Christmas Holidays in Switzerland by Train

Markets or Mountains: Which Swiss Christmas Do You Want?

Picture the Montreux promenade at dusk, with the Ferris wheel turning over Market Square, the smell of raclette drifting between the chalets and the lights of the French shore twinkling across Lake Geneva. Now picture a red cog railway grinding up out of Grindelwald, a great wall of rock and ice filling the window and snow piled higher than the fences. Both are Switzerland in winter.

That's the first thing to decide.

Christmas markets in Switzerland belong to Advent, and almost all of them shut by Christmas Eve, so a market trip happens in late November or early December. Deep, reliable snow is a mountain thing, and it tends to build through the winter rather than arrive on cue for Christmas Day.

The two tours on this page follow that pattern. Newmarket runs its markets break in November and December, while Travelsphere times its winter rail week for February and March. Want both? Book a market break, then add a few nights in an alpine village higher up in the Swiss Alps on your own.

Is a Christmas Holiday in Switzerland Worth It?

It is, as long as you match the trip to the season. The cities are at their best in the weeks before Christmas, when Zurich's main station fills with a Christmas market, the Basel stalls spread out below the cathedral and Lucerne's old town gets a festive market of its own.

Christmas week itself is quieter in the towns. Christmas Eve is the main family celebration for many Swiss households, Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day are public holidays, and most shops close. The mountain resorts are the opposite, as Zermatt, St Moritz, Davos and the Jungfrau region fill up with families, skiing and après-ski over the festive fortnight. Hotels there book up early.

So yes, though the Christmas you get depends heavily on where you stay and which week you travel.

Expecting a white Christmas? In Zurich, Bern and Geneva it's the exception rather than the rule, according to MeteoSwiss records, and daytime temperatures in the cities often hover just above freezing. Snow at Christmas is far more dependable in the high resorts. If snow matters, sleep at altitude.

The Swiss Christmas Markets Worth the Trip

Montreux Noël on Lake Geneva

Montreux Noël is the market most people picture: wooden chalets strung along the quays, the Ferris wheel on Market Square and the mountains rising straight out of the lake. Santa actually flies over the market on certain evenings! There's a festive cruise on a Belle Époque steamer. Up above the town, the Rochers-de-Naye cog railway climbs to Santa's House at the summit. It's all a short walk from Montreux station, and the dates and full programme are on the official Montreux Noël site.

Basel and Zurich

Basel's market spreads over Barfüsserplatz and Münsterplatz, where decorated fir trees stand beside the cathedral. In Zurich the market moves indoors under the roof of the main station, which makes it about the easiest Christmas market in Europe to reach by rail. The city's Christmas markets spill out from there to the Singing Christmas Tree, the Bahnhofstrasse lights and the shore of Lake Zurich.

Lucerne and Lake Lucerne

Lucerne's Franziskanerplatz market is smaller, but the Chapel Bridge and the old town look lovely after dark, and the paddle steamers still sail on Lake Lucerne in winter. Our guide to the best Christmas markets in Switzerland has the dates for each.

Markets That Stay Open Past Christmas

A few carry on after Christmas Day, which helps if you're travelling in Christmas week. Lausanne's Bô Noël runs on towards New Year, and Winterland in Locarno, on Lake Maggiore, keeps going into January. Smaller towns such as Stein am Rhein and Einsiedeln hold short Advent markets too, each an easy day out by regional train.

How the Swiss Christmas Markets Break Works

Newmarket's markets break is a short festive trip built around one evening: a visit to Montreux Christmas Market on the shore of Lake Geneva. You fly from a UK airport and stay at the Hotel Roc et Neige in Château-d'Oex on half board, so breakfast and dinner are covered.

Château-d'Oex is a chalet village in the Pays-d'Enhaut, up the valley from Montreux on the line the GoldenPass trains use towards Gstaad.

What does the tour take off your hands? Mainly the parts that are fiddly at night in a foreign country in winter. Flights, airport transfers and the hotel are booked, a Newmarket tour manager travels with the group throughout, and you all go down to the lake together for the market. Afterwards you come back up to the village without studying a timetable or hunting for a taxi, and departures fall in November and December while the stalls are open.

For more on the town itself, see our guide to things to do in Montreux.

Snow and Scenic Trains: the Winter Rail Holiday

Want snow, mountains and panoramic trains more than market stalls? Winter in Switzerland by Travelsphere is a week in a four-star hotel in Interlaken, with return flights to Zurich, a Holiday Director and an easy-going pace.

The days take in the big winter sights of the Bernese Oberland. You ride the cogwheel line from Grindelwald up to Kleine Scheidegg, right under the Eiger, with lunch included, then see the Lauterbrunnen valley with its waterfalls frozen into icicles. Another day takes the GoldenPass Express from Interlaken to Montreux, through the Simmental and past Gstaad, then down through the vineyards to Lake Geneva. There's a guided tour of the medieval Château de Chillon with wine tasting, chocolate-making at Maison Cailler and fondue in Gruyères. An optional day goes up the Schilthorn by cable car for lunch at Piz Gloria.

Departures run in February and March, after the festive rush, when the snow is usually deeper than at Christmas.

The tour handles the hard parts of a winter rail trip. Seat reservations on the GoldenPass Express (a ticket alone doesn't guarantee you a seat, says the operator), connections on the mountain railways and getting your luggage between airport and hotel are all sorted, so you just sit by the window. See our pages on Interlaken holidays and the GoldenPass Express for more on the base and the route.

Where to Base Yourself for Christmas in Switzerland

Your base decides almost everything: whether you'll see snow, how lively the evenings are and how far you can get each day without a car.

For a snowy Christmas the high resorts are the safest bet. In Zermatt the Gornergrat line runs all winter to a viewpoint facing the Matterhorn, and in the Jungfrau region the railway climbs to the Jungfraujoch all year, so you'll get the big mountain views even if skiing isn't your thing! Our Zermatt holidays page covers the car-free village, and the Switzerland in December guide goes through weather and daylight.

Getting Around by Train Over the Festive Season

Swiss trains keep running through the festive season, and that's a big reason a rail-based Christmas works so well here. Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day are public holidays across the country, and SBB adds extra trains on some routes on public holidays. Check your exact date in the SBB timetable before planning a long journey on either day.

The famous panoramic trains run in winter too. The Glacier Express between Zermatt and St Moritz and the Bernina Express over the Bernina Pass keep going all winter, snow and all, though seat reservations on both are compulsory and the festive dates go early. Travelling independently? The Swiss Travel Pass covers fares on most of the network, but not those reservations.

Luggage is the other thing to think about. Winter coats and boots make bags heavy, and dragging a case over icy cobbles isn't anyone's idea of a holiday. On an escorted tour your bags are handled between airport and hotel, and on your own it pays to travel light.

What to Book Ahead for a Swiss Christmas

The simplest way to tick off most of that list is an escorted tour that books the flights, hotel and trains for you. If neither tour here fits your dates, our guide to Swiss rail holidays compares the wider range of trips to Switzerland by train, and any of those makes a fine winter Switzerland holiday.

Fondue, Mulled Wine and Swiss Christmas Traditions

Food is half the fun. At the markets you'll find mulled wine (Glühwein in the German-speaking towns, vin chaud by Lake Geneva), roast chestnuts, grilled sausages and raclette scraped straight onto bread. Bakeries fill with Christmas biscuits such as cinnamon stars and Basel's chocolate Brunsli.

Cheese fondue is the classic winter meal, and Gruyères, where the cheese comes from, is the place to try it. Swiss chocolate is never far away either, with Maison Cailler just down the road at Broc.

A Christmas holiday in Switzerland also means Advent windows, carol concerts and midnight mass in village churches, and in the mountains the whole place can look like a winter wonderland. For the bigger picture, from Santa's visits to New Year's Eve fireworks over the lakes, read our guide to Switzerland at Christmas. When you're ready, start planning your trip to Switzerland with Switzerland by Train.

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