Basic information on the lay of the land, its history and local peculiarities - so you can act like a local during your stay in Lucerne.
Jump to:
- Basic data
- Customs
- Drinking
- Electricity
- Health & Emergency
- Emergency
- Pharmacies
- Internet & Wi-fi
- Travelers Wifi - unlimited internet in Switzerland
- Language
- Lost & Found
- Lu...what?
- Mail & Phone
- Market values
- Money
- National holidays
- Politics
- Safety
- Smoking
- Visas
- Visitor Card Lucerne
Basic data
Area
Switzerland: 41285 sq km
Lucerne (canton): 1493 sq km
Lucerne (city): 29 sq km
Population
Switzerland: 8.0 million
Lucerne (city): 80,000
Official languages
Switzerland: German, French, Italian, Romansh
Lucerne: German
Local time
Central European (GMT+1h)
Rivers
Reuss 164 km (flows through Lucerne)
Rhine 375 km (in Switzerland)
Borders
France (572 km), Germany (373 km), Austria (165 km), Principality of Liechtenstein (41 km), Italy (741 km)
Customs
Switzerland is not a member of the European customs union. On the one hand that gives you the opportunity to buy real tax-free goods at airports when you are travelling from and to Switzerland. On the other hand there are tight restrictions on the goods you can take free of customs duty from Switzerland to your country. For EU-countries the following customs and tax allowances apply (for other countries check with the appropriate customs authorities):Tobacco: 200 (50 to some countries) cigarettes or 100 (20) cigarillos or 50 (10) cigars or 250 gr (50) of smoking tobacco.
Alcohol: 1 litre of spirits over 22% vol or 2 litres of spirits with less than 22% vol, 4 litres of still wine, 16 litres of beer.
Other goods: Max. value of all goods: 430 euros for air travellers and 300 euros for other travellers.
Goods over these limits must be declared when entering an EU-country, additional taxes and VAT may apply.
In Switzerland there is duty-free shopping for arriving passengers as well.
Drinking
The drinking age in Switzerland is 16 for wine and beer and 18 for spirits and alcopops. The standard sizes for beer are the 0.3 litre Stange (pronounced: shtang-eh) and the 0.5 litre Grosses (gro-sus). The long-standing medium-scale brewers (in Lucerne you‘ll usually find Eichhof, which now belongs to the Dutch Heineken breweries) are increasingly getting competition from innovative local brewers. Check out Luzerner Bier, Lozärner Bier (yep, not the same) or Appenzeller for instance.Swiss wines are also not to be underestimated. While the best may come from further south, you‘ll find some very good Blauburgunders (red) and Riesling Sylvaners (white) from the Lucerne region. Traditional Swiss spirits are fruit brandies, cherry (Kirsch) and pear (Williams) being the most common.
Electricity
Electricity in Switzerland is 230 V, 50 Hz AC. Plug sockets are round and take three round pins (types C and J) - they can take europlugs with two pins. If you are coming from the US, UK or Ireland, as well as from many other countries, you will need an adaptor. Travellers from the US (and other countries with a different voltage than 230 V) additionally need a voltage converter. In modern hotels you might find multi-use sockets. Otherwise ask for an adaptor / converter at the reception or buy one in a traveller's or electronics shop.Health & Emergency
Informations for health issues and emergencies.Emergency
Emergency telephone numbers (operators usually speak basic English):Ambulance: 144
Police: 117
Firebrigade: 118
If you need medical attention, there is a walk-in medical centre (Permanence, see below) for all kinds of consultations at the main tran station. The emergency unit at the hospital is always open.
Pharmacies
The pharmacy (Apotheke in German) with the longest opening hours is Benu in the underground shopping area of the main train station. It is open Mon - Sat 06:00 - 22:00, Sun 08:00 - 20:00 ((+41) 41 220 13 13). If you are in urgent need of medication outside these hours contact (+41) 900 11 14 14 (3.23Sfr/min.).
Internet & Wi-fi
Surfing the internet over a mobile network can be very expensive when you're abroad, due to the roaming charges. Luckily, most hotels and many cafés, bars and restaurants offer free Wi-Fi. And in the city centre around the station, at the lakeshore and Löwenstrasse there is free public Wi-Fi. Simply search for the network 'luzerner wlan' on your device and open a browser. After you enter your phone number you will get an access code which will allow you to surf for an hour for free. You will also find the commercial Wi-Fi providers Monzoon and Swisscom all over the city. You can subscribe to their services on the start page you get on your browser once you connect to their hotspots - all you need is a credit card. Prices start at 5Sfr per day. With the Visitor Card issued for free by your hotel, you get unlimited access to the W-FI 'Free WiFi - Luzern.com' on hotspots dotted around the city, you don't even have to register separately. Ask at your hotel about it.
Travelers Wifi - unlimited internet in Switzerland
This is an easy solution to get a quality internet connection when in Switzerland while still avoiding sky-high roaming costs. You simply rent the tiny pocket Wifi traveler Wi-Fi device and you'll have an unlimited and speedy 4G/LTE data connection in all of Switzerland, for up to 10 devices. And it's simple to get. Book it in advance on its website and then simply pick it up upon arrival in Switzerland at Zurich Airport, at the watch boutique Les Ambassadeurs in Lucerne or any Swiss post office. They'll even send it directly to your hotel or to any Swiss address. The device always comes with a box. To return it, just put it in the box and drop it into a Swiss Post mailbox.Sample prices:
3 days CHF 39.90
7 days CHF 64.90
10 days CHF 83.40
15 days CHF 125.90
additional shipping costs CHF 5 - 9
You can book it at www.travelerswifi.com
Language
Switzerland has four official languages: German (spoken by 64%), French (20%), Italian (6.5%) and Romansh (0.5%). Lucerne lies in the German speaking part of the country, where people speak a German dialect, so-called Swiss German or Schwyzerdütsch. Be it among friends, at work or when dealing with the authorities, people speak dialect. However, Swiss people use standard German, so-called Hochdeutsch, when writing and speaking at school. A lot of Swiss speak English fairly well, especially the younger generation. So generally getting by in English is no problem.Language smarts
Here are a few German phrases and some typical Swiss German words - it will be always appreciated if you use a few Swiss words. The 'r‘ in Swiss German is rolled, the ‘ch’ is pronounced like in the Scottish loch. Mind your throat.
Swiss German
Grüezi (groo-e-tsi) Hello (formal)
Adieu (as in French) Goodbye (formal)
Merci (mersi) or Danke Thank you
Entschuldigung! Sorry!
Exgüsi (ex-gewsi) Excuse me!
D‘Schwyz (chviiits) Switzerland
Zum Wohl! (tsoom vol) Cheers!
Lozärn (Lo-tsaern) Lucerne
Lost & Found
If you've lost your hat, your handbag or something else, you might have a happy reunion at the lost & found, fundbüro in German. It's located at the police station at Hirschengraben 17b (B-4), tel +41 41 248 86 66, open Mon - Fri 10:00 - 12:30, 14:30 - 17:00. If you might have lost your item on a train or at the train station, also try the lost & found at the station.
Lu...what?
What's in a name? If you look for the destination Lucerne on a timetable, you might wonder if the place has gone missing! But no fear - the German spelling is Luzern. That is standard German however: in dialect it's Lozärn, but now we're getting a bit advanced. The simple math is: Lucerne=Luzern.Mail & Phone
PostThe Swiss post is generally reliable, and also can take care of all your financial transactions. There are post offices all over the city - the university post office just next to the train station has long opening hours (see below).
Dialling
Switzerland’s calling code is +41. Lucerne’s code is (an additional!) (0)41. We list the country code before all telephone numbers. Of course you only have to use this if you are dialling from abroad. If you are already in Switzerland, just ignore the +41 country prefix, dial 0 and then the nine-digit number.
Market values
Loaf of bread 2-5Sfr (€1.85 - 4.70)
Cup of coffee 4-7Sfr (€3.70 - 6.55)
0.3 litre of beer (bar) 4-7Sfr (€3.70 - 6.55)
Public transport ticket, valid 1 hr 4.30Sfr (€4)
Packet of cigarettes 8Sfr (€7.50)
McDonald‘s Big Mac 6.50Sfr (€6.05)
The Swiss national bank has abandoned its policy of tying the Swiss Franc to the Euro. Currently the exchange rate is quite stable at around 1.08 Sfr to the Euro.
Money
The currency and legal tender of Switzerland is the Swiss franc (Sfr), which is divided in 100 rappen. There are banknotes of 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 1000 francs. The coins in use are 1,2 and 5 francs as well as 5, 10, 20 and 50 rappen. You can change your money at UMC Change, Frankenstr. 5 (tel. (+41) 41 211 00 50, C-4, www.umc-change-lu.ch, just next to the station) or at the SBB Change at the train station or any of the banks. Or just withdraw Swiss francs with your Maestro or your Plus card from one of the ubiquitous ATM’s. Credit cards are widely accepted - both in shops and restaurants. Service is always included. At a restaurant however, if you were happy with the service, leave 5-10% of the bill as a tip.National holidays
| January 1 | New Year |
| January 2 | Berchtold Day (local) |
| Feb 28, March 4 & 5, 2019 | Carnival (local) |
| April 19, 2019 | Good Friday |
| April 22, 2019 | Easter Monday |
| May 30, 2019 | Ascension |
| June 10, 2019 | Whit Monday |
| June 20, 2019 | Corpus Christi |
| August 1 | National Holiday |
| October 2 | St. Leodegar's Day (local) |
| November 1 | All Saints' Day (local) |
| December 25 | Christmas |
| December 26 | St. Stephen's Day |
