Photo Essay – A scenic Alpine train journey to Zermatt

Just like a dream, I was recently invited by Swiss Tourism, Maison de Voyage and Rock-On Holidays by Thomas Cook India to experience Switzerland in a unique way. While enough has been said and written about the romantic / family vacations of Switzerland our idea was to leave out all the famous / touristy activities and instead  explore this country through a new lens i.e.  through the eyes and activities of a single budget traveler. Hence our itinerary included all kinds of adventure sports, walks and many new experiences that people normally don’t associate with Switzerland. And I continue my tales from where I left it in my previous post.

Typical Swiss wooden houses, enroute to Zermatt, Switzerland

On day 3 of our trip, we finally bid adieu to Interlaken and took a train to Zermatt. Somehow during this trip I realized that as a group we had a thing for missing trains. The DDLJ moments regarding trains kept happening to us and this time it was nearly missing one. For this journey i.e. from Interlaken to Zermatt we had to take a train and  change connections three times.  During the last part of the journey (from Visp to Zermatt) we just had two minutes in between the two trains and had to run from one end of the station to the other. We literally ran for our lives and got into the train just as the doors started closing, that too with great effort others and just about managing to scramble in with much pulling and pushing of luggage.

But this train ride from Visp to Zermatt was one of the most scenic train journeys that I have done in Europe. First and foremost the train was designed to give the passengers a true panoramic view of the gorgeous landscape with 3/4 of the walls being glass. This helped me take photographs all along the journey too. The train kept chugging along, making its way into the hills and with each turn kept revealing newer stunning sights. And I just kept jumping from one side of the train to the other to capture all of them. All along the landscape was stunning with snow-covered peaks, trees in gorgeous fall colors of red, rust, yellow and gold, small villages with wooden toy houses & miniature gnomes, a river flowing along the railway tracks, patches of snow here and there, etc etc. Sharing some of these beautiful sights with you through this photo essay. These pictures are taken through a phone camera in a moving train, hence please excuse the reflections and quality. 🙂

First view of the snow-covered peaks in the Swiss Alps

Meandering roads through the Alps 🙂

The long glass windows and the stunning views 🙂

Love this pic with kind of stony hill in the front and snow-covered peaks in the background

My picture postcard from this train ride

Train tracks, trees, trails and a tributary 🙂

Small villages flying by and river flowing along the train tracks 🙂

Loved the sky and the single tall tree in this pic. Gorgeous, isn’t it?

Do notice the trees with no snow and snow just above them

Beautiful trails that are just inviting you a hike 🙂

Snow in small patches 🙂

Loved this abstract pic. It’s the light playing with the glass window of the train and my camera lens 🙂 Love the pattern its making.

The return journey was even more stunning but that’s a story for another day. For today join me on his train ride and enjoy these beautiful autumn views 🙂