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SWISS MUSEUM OF TRANSPORT LUCERNE
Top Family Attraction and Transporation History

It is Switzerland’s most popular museum attracting almost a million visitors a year. The Swiss Transport Museum on the shimmering shores of Lake Lucerne celebrated its 50th birthday in the summer of 2009 and with the opening of a new 50 million Swiss Franc upgrade, the Verkehrshaus Luzern will be more popular than ever. Sure, it has exhibits of trains, planes and automobiles – ships, too, but what makes the Museum of Transport stand out is its utter fascination for kids. Adults can check out the history of steam and electric train locomotives which powered Switzerland’s unique rail system – discover the secrets behind digging tunnels through the great mountains of the Alps - follow the history of flight from balloons to gliders to mountain rescue helicopters and the passenger jets of Swiss Airlines – but kids are the focus of the interactive exhibits at the Museum of Transport with all sorts of things to do, touch and imagine. The museum's 3,000 exhibits are laid out in 20,000 meters of exhibit halls around a central open plaza. The entrance is uniquely identifiable by its wall of car wheels lining the outside of the new FutureCom entrance which houses the ticket counters, a restaurant, the Imax Theater, and upstairs the new Media Factory. But maybe save that for the end of your visit.

The first hall houses the rail museum, starting with a model railroad of the Swiss mountains and rail track through the passes. The Gotthard Tunnel Show and hands on interactive exhibits demonstrate the mastery of the mountains through digging tunnels and hands on displays demonstrate modern kenetic energy recovery for powering trains of the future. In the main hall find the landmarks of Swiss mechanical engineering, from the “Crocodile” mountain freight engine, cutways of steam boilers and the first electric street cars, to the cogwheels of the Jungfraubahn (see Jungfraujoch Railway through the Eiger) and the Mt Rigi Steam cog train (see Mt Rigi Bahn). A snow blower engine from the Gotthardbahn can be found in the display hall below, or walk underneath a giant steam locomotive, the “Elephant”, Switzerland's last great steam behemoth.

Across the courtyard underneath the mounted jet airplane, the flight hall provides three levels aircraft from early flight to outer space. Vintage airplanes on the floor and suspended from above, aircraft models and a very popular flight simulator ride. The Cosmorama, a form of hand operated merry go round demonstrates gravity and weightlessness. Aircraft on display include the Cross Channel Blériot XI-b and the red Lockheed Orion 9C the “Roter Hund” Red Hound, the fastest commercial plane of the 30s, race planes in dramatic maneuvers and the workhorse DC3. The Marine exhibit hall displays shipping with a cutaway section of paddlewheel steamer, like those that ply the waters of Lake Lucerne, a full scale sailing schooner and ferry that can be deck walked and climbed upon.

The newly redesigned auto hall, distinctively covered with road signs on the outside and on the inside, one of the more unique car exhibits you’ll find. Most auto museum have historic vehicles on static floor display with some descriptive text, some quite dynamic (see Mercedes Benz Museum Stuttgart), but the Swiss Transport Museum does it a little differently. Rather like a game show, the historic cars in Car Theater are set on racks with visitors in bleachers. The audience slap knobs to vote together in a frantic competition. The most voted car is selected by a moving hydraulic lift and brought to the show floor where its history is demonstrated. The narration is in German, but who cares, its cars on demand fun. There is also a car crash test and Formula 1 driving exhibit to entertain along with a variety of interactive exhibits of car design and road technology.

Outside in the central courtyard called the Arena is probably the busiest. Not exactly a museum, but perhaps more a learning and play area, where kids can operate child size excavators and contraction equipment to build their own roads, flip and fly on a gravity defying bungee trampoline, drive pedal cars around a road track, learning road signs and traffic rules, skipper model power boats or test ride mountain bikes. Before departing make the last stop at the new Media Factory where budding young tv personalities can appear in their own their own tv and radio programs in the studios, from greenscreen effects to news announcing, or journey to the stars in the Planetarium.

The Swiss Museum of Transport is not exactly cheap. Admission prices are more on the amusement park level than museum, but worth it. Adults single admission is 27 CHF, children 12 CHF (under 6 free) with a family pass for 56 CHF (50% discount with a Swiss Pass). The Imax Theater is a separate admission with a combined ticket available. Getting to the Transport Museum is as easy as Lucerne’s transport system. From the Lucerne main train station take the S3 train or the Voralpexpress to the Verkehrshaus station, or city bus 6, 8, or 24. By car the museum is to the east of town center on the north side of the lake shore, follow the signs. The Transport Museum and Imax can also be reached by lake boat (March-October), the first stop for Lake Lucerne cruise boats from the terminal pier. Come by train and return by boat with a Lucerne transportation card or a Swiss Pass. Or the walk along the lakeshore is about 30 minutes from the Lucerne Bridge. © Bargain Travel Europe

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SEE ALSO:

GOLDENPASS SCENIC TRAIN - LUCERNE-MONTREUX

MOUNT PILATUS RAILWAY AND AERIAL CABLE

MT. TITLUS ROTAIR - ROTATING AERIAL CABLE

LUCERNE GLACIER GARDEN

BOURBAKI PANORAMA

POHO WEGGIS - DESIGN HOTEL ON LAKE LUCRENE

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