How to plan a rail holiday in Switzerland: routes, hotels and timing
Published 25 August 2026
A route-by-route guide for visiting Switzerland by train
Switzerland is one of the few countries where the journey between places is frequently the reason for the trip, rather than the means of getting there. The scenic railways that cross it — the Glacier Express, the Bernina Express, the GoldenPass Line and half a dozen smaller cousins — were largely built as functional mountain links between valleys that had no road worth the name, and only later became attractions in their own right. That history is why they still work as travel rather than as a theme-park ride: real timetables, real freight sidings, real Swiss commuters sharing a carriage with visitors watching a glacier go past.
For a client who has travelled widely but never built a holiday specifically around trains, the planning questions are different from a conventional touring holiday: which route earns its reputation, how the routes link into a sensible circuit rather than an out-and-back, where to break the journey and stay properly rather than just changing trains, and when to travel so that the carriage is a pleasure rather than a scrum. What follows addresses each in turn.
1. Choose a spine route, rather than a single famous train
The Glacier Express is the name most clients arrive with — it is rarely the whole answer
Most enquiries begin with the Glacier Express, and it is easy to see why: a single, continuous journey between Zermatt and St Moritz, roughly eight hours, crossing 291 bridges and 91 tunnels including the dramatic Landwasser Viaduct and the summit of the Oberalp Pass. It is a genuinely worthwhile day's travel, and for a client with limited time it can stand alone. But treated as the entire holiday, it becomes a very long single day bookended by two changes of hotel, which undersells both what the train offers and what Switzerland offers around it.
The more satisfying approach is to treat one panoramic route as the spine of the holiday and build the rest of the itinerary around it. The Bernina Express, continuing from St Moritz over the Bernina Pass to Tirano in Italy via the UNESCO-listed Brusio spiral viaduct, pairs naturally with the Glacier Express as a continuation rather than a separate excursion. The GoldenPass Line, in three linked stages between Lucerne, Interlaken and Montreux, is a gentler, lower-altitude alternative better suited to a client who wants lake and vineyard scenery rather than high-alpine drama, and who may be travelling outside the main summer season.
Explore: Grand Switzerland Rail Tour - 15 nights from Lake Geneva to Zermatt, from Lugano to Lucerne, St Moritz and the Bernese Oberland.
2. Link routes into a circuit, not an out-and-back
Switzerland's rail geography rewards a loop far more than a there-and-back journey
Because Zermatt, St Moritz, Lugano, Lucerne and Montreux sit at points around a rough ring rather than along a single line, the most efficient itineraries move in one direction and finish somewhere different from where they started, rather than retracing the outbound route. A typical circuit might fly into Zurich, travel by conventional train to Zermatt, take the Glacier Express on to St Moritz, continue on the Bernina Express down into Ticino at Lugano, loop back north to Lucerne, and finish with the GoldenPass Line into Montreux for the flight home from Geneva — five distinct bases, no journey repeated, and every transfer doing double duty as sightseeing.
This matters more in Switzerland than in most countries because the trains themselves are comfortable enough, and frequent enough, that a transfer day never feels like dead time to be endured.
Explore: Grand Heart of Switzerland Mountains rail tour - 11 night grand tour on the Bernina Express, the Glacier Express and the GoldenPass Line.
3. Match each stop to a hotel worth staying in, not just sleeping in
The grand mountain hotels of the 1860s–1900s are as much a part of the story as the railways themselves
Switzerland's classic rail routes and its grand historic hotels were largely built by the same generation of entrepreneurs, often within a few years of each other, and staying in the right hotel at each stop closes that loop rather than merely providing a bed. In Zermatt, the Grand Hotel Zermatterhof — the resort's oldest hotel, opened in 1879 — sits at the foot of the pedestrian high street with the Matterhorn framed at the end of it. In St Moritz, Badrutt's Palace has hosted the resort's international winter-sports set since 1896 and remains the address by which every other hotel in the Engadine is still measured.
Further round the circuit, the Victoria-Jungfrau Grand Hotel & Spa in Interlaken looks directly along the valley to the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, and has done so since 1865, while Château Gütsch above Lucerne — a genuine nineteenth-century castle reached by its own funicular — gives a client arriving by train an arrival worth the name. None of these are simply convenient; each is the kind of hotel a client would ask about even if they had come by car, which is precisely the point.
Explore: GoldenPass Line holiday - 5 nights including stays in Lausanne, the Saanenland and Lucerne as well as a journey on the iconic scenic train of the GoldenPass Line
4. Get the timing right — both season and daily pace
June and September outperform the July–August peak for this kind of itinerary, and the trains themselves set the pace of each day
Late spring and early autumn generally suit a rail-focused itinerary better than high summer. In June, the high passes are clear but the panoramic carriages are markedly quieter than in July and August, when reservations for first-class panoramic seats on the Glacier Express and Bernina Express should be made several months ahead. September brings similar advantages, along with the first colour in the vineyards along the GoldenPass Line above Lake Geneva. Winter has its own appeal for a client drawn to St Moritz or Zermatt specifically, but the Bernina Express and parts of the GoldenPass Line run a reduced timetable, so it suits a shorter, more focused itinerary rather than the full circuit.
Within each day, the trains themselves set a gentler pace than a client used to city-hopping might expect: the Glacier Express covers around 180 miles in eight hours, and the Bernina Express is deliberately no faster. We build in at least one full day at each base beyond the arrival, rather than treating every stop as an overnight stepping stone, so the holiday reads as several distinct places properly explored rather than a long train journey interrupted by hotel rooms.
5. Decide how independent you want to be
A Swiss Travel Pass and a set of printed timetables work well for a confident, independent client; most prefer everything pre-booked
A Swiss Travel Pass, covering unlimited travel on the regular network with a reservation supplement for the panoramic trains, gives a client who enjoys managing their own connections real freedom, and Switzerland's punctuality makes independent travel far less stressful than in most countries. For most of our clients, though, the appeal of a rail holiday is the scenery and the hotels, not the logistics, so we pre-book every seat reservation, every connection and every night's accommodation before departure, leaving only the choice of what to have for lunch on the train.
Both approaches suit different clients well, and the choice tends to come down to how much a client enjoys the planning itself. Neither is the wrong answer; we simply need to know which kind of holiday we are building before the itinerary takes shape.
A few practical questions
How many days does a proper Swiss rail circuit need?
Ten to twelve nights allows a comfortable circuit of four or five bases with a full day at each, including Zermatt, St Moritz, Lugano and Lucerne or Montreux. A shorter seven-night version focusing on just the Glacier Express and Bernina Express, ending in Lugano or Milan, works well for a client with less time.
Do we need to book the panoramic trains a long way ahead?
For June to September travel, yes — first-class panoramic seats on the Glacier Express and Bernina Express are worth reserving as soon as an itinerary is confirmed, ideally four to six months ahead. Standard-class travel on the regular network can be booked much closer to departure.
Is Switzerland by rail suitable for a client who finds mountain roads uncomfortable?
It suits them particularly well — the appeal of travelling by train through this scenery, rather than by hire car on the switchback passes above Zermatt or St Moritz, is exactly that a client can watch the view rather than navigate it.
Can we combine a rail circuit with time in a Swiss city?
Yes, and Zurich, Basel or Geneva work well as a one- or two-night bookend at either end of the circuit, particularly where flight times make an overnight near the airport sensible in any case.
Planning a rail holiday in Switzerland with Expressions Holidays
The five points above are a starting framework rather than a fixed itinerary — we regularly extend a circuit to include a extra base in Ticino, add a night in Zurich or Geneva at either end, or shorten it to focus purely on the Glacier Express and Bernina Express for a client with less time to spend.
To begin planning, call us on 01392 441245 Monday to Friday 9am to 5.30pm, Saturday 10am to 2pm, or email info@expressionsholidays.co.uk. If you would prefer to browse first, the links below go directly to the most relevant holiday pages
