5 reasons why visit the Swiss Museum of Transport – Verkehrshaus der Schweiz

On the last Sunday in May, we were invited by the Ticino Turismo tourist office to the Verkehrshaus der Schweiz transport museum in Lucerne. You may ask why the representatives of the canton of Ticino sent us to the canton of Lucerne? The explanation is simple: in December 2020, the Ceneri Base Tunnel was fully opened. And its model is the new part of the exhibition.

NOTE: This trip was a press trip sponsored by Ticino Turismo and Verkehrshaus der Schweiz. They invited us to enjoy #ticinomoments a little differently. All opinions are entirely my own. Thanks again very much for the invitation.

Arrival

By car: if you drive to the museum, enter Lidostrasse 5, 6006 Luzern in the navigation. There is a large parking lot right next to the museum (the parking meter is next to the gift shop when you exit the museum).

By public transport: if you come to Lucerne by train, like we did (thanks SBB 🙂 ), the best way to get to the museum is by bus lines 6, 8 or 24 to the Verkehrshaus stop. Or at the station, you can change to the next train (line S3) and take it to Lucerne Verkehrshaus station. Alternatively, you can also take a boat trip on the lake (current timetables here) or you can take a stroll (about 30 minutes along the lake promenade).

Opening hours and entrance fees

The museum is open every day – in summer from 10 am to 6 pm, in winter from 10 am to 5 pm.

Admission is 32 francs for adults and 14 francs for children aged 7-16. Children under the age of 6 accompanied by their parents can enter the museum free of charge.

At the museum, you can have up to a 20 % discount on admission if you are a member of the Coop Hello Family Club, if you come by SBB train or if you are a member of the TCS Touring Club Schweiz.

Reasons to visit Verkehrshaus der Schweiz

1. It’s Switzerland’s most-visited museum

Switzerland’s most visited museum is the place to learn about the history of road, rail, water and air transport, as well as the history of space travel. There’s a separate building dedicated to each branch of transport (and I’m not counting the outdoor exhibits), so you’ll agree with me that there’s a lot to see (and more importantly, experience!). Even if you spend the whole day here, it’s a museum that’s never boring! And it doesn’t matter what age you are – young and old alike will enjoy it. This is the fourth time we’ve been here, and we always discover something new that we haven’t had a chance to try before – you can read about our first visit in the blog post here.

2. There are loads of interactive exhibits (not only) for children to enjoy

People usually visit museums in bad weather. But I dare say that the Transport Museum is one of the museums worth going to even if the weather is nice. First of all, it will be a lot less crowded, and you can enjoy the interactive stations inside without waiting and queuing, but the Verkehrshaus also offers plenty of outdoor activities.

Among our favorite exhibits are the flight simulators

3. You can learn about Swiss geography, for example discover the canton Ticino

Most of the exhibits are linked to the locality in which they are located (e.g. cable car cabins, etc.), and the museum also has a large satellite map of Switzerland that you can walk on. In the pavilion dedicated to railways, you will discover a model of the new railway tunnel that will make it faster to get to the canton Ticino, which is always worth a visit. Its warmer weather and the Mediterranean feel make it a popular destination pretty much from the spring months onwards when visitors from the German-speaking part of Switzerland love to travel there for their spring or Easter holidays or the Ascension long weekend. You can find several posts about Ticino on my blog, links to be found at the end of this one.

Even faster to Ticino thanks to the Ceneri Base Tunnel

The Ceneri base tunnel is 15.4 km long and makes it possible to be in Lugano from Zurich in less than two hours (more precisely, in 1 hour 53 minutes without changing trains), making Ticino from Zurich basically around the corner and more accessible even for a day trip. It also makes transfers between Bellinzona, Locarno, Lugano and Mendrisio easier and quicker. The journey between Locarno and Lugano now takes just 30 minutes instead of the previous 50 minutes.

In addition to the 1:1,000 scale model of the Gotthard Foot Tunnel, a 1:1,000 scale model of the Ceneri Tunnel is now on display in the museum’s railway hall.

4. Enjoy fine cuisine when you have lunch at Brasserie Verkehrshaus

In the middle of the visit, the kids were tired, so we took a break and accepted an invitation to lunch at Brasserie Verkehrshaus. As of Monday, May 31, all restaurants can open indoors. We didn’t make it in time for this date, but as the weather was beautiful, we didn’t mind enjoying our lunch on the terrace.

5. the Museum is just so cool, exciting and interesting for everybody – as for children, as for adults.

Summary

As I wrote in the introduction, don’t be afraid to visit the Transport Museum even in good weather. It’s definitely worth it.
Our program at the museum was very busy. Apart from lunch, we managed to visit the Lindt Chocolate Adventure, but I definitely want to come back sometime so we can visit other parts of the museum we haven’t been to yet: the Media World, the Planetarium and the Filmtheater, where visitors can watch documentaries on the biggest movie screen in Switzerland.
You won’t make a mistake if you plan a whole day to visit the museum (but at least 3-4 hours).