The Train Routes of Switzerland That Justify the Ticket Price
Switzerland's trains are expensive by any standard, with a Zurich-to-Zermatt ticket costing upward of one hundred Swiss francs one way. But to measure the journey purely in transport economics is to miss the point entirely. These are not commuter routes — they are moving panoramas engineered to showcase some of Europe's most dramatic geography from the comfort of a heated carriage.
The Glacier Express, running between Zermatt and St. Moritz, is the most celebrated route. Over eight hours, it crosses 291 bridges and passes through 91 tunnels while traversing the Oberalp Pass at 2,033 metres. The Landwasser Viaduct, a curving stone bridge that deposits the train directly into a mountain tunnel, is one of European rail's most photographed moments.
The Bernina Express, connecting Chur to Tirano in Italy, achieves the highest railway crossing in the Alps without a tunnel — the Bernina Pass at 2,253 metres. The descent into the Val Poschiavo offers a visual whiplash from glaciers to palm trees within two hours. The entire Albula and Bernina line is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The GoldenPass line from Lucerne to Montreux is the less famous route that delivers equally. The journey passes through the Brünig Pass, descends into the Simmental valley, and finishes along Lake Geneva's northern shore. The newer GoldenPass Express, launched in 2022, runs through carriages that eliminate the historic gauge-change transfer at Zweisimmen.
Purchase the Swiss Travel Pass from https://www.myswitzerland.com for significant savings if you plan multiple journeys. The pass covers unlimited travel on the national rail network, most urban transit, and lake steamers, plus free admission to over 500 museums. The scenic routes require a supplement but remain substantially cheaper with the pass.
Travel in second class — the views are identical and the seats are perfectly comfortable. Sit on the right side heading toward Zermatt on the Glacier Express for the best Matterhorn approach. On the Bernina route, the left side offers superior views of the Morteratsch glacier. These details, rarely mentioned in brochures, are the difference between a good journey and a great one.
Swiss trains do not merely connect destinations — they reframe travel as an activity worth doing slowly. In a world that measures transport by speed, a country that has invested billions in making eight-hour train journeys beautiful rather than fast offers a genuinely radical proposition. The ticket price is not an expense. It is an admission fee.
