Home / Swiss Alps Holidays by Train
Swiss rail holidays
Lakes, glaciers and mountain railways, with escorted tours that handle every connection.
A Swiss Alps holiday puts you among glaciers, cogwheel railways and lakes so clear they look painted, and in Switzerland you can reach almost all of it by train. You'll sail across Lake Thun in the morning, ride a mountain railway beneath the Eiger after lunch and be back at a lakeside hotel in time for dinner.
The escorted holidays below take care of the flights, the hotels and every train connection, and the tour cards show the current from price and dates. Underneath them, you'll find where to base yourself, which trains and mountain trips earn their place, and how the holidays compare.
Escorted tours with flights and hotels included. Facts from each operator's own site.
Travelsphere
The big three scenic trains in one week, with flights, hotels and a Holiday Director taking care of every connection.
From £3,379about £422 a day · per person
See dates
Travelsphere
A snowy week based in Interlaken: mountain railways, the GoldenPass to Montreux, chocolate and fondue.
From £2,229about £318 a day · per person
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Newmarket Holidays
Lake Como base with a day crossing the Alps on the Bernina Express to St Moritz.
From £1,453about £182 a day · per person
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Newmarket Holidays
Lake Maggiore with days out to Zermatt and over the hundred valleys on the Centovalli Railway.
From £2,182about £273 a day · per person
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Newmarket Holidays
A week in the Pays-d'Enhaut riding the GoldenPass line both ways, with Grindelwald and Gruyères.
From £1,792about £224 a day · per person
See dates
Newmarket Holidays
A short festive break with an evening at Montreux Christmas Market on the shore of Lake Geneva.
From £863about £216 a day · per person
See datesPrices are per person sharing, from the operators' own sites when we checked in October 2026. They change with dates and offers, so check the live price before you book.
| Holiday | Days | From | Per day | Scenic trains | Flights | Hotels | Pace | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Best of Switzerland Travelsphere · May to September 2027 | 8 | £3,379 | £422 | Bernina Express, Glacier Express, GoldenPass | Return flights from your chosen UK airport (into Zurich, home from Geneva) | 4-star hotels: Davos (2 nights), Interlaken (3), Lausanne (2) | Easy-going | Dates |
| Winter in Switzerland Travelsphere · February to March 2027 | 7 | £2,229 | £318 | GoldenPass Express, Jungfrau cogwheel trains | Return flights from the UK to Zurich | 6 nights in a 4-star hotel in Interlaken | Easy-going | Dates |
| Lake Como, St Moritz and the Bernina Express Newmarket Holidays · April to October 2027 | 8 | £1,453 | £182 | Bernina Express | Return flights to Milan | 7 nights on Lake Como, bed and breakfast or half board | Moderate | Dates |
| Lake Maggiore, Zermatt and the Centovalli Railway Newmarket Holidays · April to October 2027 | 8 | £2,182 | £273 | Centovalli Railway, Zermatt shuttle train | Return flights to Milan | 7 nights at the 4-star Grand Hotel Dino, Baveno | Moderate | Dates |
| Swiss Alpine Glories and the GoldenPass Train Newmarket Holidays · May 2027 to September 2028 | 8 | £1,792 | £224 | GoldenPass | Return flights to Geneva from regional UK airports | 7 nights at the 3-star Roc et Neige, Château-d'Oex | Moderate | Dates |
| Swiss Christmas Markets Newmarket Holidays · November to December 2026 | 4 | £863 | £216 | None | Return flights from UK airports | 3 nights half board at the 3-star Hotel Roc et Neige, Château-d'Oex | Easy | Dates |
Switzerland is a small country, yet the Alps cover most of it, and each corner has its own lakes, its own language and its own railway. Pick the base first. Everything else follows from it.
Interlaken sits on a strip of flat meadow between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, with the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau lined up behind the town. It's the easiest base in the Swiss Alps for a first visit, with trains up the valleys to Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, Wengen and Mürren and boats on both lakes. In the Lauterbrunnen valley, the Trümmelbach Falls thunder through the inside of the mountain. See Interlaken holidays for more.
Zermatt is car-free. Drivers leave their cars down the valley at Täsch and take the shuttle train, as Zermatt Tourism explains, so the village streets belong to walkers and little electric taxis. Turn any corner and the Matterhorn fills the end of the street, and the Zermatt holidays page covers how to plan a stay.
Lucerne puts water and summit in one view, with paddle steamers leaving the quay across from the station for Vitznau and Alpnachstad, where cogwheel railways climb Mount Rigi and Pilatus. Our Lucerne holidays guide lists the day trips.
The menus switch to French at the western end of the country. Palms line the promenade in Montreux and the medieval Château de Chillon stands on a rock in the water just along the shore. Behind the town, the GoldenPass line climbs into the Pays-d'Enhaut, where Château-d'Oex and Gruyères sit among green dairy pastures and chalet villages. See Montreux holidays for the lakeside town.
The south-east is high, sunny and wide open. A chain of lakes runs along the Engadine valley with St Moritz on its shore, and Davos lies over the hills to the north. Both towns are on the narrow-gauge Rhaetian Railway, and our St Moritz holidays page covers the valley.
Cross the Alps southwards and the air warms, the language turns Italian and the lakeshores fill with palms and camellias. Lugano and Locarno are the Swiss towns, covered on our Lugano holidays page, while Lake Maggiore and Lake Como run on into Italy.
Move between bases if you want the big scenic trains. A single base suits a slower week of lake and mountain day trips.
| Region | Lakes | Mountain trips | Scenic train | Holidays on this page that go there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bernese Oberland | Lake Thun, Lake Brienz | Jungfraujoch, Schilthorn, Kleine Scheidegg | GoldenPass Express | The Best of Switzerland, Winter in Switzerland, Swiss Alpine Glories (day trip) |
| Zermatt and Valais | Small mountain lakes above the village | Gornergrat, Matterhorn Glacier Paradise | Glacier Express | Lake Maggiore, Zermatt and the Centovalli Railway (day trip) |
| Lucerne | Lake Lucerne | Pilatus, Rigi, Titlis | Gotthard Panorama Express | None stays here, so plan it yourself |
| Lake Geneva and the Vaud Alps | Lake Geneva | Glacier 3000 | GoldenPass | The Best of Switzerland, Swiss Alpine Glories, Swiss Christmas Markets |
| Graubünden | Engadine lakes, Lago Bianco | Bernina Pass | Bernina Express, Glacier Express | The Best of Switzerland, Lake Como, St Moritz and the Bernina Express |
| Ticino and the Italian lakes | Lake Maggiore, Lake Lugano, Lake Como | Monte Brè, Monte San Salvatore | Centovalli Railway | Both Newmarket Italian lakes holidays |
Most mountain holidays make you pick between a day on the water and a day up high. Here the meltwater fills long lakes at the foot of the peaks, and the railways run along their shores, so one day can hold both. Spend the morning on deck and the afternoon above the clouds.
The boats are part of the transport network, timed to meet the trains and covered by the Swiss Travel Pass. On The Best of Switzerland you cruise Lake Thun to Spiez Castle, while Newmarket's Italian lakes holidays include boat trips to the gardens of Villa del Balbianello on Lake Como and to the Borromean Islands on Lake Maggiore.
Higher up, a gondola from Kandersteg lifts you to the Oeschinensee, a turquoise lake ringed by cliffs and waterfalls, and the Lake Brienz guide covers the quieter shore east of Interlaken.
Panoramic trains are the reason many people plan holidays in Switzerland by rail. Big windows curve up into the roof, and you watch the scenery change from vineyards to snowfields in an afternoon.
The slowest express train in the world runs from Zermatt to St Moritz, over the Oberalp Pass and across the stone arches of the Landwasser Viaduct. A seat reservation is compulsory for everyone, pass holders included, so summer seats go early, and the official Glacier Express timetable shows when it runs. The Best of Switzerland rides it to Brig with lunch served at your seat. See our Glacier Express guide or the Glacier Express holidays that include it.
From Chur or St Moritz, the red trains climb past the icy blue Lago Bianco, cross the Bernina Pass and loop through the Brusio spiral viaduct down to Tirano in Italy. The Albula and Bernina lines are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our Bernina Express guide covers the route.
The GoldenPass Express links Montreux with Interlaken through the Pays-d'Enhaut, and its trains change track gauge at Zweisimmen while you stay in your seat. Further south, the Centovalli Railway winds from Domodossola to Locarno over gorges and through chestnut woods in the valley of a hundred valleys.
In the Swiss Alps you can go remarkably high without climbing a step, and these are the trips the holidays on this page include or offer:
Check the summit webcam on the morning you go. Cloud can sit on the top while the valley is sunny. It's better to swap days than pay for a view of fog.
Swiss trains run like clockwork, so planning your own trip is perfectly doable. The hard parts are the ones you don't see from home: the compulsory seat reservations on the Glacier Express and Bernina Express, hauling cases on and off narrow-gauge trains between hotels, making a tight connection at Spiez or Zweisimmen, and buying separate tickets for each mountain railway.
A flight and hotel package holiday gets you to the mountains, but an escorted Switzerland holiday also gets you round them. Travelsphere's Holiday Director, or Newmarket's tour manager, books the scenic train seats, gets the luggage to the hotel and keeps the group on the right platform. On The Best of Switzerland you fly into Zurich and home from Geneva, so there's no doubling back.
If you're going it alone, book these before you travel:
Every holiday here is escorted, with flights from the UK and hotels included. They differ in how much moving around you'll do.
The Best of Switzerland from Travelsphere moves between Davos, Interlaken and Lausanne and rides the Bernina, the Glacier Express and the GoldenPass along the way. It's easy-going, stays in four-star hotels and suits a first visit. Check The Best of Switzerland dates.
Winter in Switzerland stays put in Interlaken in February and March. Expect frozen waterfalls in the Lauterbrunnen valley, the cogwheel train to Kleine Scheidegg, the GoldenPass Express to Montreux and a guided tour of Chillon with wine tasting, and you unpack only once. See the Winter in Switzerland dates.
Newmarket's Lake Como, St Moritz and the Bernina Express and Lake Maggiore, Zermatt and the Centovalli Railway keep you in one lakeside hotel all week. You cross into Switzerland for a day over the Bernina Pass or over the Simplon Pass to Zermatt.
Swiss Alpine Glories and the GoldenPass Train is based at Château-d'Oex in the Pays-d'Enhaut, riding the GoldenPass to Montreux and to Interlaken, with visits to Grindelwald and Gruyères.
The Swiss Christmas Markets trip also stays in Château-d'Oex, with an evening at Montreux Christmas Market by Lake Geneva.
The month you pick shapes your week in the Alps more than the region does. From late spring to early autumn, cowbells ring across the pastures and the high trails open, which is why most of these tours depart between April and October. Our best time to visit Switzerland guide goes month by month.
Mountain weather changes fast at any time of year, so pack a warm layer for the top stations, even in August.
Zermatt, St Moritz, Davos, Grindelwald and Wengen are famous ski resorts, and every one is on the railway, so skiers can arrive by train with their boots in a bag. None of the holidays here is a ski trip, though, and Winter in Switzerland suits anyone who wants the snow and the cogwheel trains without a day on the slopes.
You don't need to be a walker. Trains, boats and cable cars carry you to the viewpoints, and from most top stations a level path leads along to a better view or a mountain restaurant. Travelsphere rates its tours easy-going, and Newmarket rates its Italian lakes and GoldenPass holidays moderate, so expect some uneven ground and cobbled steps in the old towns.
If you'd rather spend the whole week on foot, a walking holiday with daily guided hikes suits you better. On a rail tour the pace is gentler: an easy trail around Mürren or Grindelwald, then a train back down.
At high altitude the air is thin, so walk slowly, drink water and don't rush the stairs.
Swiss Alpine food is made for cold air and hungry walkers, so look out for these:
Winter in Switzerland includes a chocolate-making session at Maison Cailler before fondue in Gruyères. Swiss chocolate tastes even better after a day in the snow!
Every holiday on this page includes return flights, to Zurich or Geneva for the Swiss tours and to Milan for the Italian lakes. If you're travelling independently, trains leave from beneath the terminals at Zurich and Geneva airports (the SBB timetable has every connection), and our Zurich to Interlaken train and Geneva to Zermatt train guides walk through the journeys.
Rather not fly? The train to Switzerland from London runs by Eurostar to Paris and TGV Lyria on to Basel, Geneva or Lausanne. However you arrive, Switzerland's railways do the rest, and there's plenty more on Switzerland by train to help you plan the Alps your way.
HolidaysSwitzerland Holidays by Train, Lake and MountainEscorted holidays from the UK with flights, hotels and the scenic trains booked for you
HolidaysTrain to Switzerland From LondonEurostar to Paris, TGV Lyria into Switzerland, and how to make the change without the stressHolidaysTrain From Paris to SwitzerlandTGV Lyria direct to Zurich, Geneva, Basel or Lausanne, and how to pick the right city for the AlpsEscorted rail holidays with the Bernina, Glacier and GoldenPass Express, flights and hotels included.