Lucerne Carnival parade: two parades, one route — and only on Thursday three laps of the fountain
✓ Checked at the source · as of 7 October 2026
Lucerne doesn't have one carnival parade but two — on Dirty Thursday and on Güdismontag, both at 2 pm, along almost the same streets. The difference is one loop across Kapellplatz. And anyone who wants the whole of Lucerne's carnival is at the lake by 5 am.
📅 2027 dates — every event with its source
Day by day, what's on when. Where the committee only gives its rule, the calculated date appears — marked as such.
Fritschiumzug am Schmutzigen Donnerstag
confirmedThursday, 4 February 2027 · 1 day
- Organiser
- Lozärner Fasnachtskomitee (LFK)
Only on Dirty Thursday does the parade take an extra loop across Kapellplatz — in honour of Brother Fritschi and the guild master of the Saffron Guild at the Fritschi fountain.
Source: To the organiser's page · checked on 6 October 2026
Urknall am Schmutzigen Donnerstag
confirmedThursday, 4 February 2027 · 1 day
- Organiser
- Lozärner Fasnachtskomitee (LFK) mit der Zunft zu Safran
Brother Fritschi arrives by water: at 5 am he lands with his Fritschi family on a Nauen barge in the lake basin — only then is Lucerne's carnival officially open.
Source: To the organiser's page · checked on 7 October 2026
Wey-Umzug am Güdismontag
confirmedMonday, 8 February 2027 · 1 day
- Organiser
- Lozärner Fasnachtskomitee (LFK) mit der Wey-Zunft
Same route as on Dirty Thursday, but without the loop to the Fritschi fountain — Güdismontag belongs to the Wey guild, and Swiss television SRF broadcasts the parade.
Source: To the organiser's page · checked on 6 October 2026
Kinderumzug am Güdisdienstag
confirmedTuesday, 9 February 2027 · 1 day
- Organiser
- Lozärner Fasnachtskomitee (LFK)
That same morning at 11 am, the LFK and the Luzerner Zeitung crown the best single masks and family groups at the Hotel Schweizerhof — 'De beschti Fasnachtsgrend'.
Source: To the organiser's page · checked on 7 October 2026
Monstercorso am Güdisdienstag
confirmedTuesday, 9 February 2027 · 1 day
- Organiser
- Lozärner Fasnachtskomitee (LFK) mit den Vereinigten Guuggenmusigen
The finale belongs to the Guggen bands: the Monstercorso crosses the centre on the last evening — next morning is Ash Wednesday and Lucerne's carnival is over.
Source: To the organiser's page · checked on 7 October 2026
🕐 Parade times
Start times as published. With children you plan by the clock, not the date.
Start: 14:00
Start: 05:00
Start: 14:00
Start: 14:30
Start: 19:30
🗓️ What's on when?
Type a date instead of leafing through the programme.
📅 Visit-day check
Pick the day you are free — the answer comes from the verified ConvivaPlus dataset, not from a run you have to work out in your head.
| Session | Run | Opening hours | Date set? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fritschiumzug am Schmutzigen Donnerstag | Thu 4 Feb | 14:00 | confirmed |
| Urknall am Schmutzigen Donnerstag | Thu 4 Feb | 05:00 | confirmed |
| Wey-Umzug am Güdismontag | Mon 8 Feb | 14:00 | confirmed |
| Kinderumzug am Güdisdienstag | Tue 9 Feb | 14:30 | confirmed |
| Monstercorso am Güdisdienstag | Tue 9 Feb | 19:30 | confirmed |
Calculated from the ConvivaPlus dataset — every row with its own source above.
🎭 Carnival calendar — a date in, carnivals out
Which carnival runs on which day — in 2027 and the years after, calculated from the Easter rule.
🎭 ConvivaPlus Carnival Calendar
Calculated dates follow the Easter rule: Ash Wednesday = Easter Sunday minus 46 days. Cross-checked against the date tables of the committees in Lucerne, Basel, Bern and Solothurn.
- Dirty Thursday
- Thursday, 4 February 2027
- Ash Wednesday
- Wednesday, 10 February 2027
- Basel Morgestraich
- Monday, 15 February 2027, 04:00
Pick a date — the calendar shows every carnival running that day.
5 events 2027, by date
| Date | Place | Event | Form | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, 4 February 2027 · 14:00confirmed | LuzernLU | Fritschiumzug am Schmutzigen Donnerstag | 🎺 Main parade | Source |
| Thursday, 4 February 2027 · 05:00confirmed | LuzernLU | Urknall am Schmutzigen Donnerstag | 🌑 Pre-dawn opening | Source |
| Monday, 8 February 2027 · 14:00confirmed | LuzernLU | Wey-Umzug am Güdismontag | 🎺 Main parade | Source |
| Tuesday, 9 February 2027 · 14:30confirmed | LuzernLU | Kinderumzug am Güdisdienstag | 🧒 Children's parade | Source |
| Tuesday, 9 February 2027 · 19:30confirmed | LuzernLU | Monstercorso am Güdisdienstag | 🌙 Night parade | Source |
🚋 Parade route and starting point
- Assembly
- Schweizerhofquai beim Luzernerhof
- Meeting point
- Schweizerhofquai · Schwanenplatz · Kapellplatz · Seebrücke · Bahnhofplatz · Pilatusstrasse
- Destination
- Helvetiagarten
- Assembly
- Schweizerhofquai beim Luzernerhof
- Meeting point
- Schweizerhofquai · Schwanenplatz · Seebrücke · Bahnhofplatz · Pilatusstrasse
- Destination
- Helvetiagarten
- Assembly
- Mühlenplatz
- Meeting point
- Mühlenplatz · Rössligasse · Weggisgasse · Eisengasse · Kapellgasse · Kornmarkt · Weinmarkt · Reussbrücke
- Destination
- Jesuitenplatz
- Assembly
- Bahnhofstrasse
- Meeting point
- Bahnhofstrasse · Seebrücke · Schwanenplatz · Schweizerhofquai · Töpferstrasse · Hertensteinstrasse · Falkenplatz · Grabenstrasse
- Destination
- Löwengraben
🥁 Programme from the committee
- Lucerne's carnival runs from Dirty Thursday, 4 February, to Shrove Tuesday, 9 February 2027 — by Ash Wednesday it is over.
- The parade also thrives on the 'wild ones': the committee counted more than 140 independent groups in recent years.
- At the Fritschi fountain the parade does not just circle once: the Saffron Guild's Fritschi float goes round it three times.
- On Kapellplatz the 'Fötzeliräge' confetti rain and the orange throwing follow; from 8 am the Fritschi procession leaves the Kornmarkt through the old town.
- Güdismontag starts at 6 am with the Wey reveille on Kapellplatz: the Wey guild master and a monster concert of Guggen bands.
🎉 Highlights of this carnival
What sets this carnival apart from every other isn't in the date.
At 5 am on Dirty Thursday it is still pitch dark on Lake Lucerne, yet tens of thousands stand on the shore. They are waiting for a boat: Brother Fritschi, the figurehead of Lucerne's carnival, arrives with his Fritschi family on a Nauen, a traditional cargo barge. Once he lands, there's a bang — the Urknall, the 'big bang'. Then the whole crowd moves up to Kapellplatz, where confetti rains down ('Fötzeliräge') and oranges fly into the crowd. It isn't even light yet, and carnival has already had its first high point.
The big afternoon parade is almost the same on Dirty Thursday and on Güdismontag — the committee says so itself: since the guilds merged into today's LFK, the two parades have been 'almost identical in content'. The one difference is a loop: only on Dirty Thursday does the parade turn onto Kapellplatz and circle the Fritschi fountain — the Saffron Guild's Fritschi float three times over. On Güdismontag the Wey guild's frog leads instead, and Swiss TV station SRF broadcasts.
And then it's over. On 9 February 2027, the day before Ash Wednesday, the Guggen bands' Monstercorso crosses the centre from 7.30 pm — the finale. In Basel, the Morgestraich hasn't even happened yet: it comes 6 days later, on 15 February 2027. If you want both, you travel twice.
How do you do Lucerne Carnival?
One click – anonymous, no sign-up required.
🎯 Tips for visitors
The two big parades fall on a Thursday and a Monday, and the first bang comes before breakfast. Seven things that make a good day.
- 1Book days off, not a weekendThe LFK stages exactly two big parades: the Fritschi parade on Dirty Thursday and the Wey parade on Güdismontag. A Thursday and a Monday — neither falls on a weekend. To see both, you need days off (ConvivaPlus analysis of the LFK programme).
- 2From the first bang to the last Guggen noteLucerne is the only place in the survey that opens with a reveille and closes with a night parade: the Urknall at 5 am on Thursday, the Monstercorso at 7.30 pm on Tuesday. Elsewhere it is one or the other (ConvivaPlus analysis of the survey).
- 3It starts in the darkAt 5 am Brother Fritschi lands in the lake basin — arrive for breakfast and you've missed the Urknall. Then on to Kapellplatz (confetti, oranges); from 8 am the Fritschi procession leaves the Kornmarkt.
- 4Three laps — only on ThursdayAt Kapellplatz the Fritschi float circles the Fritschi fountain three times; on Güdismontag that loop doesn't happen. If you only watch one parade, watch Thursday's — right there.
- 5Children get celebrated twiceAt 11 am the best masks are honoured at the Hotel Schweizerhof; at 2.30 pm on Güdisdienstag (9 February 2027) the children's parade leaves Mühlenplatz and crosses the Reuss bridge to Jesuitenplatz.
- 6On Saturday the casino dances, 60 and overOn Rüüdige Samschtig the LFK hosts a seniors' carnival at the Grand Casino: 60 and over, 1.30 to 6 pm, 5 francs including Schenkeli and Zigerkrapfen pastries. On Sunday at 11 am a Guggen band plays with the organist in the Hofkirche — in 2027 the Wäsmali-Chatze.
- 7The station is on the routeThe Fritschi and Wey parades both cross Bahnhofplatz. Driving into the centre on these days is not an option.
📊 Carnival dates compared
Where these days fall between January and March — and who celebrates before and after.
Each bar is an event. Dark = this town, light = the nearest ones. Reading a single date, you would never see that the next town sometimes celebrates a whole week earlier or later.
- LucerneFritschiumzug am Schmutzigen Donnerstag · Urknall am Schmutzigen Donnerstag · Wey-Umzug am Güdismontag · Kinderumzug am Güdisdienstag · Monstercorso am Güdisdienstag
- OltenSO
🗺️ Carnival nearby
To keep going: in Olten carnival runs on the same days, in Winterthur it only begins once Lucerne has finished. Every date is in the Swiss carnival calendar, the Lucerne events on the canton of Lucerne page.
The ConvivaPlus carnival calendar, which holds these 5 Lucerne events, works out Dirty Thursday from Easter (28 March 2027 minus 52 days) and checks every date again at the LFK.
Carnival nearby
❓ FAQ about this carnival
What visitors want to know before they go — date, time and place from the committee's programme.
People also ask
Related questions from our magazine
The Morgestraich is on 15 February 2027 — after Lucerne has finished.
In Winterthur, after Ash Wednesday, on the Zeughauswiese.
Olten, at Hilari.
The ConvivaPlus verdict
Lucerne is the carnival for people with days off: the two big parades run on a Thursday and a Monday, at fixed times, on a route past the station, plus a children's parade on Tuesday. The 5 am Urknall is the experience you can't catch up on later.
The weak spot is the crush: on Dirty Thursday Kapellplatz and the Seebrücke are packed. For space, pick Güdismontag and a spot on Pilatusstrasse. And if you can't take time off, Winterthur suits you better — its grand parade runs on a Sunday. The ConvivaPlus verdict rests on the calendar's 5 Lucerne events.
Freshness note: Times and routes as published by the LFK. Check the committee's site shortly before carnival.
Check the latest: ConvivaPlus carnival dataset 2027 – Lucerne →
- ◆No big parade at the weekend: the Fritschi parade on a Thursday, the Wey parade on a Monday — Lucerne parades on weekdays.
- ◆Three laps, not one: on Dirty Thursday the Saffron Guild's Fritschi float circles the Fritschi fountain three times.
- ◆Two reveilles: Dirty Thursday starts at 5 am at the lake, Güdismontag at 6 am with the Wey reveille on Kapellplatz.
How we check
Every date comes from the organiser's, the municipality's or the canton's own site — never from an aggregator, never copied over from last year. Next to each source is the date we last read it.
Where only a fixed rule is published, such as the eve of St Nicholas' Day, we work out the date and label it “calculated from the fixed rule”. Anything not yet published stays open — we don't guess.
Something missing or changed? A note below is enough; we check it at the source.
ConvivaPlus Editor · Family & Day Trips
Writes about day trips, family and local life – honestly assessing what's worth it.
- Day trips
- Family
- Local
- Cities & regions
All information without guarantee. Found an error? → support@conviva-plus.ch
Lucerne's two carnival parades are almost identical — only on Dirty Thursday does the Fritschi float circle the Fritschi fountain, three times.
Found an error or have feedback? Let us know or write to us directly.
🎭 Carnival · 9 October 2026