Whenever you think about a vacation, you likely don’t think about yourself sitting on a train for the majority of it. However, if you want to go to Switzerland and you’ve decided that you want to experience everything that the country has to offer, you need to consider hopping on a train, or a few for that matter. Switzerland has plenty of unique train rides that are all wonderful trips on their own, so don’t be afraid to go on a train ride and see all that the country has to offer!
The Switzerland Chocolate Train
For starters, the Switzerland Chocolate Train is a train that takes you on the chocolate and cheese tour of the nation. You will be riding towards the Cailler Chocolate factory, the cheese factory, and even the Gruyere town which is a beautiful medieval town ripped right from the story books and it even has its castle!
The train allows you to travel in 1st class for an entire day of chocolate and cheese, and the views are always amazing. There are some of the most scenic areas of Switzerland on this tour, including the Lavaux area of Switzerland which contains vineyards as well as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The Glacier Express
If you want to experience a railway adventure through the Alps, then you need to check out the Glacier Express because it is a fantastic train ride. It is commonly called the ‘slowest express train in the world’, and while the Glacier Express might be slow, it certainly isn’t boring! It will allow you to see almost all of the most beautiful areas of Switzerland with panoramic views.
The Express will have you going through 291 bridges, 91 tunnels, 3 cities, and of course a lot of sightings of glaciers! The Glacier Express is a wonderful train ride that you should take at least once if you plan to go to Switzerland!
The Bernina Express
The Bernina Express sees you taking a four-hour journey across 196 bridges, and under 55 tunnels, and it crosses several wonderful landmarks from the famous Landwasser Viaduct, which features 6 limestone arches, as well as panoramic views of frozen lakes and green fields. The four-hour journey will take you from the mountains with wonderful views to the scenery of the Mediterranean, and if the weather is nice you can even enjoy the ride from the open-air cart on the train.
There are plenty of things to enjoy about this train ride, which is why it is one of the best and most recommended train rides in Switzerland that you have got to try!
The Golden Pass Line
Switzerland is a very small country, and if you want to get around it the train is one of the best ways to do so. Nothing is better than the Golden Pass Line because it takes you from the very center of Switzerland to the shores of Lake Geneva. This means that you get to see the vast majority of all that the country has to offer over a six-hour ride over 119 miles (191 kilometers). Plus it leads past eight lakes, goes through six different cantons (states) between two language regions, and the train ride crosses three mountain passes.
So there are a ton of things to see and pictures to take on this train ride, so don’t be afraid to see everything and enjoy the Golden Pass Line Express!
Gotthard Panorama Express
With a train ride that has the word ‘panorama’ in its name, you’d better believe that Gotthard Panorama Express has tons of beautiful views and is a very beautiful train ride. Plus, it comes with an extra ride as well, because the first part of the trip has you going across a lake on a steamboat to get to the train station.
It is about a two-hour ride, but it takes you through several historic routes down to the south of Switzerland. The Gotthard Panorama Express allows history to come alive with every single movement of the wheels on the tracks, and it also allows you to see the church of Wassen, as well as the castles of Bellinzona. Of course, on the railway, you will also experience the Gotthard tunnel which is both the longest (57 km) and deepest (2,300 meters) tunnel in the world!
Finally, if you like your vacations to have some education around them, many of the train rides have people performing and giving presentations about the history of Gotthard, as well as the various myths and legends surrounding both the town and Switzerland as a whole.
How To Experience The Train Rides
Since most of these train rides will either take half a day or maybe a full day based on their time as well as the various stops they make to allow tourists to fully explore the area, you likely will want to do several train rides for your vacation. If you don’t want to spend a ton of money on different train tickets or keep track of all of the start and stop times, you can get various train and travel passes that will give you full access to the trains for the duration of the stay, which can save you some headaches!
Just make sure you take pictures, listen to the guides, and do your best to make the most of the stops and the time you spend off the train as much as you do on the train. Then you will be able to have fantastic journeys that will make your Switzerland train holiday one that you will always be able to look back on fondly.
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Tips for Travelling by Train in Europe: What you Should Know
