5 spectacular European train trips you can take this summer

04.06.2024 - 15:03 / thepointsguy.com

As you gaze awestruck through the window at a skyline of jagged, ice-capped peaks or point excitedly as a world-famous landmark looms ahead, it hits you — epic views like these are meant to be savored, and there's no better way to do that than from the window of a train.

This summer, European train travel has even more appeal, as you can skip past long rental car lines, duck high gas prices and arrive at your destination relaxed and rested while your fellow travelers suffer the stress of the road. Not to mention the fact that traveling by train helps you contribute to the health of the planet or, at least, minimize your impact on it from travel.

So, raise a glass of wine or frosty limonada, take in the melody of the humming rails and congratulate yourself on traveling in classic, time-honored style. Here are five train trips worth planning a European vacation around.

The legendary Glacier Express lives up to its name, winding its way through some of the highest peaks in the Alps on the seven-hour trip from St. Moritz to Zermatt. Along the way, the line traverses 291 bridges and ducks through 91 tunnels as it climbs 6,000 feet to the foot of the Matterhorn.

On the first leg alone, you'll cross the 200-foot-high Landwasser Viaduct along with a host of other engineering feats so marvelous that this stretch of track, known as the Albula railway line, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. If you have time, it's worth breaking up the journey with a stop in Chur, Switzerland's self-styled oldest town, with 5,000 years of history stored in its stone-paved alleys and plazas dotted with colorful flower boxes.

After the initial part of the journey, you'll make your through the Rhine Gorge, where the train streaks alongside the tumbling currents through a chasm so deep and narrow that much of it is inaccessible except by rail, before continuing up over the Oberalp Pass, the route's highest point. Red-shuttered chalets, weathered barns, goats and sheep tinkling their bells in green meadows — you'll be looking for Heidi and her herd around every bend.

Once in Zermatt, you'll learn everything you ever wanted to about the drama and tragedy surrounding the first ascent of the legendary peak at the Matterhorn Museum, and you can ride the Gornergrat Railway partway up the peak itself. One of the numerous designated car-free villages in Switzerland, Zermatt is a pleasure to walk around, with shops and restaurants clustered along and around the Bahnhofstrasse.

Jokes about clockwork aside, Switzerland's trains are as precise, pristine and predictable as the stereotype implies, with clear signage and instructions to help you navigate the well-designed network of routes that access nearly all parts of the country. The Glacier