JoachimKohler-HB, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The Musegg Wall
Nearly a kilometre of medieval rampart above the old town, with nine towers along it and four you can climb — including the one whose clock is allowed to strike first.
The wall Lucerne never pulled down
Most Swiss towns dismantled their fortifications once they stopped needing them. Lucerne kept its northern stretch, and the Museggmauer still runs along the ridge above the old town — roughly 870 metres of it, with nine towers spaced along the line. It was built in the decades either side of 1400, when the town was expanding and nervous, and it survives largely because the citizens voted to preserve it rather than quarry it. Four of the towers are open to climb in the warmer half of the year, and the walk between them is one of the few places in central Lucerne where the crowds thin out completely.
Explore The Musegg Wall on the map
City locations, drawn from our published destination data. Attractions, hotels and restaurants are not mapped yet.
What to look at
The towers are individual buildings, not a repeated design.
🕰️ The Zytturm
- Holds the oldest clock in Lucerne, made in 1535, and it is permitted to strike the hour one minute before every other clock in the city
- The mechanism is visible from inside the tower, which is the reason to climb this one first
🗼 The four open towers
- Schirmerturm, with the stair that takes you up onto the wall walk itself
- Zytturm, Wachtturm and Männliturm, each with a different view down over the roofs
- The remaining five towers are closed, and two are in private use
🏞️ From the wall walk
- The old town roofs, the Reuss, and on a clear day the mountains south of the lake
- The wall is the only high public vantage point in the centre that costs nothing
Getting there
It is a short, steep walk up from the old town.
🚶 On foot
- Ten to fifteen minutes uphill from the northern end of the Chapel Bridge, through the old town lanes
- Signposted from Weinmarkt and from the Löwenplatz side
🚆 Arriving
- From Lucerne station, cross the Seebrücke and keep walking north through the old town
👟 What it involves
- Cobbles, then a climb; the towers themselves are narrow spiral stairs with no lift
When to go
Seasonal access is the thing to plan around.
📅 Season
- The towers open for the warmer half of the year and are shut through the winter — the wall walk between them closes with them
- The wall is visible and photogenic year round even when the towers are locked
🕰️ Time of day
- Late afternoon light falls along the wall and onto the old town below it
- Mornings are quietest, but the town is in shade from this angle
⏱️ How long
- An hour for one or two towers; closer to two if you walk the full line and climb all four
Worth knowing
The least-visited major sight in the middle of Lucerne.
🎟️ Access
- Walking the wall and climbing the open towers costs nothing, which is unusual for a sight of this size in Switzerland
👟 Footing
- The tower stairs are steep, wooden and narrow, and there is no alternative route up
📷 Photography
- The best frame of the wall itself is from outside it, on the Museggstrasse side, not from on top of it
🚶 Combining
- It pairs naturally with the old town below and the Lion Monument, which is a short walk east
Nearby
The rest of central Lucerne.
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