The Most Scenic Train train ride in Switzerland

Switzerland is well-known for its punctual trains. On these train rides, you’ll not only arrive at your destination on time, but you’ll also be treated to spectacular scenery along the way. Take a whistle-stop tour of the best train rides you can take through the Swiss Alps and more. It’s a fact: train travel is simply the best way to take in everything that the magnificent country of Switzerland has to offer. There’s something about the sedate pace, the proximity to the mountains, valleys, and lakes, and the compelling old-world charm that accompanies a Swiss rail journey.

GoldenPass Line

The GoldenPass Line is a major route that connects Lucerne with Lake Geneva in Montreux. It’s also effectively a mini Switzerland highlights package, rolled into a single journey. From the window of your panoramic carriage, you’ll spot lakes, wine estates, fertile plains, vast mountain ranges, and quaint villages. You’ll also travel through six different cantons, three mountain passes, and two language regions.

Glacier Express

The Glacier Express is perhaps Switzerland’s most scenic, and most famous, train ride. Traveling between the ski resorts of Zermatt and St. Moritz, both worth visiting by their own right, you’ll cross through 300km of the Swiss Alps at a glacial pace so you’ll be sure that you can enjoy the views along the way. On this eight hour trip, the best of the Alps opens up before you, and if you travel on the Glacier Express (rather than a normal regional train which also follows the route) you’ll be able to take advantage of huge, panoramic windows.

Trains on the Glacier Express line travel daily between the towns of Zermatt and St. Moritz. It’s one of the most luxurious train rides in the world. It also brings you unsurpassed views of some of the country’s most dramatic scenery, whether it’s summer or winter.

As the name suggests, you’ll glimpse views of impressive glaciers. You’ll also see dramatic peaks, isolated villages, fertile fields, beautiful rivers, and stunning lakes. Although the route runs between two famous towns, you can break the long journey with an overnight stay in any town along the way.

Gotthard Express

Taking you from the city of Lugano to Lucerne, the Gotthard Pass is not only beautiful but is also a route that’s steeped in history. After crossing through the Alps, you arrive at the town of Flüelen on Lake Lucerne. From here you can continue your journey by steamboat, crossing the lake and ending up in Lucerne, right by the famous Chapel Bridge, the city’s main highlight. The route can also be reversed.

Bernina Express

When you get off the Glacier Express, you can easily connect to another celebrated Swiss rail line – the Bernina Express.  It’s possible to begin this journey from either St. Moritz or nearby Chur.

The Bernina Express is an astonishing rail route. It takes you from the serene lakeside town of St. Moritz, then whisks you up and over the Alps to the Italian town of Tirano. Along the way, you’ll skirt turquoise lakes, snow-capped mountains, and gigantic glaciers. In the spirit of ticking off the best rail routes in Switzerland, you should book a ticket all the way through to Lugano (Italy) on the Glacier Express bus.

Jungfraujoch

If you find yourself around Interlaken, why not climb the North Face of the Eiger, traverse the Mönch and scale the Jungfrau to an altitude of over 11,000 feet?  By train, of course, on the famous Jungfraubahn, one of Switzerland’s most amazing train rides. Completed in 1912, the Jungfrau railway is open all year round and takes you to the most spectacular view of the Alps you can get without being Sir Edmund Hillary.