This beautiful bike route begins right in the heart of the city and winds its way through peaceful countryside to the sparkling Sarnensee (Lake Sarnen), framed by cute villages and dramatic mountain peaks.
The ride follows mostly dedicated bike paths and quiet rural roads, making it ideal for a relaxed day out. You’ll find a few route options below, ranging from 2 to 5 hours — and if you’d rather skip part of the ride, trains make it easy to shorten the journey.
Bikes are easy to rent from the Lucerne train station, including options for kids and child trailers.
This is an ideal outing for springtime, especially while the higher mountain trails are still waking up from winter.
Quick info
| Region | Lake Lucerne Region |
| Starting point: | Luzern train station |
| By car: | parking at Luzern Altstadt garage (Baselstrasse 4, 6003 Luzern) From Zürich 40 mins |
| By public transport: | Luzern train station 45 min from Zurich HB |
| Trail: | 2 to 5 hours • ⬇️ trail map |
| Distance: | 32 – 77 km |
| Difficulty: | moderate |
| Condition: | bike lanes and country roads |
| Elevation: | highest point 1890 |
| Open: | best April to October |
| Cost: | bike rental – CHF 38-60 |
| Services: | restaurants and parks along the way |
| More info: | SchweizMobil cycling routes • Sarnensee webcam • Lucerne weather |
Gallery
Route options
I have a few route options of differing length. The prettiest parts are along the lakes, so I’ve arranged the routes to maximize that.
In some cases, I suggest returning to Lucerne by train to shorten the ride. If you don’t mind a longer ride, then just cycle all the way back to Lucerne.
Option 1: Lucerne to Sarnensee one way
Shorter version: You can stop the ride right when you reach the Sarnensee. Instead of riding around the lake, catch the train from the Sarnen train station. In this case, the ride is only 30 km.
Route: easy • 2 hours • 32.7 km • 260m up & down
See route map on Komoot • SchweizMobil
Option 2: Lucerne to Sarnensee one way
This route visits all the prettiest parts of the long ride, but returns by train to shorten the tour. It has some uphill sections along Lake Sarnen, but not too long or steep. If you have an E-bike, no problem. With a regular bike, you’ll need a good fitness level.
Route: moderate • 47 km • 4 hours • 375m up, 520m down
See route on SchweizMobil
Option 3: Longest loop
This is the longer loop we did with E-Bikes. It’s very long and had some steep uphill sections, which I would have never manage on a regular bike. But with E-bikes, it was a breeze and very fun.
Route: moderate • 6 hours • 77 km loop • 451m up & down
See tour on Komoot • SchweizMobil • OutdoorActive
Route description:
- Starting in Lucerne, we followed Route 3 toward Stansstad.
- Then we forked left on Route 4/9, following it to the Sarnensee lake.
- On the far side of Sarnensee, we turned left on Route 702 so we could loop back around the lake.
- Then we forked left onto Route 85 and rode up into the hills. This section was sometimes on country roads without bike lanes, but not much traffic. One section in the forest with lumpy terrain.
- At Stans, we turned left on Route 3 headed back toward Luzern.
- At Altsagen, we turned right on Route 9 and rode around the Horw peninsula. The ride ended back at the Luzern train station.
Alternative: If you want to skip the uphill climb into the countryside, you can instead follow Route 9 back to Alpnachstad. See route map.
Bike rental
In Luzern, you have a few options for bike rental.
BikeLocal is a bike shop in Luzern that offers rentals. In 2026, a City Bike costs CHF 18/day and City E-Bike CHF 42/day. They also rent helmets, child seats and child trailers. You can reserve online.
Nextbike is a bike sharing program in Lucerne city. You can download the mobile app, create an account and pick up a bike at one of the many depots around the city.
They only offer adult-sized standard city bikes and e-bikes. Rental rates are per 30/mins with a max rental charge for the day (in 2026, max CHF 20/day for classic bikes, CHF 40/day for e-bikes).
NOTE: Rentabike.ch no longer is available in Lucerne.
Return by train
If you have to do a one-way bike ride, you can return by train with your bike. On this ride, it would be convenient to catch the train at the following stops:
- Alpnachstad
- Sarnen
- Sachseln
- Stans (only for the longest route)
You need to purchase a bike ticket (either half-fare for short ride or Bike day pass for longer rides).
Trains have specific areas where you can load the bikes. You can look on the SBB Mobile app to see the train formation and know which car has the bike section.
In this example, carriage 3 has room for bikes. It also has a NF symbol, indicating that the entrance is “low-floor access”, aka does not have stairs. When waiting for the train, you should stand at the end of Sector B to be closest to this area.
Photo story
I will show you a bunch of pictures from our ride on the longest option above. My goal is to show sample terrain and views. Depending on which route you take, you may not see all the views shown below.
Picking up the bikes
Before picking up the bikes, you must first check in at the SBB Reisezentrum (aka travel center). From the main floor where the train tracks are, take the escalators (shown on the right in the photo below) up one floor.
Go into the SBB Reisezentrum doors as shown here. Take a number, choosing the “Gepack” (aka luggage) option. They will call you to the counter to pay for the bikes. Show your Swiss Pass to get the discount.
Then take your receipt and rentral contract to the Velostation to pick up the bikes. To get there, walk out of the train station and follow signs for Velostation, which is under the P3 Parking as shown here.
Show your rental payment to the attendant, who will retrieve your bikes. If you take the train later with the bike, you will need your rental contract to show for the bike’s train ticket.
Leaving Lucerne
When you are ready to ride, leave the Velostation and turn right on Route 3. You are riding away from Lucerne with the lake on your right.
Nice views of Pilatus as we exit the downtown area.
Delightful bike path leading out of the city.
Sometimes you share the path with pedestrians, so be respectful and yield to walkers.
Now we ride along Lake Lucerne for awhile.
Nice views towards the Bürgenstock peak.
There’s a noisy road next to you but the views are tops!
Through Hergiswil
When you reach the Hergiswil village, you circle a roundabout (be careful, it’s a freeway entrance) and turn onto the road leading through Hergiswil. Although you have a bike lane sometimes, it’s a narrow road so there’s only enough room for one car in the center. So if cars have to pass each other, they go into the bike lane and it feels a little sketchy. Just pay attention and cycle conservatively through this village. There are a couple cafes here and free toilets at the Glasi Hergswil museum.
After Hergiswil, there is a fun section under the freeway. I’ve always wanted to cycle here and it was great!
After the tunnel, you get this nice view of the lake.
Here you cross the road to your right and switch to Route 9/4.
Stansstad to Alpnachstad
Here the bikes are allowed to join the walking path on the lakeshore. Yield to pedestrians and go slowly. Fast bikes stay on the road.
Sometimes the path is a narrow dirt path.
There are a couple nice rest areas with benches. You can access the water if you want to swim on a hot day.
Part of the path is wooden planks, a little bumpy but fun. It’s narrow, so you have to slow down a lot to safely pass bikes and pedestrians.
Passing through Alpnachstad
There are a couple places where you have to ride on the road. Just pay attention to the bike trail signs.
At one point, we passed the Pilatus mountain train station. During summer, this will be full of people.
Then you leave the lake and there’s a long section along the road through a couple villages. The views on both sides are very pretty.
For most of the part, bikes are allowed to ride on the sidewalk with pedestrians. Pay attention to the markings on the path and signs. Bike symbol with “Gestattet” means allowed.
Arriving at Sarnensee
When we got close to Sarnensee, we took a short detour to the lakeshore before continuing the ride. This pretty river is flowing from the lake.
Had to take a pic on this pedestrian bridge at the lakeshore.
There is a big park next to the Sarnensee lake with lots of places with benches and grass for lounging.
Such pretty views here.
If you are done riding, you are very close to the Sarnen train station. It’s a 20-27 min direct train back to Luzern. Trains come about every 15-20 mins. Most have low floor access easy for bike entry-
Along Sarnensee
We kept riding on Route 4 on the northside of the lake. Sometimes we had a bike lane or could ride on the sidewalk. In the slower zones (60k), sometimes the bike lane disappeared.
Some of my favorite views of the ride were looking down to the lake over these dandelion filled fields.
Looking behind me at more pretty views.
Now a short section through the forest.
After you exit the forest, you have some great views of the mountains and green hills.
Loop around other side of lake
At this sign, you leave Route 4 and turn left onto Route 702, which will loop you to the other side of the lake. Route 702 is the route all around the lake.
Follow the Route 702 signs through the fields.
At this sign, turn left, continuing to follow Route 702.
Now you ride parallel to the road on a dedicated bike path.
At this point, we had to cross the road. Make sure you have a big gap between cars as they are traveling a bit fast.
Countryside to Stans
Then we forked right onto Route 85 that led high into the hills. If you want an easier ride, stay on Route 702 to Sarnen, where you can catch a train to Lucerne. Or follow Route 9 or 4 back towards Lucerne.
We choose the hard way, climbing quiet country roads like this, no bike lane here.
I got really excited when we saw this view with the cute panorama hotel and church on a hill. Now I want to hike in this area and explore those mountains behind the church.
The route was well marked, directing us on a series of narrow country roads. Occasionally we had to pull over to let a big tractor drive by.
Lots of cute barns and traditional houses along the way.
Sometimes we passed through a little town like this.
Then back on country lanes with horses passing by.
Great views in all directions.
So peaceful out here.
Then a section through the forest on a lumpy dirt trail. I was glad to have our “terrain” bikes with fat tires and good suspension. I noticed that other cyclists did a detour away from the forest, staying on the country roads, then rejoining Route 85 after the forest.
We exited the forest and started to pass through more towns, sometimes on sidewalks, sometimes bike lanes.
One last pretty separate bike/walking path before descending into Stans.
When we reached Stans, we turned left on Route 3 and followed that all the way back to Lucerne. There was a long stretch through the town, not particularly interesting, so no pics.
Then we rejoined the path we had been on at the start, under the freeway, through Hergiswil, etc.
Can’t wait to do this ride again next spring! Hope you enjoy it.
