| Grand Train Tour of Switzerland |
| Photo: Swiss Travel System |
With the Swiss Travel Pass, you can travel all over Switzerland whenever you want. If you have eight days, you can do the Grand Tour of Switzerland. The Swiss Travel System website map displays the 10 color-coded routes.
Depending on your needs, you can select train passes with different lengths. If you don’t want to travel every day, a Flex Pass allows you to travel by rail for three, four, eight or 15 days of your choice within a month.
Swiss train routes
Rail Europe distributes the Swiss Travel Passes. You can buy rail passes, as well as train and hotel packages, on their website to create your own tour.
The Swiss Travel Pass includes more than train tickets. It also features boat rides, postal buses, city transportation and museum passes.
For example, if you want to stay in a Lugano hotel, you can book the Bernina Express train, which also includes bus transportation from Lugano to Tirano, Italy.
Suggested itineraries
How long is the full Grand Tour of Switzerland? The 1,600-kilometer journey crosses four language regions, five alpine passes and two biosphere zones. Along the route, you can see 11 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 22 lakes and enough spectacular scenery to fill several photo memory cards.
| Bernina Express |
| Photo: Swiss Travel System |
Passes are available year-round. You can start at any point and take the train routes in any direction.
The Swiss Travel System website suggests several itineraries. Most people start in Zurich, where they can adjust to the jet-lag with a couple nights in a hotel and leisurely sightseeing in the Old Town.
What do you do with your luggage?
From Zurich, you can ride the Three City Line and Glacier Express to St. Moritz. There is only one stop for changing trains.
Send your luggage to your hotel or carry it with you. In Davos, you can use the baggage transfer service.
As an alternative to storing your luggage in the hotel, you can leave it at the train station where there are lockers. The size of the lockers is large enough for two big bags.
| Glacier Express train |
| Photo: Swiss Travel System |
Are meals served?
Two Swiss train routes serve meals on board. The length of the Glacier Express trip from St. Moritz to Zermatt is 7.5 hours long. As the train travels though 91 tunnels on the journey, passengers can order freshly cooked meals, served at their seats.
In summer, between May and October, the Chocolate Train runs on the same tracks as the GoldenPass Line on the Grand Tour of Switzerland. Passengers take day trips from Montreaux in the Swiss Riviera.
As they travel in vintage cars, they enjoy freshly brewed coffee and chocolate croissants for breakfast. After visiting the cheese factory in Gruyeres, they travel by train to the Cailler-Nestlé Chocolate Factory in Broc for a tour and chocolate-sampling. The train returns by the same route.
| Jungfrau Railway |
| Photo: Swiss Travel System |
More than a train trip
A highlight of the Grand Tour includes a trip on the Jungfrau Railway to the highest railway station in the world (11,332 feet high).
From here, you enjoy panoramic views of snowy peaks and the 14-mile-long Aletsch Glacier (the longest glacier in the Alps).
Passengers who ride the Wilhem Tell Express train route through the Gotthard mountains can end their journey by riding a historic steam ship on Lake Lucerne. The three-hour-long cruise fare is included in your pass.
TRAVEL INFORMATION
Grand Train Tour of Switzerland
Swiss Travel System Passes
More things to see & do in Switzerland:
Hiking in Switzerland
Matterhorn and Lake Geneva Region Trip
Swiss Alphorn Music
Wine Tours in Lake Geneva and Matterhorn Region
Switzerland Cruises, Lakeside hotels and Spas
