Tomlishorn is located about 1.3 km (0.81 mi) to the southeast of the top cable car and cog railway station.

Numbered amongst those who have reached its summit are Conrad Gessner, Theodore Roosevelt, Arthur Schopenhauer (1804), Queen Victoria and Julia Ward Howe (1867).

That same year, Leonardo Torres Quevedo presented his innovative cable car project for public transport,[4][5] but it was dismissed by the country's authorities.

[6] The mountain has fortified radar (part of the Swiss FLORAKO system) and weather stations on the Oberhaupt summit, not open to the public view and used all year round.

Mount Pilatus plays a pivotal role in the conclusion of Brad Thor's fiction novel Lions of Lucerne.