Today is the day we flew out of Switzerland and concluded our trip to the Central European country. Our flight is scheduled for the afternoon, which means that we do not have to leave for the airport early today. We used the remaining hours we had in Switzerland doing some last-minute shopping in the supermarkets near our hotel. During our conversation with the Malaysian Lady in Zurich two days ago, we were advised to check out the supermarkets, as the chocolates there are definitely made in Switzerland and will not be available anywhere else outside of the country. We did find some “treasures” in the two supermarkets that we visited that are near our hotel. After shopping, we headed back to the hotel to pack our purchases into our luggage and then to the airport. Geneva Airport is very accessible from the Geneva city centre. Unlike other cities, where the airport costs at least $10, the 6-minute train ride with very regular train intervals (about 6 to 10 minutes apart) costs only CHF2. And the best thing is that the cost of our train ride to the airport is also covered under the hotel-provided Geneva Transport Card.

After checking into our flight, we spent the rest of the time relaxing in the lounge. As we did not make any big purchases in Switzerland, we skipped the tax refund part.

Takeaways from our Switzerland Trip

Free Local Transport

Almost all of the cities (except Zurich) we’ve been to on our trip give visitors a complimentary guest card, which grants us free transport within the city that includes trains, trams, buses and even boat rides that saved us money. In order for us to obtain these guest cards, we had to stay in the city for at least one night. Some hotels emailed us the registration link before our arrival, while others will issue these digital guest cards upon check-in. In our experience, we were granted free local transport from the train station to the hotel using the hotel booking for cities which only issue guest cards on arrival. Always check the city’s tourism site to see if there are any guest cards that are given to guests staying overnight.

Swiss Travel Pass Vs Half-Fare Card

The age-old question of the Swiss Travel Pass or Half-Fare Card plagued us when we were planning the trip. We eventually went for the Half-Fare Card for this trip, as we would save more using the Half-Fare card. In order for the Swiss Travel Pass to make sense for us, we had to take intercity trains every day, and we had to like visiting museums in each city. As our trip only requires us to move to a different city every two to three days (except for Bern), having a Swiss Travel Pass (even with the Flex option) worked out to be more expensive. Moreover, we are not museum goers; the inclusion of museums in the Swiss Travel Pass matters little to us. Moreover, the local transport that the Swiss Travel Pass includes is also covered by the local guest cards or the Regional Passes that we have obtained, making getting the pass less attractive to us. I would advise doing the sum and seeing which makes more sense cost-wise before deciding which pass to get.

Regional Travel Passes

Regional Travel Passes can be of exceptional value for money, and there are some passes that offer discounts with our Half-Fare Card. It is advised to look at your itinerary and see if these regional passes cover the places you are visiting. There are at least two regional passes that cover the Jungfrau region. We opted for the Bernese Oberland Pass as it covers a wider area and also our train ride from Lucerne to Interlaken via the Luzern-Interlaken Express. We considered this pass as we wanted to go up to Schilthorn, which is only starting to be covered by this pass since 2025, increasing the value of the pass. Having said that, the Bernese Oberland Pass does not cover the Junfraujoch. However, the pass covers train rides from Interlaken to Grindelwald Terminal, which saved us CHF 6 each way. Like the Half-Fare Card, the Bernese Oberland Pass gave us discounts on the tickets to Jungfraujoch. However, the discount is smaller compared to our Half-Fare Card.

We also bought the Tell Pass that covers all transports, including the cable car rides to the three mountains: Mt Rigi, Mt Pilates and Mt Titlis near Lucerne. Using this Tell Pass gave us great savings compared to getting the individual tickets to these mountains and the train rides (even with our Half-Fare Card). We also made use of this pass to access Mt Stoos on the Stoosbahn and cruises around Lake Luzern. Unlike the Bernese Oberland Pass, the Half-Fare Card does not give us a discount on the Tell Pass.

Glacier Express

As mentioned in my post on Glacier Express, booking only the seat reservation on the Glacier Express and buying the ticket on the SBB website ended up saving us more. The total cost of a First Class ticket on the Glacier Express is cheaper when booked using this method than a Second Class ticket when booked on the Glacier Express website. Moreover, the separate train ride ticket we have gotten from the SBB website is a day saver ticket, meaning it covers all train rides to all places in Switzerland for the day, perfect for us as we took another train for Zurich from St. Moritz almost immediately after our Glacier Express, saving us another CHF 30 per pax. We also found the three-course meal on the Glacier Express offered exceptional value. At CHF 49 per pax, we were given a full and great quality meal (I reckon it is cheaper than most restaurants in Switzerland). However, do bring your own water, which can be purchased from supermarkets at a lower price compared to the onboard price. A small bottle of mineral water on the Glacier Express costs CHF 7.

Free City Walks

During the course of my planning, I stumbled upon this website, Free Walks Switzerland (click here for their website), that offers free city tours in English and German for the major cities in Switzerland, which would otherwise cost at least CHF 25 per person. The only cost of these walks is a voluntary tip to the guide at the end of the tour. The company organises regular city tour schedules even in winter. Dates are released on the 20th of the preceding month. These Free City tours gave us great insights into the cities we are visiting and a context for the sights we are seeing, and saved us the time to plan what to see in each city. Unfortunately, we did not make use of these Free services as they usually take place between 10 am and 11 am, clashing with our schedules. But at least there are these options available to visitors.

Today is our last day of sightseeing in Switzerland. During my planning for sights in Geneva, I learnt that there are only a handful of sights in Geneva, which can be completed in half a day, leaving us with the other half of the day to fill. There are a couple of options available to us to fill the other half of the day: Château de Chillon at the eastern edge of Lake Geneva, or a trip to Annecy in France, located south of Geneva. We decided on Annecy as we thought the town is in one corner of France, which we would not have visited even if we travelled around France.

Geneva – Immensing in the Medieval Old Town

Most of the sights in the Geneva centre are around the old town. There are only a couple of major sights – Jet d’Eau and St. Pierre Cathedral, which are located near each other. Geneva is a compact city, where these sights are within walking distance of each other.

Pont du Mont-Blanc – View of the Iconic Jet d’Eau (or not)

Jet d’Eau is one of the two famous sights in Geneva. It is essentially a fountain that shoots 500 litres of water per second up 140m into the sky. The fountain is especially beautiful at night when illuminated with colourful lights. Jet d’Eau is located on the south-western end of Lake Geneva, near the old town. The water taxi (which is covered in our Geneva Guest card provided by our hotel) that leaves from Mont-Blanc is a great way to view the fountain, as the public transport will pass by the fountain, allowing visitors a close-up view. The other places to get a good view of Jet d’Eau are either from Pont du Mont-Blanc, one of the major bridges that is situated at the mouth of Lake Geneva and the Rhône River that runs into Geneva, or from the waterfront promenade of Jardin Anglais. Since getting from our hotel to Geneva Altstadt requires us to cross the Rhône River, we headed to Pont du Mont-Blanc to see Jet d’Eau. As we were walking to the lake, we did not see any water being propelled into the air. Jet d’Eau was not turned on. Thinking we might be too early and the fountain might not have been turned on, we thought to come back later in the afternoon. Our walk would eventually land us back to one of the nearby bridges, slightly further upstream on the Rhône River.

Jardin Anglais – The Garden by the Lake

Rather than calling it a destination where we took time to walk around, Jardin Anglais is more of a thoroughfare for us walking towards St. Pierre Cathedral. As we were not great with gardens, plus the plants would have withered for the winter season, we did not plan to stop by Jardin Anglais. Rather, we were here for the Flower Clock, one of the city’s attractions. The Flower Clock is situated by the main road and not too far from Pont du Mont-Blanc, and is on the way to our next sight. The plants on the Flower Clock are being refreshed every time the season changes. During this winter season, the Flower Clock dons maroon and yellow flowers with some black plants in the centre of the clock face. It was interesting to see that the numbers on the clock were also made up of flowers. We saw the clock from a distance as we were waiting for our traffic light to turn green. Before we continued our way to our next stop, we stopped by Starbucks for our caffeine fix.

L’Ancien Arsenal – An Accidental Discovery

After a short coffee break, we headed to the cathedral. When we arrived, we saw some visitors walking away from the main door. This is when we realised that the cathedral only opens at 10 am, giving us 15 mins to loiter around. Since our time was a little tight today, instead of waiting around, we headed to our next stop. Our original next stop was supposed to be the Old Town Management building, thinking it might stand out from the rest of the buildings on the street. However, when we arrived at the Old Town Management building, we couldn’t differentiate it from its neighbouring buildings. The building has the same facade as the rest of the buildings, minus a small plaque that identifies it. Feeling disappointed, we headed back to the cathedral, as it would have opened by the time we arrived.

As we were walking back, we stumbled upon a building with an open ground floor. We could see some cannons being displayed on the open ground floor. Little did we know that we had stumbled into the L’Ancien Arsenal. L’Ancien Arsenal is an old armour that dates back to the 15th century and was used to store weapons and artillery needed to defend Geneva during war. In the foyer, we spotted a total of five cannons, three mounted on a wooden wheel cart, and two at the back near the walls. Based on the positioning of these two cannons, they seemed to be the reserve cannons. Behind the cannons, we spotted three mosaic walls that depicted someone riding a horse (later, we found out that these walls depict the key moments from Geneva’s history). We continued our sightseeing and headed back to St. Pierre’s Cathedral after taking some pictures at L’Ancien Arsenal.

St. Pierre Cathedral – Birds’ Eye View of Geneva

It was slightly after 10 am when we arrived at the cathedral, which was already open for visitors. The interior of St. Pierre Cathedral is plain, and we did not spot any elaborate carvings or paintings in the cathedral. The high ceiling in the cathedral made it look spacious and grand. Like the churches we’ve been to, St. Pierre Cathedral does not have a high altar, but merely a rostrum for the pastors to deliver their sermons. Behind the rostrum, stained window panels vie for visitors’ attention and bring light into the cathedral. The bottom stained window panels were the largest of these stained windows featuring St. James, St. Andrew, St. John and St. Paul, to name a few, that can be clearly seen from the cathedral’s entrance.

The Tower Climb – Viewing Geneva City from Above

Our main purpose of visiting St. Pierre Cathedral is to climb up to the two towers, which would give us a panoramic view of Geneva. There is a fixed route that we were required to follow when climbing up the towers. The tower visit started with climbing 160 steps via a narrow spiral staircase to the top of the south tower, near the ticketing counter. Halfway through the climb, we came to a wooden open space with signs pointing us to the correct way to the top of the tower. Here is where we spotted an enclosed wooden room with some large bells. These bells, some dated back to 1481, were the bells that are responsible for the chimes we heard at the strike of the hour. There is a small balcony at this level that we can look out of into the city. We continued our climb to the top of the spiral staircase, which led us to a small wooden room. According to the ticketing staff below, this room was a watch tower to look out for fires back in the days. The views up here are great, but were somewhat affected by the stains on the glasses of the window. Despite being able to see the city below and parts of Lake Geneva, we couldn’t see much, partly due to the fog and partly due to the obstruction by the other towers of the cathedral.

We continued our tower tour by descending the spiral staircase to the halfway point (where the bells were), from here we followed the signs and headed across a bridge linking both towers that is constructed just underneath the roof of the main cathedral building. This bridge brought us to another set of spiral staircases, which led us to the top of the north tower. At the top of the spiral staircase in the north tower is a wrap-around balcony that offered us a 360° panoramic view of the city and Lake Geneva. Seeing the medieval buildings in Geneva like blocks and blocks of LEGO building that span as far as the eye can see was an amazing sight. We could also vaguely see Jet d’Eau spouting out from Lake Geneva from here. On a clear day, we would be able to see Jet d’Eau more clearly and how large the city is. We spent a considerable amount of time up here looking at the city and the places where we will be visiting. Before long, it is time for us to descend the tower to our next destination.

Archaeological Site of St. Pierre – The Treasures Beneath

Our next destination was not far from the Towers of St. Pierre Cathedral. In fact, it is just underneath the cathedral. When we were buying the tickets to the tower, we had the option to include entrance to the archaeological site of the cathedral. The entry fee for the combined ticket costs CHF12 (it costs CHF7 to only visit the towers). Visiting the archaeological site is a self-guided tour where we would collect an audio guide from a staff at its entrance. The site sitting under the cathedral gave us a good introduction to the history of the cathedral and Geneva. There are ruins all over the basement that show the original foundation of the cathedral. We even spotted a 2,000-year-old skeleton that belonged to a chieftain of the tribe that was buried in 120 BC. It is fascinating to learnt that after so many reconstructions of the cathedral, some of the original layout of the cathedral still lies beneath it. I thought the audio guide was very informative on the things that we saw with our eyes when visiting the site.

Place du Bourg-de-Four – The Oldest Square in Geneva

After spending about 30 minutes in the archaeological site under St. Pierre Cathedral, we continued our walk to Place du Bourg-de-Four, about 5 minutes from the cathedral. Place du Bourg-de-Four is a cobblestone square on the site of an old Roman forum and medieval market in the Altstadt of Geneva and is believed to be the oldest square in Geneva. This square, now a popular meeting square with restaurants and cafes, served as a coach stop in the 19th century. In the middle of Place du Bourg-de-Four is an 18th-century fountain that still runs water for visitors to quench their thirst. The surrounding restaurants and cafes offered visitors a great place to relax and people-watch. As we were at Place du Bourg-de-Four early, the cafes were not open for business. We left for our next sight after taking some photos at the square.

Parc des Bastions – The Lungs of Geneva

Our next stop is about a 10-minute walk from Place du Bourg-de-Four. Parc des Bastions is one of the many parks in Geneva. It is the oldest, dating back to the 1720s, and the largest park in the city. Often hosting many events, Parc des Bastions is where the locals come to relax and enjoy a stroll amidst the trees in the park. The park is also home to the oldest university in Geneva and the venue of a music festival. We even saw a small ice skating rink in the park. Other than being home to locals for a relaxing walk, and students from the university rushing from class to class, or people using it as a thoroughfare getting from one side of the city to another, Parc des Bastions is also home to the International Monument of the Reformation, also known as the Reformers’ Wall. The 160m wall with statues of the four reformers carved in the centre of the wall, who shaped the Calvinist Reformation, a belief that God’s absolute sovereignty and strict moral life. This reformation was critical for shaping modern Western theology, politics and economics. After taking pictures with the wall, we took a stroll and exited the park from the opposite entrance, heading towards our final destination in Geneva.

Tour De I ’lle – The Clock with Tales to Tell

Our last stop is Tour de I’lle, a clock tower that is built on the island of the Rhône River. The clock tower was once part of a castle tower built on the island in 1219. The fortress was demolished in 1849, and only the tower remains. The clock on the tower was first installed in 1538, with its last replacement in 1954. The Tour de I ’lle, attached to another building (Bank of China), looked like a pair of conjoined twins that had witnessed the major historical moments of the city. We weren’t sure if there were any guided tours to the clock tower, and also in the interest of time, we stayed here momentarily until the tram that headed to the train station came by. We need to catch the 12.40 pm train to Annecy.

Annecy – The Quint French Village

After our morning tour of Geneva, we hopped onto a train and headed to Annecy, a small French village about 1½ hrs by train from Geneva. We visited this village not only for its famed Venice of the Alps reputation, but also for its cheaper dining (compared to Geneva) and the fact that we will likely not visit this village when we travel to France in the future (as it is situated in the southeastern corner of France). Like most Swiss cities, Annecy is compact and extremely walkable. As we were walking from the Annecy train station to our first sight, we came across Le Thiou River and the buildings sitting on both sides of the riverbank and a lone building sitting in the middle of the river. This is the very sight that gave the town the nickname.

Château D’Annecy – Guardian of the Town

Perched on a hill, the Château D’Annecy dominates the skyline of Annecy. The castle is a key attraction and is what gave the town its fame. The tall castle walls and the thick Queen’s Tower are what we’d imagine a European castle looks like. Château D’Annecy is not large in scale like the Versailles or Schonbrunn Palaces, but its imposing structure is sufficient for the castle to command its presence. Château D’Annecy was initially built in the 8th century to guard the route from Geneva to Italy. In 1219, the Counts of Genevois made the castle their residence after being expelled from Geneva. Over the years, the ownership of the castle changed hands from duke to duke. Today, the castle houses a museum. Single site entry to the castles costs €6.50 per adult, but it costs €8 for a combined ticket with Palais de I ’lle (entry would cost €4). We got the combined ticket as we would visit Palais de I ’lle later. Upon entering Château D’Annecy grounds, we saw a large courtyard with the main castle building on the left side and another building sitting at the end of the courtyard facing Lake Annecy.

We entered the main castle building, which houses art exhibitions. As we do not have “arty-eyes”, we spent most of our time in the castle walking through the rooms, looking for signs of how the residents of the castle lived out their daily lives. The art museum mainly houses art pieces from sculptures to paintings. Passing through the first room with sculptures, we came into a large room with a sizeable fireplace in the centre. I imagined this would be the great hall where the dukes would entertain their guests and throw parties. The next few rooms that we walked by were spaces for the display of art. There is a room that is filled with furniture, which we assumed was used by the dukes back in the day. As we wandered around the castle, we came to a corridor that gave us a good view of the courtyard and the town of Annecy below. This corridor also linked the main castle building to the Queen’s Tower, the thick tower we saw at the entrance of the castle. The Queen’s Tower got its name in the 18th century, as legend has it that the tower was built to imprison a queen. Access to the top of the tower was closed to the public, but we got a good view of the castle’s surroundings.

Other than the castle, the biggest reason visitors come to Château D’Annecy is for the view. At the end of the courtyard lies a viewing platform that looks out over the town of Annecy. From here, our sight was filled with red roofs and a few towers rising from the sea of red roofs. The platform also gave us a partial view of Lake Annecy and the mountain ranges across the lake.

Palais de I’lle – The Small Château

Exiting the Château D’Annecy, our next stop, Palais de I’lle, is a mere 7 mins walk away. Shaped like a ship, Palais de I ’lle sits on the largest island in the river, and affectionately known to the locals as The Island Palace. Built in the 12th century, Palais de I’lle was first used as a prison, a courthouse and an administrative centre. It even served as a residence to the Monthoux family in the 14th century. Today, the two-storey building houses exhibits on the recent history of Annecy and the development of the town since the 50s. Only the second storey is open to the public. Walking from room to room, we saw a prison cell, a kid’s playroom and a couple of rooms displaying art and history exhibits. As the Palais de I’lle is very small, we only spent 10 minutes in the castle. Due to its small scale and the lack of things to see (unless one is interested in the history of Annecy), I would not have paid to enter Palais de I’lle.

Church of St. Francis de Sale – The Italian Church

Le Thiou River is the main river that cuts Annecy into two. Lined with medieval houses that are not more than four storeys tall on both sides of the riverbank, and with three islets scattered in the smallish river from the lake to Rue de la Gare, the bridge marked the limits of Old Town Annecy. Coupled with six bridges that link both sides of the river bank within a short span of 650m, where we could see one bridge while standing on the other. It is this image that earned the town the title of Venice of the Alps. Strolling along Le Thiou River, especially on a quiet winter afternoon, was not only relaxing, but it also brought back memories of our trip to Venice several years ago.

As we were strolling along the river, we came across a small church with a white facade sitting by the river. This is the Church of St. Francis de Sale. The exterior of the church looked plain with niches that seemed to house statues. Built in 1614, the church was transformed into a military barracks during the French Revolution. Today, Church of St. Francis de Sale mainly serve the local Italian community and is affectionately referred to by the locals as the Italian church. The interior of the church has a Roman Baroque decor with white walls and green marble tiles, and the high ceilings with windows above give the church a clean and bright look. The baroque elements were mainly seen in the high altar and the chandeliers.

Jardins de l’Europe – Tranquil Views of the Lake

Leaving the church, we walked along the riverbank to arrive at Jardins de L’Europe, the largest park in Annecy. In summer, this is where boat cruises to Lake Annecy depart from, and we saw several boats berthed on the side of the Le Thiou River mouth. The reason why I brought my friends here was for the views of Lake Annecy. At the lake end of the park, sits Panorama du Lac, where we got a stunning view of the lake set alongside the mountain ranges. We even spotted several ducks swimming close to the shore of the lake. Looking out into the lake with the wooden piers stretching out amidst the calm waters felt especially tranquil. I am sure there are other facilities in the park, but we were mainly here for the views of the lake and did not explore the other parts of the park.

Pont des Amours – The Lovers’ Bridge

We continued our walk along the shores of the park to the other side of the park and came to a bridge. This is Pont des Amours, or the lovers’ bridge, as the locals call it. The bridge was first built in 1836 using wood. The bridge we saw today was built with iron in 1907. Pont des Amours is a favourite spot for a wedding photo shoot. Legend has it that lovers who kiss in the centre of the bridge will be united for life. Pont des Amours gave us great views no matter where we looked. Looking at the Lake Annecy side, the bridge gave us a vantage point of the lake and the mountains, as well as locals enjoying their day by the lakeside, and on the canal side, we were treated to a peaceful view of a canal lined with trees on both sides, with small piers for paddle boats.

Notre-Dame de Liesse – The Iconic Church of Annecy

After taking pictures at Pont des Amours, we strolled along the canal and returned to the old town. As we were walking in the old town, we came to a square with a single fountain in the centre. Behind the fountain stands a white church with a six or seven-storey tower. This is the Notre-Dame de Liesse, the biggest and most iconic church in Annecy. Notre-Dame de Liesse was built in the second half of the 14th century by the Counts of Geneva, with the bell tower completed in 1530. The church boasts neoclassical architecture with elements from Roman antiquity. Notre-Dame de Liesse differs from the churches we have seen so far during this trip as it has the most elaborate interiors filled with paintings and frescoes. Right in the centre of the church was a dome topped with glass with frescoes of angels painted in the under dome. Other than the paintings, the interior of the church is adorned with statues and carvings that give the church an artistic flair. These statues, together with the paintings, made the church look colourful and cheerful.

After our short stay at Notre-Dame de Liesse, we continued shopping on the streets of Old Town Annecy. We chanced upon a bakery selling French bread, which looked so delicious that we bought some back to the hotel to enjoy (they were indeed delicious and fresh). With the sky turning dark and our train timing approaching, we headed back in the direction of the train station in the hope of finding some authentic French food.

Our Final Dinner of the Trip

Ironically, the final dinner of our Switzerland trip was not taken in the country but in France. After all, it is cheaper to dine in France than in Switzerland. Our hopes of finding a French restaurant ended at the train station, and as it was getting late, we settled for dinner at an English pub restaurant opposite the train station. The food here was very affordable (by Swiss standards) and came in big portions. The friendly staff welcomed us into the restaurant and patiently introduced the menu to us. We enjoyed the dinner with the delicious food being served. After dinner, we made it in time for our 2-hour train ride back to Geneva. After all, we had to pack our luggage for our departure tomorrow.

We initially planned to visit the tower on Uetliberg Mountain for a bird’s eye view of Lake Zurich after our scheduled visit to the Lindt Chocolate Museum. However, based on our experience on the tower on Gurten Kulm in Bern on Day 2 of our Switzerland trip and the strong recommendation by the Malaysian lady we met in Grossmünster yesterday, we switched our final destination in Zurich to Rhine Falls. We checked out of the hotel early and headed to the train station to store our luggage as we had an evening train to Geneva. It only made sense for us to store at the train station in case we were short on time later in the day.

Lindt Chocolate Museum

Getting to the Lindt Chocolate Museum

There are two chocolate museums near Zurich, the Lindt Chocolate Museum is a mere 45-minute train ride, while the Läderach Chocolate factory is a whopping 2-hour train ride. As we did not have much time today and we wanted to take it slow, we opted for the more popular Lindt Chocolate Museum. I would much prefer to visit the Läderach Chocolate Factory as the entrance fee includes a chocolate-making class, while the Lindt Chocolate Museum only allows tasting. Getting to the Lindt Chocolate Museum is very easy from Zurich. We opted for the route with the least walking by taking train S8 from Zurich Hauptbahnhof to Wollishofen and transferred to bus #165 for six stops to the Lindt Chocolate Museum. We booked the earliest time slot, the 10 am time slot, so that we can have sufficient time for an afternoon excursion.

We arrived at the Lindt Chocolate Museum at around 9.30 am, and had to wait a little as the museum would only open at 10 am. Our attention was captivated by the large chocolate fountain in the middle of the foyer as we entered the building. This is the largest chocolate fountain in the world, and naturally, it is where all the visitors would stop to take pictures with. There is a locker room on the left of the chocolate fountain where all visitors store their jackets and bags. While we were not too sure how strict the staff at the museum were regarding bags and coats, we stored them anyway (we did not see anyone being turned away at the entrance, as everyone stored their bags and jackets in the lockers provided). After storing our stuff in the lockers and loitering around a bit, we headed to the spiral staircase next to the chocolate fountain. This is where we picked up the audio guide that would explain the exhibits that we would see along the self-guided tour.

All About Chocolates: From Planting to the Final Product

The Lindt Chocolate Museum generally has five rooms for us to explore. The first room shows the initial phase of chocolate making, how the main ingredient of cocoa was produced for the making of chocolate. The first room has a foresty decor to showcase a typical chocolate plantation, educating us on how the farmers prepare the plantation for cocoa planting and how they harvest. The second room is a huge room that introduces the origins of chocolate and how the Europeans got the recipe from the Mayans, who used the unsweetened and bitter cocoa drink to offer to the gods. This section also told us how the Europeans brought cocoa drink over to Europe and how they refined the chocolate to the present-day sweet version. I thought the third room existed for the purpose of marketing the Lindt Chocolate brand. It showed us how the Lindt Chocolate was discovered by mistake and how it was distributed in Switzerland in the early days. I like the miniature buildings and the painting of the Swiss Alps in this room. By this time, we were already giving up on listening to the audio guide and were ready to jump to the fourth room.

Highlight of the Tour: Unlimited Chocolate Tasting

The fourth room was what we were here for – to taste as many chocolates as we could. There were mainly two types of machines which we could get unlimited samples of chocolates: the small chocolate block dispensing machine and the liquid chocolate dispensing machine. Practically all the visitors hopped from station to station back and forth to taste all the chocolates, not once but several times. This room was also where most of us stayed the longest. I liked the liquid types better as they tasted warm, fresh and very smooth. After we had our fair share of chocolate, we headed for the next room, where we could take samples of the various chocolates that Lindt sells. There weren’t any signs around limiting the number of chocolates one could take, but there was a staff member at the counter keeping her eagle eyes on all the visitors. We spotted two girls who managed to bring their jackets into the museum, filling as many of the chocolates as they could into the bucket that they hid underneath their jackets. What sneaky geniuses!

The very last station of the tour was a giant wall where we could get one small chocolate bar after scanning the QR code on our ticket. Initially, we were unsure if the QR code was one-time use and tested it out, and to our surprise, we could do it multiple times. We went on both machines several times in our attempt to get the different flavours (the feature wall was giving out three flavours), and subsequently stopped as more visitors from the 10 am slot ended their tour and started making their way here. There is a gift shop in the museum where we bought some Lindt Chocolates. I did not find the prices here any cheaper than those in the supermarket or in town. We left the museum for the Rhine Falls, which is located in the northernmost part of Zurich. We made our way back to Zurich Hauptbahnhof, where we transferred to another train to the waterfall.

Rhine Falls – The Largest Waterfall in Europe

In order for us to get back to Zurich Hauptbahnhof in time for our 6 pm train to Geneva, we scrapped our initial plan of taking a cruise on Lake Zurich from the Lindt Chocolate Museum to the Zurich city centre in the interest of time. To get to Rhine Falls from Zurich Hauptbahnhof, we took train S12 to Schloss Laufen am Rheinfall Station. The journey from Zurich to Rhine Falls station took about 30 mins. Upon alighting from the train, there are plentiful signs from the train station pointing us to the waterfalls. Sitting above the staircase where we alighted is the Schloss Laufen, a 1000-year-old medieval castle sitting on the rocks by the Rhine Falls. But our first order of things was to see the waterfall from the various viewpoints across the river.

Rhine Falls Viewpoints

During the summer, there will be boats either plying between the Schloss Laufen and Schlössli Wörth opposite, or up to the rocks in the centre of the falls. However, boats are not operational during winter. To get to the opposite bank, we walked on the Rheinbrücke bei Laufen, the closest bridge to Schloss Laufen. Rheinbrücke bei Laufen is a bridge that is mainly used by trains, but has well-protected sidewalks for pedestrians. There are two sides to the bridge; we opted to walk on the side that is facing the waterfalls. Rheinbrücke bei Laufen offered us a calm view of the top of the Rhine Falls, but it does not offer the view of the massive volume of water gushing down the falls. After crossing the bridge, we followed the well-marked path towards Schlössli Wörth. We spotted a couple of viewpoints along the way that offered views from the top of the waterfalls, but we did not find them spectacular either. There are a couple of viewpoints that were somewhat obscured by the wild vegetation. There is one viewpoint, next to the so-called watermill, which we thought gave us a good view of the waterfalls and Schloss Laufen. For those who did not want to walk all the way to Schlössli Wörth, or are short of time like us, the viewpoint at the watermill was a great spot. From this viewpoint, we could see there are more viewpoints at the base of Schloss Laufen opposite that seem to be able to get us close enough to the Rhine Falls. In the interest of time, we made our way back to the Schloss opposite the river.

Schloss Laufen – A Closed-up View of the Rhine Falls

Tracing back where we came from, it took us 15 minutes to make it back to the Schloss. Schloss Laufen has a short three-storey tower that marks its entrance. There are two areas inside the Schloos grounds: the free area, which has a restaurant and part of the castle walls that overlook the train tracks, and the paid area, where the waterfall viewpoints are located. The CHF5 entrance ticket also grants us access inside the main castle building. After getting our tickets, we used the staircase down to the viewpoints after passing through the turnstile. The first flight of stairs brought us to the viewpoint with the Grand Tour signage. Like the viewpoints we saw on the opposite bank, this viewpoint gave us views of the waterfalls from the top. However, I thought the views were better as we could see water rushing down the falls from here. One flight of stairs later, we came to another viewpoint that brought us next to the action, where we could see the waterfall falling down the rocks. After taking more pictures, we continued descending the stairs through a cave to arrive at the bottommost viewpoints. There is a sheltered one, literally next to the waterfall, and an open-air platform. From the sheltered viewpoint, we could feel the might of the water rushing down the falls and the splatter of water. We were so close to the Rhine Falls that we felt we could touch the waterfall by standing here. The open-air viewpoint seemed to be sticking out from the rock it was built on. This viewpoint allowed us to take pictures of the front of the Rhine Falls. I thought the views from these two bottommost viewpoints were worth every step we took coming down here and the CHF5 that we paid.

After taking our fair share of photos from the bottommost viewpoints, the next part is the toughest part. We had to climb the stairs back up. Usually, there will be a lift that we can take to access the viewpoints below. However, the lift and the walkway were under renovation at the time of our visit. Emerging from the stairs some 10 mins later, we checked out the main building of the Schloss since we still had some time before our train arrived. The interior of the Schloss was a museum that showcased the Schloss when it was used as a residence building. Not all the rooms were opened to the public; we were only allowed access to the first and second floors of the building. There were no signs to point us in the direction of viewing the exhibits in the building. For a museum, I thought the number of exhibits and their explanation on display was scarce. The only things that we saw were a room with a dining table (I assumed this was the dining room), one with a fireplace and one with some pictures hanging. There was yet another room that was set up like the interior of the train, showcasing how people travelled to Schloss Laufen back in the days. I was more drawn to the model of the castle in one of the rooms. As there wasn’t much going on in the Schloss, we left after spending about 5 minutes walking through the rooms that were open to the public.

Back to Zurich – Our last view of Zurich from Polyterrasse

It was 4.30 pm when we arrived back at Zurich Hauptbahnhof, and our train to Geneva didn’t depart until 6.15 pm. We used the additional 1 hour plus to ride the Polybahn to Polyterrasse, our last sight in Zurich. Zurich does not offer guest cards like the other cities, which would give us free rides on the local transport. The 24 hr ZZV card that we got also covers the Polybahn; we did not have to pay extra to ride on the funicular (which would otherwise cost CHF1.20). The Polybahn station is a mere 5-minute walk from Zurich Hauptbahnhof, which made it a perfect time filler while waiting for our train to Geneva. The 2 min ride on the Polybahn has been around since 1889, transporting students to the school up at Polyterrasse from the city centre. Built in the 19th century, the Polyterrasse is an open-air terrace located in front of the Federal Institute of Technology University. This terrace offered us a panoramic view of both banks of the Limmat River. The best photospot at Polyterrasse is the leftmost corner, which gave us an unobstructed view of the old town and the city. There was nothing much we could do here other than take pictures of and with the old town, a great way to end our trip in Zurich. During our descent on the Polybahn back to the city, we took the open-air section of the tiny Polybahn, which is large enough for only six passengers, giving us a unique experience riding on the Polybahn.

Train to Geneva

We made our way back to the train station to collect our luggage, with time to spare for us to buy takeaways for dinner that we would consume on our 3-hour train ride from Zurich to Geneva. The train ride to Geneva was rather uneventful; we couldn’t really see the scenery outside with the darkness outside the train and the reflective lighting inside the train carriage. We arrived at Geneva train station some 3 hours later and headed to our hotel. As we were walking from the train station to our hotel, despite being safe, we somehow felt uneasy. We later got to know from the hotel staff that the area between the train station and the hotel is the red light district, which explains why it felt complicated when we were walking along the street. After checking into our rooms, we settled down and rested for the night. After all, we have a city and a town to explore tomorrow.

We dedicated today to exploring the sights within Zurich City and shopping, since most shops will be closed tomorrow on Sundays. We started the day walking to the Zurich City Hall, wanting to collect the City Keys for the Secret Door walking tour. To our dismay, the City Hall seemed closed when we arrived at around 9 am. We tried walking around the building, thinking there might be another entrance around the corner. After a while, we saw a sign in the main door informing us that the City Hall is closed on weekends. What a pity! We were not able to do the Zurich City Secret Door self-guided walking tour, which is a unique way to see the city. Seeing there was nothing else we could do about the situation, we proceeded on our walking tour around the Old Town of Zurich.

Zurich Old Town Walk: Walking into History

Zurich city centre is lined with buildings from the medieval period. The Limmat River that runs through the heart of the city creates a picturesque waterfront promenade with medieval buildings on both sides of its bank. Since we were already at the City Hall, we crossed the Limmat River via the Rathausbrücke and headed to our first spot, Lindenhof.

Lindenhof – The Balcony of Zurich

Lindenhof is perched on a small hill across the bridge from City Hall. We passed by some of the medieval buildings that turned into shops as we were walking up the slope to Lindenhof. Despite being a “preview” of the old town building structure, walking in this part of the town felt timeless and tranquil. It took us only 5 minutes to walk to the Lindenhof from the City Hall. Lindenhof, like the Münsterplattform in Bern, is an open space which saw numerous historical events, such as a home for a Roman Fort in the 4th century and a palace where the grandson of Charlemagne built in the 9th century. We came to Lindenhof for the view. Despite the limited views here, due to the shorter elevation, we were still able to see Altstadt Zurich and the Grossmünster church sitting on the banks of the Limmat River from Lindenhof. I thought this place gave us a very good preview of the city.

Augustinegrasse – The Shopping Street with Medieval Houses

Augustinegrasse is home to the older medieval buildings where shops call home today. Unlike the medieval times, the buildings on Augustinegrasse are brightly painted, sitting side by side with no gaps between the buildings. It is the irregular building style and roofs that make Augustinegrasse charming to visit. Occasionally, we could see reminiscence of the olden days through the refurbished balconies popping out from the facade of these buildings, or the old signs that still hang on the walls of the buildings facing Augustinegrasse. The street led us to an open piazza, where our next destination awaited us.

Kirche St. Peter – The Church with Many Functions

One cannot miss Kirche St. Peter in this part of the city. With its commanding clock tower adorned with golden-plated numbers and clock hands and its white church building, Kirche St. Peter sat atop a small hill. Like most of the churches we have seen in Switzerland so far, Kirche St. Peter has a simple facade on the outside. Entrance to the church is located opposite the clock tower, on the other end of the building. The interior of the church is equally plain. There are no outlandish frescoes painted on the walls or the ceiling. Instead, they are plastered with floral patterns, which give the white interior a refined look. The mahogany coloured pillars that supported the second storey of the church and the natural wood coloured panels on the parapet of the second level brought just sufficient colour into the church without sacrificing the pure look of the interior. Unlike most churches we seen, Kirche St. Peter does not have a high altar; in its place is a rostrum on a balcony that faces the main church floor for the pastor to deliver the service. The church felt peaceful, partly due to the white interior and partly due to the lack of crowd at the time of our visit. We stayed in the church momentarily to enjoy the tranquillity it brought.

Exiting Kirche St. Peter, we walked along the left bank of the Limmat River towards our next destination, the Fraumünster. We felt we needed a caffeine boost this morning, so we settled into a riverfront seating area of a cafe along the bank. We took some time to enjoy sipping our cafe latte in the outdoors while watching the swans and ducks swimming in the Limmat River, going about their daily lives. With the picturesque Altstadt on the right bank of the Limmat River and the twin-towered Grossmünster in front of our eyes, we certainly had a relaxing time enjoying the peace the city exudes.

Fraumünster – One of the Big Twos in Zurich

After our caffeine boost on the riverfront, we continued our Zurich city walk along the left bank of the Limmat River towards the Fraumünster. Just when we reached Fraumünster, my friends were attracted to the farmers’ market right by the Münsterbrücke, the bridge that linked both the Fraumünster and Grossmünster. The produce looked fresh, and the friendly stall owners welcomed us to their stalls and patiently introduced their produce to us. Striking up a conversation with the farmers, we were informed that this market only opened on Saturdays from 6 am to noon. Seeing we would have time to return to the market after visiting Fraumünster, we headed to the church before returning to the market to purchase a packet of freshly squeezed apple juice.

Fraumünster is one of the four churches in Zurich and is one of the two most recognisable churches in the city. With its massive and stone facade and a lone tall clock tower, the Fraumünster sits on the left bank ofthe Limmat River. Entry to the 99th-centurychurch is located on the Main Street that runs parallel to the Limmat River. As we reached the entrance of the church, we saw a sign stating a CHF5 entry fee for the church. Knowing that we will only stay in the church for less than 5 minutes, we decided to skip visiting the church. As we were walking on Main Street, we spotted an open gate to the side of the church that seemed open to the public without any charges. Locals also used this courtyard as a thoroughfare between the Limmat River and the Main Street. We entered the side courtyard of the church, where we spotted several murals painted on the walls. Like the locals, we also used the courtyard to access the riverbanks. As we were walking to our next stop for a view of Lake Zurich, my friends were drawn to a small crowd in front of the cheese stall in the farmers’ market. Don’t let the modest stall deceive you; the cheese stalls have a wide range of cheeses for my friends to choose from. Despite the little English the stall keeper spoke, she was friendly and welcoming and was generous in the sample portion of the cheese she was selling. My friends sampled some of the cheeses that we saw most locals buy. They eventually bought the truffle cheese.

Kopf Hoch Zürichsee – The Lake Lookout

We continued our Zurich city walk after my friends happily had their cheese stock from the farmers’ market. As we were heading towards the Lake Zurich viewpoint, we walked past the outdoor swimming pool. In summer, this would be where the locals come for a cool dip in the lake waters. But in winter, this structure just lies dormant, awaiting the seasons to change to welcome locals to enjoy the lake waters again. Kopf Hoch Zürichsee is an open area at the edge of the city that gives us stunning views of Lake Zurich. At the viewpoint, we could only see part of the lake (due to its massiveness) with the Swiss Alps and the nearby mountains on one side and the southern part of the city adorned by Romanesque buildings occupying the front row to the lake on the other side. We spotted some rowers practising rowing in the winter and how the ferries and water buses ply through Lake Zurich. We did not stay here for too long and crossed the Quaibrücke, the southernmost bridge across the Limmat River to the opera house.

Opernhaus Zurich – The City’s Heart of Arts

We walked along the lakefront to the square in front of Opernhaus Zurich. The Sechseläutenplatz is the largest square in Zurich and is traditionally used for spring celebrations in April. Sechseläutenplatz is the best place to view the Opernhaus Zurich (and there is a free public toilet here). The Sechseläutenplatz is a great place to soak up the European vibe with the Neoclassical architecture style of the Opernhaus Zurich and the neighbouring NZZ building, which was the city’s largest newspaper publishing house. Opernhaus Zurich is Zurich’s first permanent theatre, built in 1834, and was on this very spot where the Opernhaus Zurich sits. The former building was burnt down in 1890. Several iterations of the opera house were built between 1890 and 1964, with the current building being the permanent fixture of the City’s main performing space. The facade of Opernhaus Zurich is adorned with the busts of famous artists who performed in this very house. Sitting on the top of the building were sculptures of angels with various musical instruments celebrating music and the arts. We approached the entrance of Opernhaus Zurich to check if we could enter the opera house and view its interior, but the doors to the house were closed, and the signs that pointed us to the entrance of the house ended up nowhere. We gave up and headed to our next stop in Zurich.

Grossmünster – The Church with Twin Towers

Leaving Sechseläutenplatz, it took us 7 mins on foot to arrive at the Grossmünster, which is one of the two iconic churches in Zurich with its distinct twin towers. Nestled on the right bank of the Limmat River, Grossmünster sits atop a small hill opposite Fraumünster. The Romanesque structured Grossmünster was first constructed in 1100 and inaugurated in 1220. We were unsure if the church was open, as there were some scaffolds around the church. However, our worries were unfounded as we eventually found the entrance to the church at the back of the church. Unlike the Fraumünster, Grossmünster was free to enter. The interior of the church looks plain and simple. Like most of the churches here in Switzerland, there is no high altar in the church; a rostrum and an elevated platform were used instead, where sermons were delivered. The most striking features of Grossmünster’s interior gotta be the huge stained glass windows behind the rostrum, featuring nine characters (we were unsure who these nine figures were).

The biggest draw of us coming to Grossmünster was to climb up one of the two towers (entrance costs CHF5 and can be bought at the base of the tower). The 187 steps, 50m tower climb started with a steep and narrow spiral stone staircase that took us halfway up the tower, with the rest of the climb on wooden (and wider) staircases. I was initially deliberating whether the views from the top of the 50m tower were worth it, as the outdoor patio was closed to the public. However, my concerns dissipated when we reached the viewing platform on the tower. Here we were treated with amazing 360° views of the city. At the front, we could clearly see how the Limmat River divides the city into two and how it connects Lake Zurich to the city centre. At the back of the tower, we could see the right bank Altstadt and the surrounding hills. The views here were worth the CHF5 and the 187 steps climb. I personally liked the view of the riverside. After descending the tower, we chatted with the Malaysian female staff member at the ticketing counter, who generously shared with us the history of the church and places she thought were worth visiting around Zurich. Initially, we were torn between visiting Rhine Falls and Uetliberg, where one offers views of a majestic waterfall and the other offers views of the city and Lake Zurich. She convinced us that the Rhine Falls was a better visit. Before leaving the church, she recommended us to lunch at Zeughauskeller, a restaurant nearby famous for its affordable and good local food (she even brought us out of the church and pointed out the directions for us to go). We were originally planning to visit the Hirshen Platz and Predigerkirche, but as we were engrossed with our chat with the staff in Grossmünster, we found that we already missed our lunch and abandoned our last two stops on the list. Instead, we headed to the restaurant that the church staff recommended.

Lunch at Zeughauskeller

It only took us 7 mins to walk from Grossmünster to Zeughauskeller. The restaurant, housed in a 15th-century armoury, has been around since 1926 and is a popular spot for locals and tourists for beer and food. As we were at the restaurant during off-peak hours, we only had to wait for 5 minutes before being seated (it can take up to 1 hour during peak period). Despite being off-peak hours, Zeughauskeller is still packed with patrons gathering and feasting. The vibe in the restaurant felt like a medieval tavern, partly thanks to the decor and partly due to the liveliness. Like what the staff at the church mentioned, food was reasonably priced (at CHF30 tops) and came in big portions. The food was good, really good,d and the staff were very friendly.

Bahnhofstrasse – The Shopping Street in Zurich

Like most European cities, shops in Zurich do not open on Sundays. So we used the rest of the afternoon to shop in the city. Bahnhofstrasse is the main shopping street in Zurich, stretching 1.4km from Zurich Hauptbahnhof to Lake Zurich, where many shops, ranging from luxury boutiques to small cafes, set up business. We saw a peaceful protest ongoing the moment we arrived at the Bahnhofstrasse, where police blocked off the street. As shopping in Switzerland is expensive, we mostly did window shopping on the Bahnhofstrasse. We did buy some Läderach from one of the few outlets on the Bahnhofstrasse. We ended our day at Zurich Hauptbahnhof, where my friend got her final Grand Tour passport stamp from the train station. We also managed to get some tips for our visits tomorrow and our 24-hour local transport ticket (ZVV) from the tourist information, which would cover our trip to the Lindt Chocolate Museum and the Rhine Falls.

To ride on the Glacier Express, we are required to purchase two things: a seat reservation (only on the Glacier Express website) and train tickets. Seat reservations for the Glacier Express usually go on sale 93 days before the trip. As our trip booking falls within the closure period of the train service (the train service closes every year between Early October and early December), we were not able to make seat reservations 93 days before our trip. When the reservations went on sale, the website was cranky for one week. The original First Class experience we wanted was snapped up before we could book. Worried that we might not get our reservations on the day that we wanted to travel (as our schedule is pretty much inflexible), I had to call the company in Switzerland to purchase seat reservations for Second Class. It would cost more if we were to make the seat reservation and purchase the required tickets together on the Glacier Express website. I chanced upon a YouTube video where the creator shared some very good tips for saving money. The trick is only to make seat reservations on the Glacier Express website (which is mandatory at CHF 54 regardless of First or Second Class), and purchase the train tickets on the SBB website, which offers a saver day pass for CHF 44 for Second Class (compared to the CHF 76 on the Glacier Express website.

Our Three-Course Meal

We also find the three-course meal (costs CHF49 per pax) on board to be exceptional value (given how expensive food is in Switzerland), but drinks are expensive on board. We pre-booked our meal when booking the train tickets and brought our own drinks. At the start of the journey, shortly after departing from Zermatt, a train staff member came around the train carriage to confirm our booking for the three-course meal. Meals were in a standard set, as I am allergic to mushrooms, the staff was happy to swap out my mains for any of the mains (basically, there were only two, vegetarian and non-vegetarian options) in the menu. Another staff member came around 10.45 am to set up the table for all passengers who ordered food; the setting up of the table rivals those in Business Class flights. The first course, Pumpkin and chestnut soup, was served at 11.15 am. The soup was hearty with a strong hint of pumpkin taste, especially in a cold winter. As I swapped out my mains to the Chicken Tikka Masala, my mains were served earlier than my friends who stuck with the mains from the fixed menu. The chicken was tasty and tender, and the curry was not too spicy. My friends’ mains, Chicken fricassée in morel-mushroom cream sauce, came around noon. A staff first laid the table with a plate, and another went around serving fries, and yet another came around serving the chicken with the sauce. My friends commented that the chicken was tender and the sauce was flavourful. Desserts, mango and passion fruit cake, came around 12.30 pm. Rather than calling it a cake, the dessert felt more like a moose cake. The cake was smooth, and the taste of mango was strong. We enjoyed the three-course meal and thought it was extremely value for money.

The Journey

Section 1: Zermatt to Brig

Our train ride started from the alpine village of Zermatt, with this train station as either the start or the end of the Glacier Express ride. There are staff at the platform checking our seat reservation and pointing out where our train car is. Despite our train leaving at 8.52 am, we arrived at Zermatt Bahnhof at 8.15 am so that we could find places for our luggage. The Glacier Express has a small compartment behind each carriage for passengers to stow their luggage. The luggage compartment wasn’t large, and we were glad we arrived early, so we managed to find spaces for our luggage. So it pays to get early to the train station for those of us who brought our big luggage along for the ride.

The first section of the ride was relatively flat as we pulled out from Zermatt Bahnhof, but little did we realise that we were actually descending the mountain as Zermatt sits on a higher plain. Along the way, the scenery felt familiar. The scene of an occasional river that flows alongside the snowy mountainscape, decorated by trees that grew beside the railway track with snowcapped mountains as the backdrop, reminded me of the scenes that we had seen for the past few days in Switzerland.

Section 2: Brig to Andermatt

The second section of the ride is where the scenery shifted to mountainous. The train slowly climbed up the mountains after Brig, and the train stations seemed further apart, with built-up areas giving way to mountains and ski slopes. Accompanying us at the side of the tracks were more pine trees and highways, with the occasional appearance of rivers alongside the tracks. Relatively large towns became small villages that are spread further from each other. This is the section where the train started climbing up the mountains, starting from 670m in Brig to 1,350m in Andermatt. Out of the windows, we can see the entire village resting at the foot of the mountains. Occasionally, villages with a handful of houses appear beside the train either at a distance or next to the track. 3 hours into the ride, we arrived at Andermatt. This is where the Glacier Express make a brief stop with most passengers in the other second-class carriage alighted (we got to know from the train staff that they were part of the tour group).

Section 3: Andermatt to Chur

After the brief stop at Andermatt for the tour group to alight, we continued our journey towards St. Moritz. At this point, the train will continue to climb to the highest elevation at 2,033m. As we continue to climb up the mountains, we can see the entire city of Andermatt sitting between two mountains, donning white apparel made of snow. The scenery was beautiful, and it was what we had imagined we would see. We could see cable car stations afar, sitting on top of the mountain, catering for skiers to hit the slopes. Andermatt was the last city we saw on the leg as we climbed up the mountains. Our sight was filled with snowy mountains that seemed to get shorter as we ascended the mountains. It was a surreal experience, sitting in the train looking out the large windows of the Glacier Express, witnessing how the train travels to be on the same level as the mountain peaks afar. Other than an occasional hut sitting on the side of the mountain, it was white snow all around us.

We arrived at the peak station with a cableway situated right next to the train station. This is the highest point in our entire 8-hour Glacier Express ride. At first, I thought the train would stop here for us to get off and take pictures (at least this was what I saw on YouTube), but I was disappointed that the train merely passed through the station. The mountainscape continued to entertain us as the train started its descent. Other than the pine trees that lined the side of the railway track, occasionally we would ride past a town that was perched at the foot of the mountains. The train made a 15-minute stop at Disentis, where we got off the carriage to stretch our legs and enjoy the winter climate. After leaving Disentis, we saw more wintery scenery along the ride, with civilisations appearing more frequently. The mountain ranges that were so close to us earlier on now took a back seat, and rivers came to the foreground. Just before we enter Chur, our next stop since Disentis, we saw mountain cliffs presiding over the river as the train snakes next to the river on the side of the mountains. We have entered the Rhine gorge, where a dramatic landscape dominated our sight. This region is also known as the “Swiss Grand Canyon” due to the stone cliffs sitting at the side of the river. We rode beside the river until we arrived at Chur.

Section 4: Chur to St. Moritz

The train made a brief 10-minute stop at Chur, mainly to connect the locomotive. This is where we started to travel in the opposite direction towards St. Moritz. The Chur to St. Moritz leg would be our final leg, where we will be passing over the valley on the iconic Landwasser Viaduct. I was looking forward to this leg of the ride. As the train pulled out of Chur, we were once again treated to the views of the city slowly giving way to the gorgeous Rhine Gorge. At this point, I was busy taking pictures that I had missed out on earlier on our way into Chur. Due to the reflection on the windows of the Glacier Express, I spent most of the time in the train exit area, where the windows can be lowered for me to take non-reflective pictures. When not taking pictures, I was back at my seat staring at Google Maps to track where we were, ensuring I was ready at the train exit area to take pictures of the Landwasser Viaduct. It was about 1 hour after leaving Chur, and we were about to arrive at the bridge. I hurried to the train exit area to take pictures of the train making its way onto the bridge. However, my excitement was soon diminished. The actual journey on the viaduct was only 1 minute. From the train, it is difficult for us to appreciate the beauty of the bridge. To make things worse, the views on the bridge weren’t spectacular, and the absence of snow made it feel like an ordinary bridge. After passing the Landwasser Viaduct, the train went through a series of tunnels, where at the end of the tunnel, we were once again seeing similar mountain and village scenes that we had seen earlier in the ride. The Glacier Express ended the journey some 1½ hours later at St. Moritz.

St. Moritz to Zurich

The whole purpose of coming all the way to St. Moritz was to see the Glacier Express steaming past the Landwasser Viaduct. However, this part was so short that it zoomed past before we knew it. While the views along sections of the train ride were scenic, they weren’t particularly eye-catching. Most of the other passengers were either busy chatting or eating. To a certain extent, I find it a little underwhelming. Would I do the Glacier Express again? Probably not. As we did not plan to stay in St. Moritz, we got onto the next train with the shortest time to Zurich, where we will stay for the next two nights. The train ride to Zurich was rather uneventful; due to the darkness outside, we couldn’t really appreciate the scenery. We arrived at Zurich some 2 hours later and checked into our hotel, where we retired and rested for the night. After all, we would need the energy to explore the city of Zurich tomorrow.

We visited the fifth and last mountain of our trip today. Originally, today was planned for Gorergrat and Rothorn, the last two mountains of our trip. After discussing with my friends, we decided to skip Rothorn since the views would be similar and slowed down our pace a little today, starting later, since we only have Gornergrat on our list today.

Getting to Gornergrat was easy; there is a regular train service from the Gornergrat Bahn terminal in Zermatt, just across from Zermatt Bahnhof, linking visitors from Zermatt to Gornergrat in just under 30 minutes. The scenic cogwheel railway journey offered panoramic views of the Matterhorn and surrounding glaciers, and the seat on the right side of the train (during ascent) offered these breathtaking views. The Gornergrat Bahn started its climb up the mountain the moment it pulled out of the station, and within minutes, we were already outside the town riding amongst the forest on the hills behind Zermatt. The scenery gets wilder as the train climbs higher towards Gornergrat, until a point where the pine tree forest gives way to large snow plains. It is fascinating that the train brought us from a temperate climate zone through the subarctic to the arctic zones within minutes, where forests gave way to deserts of glaciers and snow. The Gornergrat Bahn stops at five stations along its climb to end at its final station at 3,089m.

Gornergrat – Europe’s Highest Open-Air Railway

Gornergrat is a 3,135m high ridge in the Swiss Pennine Alps. The top of Gornergrat offers visitors a great panoramic view of the surrounding mountain ranges and the Matterhorn. Other than being Europe’s highest open-air railway, Gornergrat also houses the highest hotel in the Swiss Alps. open to non-staying guests, the hotel houses a souvenir shop, a cafe and a restaurant. In terms of activities, there are rather limited things we can do at the top of Gornergrat. We spent our time visiting the many viewing platforms and the Zoom Experience. We first visited the souvenir shop at the hotel to check if there were any unique souvenirs we could buy back. As it was still rather early, we got our caffeine fix from the cafe one floor above the souvenir shop.

Gornergrat Observation Platform

The Gornergrat observation platform is located behind the hotel building and is the only other thing to do up here. Getting to the platform requires us to walk up a small slope, which is not too tedious. At the top of the slope is a large flat area with benches set up that are partially buried under the snow. This would make a great spot to relax and look out into the surrounding 29 peaks, and for an unobstructed view of the Matterhorn. There are some telescopes placed at the four corners of the platform, which are free for us to use. When looking through these telescopes, we saw information about the mountains (such as their names and heights) being projected inside the lens of the scope as we swivel it around to see the different mountains. As I was doing that, my friend suddenly popped into my view, which gave me a good idea to take some unique pictures of my friend through the telescope with the mountain name imprinted. We spent some time taking such pictures while we were up here. As we were walking around, we spotted some visitors seemingly climbing up a pile of rocks. This would be the highest point (other than the hotel) at Gornergrat. There wasn’t really much to do around here other than relaxing, taking pictures with the mountains and building snowmen.

Zoom Experience

After the viewing platform behind the hotel, we headed back to the souvenir shop to buy the souvenir glass with the shape of the Matterhorn at its base. We headed to the Zoom Experience next, which is an interactive exhibition that is included in our train tickets to Gornergrat. The experience started with a film about the Matterhorn. Compared to the film we saw in the 360° cinema on Jungfraujoch or the Cinema Lounge on Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, I thought this film was more interesting. It fully captures how the surroundings at Mattechangehanges with the seasons, and some parts I felt like I was flying up the surface of the mountain. The other experience that was interesting was the VR goggles. Sitting on the hanging chairs, the VR goggles play a film from a paraglider’s perspective, gliding past the Matterhorn. The hanging chair and the VR goggles gave us the feeling of flying.

Golden Spot

The Golden Spot, a short walk from the Zoom Experience, is essentially a place where a Golden Gornergrat Bahn was on display for visitors to take pictures with the Matterhorn as the backdrop. Getting to the Golden Spot during winter was a tad challenging. We had to tread each step very carefully on the path, as it is sloping downwards and covered with the remnants of ice. Other than taking a picture with the Golden train head, there was nothing much we could do here. We backtracked the slope we came down and made our way to the train station, just in time to catch the next train to Rotenboden.

Rotenboden – Our failed Attempt to hunt for the Lake

We originally planned to sledge on Gornergrat, as I read that the sledging here is one of the longest in Switzerland. We would basically rent a sledge at Riffelbergleberg and ride the train one stop up to Rotenboden and sledge downhill beside the railway track. However, we were disappointed that the facility was closed today. The next best thing to do is to proceed with our other original plan of taking a short 10-minute hike from Rotennoden station to Riffelsee, where the famous Matterhorn reflection is in the lake. However, the way to Riffelsee wasn’t exactly well-marked, and as we exited the train station, we eventually gave up the idea of going to Riffelsee. We saw some igloos on the way up and attempted visit the igloos. The way to the igloos was well marked by signs, and we could see the igloos after we crossed under the railway, but once we crossed under the railway track and they seemed far, we estimated it would take us at least 30 minutes to reach them. Moreover, it is situated in the lower plains, meaning we would be tired of climbing back up. We also gave up the idea of visiting (luckily, we did not visit; we heard from one of the visitors that the igloos are closed). As the Gornergratbahn calls into the stations every 30 mins, we spend the rest of our time relaxing and enjoying the tranquillity the mountains brought us while waiting for the train.

Return to Zermatt

After the foiled attempts on the stuff we were planning to do, there wasn’t much else to do at Gornergrat, so we headed back down to Zermatt via the next train that arrived. Despite seeing the same scenery when we came up, I was still captivated by the majestic mountain ranges and the Matterhorn. This could be our last time seeing Matterhorn at such a close range. Like our upward journey, the descent also took around 30 min. We popped by one of the two supermarkets in town to buy additional food that we will be cooking for dinner tonight. Tonight will be our last night in Zermatt, and we will leave the town on the World’s slowest express train, the Glacier Express, tomorrow.