Switzerland: Lucerne, Walk It Out - William Tell Legend or Reality! 
Any family vacation in Switzerland can be magical. Who doesn’t love legends, mountains, boats, trains, great food, and lovely Swiss chocolate?
Here’s the scoop. ECHO Trails is a new Lucerne based company offering English-speaking guided day walks, hikes and bike tours. The name ECHO stands for Ecological, Cultural, Heritage and Outdoors and represents the underlining themes for all tours. Participants see magnificent Alpine sceneries with half- and full-day tours have been created to meld active fun with historic and cultural highlights. Bonus points: To add to the value of the Swiss experience each tour uses the efficient Swiss public transportation from Lucerne train station meeting point.
I like this series of tours because they have been created by a life-long family friend- Rene Welti. He loves Switzerland and his attention to detail matched with his enthusiasm make any day adventure memorable.
“Every tour is designed to showcase the beauty and authenticity of the area. Even with limited time, you can have a great Swiss outdoor experience,” explains René Welti, the ECHO Trails Swiss born-USA raised certified hiking guide.
See the sites and make the William Tell connection. No apples or arrows are involved. Tell is perhaps the most famous folk hero in Swiss history. Take the Saturday
William Tell Swiss Path Hike with Lake Lucerne boat cruise which combines a three-hour hike on the actual Swiss Path that relates to the William Tell story. The hike weaves through the 700-year Swiss history while walking past farmers working in their fields, quaint villages and majestic views from places you can only get to by foot. The tour is crowned by a relaxing boat cruise back to Lucerne.
Hike any day - no two tours are the same. The tours visit a variety of memorable places from William Tell’s birthplace to romantic castles, from a bio farm to a hike in a glacier valley, ride a Swiss made electric bike through the countryside and make your own Swiss army knife.
Make it happen. Kids ages five and younger go free and ages six to 16 receive a 50% discount on any tour. All tours start from the Lucerne train station either at 09:45 (Mo/Tue/We) or at 08:45 (Fr/Sa) and 12:15 on Sunday. ECHO Trails tours can also be purchased by your local travel agent, in Lucerne at the Lucerne Tourist Office train station Information Center or at your Lucerne hotel. To see what ECHO Trails tour best meets your interest and schedule, visit
www.echo-trails.com Here’s the deal. Look for the Lucerne Discount Card - a city transportation discount card available for durations of 1, 2 or 3 days. It offers visitors free public transportation within Lucerne plus provides benefits to museums and attractions.
Location on the planet. Tourist Information Lucerne's tourist office is under the train station complex: Zentralstrasse 5 CH-6003 Luzern. Tel: +41 (0)41 227 17 17 or
www.luzern.com About Lucerne. The Lake Lucerne Region is a “pocket-size version” of Switzerland. Many say that Lucerne is the heart of Switzerland because it is historically the birthplace of Switzerland. The city has a reputation for being a city of festivals because it offers a year-round program of music and culture including classical music, brass bands, blues, jazz, fine food, comics/fumetti, and theatre plus Lucerne's famous carnival. The Lake Lucerne Region is one of the most diverse vacation and excursion regions in all of Switzerland. Its landscape is shaped by the spectacular world of the Alps and the lake.
Swiss Family Vacation Bonus. See “Tellspiele” a William Tell re enactments at Altdorf. Just in case your kids or grandkids think you are making up the story of the apple and the arrow, there is a solution. To mark the 500th anniversary of the enactments of the Tell legend in Altdorf, the town's Tell Ticket Center Uri Schützengasse 11 6460 Altdorfspiel- und Theatergesellschaft theatre company will be putting on Schiller's Drama Wilhelm Tell in 2012. +41 (0)41 870 92 36
www.tellspiele-altdorf.chContent and images provided by ECHO Trails.com. Copyright 2012.
