Glacier Express

The Glacier Express links Zermatt and St Moritz over roughly eight hours, crossing 291 bridges and passing through 91 tunnels, including the Oberalp Pass at 2,033m. Panoramic carriages are standard and seat reservation is compulsory. It is covered by the Swiss Travel Pass apart from the reservation fee.

What the journey is actually like

Calling it an express is a joke at its own expense: the full run averages under 40km/h, and that is the point. The train is built around the view rather than the timetable, with floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows in every carriage and a meal served at your seat rather than in a separate dining car.

The scenery is not evenly distributed. The stretch that most people photograph is the Landwasser Viaduct, a six-arch curve that runs straight into a tunnel mouth in the rock face, on the Albula line between Chur and St Moritz. The Rhine Gorge — often billed as the Swiss Grand Canyon — and the climb over the Oberalp Pass are the other two highlights.

Classes and what they include

There are three ways to travel. Second class and first class differ mainly in seat width and how many people share the carriage; first class has three seats across rather than four. Excellence Class is a separate proposition — a single first-class carriage limited to 20 passengers, with a guaranteed window seat, a multi-course meal and a bar, sold as a package and restricted to adults.

Tickets, passes and reservations

A seat reservation is compulsory on top of your ticket or pass, and in summer the popular departures sell out well in advance. The Swiss Travel Pass covers the journey itself, so pass holders pay only the reservation supplement rather than the full fare — which is usually the cheapest way for a UK visitor to do it as part of a longer trip.

The full Zermatt to St Moritz run is a whole day. Plenty of people prefer a shorter section — Chur to Zermatt, or the Albula stretch alone — and see the best of the scenery without eight hours sitting down.

When it runs

The Glacier Express operates year round, with a reduced timetable in the shoulder season and an annual maintenance break in late autumn. Winter departures are a genuinely different journey rather than a lesser one, with the line running through deep snow.

More pictures

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