The Best Luxury Train Journeys in Switzerland in 2027, Ranked

Switzerland has no hotel-trains. Nobody sleeps on board, nobody dresses for dinner in a dining car at midnight, and the most expensive ticket on the whole network buys you a day, not a night. That is the first thing to understand, and it is good news. The trains here are public services with extraordinary windows, so the luxury is decided by three things: which carriage you sit in, whether lunch comes to the seat, and where you sleep when the train stops. I am Pau Gallardo Campos, I run Alpina Travels from Zurich, and I build private rail journeys through this country for a living. Here are the five scenic lines ranked for 2027, with the operators' published prices and what I actually think of each.

If you are planning a trip rather than choosing a train, the Swiss Wellness Grand Tour rides the first three of these in their best classes over ten days, with the nights in grand spa hotels, and the case for doing it that way is at the end of this ranking.

The ranking, in one table

Prices are per person at the operators' published rates in October 2026. The Glacier Express has already published the fares for the timetable that starts in December 2026, so its figure is a true 2027 price. The Rhaetian Railway had not published 2027 Pullman dates or prices at the time of writing, so the Bernina figure is the 2026 one. Where a train is covered by the Swiss Travel Pass, the supplement is what you pay on top.

1. Glacier Express, Excellence Class

Eight hours from Zermatt to St. Moritz over 291 bridges and through 91 tunnels, up the Rhine Gorge and across the Oberalp Pass at 2,033 metres. In first class the panoramic windows are the same as everywhere else on the train and the day costs about CHF 338, the CHF 284 fare plus a CHF 54 seat reservation. Excellence Class is one twenty-seat carriage with its own crew: a guaranteed window seat, nobody on the aisle, champagne on departure, a five-course lunch with wine, a concierge for the whole journey and a bar at the end of the car. For 2027 dates it is a CHF 590 reservation on top of the CHF 284 first class fare, about CHF 874 all in.

It ranks first because nothing else in Switzerland, or in Europe, delivers this much landscape for the money, and because it is the only Swiss train where the service is part of the experience rather than a snack trolley. The catch is the calendar. Excellence Class opens 365 days ahead and summer dates are gone close to a year out, while ordinary first class reservations only open 93 days before travel. I go through the booking mechanics, and who should not spend the CHF 590, in Is Glacier Express Excellence Class worth it? For the route itself, start with my Glacier Express guide.

2. Bernina Express, Pullman Class

The best value scenery in the Alps, and since summer 2026 it has a premium carriage. From St. Moritz the train climbs past the Palü glacier to Ospizio Bernina at 2,253 metres, the highest point on the Rhaetian network, then drops through the Poschiavo valley and the Brusio spiral viaduct into Italian vineyards in a little over two hours. In first class it is CHF 57 plus a CHF 32 reservation, which is why the Bernina sits in most itineraries I build. Pullman Class is a 1930s-style saloon for 32 guests, with champagne and canapés southbound, a three-course lunch with paired wines and a cellar tour at the La Gatta winery near Tirano, and coffee and petits fours on the way back. In 2026 the published price was CHF 625 per person for the round trip and CHF 490 one way, and it cannot be cancelled, so it is a booking you make once the rest of the trip is fixed, not before.

It is second rather than first because it is a long lunch with a spectacular commute rather than a day on rails, and because the ordinary first class carriage already gives you the same view. If you only have one of the two Rhaetian classics in you, Glacier Express or Bernina Express settles it, and the day itself, with the return on the regional train with windows that open, is in Bernina Express in first class from St. Moritz.

3. GoldenPass Express, Prestige Class

Montreux to Interlaken in about three and a quarter hours, climbing in switchbacks above Lake Geneva, through Gstaad and over the Simmental to the Bernese Oberland. Since December 2022 the train changes gauge at Zweisimmen without anyone changing trains, which is the engineering reason it exists at all. Prestige Class is a CHF 49 supplement including the seat reservation, on top of a first class ticket or pass: heated seats that face the direction of travel, in a section raised 40 centimetres above the rest of the carriage so you look out over the heads in front rather than at them.

It is the cheapest premium seat on any Swiss scenic train by a very long way, and it is the one I put into the Swiss Wellness Grand Tour on the day between Montreux and Interlaken. It ranks third because it is a better seat, not a different service: no lunch comes with it, and the catering is à la carte. What you get, how to book it and who should not bother is in GoldenPass Express Prestige Class: is it worth it? One practical note for anyone travelling this autumn: the operator lists an interruption between Interlaken West and Interlaken Ost from 19 October to 12 December 2026.

4. Gotthard Panorama Express

The odd one out, and the most Swiss of the five: a paddle steamer or motor vessel from Lucerne down the whole length of Lake Lucerne to Flüelen, past the Rütli meadow and the Tell Chapel, then a first-class-only panoramic train up the old Gotthard line to Lugano, 182 kilometres and about five and a half hours in all. The train takes the route the 1882 tunnel made famous, with the loops that show you the church of Wassen three times from three heights. It runs from April to October, and the mandatory supplement is CHF 24 per person on top of a first class ticket, with the Swiss Travel Pass covering the fare on both boat and train.

Fourth because it is a half day of lake followed by a train that is more history than drama, and because the new base tunnel means the fast trains now miss all of this, which is the whole point of it. For a couple going on to Italy, or to the lakes, it is the right way to leave German-speaking Switzerland.

5. Luzern-Interlaken Express

Seventy-four kilometres and 1 h 50 from Lucerne to Interlaken, past five lakes, with the train switching to cogwheel for the climb over the Brünig Pass. It runs hourly all year, a seat reservation is optional, there is a bistro on board, and the Swiss Travel Pass covers it entirely. Fifth only because it is a connection rather than a destination: you take it because Lucerne and Interlaken are both on your route, and you are glad you did. Sit in first class and do not bother reserving outside July and August.

What the trains cannot give you

Here is the honest limit of this list. The best Swiss train day ends at about five in the afternoon on a platform, and what happens next decides whether the trip was luxurious. On a hotel-train the budget goes into the carriage. In Switzerland the carriage is a few hundred francs at most, so the budget goes into the nights: the cliff spa at Bürgenstock above Lake Lucerne, the Kulm in St. Moritz, the Omnia in Zermatt, the Fairmont on the lakefront in Montreux, the Victoria-Jungfrau in Interlaken. Those five, strung along the first three trains in this ranking in the right order, are the Swiss Wellness Grand Tour: ten days and nine nights at CHF 16,000 for two, CHF 8,000 each, with the Albula line to St. Moritz, the Glacier Express in first class, the GoldenPass Express in Prestige and the Gornergrat railway above Zermatt all included rather than sold to you on the day. That is about CHF 890 per person per night, hotels and all rail in, against CHF 874 for a single day in Excellence Class.

The sequence matters more than people expect, because the lines run in particular directions and fighting the geography costs you scenery. Zurich, then Lucerne and Bürgenstock, then the Albula line to St. Moritz, the Glacier Express west to Zermatt, down to Lake Geneva and Montreux, and the GoldenPass over to Interlaken. Each transition is a different scenic train and none of them is repeated. If your month is already fixed, when to visit Switzerland, month by month says which of these trains is at its best when, and what a luxury train trip in Switzerland really costs breaks the budget down line by line.

How to choose

• You want one unforgettable day and the service to match. Glacier Express Excellence Class, booked a year ahead, and spend the rest on the hotel at each end.
• You want the view without the ceremony. Glacier Express in first class with a reserved seat, about CHF 338, and lunch ordered to the seat.
• You want to eat well in Italy and be back for dinner. Bernina Express Pullman Class from St. Moritz, June to October.
• You are crossing from the lake to the Oberland anyway. GoldenPass Express in Prestige. For CHF 49 there is no decision to make.
• You are torn between Switzerland and Austria. Switzerland, for the trains; I set out the honest case for each in Switzerland or Austria for a luxury train holiday.
• You want all of it in the right order with the nights taken care of. Write to me at hello@alpinatravels.com with your dates and who is travelling. I will tell you which of these trains your dates can actually get, because for the Glacier Express that is the question that matters.

If you are weighing Switzerland against the hotel-trains elsewhere in Europe, my ranking of the best luxury train journeys in Europe puts these on the same table as the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express and the Royal Scotsman.