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Few Swiss cities announce themselves as dramatically as Lucerne. The medieval Chapel Bridge, with its distinctive octagonal water tower, stretches across the Reuss where the river leaves Lake Lucerne, and the panorama of snow-capped Alps rising beyond the old town rooftops has made this one of the most photographed corners of central Europe. That combination of intact medieval architecture and immediate Alpine access is not incidental to the city's appeal; it is the whole point of being here.

The old town occupies the north bank of the Reuss and rewards slow exploration. The Museggmauer, a largely intact stretch of fourteenth-century ramparts with nine towers, runs along the ridge above the lanes and can be walked in part during the warmer months. The south bank holds the railway station and the cultural quarter around the KKL Luzern, the concert hall designed by Jean Nouvel that sits directly on the lakefront. Between these two poles, the city is compact enough to cover on foot, which is how most visitors naturally move through it.