Here’s a budget friendly(ish) guide to 5 days exlporing Switzerland’s scenic railways

Switzerland has been a country high on my bucket list to visit. It offers everything – good food, incredible scenic railway journeys, and some of the most breathtaking views. The downside? It’s expensive. As soon as you’re telling someone you’re off to Switzerland, that’s always the first thing they mention. As much as I love a boujie trip, I’m still very much a budget traveller, so when I saw what felt like a good deal to a dream destination, I had to take it!

Whilst this trip is still more than I would usually pay for a weeks holiday, it was my mum’s 60th birthday and we wanted to celebrate in style. So here’s how I did a dream trip to Switzerland to travel on three of their scenic railways, on a budget(ish).

Why you need to travel on switzerland’s Railways

It’s no secret that I love a scenic train journey. In fact, I just love train travel in general. There’s a real magic to it – you get incredible views, and there are always interesting people to talk to on your journey as well.

The views are what makes Switzerland’s railways so incredible. You can see incredible glaciers, mountains and lakes as you travel through the spectacular countryside. Everything feels bigger, sharper, more in focus and it really does take your breath away.

I’ve never experienced anything quite like the Swiss trains. Yes, they’re much cleaner and run to time, but they’re also more accessible, have more space, and just function better for use. It really is special, and I spent most of my time there just going ‘wow’.

This is exactly how we made our trip to Switzerland budget (but still slightly boujie)

To make this affordable and easy, we booked the trip through Shearings holidays (and I’ll get into the experience of doing a coach trip with your family in your twenties in a bit). I was apprehensive but it was a really good deal, and it also meant I could tick off some bucket list trips with my parents.

The trip was 10 days in total, but four of those were travel days, leaving 5 full days to explore the country. It was a pretty jam packed itinerary, but I managed to squeeze in a few extras as well.

Day one : Davos and Klosters

After two days of travelling, our first full day in Switzerland was more relaxed. We stayed in Davos, so spent the morning exploring the beautiful ski resort town.

In September, there’s no snow, so we took the cable car up Jakobshorn to take in the incredible views. It’s 2500m above sea level, and it was just breathtaking once you got up there. At the top is a cafe, as well as ski runs in winter, and lots of walks in summer. As we were with my dad, who has mobility issues, we opted to sit and enjoy the views from the cafe. I don’t think I’ve had a nicer more refreshing Coca Cola as I did up there.

Coming down on the cable car felt like you were in a film – we went over cows grazing, their bells echoing in the valley, and it felt magical.

There was an optional trip to Klosters in the afternoon which we headed on, and honestly, I was underwhelmed. Most things were shut, and it took us ages to find the one place that was open for food. It’s a ski resort and I imagine in winter, it’s a vibrant place, but it just fell flat for me. I did have a delicious flammekueche (dutch pizza) with smoked salmon and dill though, and enjoyed it sat in the sunshine!

We managed to fit in one more adventure before dinner when we got back to Davos, and that was the Schatzalp funicular. I love funiculars, they really are fun, and once you get to the top, there’s a restaurant, hikes and toboggan rides (which were shut when we got up there!) and there are more cows just grazing up there.

Davos is just beautiful, and somewhere I would base myself again for a trip because it’s got a really calm energy about it. It’s hard to imagine what it’s like in winter, and all those green and luscious views become a winter wonderland.

Day two : Bernina Express

I think the Bernini Express was the journey I was most looking forward to of the whole trip. I’ve spent years watching videos on Youtube of the route. Trains with panoramic windows, getting up close to Glaciers, and even being able to hop off at Alp Grüm. There are some incredible world heritage structures on the route as well – and we got to go over the world famous Brusio spiral viaduct, and it was incredible.

We started our day with a drive from Davos, Switzerland, to Tirano, Italy where we would catch the train to St Moritz.

We had just enough time to grab a quick slice of pizza in Italy before boarding, then it was all aboard. It’s incredible – the train starts by going through the town like a tram, before heading up and straight to the spiral viaduct. You can really feel the twist, and it’s a brilliant opportunity to see the whole train!

It’s then a steep climb up through the mountains from 429m to 2091m to Alp Grüm. Here everyone hops off the train, and you can get pictures, get a really good luck at the glacier and breath in the alpine air. Once back on board, we were given free iced tea and a little tin that looked like the train, filled with Lindt chocolate! It’s such a lovely memento from the holiday, and sits on my bookshelf!

Our journey finished at St Moritz, but it does go on to Chur (and now I just want to go back and do the second half of the journey!!)

The downside of a coach trip is you aren’t in control of the timings, and I would’ve loved to have explored St Moritz but sadly we didn’t have time, and headed back to Davos for the evening.

Day Three : The Glacier Express

The Glacier Express has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember. It’s a journey I’ve wanted to do forever. I was sad to find out that we weren’t going to be travelling on the Glacier Express train, however you can do the exact same journey on the normal regional trains, and it really is simple!

We were taking the route from Chur, the oldest city in Switzerland, to Andermatt via Disentis/Muster.

We had an hour in Chur before we boarded, so we headed to Cafe Choclaterie Confiserie Maron and had the most incredible cake here. It’s across the road from the station, and is a must if you’ve got time.

Then we were off and the views did not disappoint. As you set off, you go through the valley by a lake, and in September the blue of the lake is so vibrant. I couldn’t help but be amazed by how luscious and green everywhere was – and it has made me want to come back in winter and see it as a snowy wonderland.

My favourite part of the journey has to be Oberalpass – the highest point of the journey – where you could see the glacier, cable cars and Swiss chalets. The final part of the joureny has you desending just under 1000m in a short space of time and it was insane and magical. In my journal, I just wrote this is epic – and I think that sums up the whole trip.

Arriving in Andermatt, we had enough time for lunch and I had another one of those flammekueche’s – this time tomato and burrata – and it was exactly what I needed! I didn’t get the best impression of Andermatt as there was a lot of building work going on. It’s another case of would love to go back and see it in its prime.

We switched hotels after this, and had a three hour drive through Switzerland to near Montreux, where are new base was. There were a lot of long drives, but when the landscape is as beautiful as Switzerland, you really don’t mind.

Day Four : The Golden Pass Railway

Day four is what I dubbed as our big adventure day. Because we started the day with our final scenic train journey, and then headed up Glacier 3000 – to the top of one of the glaciers.

But let’s start with the train journey. Our final one of the trip, and potentially what ended up being my favourite. The Golden Pass Railway is a beautiful navy blue train that takes you past lakes, forests, mountains, and Swiss chalets. It was postcards perfect (although I did struggle to take photos as we were a big group and it was hard to get the shot!). For the time of year, out of all of the journey’s, this was my favourite.

We went from Montreux to Gstaad, and once we arrived in Gstaad, headed for lunch. The village is beautiful, and out of everywhere we’d been so far, felt most quintessentially Swiss. It may have been 25 degrees, but I was determined to have a cheese fondu whilst we were there. It was good, just not weather appropriate!

Glacier 3000

Our afternoon was spent at Glacier 3000 – an activity centre that’s 3000m above sea level. You take 2 cable cars to get up there, and it’s not just the altitude that takes your breath away when you get up there. The views are insane. It looks over to the alps where you can clearly see the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc.

Up there they have the Peak Walk – a suspension bridge between two of the peaks. It’s free to do, and I wanted to have a go. However the mix of altitude and fear of heights left me having a panic attack! I made it half way across, which I was impressed with, before finding my dad in the cafe and trying to calm down with a Fanta!

Glacier 3000 is incredible though. There’s the highest rollercoaster, skiing routes, tobogganing – all sorts up there – and it’s an incredible day out.

Day Five : Lake Geneva and Montreux

Our final day came out of nowhere. It was a more relaxed day to end the holiday, however the views were still breathtaking.

We started our day in Geneva, where we were welcomed by the Jet d’Eau De Geneva – the spectacular water feature on the that shoots water 100ft into the air. We got to go even closer as we went on a 1 hour lake cruise and the way the sunlight fragmented through the water was magical.

Across from where the boat dropped us off was a lovely little park, with the Cottage Cafe, and we headed here for lunch. It was a hot day, and getting to sit outside in the shade of the park trees was perfection. I had this gorgeous moroccan lamb flatbread that I’m still dreaming about months later. It was so full of flavour (which was welcomed after a few bad hotel meals!) and fresh. I’d definitely recommend stopping here if you’re in Geneva!

We spent the afternoon back in Montreux, and I adored how relaxed and laid back it felt here. This is a jazz town, and artists, town, and you can see that everywhere you go. From statues along the lake shore, to music installations, and a tribute to Freddy Mercury. It’s stilly, because we were on holiday, but it really felt like you were on holiday as we walked along the lake shore.

If you’re looking for a good base (non skiing) where you can do train journeys, find some adventure, but also relax, this would be a great place!

Going on a Shearings Holiday in your twenties

Okay, so the trip was incredible and I ticked off some bucket list things, but would I book a Shearings holiday again?

Probably. If I’m with my parents.

My dad doesn’t like to fly any more, and this is a great way for us as a family to have a holiday which is accessible to everyone, and see some pretty cool things.

The two things I struggled with most were not being in control of the itinerary and being able to go off piste when you want, and having to sit with other people at dinner time. The latter ended up not being too bad, as we were a group of three we could usually nab a table of four and be fine, plus we made friends with a couple who we actually enjoyed sitting with!

Yes, there’s a lot of older people, but I had some lovely chats with people, and there were a few other parent and adult child combos too.

We had our evening measl included, which for a trip to Switzerland was welcomed as food is expensive and it made it a lot more affordable. It was a bit hit and miss, but I never went hungry, and if I’d been somewhere a bit more affordable, I might have just gone somewhere else and paid!

Overall, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and I didn’t mind the two days travelling each side as it gave me plenty of time to read!

If you’re a fellow train lover, make sure to check out my other train guides here, and follow on instagram for microadventures, train journeys and good food and coffee spots!