Europe’s Greatest
Train Journeys

Board the legendary Glacier Express at Zermatt with the Matterhorn behind you and ride eight hours through 291 bridges and 91 tunnels to St. Moritz — crossing the Oberalp Pass at 2,033m. This is Swiss rail at its most theatrical: the Rhône Valley, the Rhine Gorge, and the Engadine plateau in a single unforgettable day.

Start at Geneva's lakefront, ride the SBB to Montreux's Belle Époque waterfront, then board the GoldenPass Express as it climbs through hot-air-balloon country at Château-d'Oex and the luxury resort village of Gstaad to Interlaken. From there the Jungfrau Railway spirals upward to Grindelwald and the highest railway station in Europe at Jungfraujoch — 3,454m above sea level.

Board the narrow-gauge Mont Blanc Express at Martigny in the Rhône Valley and climb through the Trient gorge, past terraced vineyards and châlets, across the Swiss-French border into Chamonix — with Mont Blanc's 4,808m summit filling the windows. A two-hour journey that spans two countries, two gauges, and three thousand vertical metres.

Board the Bergensbanen at Bergen and cross the Hardangervidda plateau at 1,237m — the highest main-line crossing in northern Europe, through snowfields, lakes and tundra. Descend into Oslo, then roll south through the Oslo fjord forests and across the Swedish border to Gothenburg's canals and the open west coast to Malmö.

Start at Inverness and cross the Cairngorms over Drumochter Pass — Britain's highest main-line summit. Edinburgh's grand Waverley station, the Northumberland coast at Newcastle, the medieval walls of York, and Birmingham follow. Then board the Heart of Wales Line at Shrewsbury for four of the most dramatic hours on any railway in Britain — through lonely mid-Wales moorland, spa towns, and river gorges — arriving at the Atlantic coast in Swansea.