St. Moritz and the Landwasser Viaduct on a day from Zurich

A Glacier Express tour without the Glacier Express

TripsSource's St. Moritz day at ~$377 is sold as "Glacier Express UNESCO Views & St. Moritz". The name invites a wrong guess, because you never board the red panorama train itself.

What you ride is the Albula line, on regular trains of the Rhaetian Railway. The Glacier Express itself runs on these rails from Chur up to St. Moritz, so the scenery outside is the same even though the carriage is not.

That makes it the cheapest tour on our site and the one with the plainest trade-off. Our price comparison sets it beside the other two, extras included.

Zurich to Chur, then up the Albula line

The day starts at 10:15 am in the station concourse of Zürich HB, below the big clock. A guide meets the group there, and the rail passes for the day are part of the price.

The first leg is a regular train to Chur, the gateway to the mountain lines of Graubünden. There you change to the narrow-gauge railway that climbs south toward the Engadine.

The Albula line is known for the way it gains height in a narrow valley. The track turns back on itself in loops and tunnels, so a village you passed a few minutes ago can reappear below you.

Near the top the train runs through the Albula tunnel and drops into the Upper Engadine. Together with the Bernina line, the Albula line has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2008, which is where the tour's name comes from.

The Landwasser Viaduct at Filisur

The best-known moment comes near Filisur, where the line crosses the Landwasser Viaduct. Its stone arches stand about 65 m (213 ft) high, and the track runs off the viaduct straight into a tunnel in the cliff.

The viaduct opened in 1902 and follows a curve, so from the train you can see part of it as you cross. The listing does not mention a stop at a viewpoint below it, so expect to see it from your seat.

Regular trains have ordinary side windows, not the roof-high glass of the Glacier Express panorama cars. The view is narrower. Clouds can hide the peaks on any train, however famous its name.

An hour in St. Moritz

St. Moritz sits at about 1,800 m (5,900 ft) in the Upper Engadine, above a lake with peaks on every side. The tour gives you roughly an hour there.

An hour is enough for a walk through the village and down to the lakeshore, or for a sit-down lunch, but hardly both. Lunch is not in the price, so pick a café quickly or carry something from Zurich.

The town changes a lot through the year, from green slopes to a frozen lake people walk across. Our guide to the seasons on the route covers what each one looks like from the train.

Three hours back by road

The return does not use the railway. The group drives back to Zurich, which the listing puts at about three hours.

Three hours in a vehicle after a single hour in town is the weak spot of this day, and the listing is open about it. If you get carsick or hoped for a train both ways, this is the part to think about.

All told, the day lasts about eight hours, two fewer than the Glacier Express tours. You are back in Zurich earlier in the evening, which suits travelers with dinner plans or an early start next day.

St. Moritz day or the panorama train?

The two TripsSource days start at the same clock tower and share a guide company, but they ride different lines. Side by side, the differences look like this.

Pick the St. Moritz day if the budget is tight, or if the town itself is the goal and the train is the way there. It also suits travelers who rode the Glacier Express before and want to see the Albula branch.

Pick the Glacier Express and Lucerne tour at ~$436 if you want a seat on the named train. It climbs over the Oberalp Pass and ends with two hours in Lucerne.

For the longest time on the train itself, the private day from Chur to Brig stays aboard for about four hours. If you would rather plan everything yourself, our guide to a guided tour or your own tickets weighs it up.