Having visited some spectacularly beautiful countries like Slovenia and Croatia, I always thought Switzerland was a bit overhyped when it came to its beauty (I was so wrong!). Switzerland is every bit as stunning as the photos we’ve all seen over the years—if not more.
But beyond the breathtaking landscapes, what truly impressed me was Switzerland’s public transport. The hallmark of any first-world country is its public transport, and Switzerland wins hands down.
Buses, funiculars, cable cars, and—most impressively—the trains. The trains! The network is mind-boggling, with jaw-dropping attention to detail. Train routes run parallel from the same place, and even the tiniest villages have elevators and escalators at their stations. Remote villages are connected by train, with transfer times rarely exceeding 15 minutes. Everything runs with extreme punctuality, and the routes themselves are engineering marvels, winding through plains and challenging mountain terrain. Funiculars climb at nearly 90-degree angles to reach remote mountain villages, and some trains even have children’s play areas! These trains practically advertise themselves—they don’t need Roger Federer for that!
You can travel from one end of the country to the other in just three hours, and what beautiful journeys those are.
I planned my trip to Switzerland mainly because I’d heard great things about the Bernina Express, which travels through marvelous landscapes and over fantastic bridges from Chur in Switzerland to Tirano in Italy—a UNESCO World Heritage route. I had to change trains seven times from where I was staying in Zug, but every transfer was worth it! The Bernina Express is touted as one of the world’s most memorable train journeys, and it absolutely lives up to the hype. I’m so glad I took the ride—and even happier that I traveled during the off-season and had an entire train coach to myself to enjoy the scenery from both sides.
I also rode the GoldenPass Express from Montreux to Interlaken, another wonderful journey—again made even better by having the coach almost to myself.
While much has been written about the Bernina Express and the GoldenPass, one underrated (and completely unplanned) trip I took was from Lauterbrunnen to Kleine Scheidegg. This regional train ride takes about 40 minutes, and the views are nothing short of majestic. The train leaves the green, picture-perfect village of Lauterbrunnen and, within 15 minutes, enters the glaciers of the Jungfrau region. The fresh snow and spectacular scenery are hard to describe in words—a must-do if you’re visiting Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen.
Another underrated gem is the area around Lake Geneva. I stayed in Lausanne, at the base of the lake, and took several train journeys that passed through Mount Pèlerin. The view as the train reaches Grandvaux—with vineyards climbing the mountains, Lake Geneva at the base, and the charming towns of Vevey, Montreux, and Pully along the shore—is simply stunning. I was so taken with the scenery that I immediately took a train back to Grandvaux from Lausanne, just to spend time at the station and soak it all in. Photos simply don’t do it justice.
The best way to see Switzerland, in my opinion, is to hop on a random train and switch at any station to a town that catches your fancy. Spend a whole day doing this, and you’ll witness breathtaking scenery from the comfort of a train—without breaking a sweat. I changed trains seven times in one day on the Bernina route and didn’t feel tired at all. Just get a day pass and explore the entire rail network without any hassle. (A tip: book your day passes in advance to save a lot of money, because Switzerland is seriously expensive. For example, a cup of coffee that costs €2.50 in France is at least 4.50 CHF here. Even locals shop in the border towns of Italy, according to my Airbnb host in Zug!) But the beauty, the infrastructure, and the friendly locals make it all totally worth it