IT WAS about halfway down the slope that I realised I had irreparably lost control of my sled.

I was hurtling down a snowy incline with a panorama of mountains around me, but the pile of snow at the bottom of the slope drew my attention.

My heels were guiding me along the snow, chilling my ankles but I had to make a decision and I decided to brake – hard. I stuck my heels into the fresh snow and came to a halt – or at least my sled did. I continued travelling and the next thing I knew I was spread-eagle in a rather lumpy pile of snow. After making sure my limbs were intact I decided only (only...) my dignity was damaged.

That and I had a mouthful of snow. This wasn’t, as it turned out, the best tasting thing I found myself eating on my trip to Lucerne.

Set among the Alps, Lucerne is not unlike other Swiss cities in that it has as its centrepiece a lake (in English the lake is rather prosaically called Lake Lucerne but in German it is spectacularly called the Lake of the Four Forested Cantons).

But that’s where the similarities end. Lucerne has a distinctly German feel to it and is quite different to the French or Italian parts of the country.

Following the shoreline of the lake takes you towards the Reuss river and, on the northern bank of the river, into the old town of Lucerne where my hotel was.

To get there I had to pass the city’s Water Tower. By far and away this is the most famous building in the city together with the adjoining 14th century Chapel Bridge which once formed part of Lucerne’s fortifications.

(The octagonal Water Tower might seem like an innocuous building but it has variously served as a prison, torture chamber and treasury.)

When I arrived in Lucerne under the dead of night and made my way to my bed in the Hotel des Balances I perhaps didn’t fully appreciate the beauty of my surroundings.

But the next day when I emerged, fawn-like, onto my room’s balcony I was astonished to see a spectacular panorama of mountains and spires – notably the striking points of the Church of St Leodegar. While Lucerne has plenty on offer for those hoping to lounge by a lake gently sipping coffee (or whatever it is the Swiss Germans sip), or simply meandering around the twisting lanes of the town itself, the rewards are just as great for those willing to leave the city behind. Which is how I found myself scaling Mount Titlis which reaches a lofty 3,238m (and is home to the world’s first open-top cable car, a theme which we will return to).

It was on Mount Titlis that I found myself hurtling down a snowy slope after foolishly taking up an offer to sled down a mountain.

The mountain is a short train ride from Lucerne itself, and Switzerland’s trains are cheap and punctual (no-one could quite believe it when I said my train from Zurich airport was two minutes late).

At the time of year I went – in October – there was only snow on the highest peak, but I ventured up there anyway and was joined by hundreds of tourists – many of them clearly not expecting the lovely snow-laden mountain to be cold. But the lower reaches of the mountain were calmer, warmer and offered up plenty of opportunities for brisk walks.

There was also a restaurant where I tried one of the local specialities – sausage. But that meant going inside and I just wanted to suck up the view. Indeed, whichever height above sea level you plump for, the views are spectacular.

From the mountain’s summit it is hard to feel like you’re not standing on the world’s rooftop. It’s not something many people will be used to, having nothing else around to look upwards at but it’s a spiritual awakening kind of moment.

I wasn’t too surprised to be told that Switzerland’s mountain summits are a favourite for movie directors, particularly Bollywood ones, looking for other-worldly settings.

Lower down the mountain there are endless woods, lakes and waterfalls to keep your eyes wandering.

That evening, on my way back to Lucerne, I stopped off in the town of Stans. The reason for this is because it is home to an unusual cable car.

These dangling boxes are a Swiss obsession but the one between Stans and the mountain Stanserhorn has a unique claim to fame in that it is the world’s first open-top cable car.

Anyone brave enough to give it a go – and it made my stomach churn a little – will be rewarded with fantastic views on the way up and a revolving restaurant at the top. Lucerne might not be up there with Paris or Milan when people think of city breaks but it has such a wide range of activities on offer it seems churlish that it has been ignored for so long.

Within the city itself there are a wide range of bars, restaurants and even the Swiss Transport Museum. Or you could try to scale a mountain.

Just be careful coming down ...

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