8-Day Swiss Alps Rail Tour

Experience breathtaking views of Mt. Matterhorn and the Alps in an excursion that combines a cogwheel train ride with an easy-to-moderate day hike

You'll ride Europe’s second highest railway and the highest open-air railway on the continent—the Gornergrat cogwheel train climbing up to the 10,134 feet (3089 meters) offering incredible views of the Matterhorn along the way.

The group walks up to the 360-degree platform area providing a panoramic view of 29 alpine peaks higher than 13,123 feet (4000 meters)–including the world-famous Matterhorn.

Our 1-2 hour guided hike travels along sign-posted trails of an alpine nature reserve feature awe-inspiring views of the Matterhorn mirrored in pristine alpine lakes.

Along the way, you'll learn about the origins of Zermatt and the people of the canton of Valais (French) or Wallis (German).

Meals included: Breakfast, Dinner

Accommodations: Resort La Ginabelle (or comparable lodging)

The Gornergrat Cogwheel Rail Train

Travel through the French speaking Canton of Valais – known as the fruit basket of Switzerland offering delightful views of terraced vineyards and fruit trees.

This segment is branded as the Goldenpass Line with either a Classic train car or the Panorama Car with big panorama windows.

Experience what it was like during the Belle-Epoque, Golden Age period when the rich and famous where the only ones traveling on such trains.

We continue on the GoldenPass Line through the Préalps of the canton of Fribourg and through the beautiful Simmental Valley known for the sturdy brown and white cows and the world famous resort town of Gstaad, home to many Hollywood stars.

In Interlaken we stop for an immersive Chocolate Workshop. You will learn all about the origin of chocolate making as well as how to identify and understand the different tastes of chocolate.

The professional Chocolatiers will show you how to create your own masterpiece chocolate bar all the while enjoying a pleasurable and fun experience.

Afterwards we continue on the View Alpine valleys and rolling hills, green pastures and grazing cows, wooden chalets and picturesque villages as we journey to the Jungfrau region – one of Switzerland’s oldest and most popular resorts in the UNESCO World Heritage Jungfrau region.

Meals included: Breakfast, Dinner

Accommodations: Hotel Alpina, Grindelwald (or comparable lodging)

Goldenpass Rail Line

Today is a memorable one, starting with  the new Eiger Express tricable gondola taking us from Grindelwald to the Eiger Glacier station in just 15 minutes.

We then transfer directly onto the Jungfrau Railway cogwheel trainp to the top of the 3,400m / 13371 ft Jungfraujoch, the 1914 built complex between the Mönch & Jungfrau mountains. We will be inside and outside experiencing Europe’s largest Aletsch glacier. One can view mountains, snow, and ice as far as one can see.

There is time to walk outside on the hard-packed glacier snow and be part of the scenery.  Sit in on one of the free-standing deck chairs or go tubing and enjoy Europe’s highest man-made splendor.

The afternoon finds the group on a train to Lauterbrunnen where we transfer to a postal bus on its way to Trümmelbach Falls, a series of ten glacier-fed waterfalls within the mountain, made accessible by a tunnel-funicular—a complex of lifts, galleries, tunnels, paths and platforms constructed in 1913. The falls carry melt water from the glaciers—up to 20,000 liters of water per second, rushing over 20,000 tons of boulders. The mountain shudders and thunders unceasingly—a stage for nature's majesty.

Meals included: Breakfast, Dinner

Accommodations: Hotel Alpina, Grindelwald (or comparable lodging)

Observatory and restaurant at Jungraujoch

In the morning we board the Grindelwald Bus for a scenic ride over the Grosse Scheidegg pass. One can see the 12,000 ft. Wetterhorn mountain peak written up by British climbers in 1856 that ushered in the so-called golden age of alpinism, the exploration of the Alps by British mountaineers. 

We ride past alpine meadows and chalets to reach the Schwarzwaldalp. Here we change buses with time to visit the old Schwarzwaldalp sawmill.  We continue past the Reichenbach falls that was the fictional location  for  where Sherlock Holmes, fights to the death with Professor Moriarty, at the end of "The Final Problem", first published in 1893. 

Once in Meiringen, we transfer to the Zentral Railway to Lucerne where we connect to the train and proceed to ride through the World’s longest Gotthard Base Tunnel and reach the Italian speaking region of Ticino in Lugano in the afternoon.

In Lugano, we take the funicular, first built in 1886, renovated in 2016  down to the main center by Lake Lugano and then we walk to our nearby hotel. 

For Dinner, we take the Lake Lugano boat cruise and travel across the lake to the nearby outdoor Grotto, weather permitting,  where we enjoy the local cuisine of this Italian speaking region of Ticino.

Meals included: Dinner

Accommodations: Hotel International Au Lac or similar

Lugano – Gotthard Pass Panoramic Express - Lake Lucerne Wilhelm Tell Express- Zürich - Zürich Airport

Today we depart the Italian part of Switzerland heading North over & through the original Gotthard Tunnel. This was built in 1882. It connected the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea together on one line for the first time, facilitating the movement of goods and people between Northern & Southern Europe. 

We will have 3 different views of the Wassen church, which has become world-famous thanks to the ingenious railway system and its many helical tunnels.

In Fluelen, we  board a steamboat and glide over Lake Lucerne, past mystical bays and picturesque landscapes, all while savoring culinary delicacies. We will pass countless locations steeped in Swiss history – most notably the Rütli meadow, where Switzerland was founded in 1291, as well as the Schiller Stone and Tell’s Chapel.

Lunch on-board the Lake Lucerne Steamer included.

Dinner: on own

Hotel: Zürich airport Radison Blu or similar

After our breakfast in Zürich, which is included, you are on your own.

We wish you a safe onward journey to your next destination.