Take the Glacier Express or normal trains?
Abdul is traveling to Switzerland and plans to visit Lucerne, Interlaken, Zermatt, and Zurich. He is considering taking the Glacier Express from Zermatt to Chur but wants to know if a normal train route would give similar views, and what the benefits of choosing the Glacier Express might be.
- Normal trains from Zermatt to Chur follow the same route as the Glacier Express, but you will have to change trains at Andermatt.
- The Glacier Express offers larger windows and a seamless journey without transfers; however, it can be crowded and pricier.
- If you want a different scenic route, consider traveling from Zermatt to Zurich via Kandersteg.
AI-generated summary-
Hi,
I am traveling to Switzerland and my plan is to visit the following places in the order I am mentioning them: Lucerne -> Interlaken -> Zermatt -> Zurich.
I was thinking of taking a Glacier Express from Zermatt to Chur before going to Zurich. I am going to buy a Swiss Travel Pass but I still need to buy seat reservation for the Glacier Express which I am trying to avoid. So below are my questions:
1. Instead of taking Glacier Express, if I take normal trains to go from Zermatt to Chur via Visp and Andermatt (a route that I am able to see on SBB), will this route be exactly same as the one that Glacier Express takes?
2. If the answer to the above questions is yes, then what benefits do the Glacier Express gives over the normal trains?
3. Is there some other scenic route that anyone can recommend me for going from Zermatt to Zurich? Note that I would have covered most of Golden Pass route already in my itinerary so I am trying to not repeat it.
Thanks,
Abdul
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1. The route is exactly the same.
2. The Glacier Express has bigger windows and you don’t need to change trains, which you do with regular trains.
3. If you haven’t already covered the route you could go Zermatt to Zurich via Kandersteg. Probably not in the same league as some parts of the Glacier Express, but quicker and quite scenic.
Glacier Express:
The Glacier Express runs roughly on an East – West axis in the southern part of Switzerland.
In practice the Glacier Express is just an ‘exclusive’ train on a normal railway route with plenty of other normal – non supplement , reservation-free trains on it.
It is worth taking a moment to understand the Glacier Express and its history:
It was created (as one train each way daily) with the notion that well-healed travellers taking long holidays in Switzerland in the ‘Belle Epoque’ era (1930s) would stay in Zermatt and then also go and stay in the other fashionable resort of the time, St Moritz. The train was named (mainly) after the Rhone Glacier which has now melted so much that you don’t see it from the train and in any case the train runs under the Rhone Glacier in a base tunnel which replaced the Furka mountain section in 1982.
Points to bear in mind about the Glacier Express:
Although the whole journey is in the mountains, a lot of it is in valleys – where you get some good views of bubbling rivers but not all the time – there are some mundane sections.
in truth there are only 4 really spectacular sections – in order West to East: the loops around Grengiols and Fiesch; Andermatt – Oberalppass – Disentis; Ruinaulta (Rheinschucht aka Rhein gorge); Albula north ramp loops and spirals Tiefencastel – Filisur – Preda
The trip is a long one – tourists can frequently be seen sleeping rather than watching the view and missing the spectacular bits anyway!
The same railway lines can be travelled using ordinary local trains which are no slower in practice due to the single track infrastructure
Thank you for quick replies rockoyster and 1960man. Really helpful.
Hi abdul qadir,
For a more relaxed and enjoyable trip, I’d take the Glacier Express panoramic train – really lovely.
Read more here: http://www.myswissalps.com/gl acierexpress and if you decide to take it, you can reserve seats here: http://www.myswissalps.com/gl acierexpress/packages
Hi abdul qadir
I’ve travelled on both the Glacier Express and ordinary trains over the route, in June 2012 and May-June 2018. For me there’s no contest – ordinary trains every time! These were my experiences.
Advantages of the Glacier Express (maybe):
Better suited to groups of tourists
A guide on board
A running commentary via cheap headphones (though many of those seemed not to be working)
Coffee served to your seat (and very expensive meals should you wish)
Very large windows
You don’t have to change trains at Andermatt (and possibly Disentis / Muster)
Advantages of ordinary trains:
Likely to be far less crowded – more chance of stretching your legs and swapping seats for changing vistas
Likely to be far quieter
You’ll be more likely to share your carriage with Swiss people going about their ordinary business
Though the train will stop at a few more wayside stations, this will be part of the fun, there’ll be a greater geographical and local awareness, and in any case the journey from Zermatt to Chur will not take much longer than the specified ‘Express’ for the reasons given by 1960man
Breath of Swiss mountain air, stretch of legs, refreshments, etc, at Andermatt
Ordinary carriages are less stuffy – I’ve found the Express carriages, though apparently air conditioned, can be like greenhouses with the extra glass and get very warm
Some of the ordinary trains still have pull-down windows for fantastic fresh air and photographs. The windows are large in any case, but do not extend to the roof. Some end carriages still have a small window view overlooking the track to the rear
No surcharge!!
A further recommendation, if time allows and you are on some kind of pass, is to stop off at Andermatt and take the return trip – 15 minutes each way – down a precipice of a railway branch line to Goeschenen, on the old Gotthard Pass route. An hour is plenty, and will see you onto your next train. The drop of about 350 metres in 5 or 6 kilometers is spectacular, and I think ranks with the Glacier Express itself for thrills. Rail and road twist in and out of the gorge and intertwine with the old road and packhorse bridge. Well worth a detour if you can. Photos of the Gorge and Andermatt junction station attached. If you look at the top of the Andermatt picture, you may be able to trace the telegraph poles that show the course of the main route as it snakes down to Andermatt
I really enjoyed the Glacier Express train. It gets no love on these forums though. haha.
I went in late February with my wife and it was quite quiet (1st class though) and I really enjoyed the meals and coffees at my seat! A nicer experience than the regional trains I thought (though perhaps that is because I took regional trains all the time and the change to a panoramic train with attentive staff was nice. To each their own. 🙂
I am sure it gets quite busy in the summer though – that is when the tour groups could be frustrating I am sure. And the trip to Goeschenen is a nice option you can do when taking regional trains on that route.
Thanks for your replies Lucas and JohnYorks. I’ll surely research on Goeschenen and see if I can include that.
Hi abdul qadir and 1960man. That’s a fascinating link to the history and geology of the gorge between Andermatt and Göschenen. The Schöllenenbahn is of course operated seamlessly today by the larger MTB, the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn.
One point of fascination about Andermatt station is that the old Gotthard rail route passes in tunnel directly beneath its platforms, on its way from Airolo to Göschenen, and presumably a long way beneath! I wonder if there was a service shaft there in construction days.
Another fascinating feature of the Glacier Express route is that it is two entirely different railways, the MTB and the Rhaetian Bahn, that link at Disentis / Muster. From the passenger’s point of view this is entirely seamless, you stay in the same carriage, but from the operational side, the two railways are poles apart, and have to change locos here. The MTB uses rack and pinion extensively to tackle steep slopes in as short a distance as possible (you’ll hear a clonk every time the pinion engages and disengages, at walking speed), whereas the RhB is a miniature main line that uses adhesion only – the skill is in its route engineering, which uses loops, zigzags, spirals and tunnels to amazing effect on the Airolo and Bernina sections to maintain a steady, if somewhat peripatetic, speed.
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