Switzerland by rail

Journeys

Switzerland by rail

The Glacier Express, St. Moritz glamour, and Zermatt's alpine wonder.

Snow still clings to the peaks outside your window as the Glacier Express pulls out of St. Moritz station. For eight hours, the train climbs, curves, and crosses 291 bridges between St. Moritz and Zermatt. You sit back in a panoramic car and watch Switzerland change around you. Summer is the right time to do this. Green pastures run right up to the snowline, and the light stays long into the evening. Alp Travel Co. builds your itinerary around four stops: St. Moritz, Zermatt, Davos, and Lucerne. At each one, we place you in a specific hotel chosen for its position, its food, and its feel. Slow travel means you actually stay somewhere long enough to walk the same path twice. That is what this trip is designed for.

The Glacier Express runs from St. Moritz to Zermatt in eight hours; the landscape through the window makes the journey as worthwhile as either destination.

How it unfolds

FLY IN
Flight Fly into Zurich; private car transfer to St. Moritz takes approximately 2.5 hours through the Inn valley and the Engadin.
DAYS 1–3

St. Moritz

Badrutt’s Palace Hotel anchors St. Moritz from a lake-facing perch that hasn’t changed in silhouette since 1896. Summer strips the resort of its winter theatre and leaves the Engadin valley at its most honest: hiking trails from the Corviglia funicular drop through larch forest, and the Bernina Express runs through the Rhaetian Alps to Tirano in under three hours. The light at altitude turns Lake St. Moritz an improbable shade of turquoise by mid-morning.

  • Corviglia hike via Chantarella funicular to Marguns · 3.5h Take the funicular from St. Moritz Dorf; trail conditions above 2,500m can be icy before mid-June.
  • Bernina Express to Tirano day trip in panoramic car · 7h Reserve panoramic-car seats at least a week ahead in July and August; the full return loop including lunch in Tirano takes seven hours.
  • Stand-up paddleboard on Lake St. Moritz · 1.5h
  • Segantini Museum and Maloja Pass valley walk · 3h The museum holds the largest collection of Giovanni Segantini's alpine paintings; the Maloja valley walk back takes 1.5 hours along the Inn.
  • Spa circuit at Badrutt's Palace ESPA · 2h
Train · 8h Glacier Express panoramic service from St. Moritz to Zermatt; reserve seats in the glass-roofed restaurant car for the Oberalp Pass crossing.
DAYS 4–6

Zermatt

The Glacier Express delivers you to Zermatt station after eight hours of unbroken mountain panorama — 291 bridges, 91 tunnels, the Rhine gorge, and the Oberalp Pass at 2,033 metres. The Omnia sits in the cliff face directly above the car-free village, reached by a private rock-tunnel elevator cut into the mountain; the north-facing terrace frames the Matterhorn at eye level. Without combustion engines on the streets, the village moves at a pace that makes the altitude easier to feel.

  • Cable car to Matterhorn Glacier Paradise (Klein Matterhorn, 3,883m) · 5h Book the first cable car departure; clouds typically build after midday. Bring a warm layer regardless of valley temperature — it is below freezing at the summit year-round.
  • Gornergrat rack railway for sunrise Matterhorn views · 3.5h First train from Zermatt departs at 07:00; the rack railway reaches 3,089m in 33 minutes and gives an unobstructed view of the Monte Rosa massif.
  • Fünf-Seen-Wanderung (Five Lakes Trail) · 4h Start from Blauherd station via the Rothorn cable car and walk down to Zermatt; each lake gives a different Matterhorn reflection angle.
  • Dinner at Chez Vrony in Findeln hamlet · 3h Accessible only on foot in summer — a 30-minute uphill walk from Zermatt village. Reserve several days ahead; terrace tables with Matterhorn views are limited.
Train · 2h 30m Train from Zermatt via Visp and the Lötschberg tunnel to Interlaken Ost, then the Bernese Oberland railway up to Grindelwald; change at Interlaken Ost.
DAYS 7–8

Grindelwald

Grand Hotel Regina faces the Eiger’s north face across the valley, close enough to watch the limestone change colour at dusk from the terrace. The Bernese Oberland operates at a different register than the Valais — broader valleys, denser forest, and the Jungfraujoch railway cutting nine kilometres through glacier ice to 3,454 metres. Two nights covers the high route and still leaves an afternoon to walk the village at a slower pace.

  • Jungfraujoch by rack railway (Top of Europe, 3,454m) · 7h Leave Grindelwald by 08:00 to reach the Aletsch Glacier viewpoint before afternoon cloud builds. Book tickets in advance from July through August — the railway sells out.
  • Schilthorn cable car to Piz Gloria (2,970m) via Mürren · 5.5h Access from Lauterbrunnen by cable car to Mürren, then onward to Schilthorn; the revolving restaurant was the filming location for the 1969 Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
  • Bachalpsee hike from First gondola station · 3h A flat 1.5-hour walk from First to the lake above 2,000m; the Wetterhorn and Schreckhorn reflect clearly on calm mornings before 10:00.
Train · 2h Train from Grindelwald to Interlaken Ost, then direct InterCity service to Lucerne; one change at Interlaken Ost, total journey under two hours.
DAYS 9–10

Lucerne

Palace Luzern sits directly on the lake with the Alps framed through its arched ground-floor windows — a view that requires no effort to find. The old town covers in a single focused half-day: Chapel Bridge, the medieval walls, the Lion Monument cut into the sandstone cliff in 1820. Lucerne makes a clean final stop; Zurich Airport is 50 minutes by direct train.

  • Mount Pilatus by cogwheel railway from Alpnachstad · 5h Take the rack railway up from Alpnachstad (world's steepest, 48% gradient) and the cable car down via Kriens; the full loop from Lucerne takes five hours including the lake steamer to Alpnachstad.
  • Early morning walk across Chapel Bridge and through the old town · 2h Before 09:00 the Kapellbrücke is clear of tour groups; the painted panels inside the bridge date from the 17th century.
  • Lake Lucerne Belle Époque paddle steamer to Weggis · 3h The scheduled steamers run a scenic timetable past Pilatus and Rigi; the Weggis route is the most picturesque and includes a return option by cable car.
  • Rigi Kulm day trip by rack railway from Vitznau · 4.5h Take the lake steamer to Vitznau and the Rigi rack railway — Europe's first, built in 1871 — to the 1,797m summit for a 360-degree view over five lakes.

Destination

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Europe

Switzerland

Rail-perfect. The trains are a sight in themselves.

BEST JUNE–SEPTEMBER FOR HIKING AND THE GLACIER EXPRESS • VISA: SCHENGEN

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