railways were ridiculed as spinning mills.
One reason for the rigorous rejection certainly resulted from the highly adventurous project by the Winterthur architect Friedrich Albrecht.
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He had designed an aerial tramway, the passenger gondolas of which were to be pulled upwards by helium balloons.
With this idea he would have enraptured Jules Verne, the father of science fiction novels, but in Switzerland only what worked could be fantastic in this case.
The wood engraving from 1859 shows the design by the architect Friedrich Albrecht.
He planned an aerial tramway, the passenger gondolas of which would be pulled upwards by helium balloons
Source: pa / akg-images
No wonder that the engineer Niklaus Riggenbach met with a lot of skepticism with his plan to guide trains over inclines using a cogwheel and rack.
But when it became known that a railway with a similar drive had been in use in America since 1869, namely the Mount Washington Cog Railway on the mountain of the same name in the state of New Hampshire, he promptly received approval for his Rigibahn.
With costs of around 1.3 million francs for buildings, railway systems and rolling stock, the operators calculated that 50,000 guests per year would be required to operate the mountain railway profitably.
In the third year, more than 100,000 passengers drove to the summit.
The Rigibahn inspires with the full dose of Switzerland
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The railway turned out to be a safe way of getting people into euphoria with the promise of the full dose of Switzerland.
This also fulfilled Riggenbach's wish that the tour should not be reserved for first-class travelers alone.
"I want to lead all people to the mountains so that they can enjoy the glory of our sublime land," said the engineer, describing his goal of democratizing the happiness of the prospect.
Its success also brought a tourist boom and numerous jobs to the fishing village of Vitznau.
The small town on Lake Lucerne can be reached in a good hour by boat from Lucerne.
Switzerland straight out of a picture book: the small town of Vitznau on Lake Lucerne
Source: Getty Images / Hiroshi Higuchi
Located at the foot of the Rigi, the region around Vitznau is also known as the Riviera of Central Switzerland, because the south face of the mountain reflects the heat of the sun so strongly that a mild microclimate is created in which Mediterranean plants can get through the winter well.
Figs, grapes and chestnuts ripen here, on the shores of the shimmering Caribbean-blue lake, palm trees wave in the warm wind.
Enthusiastic botanists have counted around 40 species of orchids.
Between this lake paradise and the Rigi summit, there is now only a half-hour ride on the cogwheel mountain railway, which has received faster locomotives and more comfortable wagons over the years.
With the old steam locomotive to the queen of the mountains
The old lady, who will be brought back from retirement on the occasion of this year's anniversary, will need a lot longer.
The legendary steam locomotive from the early years of the Rigibahn has spent that time in the Lucerne Museum of Transport, a museum for technology and mobility, since 1959.
Locomotive no. 7, also affectionately called “s Sibni” by railway employees, is indeed a beauty worthy of a museum, but still ready for use, in fact the world's only still roadworthy cogwheel steam locomotive with a standing boiler.
A small triumph of the old iron over time.
Under steam: the original locomotive from 1873 is ready to drive again
Source: venzin and buehler photographers
So that the icon of Swiss mobility history can gasp back on its original route towards the summit, "s Sibni" was transported by sea to Vitznau in September 2020, where it will be made fit in the depots of Rigi Bahnen AG for its passengers once again decrease in the ascent.
On May 21, 2021, exactly 150 years after the Vitznau-Rigi Railway went into operation, steam locomotive No. 7 is scheduled to travel to the Queen of the Mountains again for a season until October before it returns to the museum.
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When it goes up steeply, past marmots, alpine meadows and rock faces, while Lake Lucerne keeps flashing in the depths, then this train journey is not only exciting, but picture-perfect.
Regardless of whether you are jerking up with an aged masterpiece of engineering or one of its successors.
Source: WORLD infographic
Tips and information
Arrival:
Lucerne can be reached regularly by train via Basel or Zurich, information at sbb.ch, bahn.de.
Flixbus offers direct connections from many German cities, reservations at flixbus.de.
From Lucerne you can take a boat across Lake Lucerne to Vitznau, lakelucerne.ch, in just under 60 minutes.
The Rigibahn valley station is only a few minutes' walk from the ship landing stage.
Timetables:
The timetables of all cable cars and cogwheel railways that lead to the Rigi are listed here: rigi.ch/informieren/fahrplaene
Accommodation:
In Lucerne: Room furnishings in Art Deco style and a magnificent view of the lake and mountains can be enjoyed in the “Hotel Montana”.
Double room with breakfast from 240 euros, hotel-montana.ch.
In Vitznau: The family-run three-star hotel “Rigi Vitznau” is an ideal starting point for mountain and boat tours.
Double rooms with breakfast are available from 163 euros, rigi-vitznau.ch.
On the Rigi: Located directly at the highest peak, the “Rigi Kulm Hotel” has been the first mountain inn in Switzerland to accommodate guests for a good 200 years.
Double room with breakfast from 210 euros, rigikulm.ch.
The Chäserenholz alpine restaurant also offers cozy guest rooms (with two to four beds) close to the summit.
Rooms including bed linen and alpine breakfast with homemade specialties from 50 euros per person, alp-beizli.ch/alp-chaserenholz.
With a view of the lake and mountains and free entry to the mineral bath, the "Hotel Rigi Kaltbad" is convincing.
Double room with breakfast from 230 euros, hotelrigikaltbad.ch.
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Anniversary celebrations:
In addition to the commissioning of locomotive No. 7, there will also be a historic vehicle parade on the anniversary weekend from May 21 to 24, 2021.
The history of the Rigi railways as well as the customs and traditions of Central Switzerland are shown at the Rigi Festival in July and August.
Around ten demonstrations are planned in the natural arena on Rigi Staffel.
A locomotive 7 trip with the restored original cogwheel steam locomotive from 1873 costs from 18 euros, tickets can be booked at rigi.ch.
The ceremonial presentation of six new railcars will take place in September 2021. Information on further anniversary offers such as depot tours, Sunday brunch at sunrise or a nostalgic dinner in the historic saloon car can also be found at rigi.ch.
Further information:
myswitzerland.com;
luzern.com
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