The Glacier Express route

Crossing 291 bridges, passing through 91 tunnels and climbing to 2,033 metres at the Oberalp Pass, the Glacier Express route is one of Switzerland’s legendary scenic rail journeys from St. Moritz to Zermatt. The rail route is known worldwide for its views as it winds through the Alps from the mountains of Piz Bernina to the Matterhorn, carving a path through deep gorges, across Alpine meadows and alongside glacial lakes.

The route is run jointly by the Rhätische Bahn (RhB) and the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn (MGB). It travels along metre-gauge tracks with 23.9 miles of rack-and-pinion to traverse steep gradients and control descents. Despite the wintry name, the train runs year-round with two services negotiating its tracks:

• The Glacier Express: a direct, high-end panoramic train running from St. Moritz to Zermatt with limited stops.

• Local services: a network of regional trains covering the same route, with stops along the way.

So, which service should you take to experience this slow travel journey and feat of engineering?

Swiss Travel System AG

Glacier Express route map. CC.

The Glacier Express route services

The Glacier Express

Often billed as the ‘slowest express train in Europe’, the Glacier Express is ‘express’ in the old-fashioned sense of the word: a direct service with limited stops. The full journey takes approximately 8 hours from St. Moritz to Zermatt (although you can choose to ride just a section). It runs twice-daily in winter and three times in summer from St. Moritz, plus one late summer service travelling the section from Chur to Zermatt. There is a period from mid-October to the beginning of December when the Glacier Express doesn’t run (with dates changing slightly each year).

This option is for those who want a premium journey, offering panoramic carriages, leather seats, a bar car (although, staff take orders from your seat in 1st and 2nd class), or you can pre-book lunch (2, 3, 4-course) to your seat. A limited number of trains offer ‘Excellence Class’: a deluxe panoramic car with face-to-face tables for two on both sides of the aisle, so everyone gets a window seat. There's a cocktail bar and a 5-course regional menu with wine included in the Excellence Class reservation fee, as well as complimentary coffee, juice, snacks and champagne.

To travel on the Glacier Express service, passengers require a 1st, 2nd or Excellence class ticket or Interrail pass, along with a seat reservation for all classes (read our blog about Interrail for more information about passes). Tickets cost:

• 2nd class: 159 CHF plus 49 CHF for the seat reservation

• 1st class: 272 CHF plus 49 for the seat reservation

• Excellence Class: 268 CHF plus 470 CHF for the seat reservation

It’s a polished, smooth and glitzy experience - but often at the cost of being busy with tourists. With few stop offs along the express service, there’s no option to break your journey along the way.

The local services

The regular, regional trains run the same route as the Glacier Express, but offer more freedom with year-round services on the hour. The journey takes around 8h 10m with the minimum amount of stops (similar to the Glacier Express), with changes in Chur, Disentis/Müster, Andermatt and Visp.

Despite requiring more changes along the route, the local service also allows for stop offs along the route, so you can choose to break your journey and stretch your legs at other stops if you wish. For example, the highest point, Oberalppass, where lunch at Piz Calmot comes with a view. You could also stay overnight in small mountain villages, something not possible on the Glacier Express, where you’d have to pay for both an extra ticket and reservation to pause for even a while.

If you’re travelling on an Interrail or Swiss Travel Pass (always the best options in Switzerland), the journeys on all trains are free with no additional seat reservation needed for either class.

The local trains are much quieter, with fewer tourists (it’s not unheard of to luck-out with a carriage all to yourself!). If they’re not empty, you have a people-watching opportunity as locals use these services to go about their daily lives. Who knows, you might even strike up a conversation and get valuable insider tips about where to hop off of the train.

The local train may have more changes but these are a chance to spend time (and money) supporting infrastructure and local communities in small towns, rather than rushing past them.

Neil Steventon

View from inside the local train.

The Glacier Express route: journey highlights

The journey starts in St. Moritz, a high-end resort known for skiing, luxury hotels and a lake surrounded by mountains. If you’re not in a rush, stay overnight before you head out on your rail adventure and explore the Engadin Valley. From St Moritz, you’ll travel towards Switzerland’s oldest city, Chur, on the UNESCO-World Heritage Albula Line, which forms part of the Rhaetian Railway along with the Bernina Line. This line spirals through tunnels and across the famed Landwasser Viaduct, a six-arched bridge that floats across the valley before curving into a tunnel. This is one of Switzerland’s most famous railway views.

Early in the route, consider stopping at Preda to tackle an 8km walk to the next station, Bergün. Known as the ‘railway adventure trail’, the walk runs parallel to the railway line, providing impressive scenery, information about the railway line and a chance for a hike before your long train ride. It takes approx. 2h 15m to 2h 45m to Bergün. Once you arrive at Bergün station, pause to visit the Bahnmuseum Albula. Open daily, this railway museum sets the scene for the journey ahead, offering a first-class curatorial effort with interactive exhibits. The museum’s café serves a well-priced dish of the day, making it a great place to refuel before continuing with your journey.

Further on, Filisur village is another stop worth enjoying. A short detour from the station leads to a footpath offering dramatic views of the railway, including vantage points of the Landwasser Viaduct itself.

Pascal Debrunner

The Landwasser Viaduct.

From Chur, the train follows back the course of the Rhine and through the Rhine Gorge (known as Ruinaulta in the local Romansh dialect), which can only be crossed on foot, bike, train or boat. You’ll spot white cliff faces and geological formations that rise up from the winding river. If you’re seeking thrills, a stop at Ilanz offers the opportunity for white-water rafting – an unforgettable way to experience the Rhine firsthand. From there, the train slowly climbs through the valley toward Disentis/Mustér at 1,142m. Here, you’ll make your second change if you’re on the local train and while there, could visit an 8th-century Benedictine monastery.

Neil Steventon

The Rhine Gorge.

Departing Disentis/Muster, you’ll travel on the Matterhorn-Gotthard Bahn and climb the steepest part of the line on a rack railway to the Oberalp Pass. In winter, it’s covered in snow; in summer, wildflowers and glacial waters. This is another excellent place to stretch your legs, with a walk from Oberalppasshöhe to the source of the Rhine for the active, while those preferring to take it easy can relax at the café just above the station. After this stop, you’ll snake down from the summit in tight hairpins to Andermatt. Here you’ll change trains again if you’re travelling on the regional service, giving you the chance for a side quest on the Furka Steam Railway.

Neil Steventon

Oberalppass.

Next, you’ll travel through the Furka Base Tunnel to emerge in Oberwald in the Goms Valley, before travelling to Brig, where you could take a bus ride to the top of the Simplon Pass and back, for more Alpine vistas. After Brig, you’ll pass through a valley, following the course of the mighty Rhône. The whole Glacier Express route offers up a feast of rivers—starting in the Inn Valley, whose waters eventually reach the Black Sea, through the dramatic Rhine Gorge, then tracing the Rhône, as it winds its way to the Mediterranean.

Silja Müller

The Eggishorn viewpoint of the Aletsch Glacier.

Travelling onwards to the village of Fiesch, If you’re travelling light and feeling adventurous, you could take the gondola and cable-car to the Eggishorn viewpoint of the Aletsch Glacier. If not, you’ll carry onto Visp, where you’ll change for the last time if you’re on the regional service and could stay overnight for a visit by Postbus to the Visperterminen vineyard, one of the highest in Europe.

From Visp, you’ll follow the Mattertal Valley with the Vispa River rushing below and views of the surrounding peaks. You’ll cross the Stalden Viaduct, pass waterfalls at Kalpetran and then through forest and meadows to Tãsch, the final stop before Zermatt. Täsch is where the road ends for car travellers, and they must join the train for the last leg of the journey. You’ll snake towards Zermatt, through pine forests and alongside wooden chalets, before catching your first glimpse of the Matterhorn towering 4,478m high over the valley.

Sid Wahi

Zermatt.

Finally, you’ll arrive in the car-free resort village of Zermatt, known for skiing and hiking. Surrounded by peaks of over 4,000m, you can take another Alpine rail journey along the Gornergrat Railway, for spectacular glacier views.

Travel along the Glacier Express route by local train, or check out more slow travel holidays to Switzerland by train.

Short on time? Check out our bite-sized excursions, like the Glacier Express route from Zürich, or pair the Bernina and Glacier experience from Milan.

Read about the art of slow travel, why we love taking the local train, or about six of the most scenic train rides in Europe.

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