As we left our home and walked past Lancaster Castle dragging our luggage over the cobblestone streets, my heart was racing as I thought about the journey ahead of us. We had a two-week railway adventure that would take us through England, France, Switzerland, and Italy to celebrate my birthday, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. We love the simplicity of train travel in Europe and couldn’t wait to experience the beauty, efficiency, and architectural brilliance of some of the most iconic railway lines. After a short 5 min walk from our home to the train station, we waited for just a few minutes before boarding the train. We quickly stowed our luggage, found our seats, and were off on our adventure. The train attendant brought us drinks and breakfast, and we just sat back and watched the beautiful English countryside go by.
The first big stop on our adventure was in Strasbourg, France to experience their famous Christmas markets (see blog here). For our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations, the Swiss Alps were calling us. We rolled into a tiny, charming town called Chur on my birthday.
Chur is the oldest town in Switzerland with a settlement history of over 5000 years. Our first evening in town, we wandered the car-free, cobblestone streets of the Old Towne to soak in the history and architecture.
We also hit up their tiny Christmas market for some birthday treats. We discovered a delicious special-occasion Romanian dumpling called sarmale, fermented cabbage leaves stuffed with rice and smoked sausage and topped with sour cream.
Apparently, the Swiss enjoy dumplings because we also found a stand serving momos, a Himalayan steamed dumpling.
I didn’t have a cake with candles to blow out for my birthday, but we found Feuerzangenbowle again! (refer to our Berlin blog here if you don’t know what I’m talking about). So, I got a flaming sugar cube for my birthday instead of candles.
Bernina Express
There is just something romantic about traveling by train, and Switzerland’s iconic railway lines are classy, comfortable, offer local cuisine to try, and have some of the most impressive scenery. The Bernina Express features breathtaking views from its panoramic, red carriages as it travels for four hours from Chur over the Swiss Alps to Tirano, Italy.
The time flew by as we were absolutely enchanted by the scenery and the architectural marvels of the railway, which featured 196 bridges and 55 tunnels and has been declared a World Heritage Site. The first stretch featured a rolling countryside with hilltop castles and churches.
Soon after, one of the most dramatic moments of the trip was when the train crossed the famous Landwasser Viaduct. This architectural feat of 1901, constructed with just two cranes and no scaffolding, is a 6-arched limestone bridge that leads directly into a tunnel on a sheer rock cliff.
Throughout the journey, there was no shortage of beautiful Swiss villages, snow-capped mountains, frozen lakes, arched stone bridges, and glistening snow-covered trees.
The Bernina Express climbed to 7392 feet at the Bernina Pass, the highest railway pass in all of Europe.
Just after the pass, we were able to get off the train at a small town called Alp Grüm overlooking Paschiavo valley and the Vadret da Palü glacier.
From here, the train descended 2000 feet to arrive in Tirano. During the descent, one of the highlights was the picturesque Brusio spiral viaduct.
In Tirano, we grabbed a quick lunch of pizza and the most fantastic focaccia stuffed with ham and cheese. The highlight of Tirano was the Sanctuary of Madonna di Tirano, a Roman Catholic church from the 1500s.
We sat at a café across the street to enjoy the atmosphere and the best hot chocolate I have ever had. The finest Swiss chocolate must have been melted down for that glorious drink! After our leisurely stroll around town, we hopped on the train for the trip back to Chur. The journey was just as spectacular the second time around, and we got the Christmas Eve party going with a shot of Röteli, a special local cherry liquor, to enjoy the sunset.
For Christmas Eve dinner, we went to the award-winning restaurant Bündner Stube in our historic hotel, the Romantik Hotel Stern. The restaurant serves up seasonal Swiss cuisine in a rustic, warm atmosphere complete with candlelight and wood paneling. Perfect for our holiday celebration!
St. Moritz
We celebrated Christmas Day at the famous lakeside ski resort, St. Moritz (also home of multiple Winter Olympic Games).
The sun was bright in the Carolina blue sky as our train chugged through the Alps again, and we were surprised by how much this changed the look of the landscape from the previous cloudy day.
When we arrived in St. Moritz, our first order of business was to find a proper Swiss fondue for lunch. We wandered through the luxurious alpine resort town checking out the menus and sights along the way.
We found a charming restaurant with stone columns and wood paneling that served an assortment of fondues. We selected the vegetarian-friendly truffle and champagne and the meat-lovers beef and bacon.
The warm ambiance of the restaurant and the unique, flavorful cheese fondue made for a quintessential Swiss Christmas Day lunch.
After lunch, we took a nice walk around the lake to soak in the beautiful alpine landscape.
Of course, as we always do, we rewarded ourselves after the “strenuous” walk around the lake and hike back up to town with a hot chocolate and a piece of the famous Engadine nut tart, a shortbread filled with a sweet honey walnut mixture.
We really enjoyed the scene at this hopping little outdoor terraced bar called the RooBar at the Hauser Hotel. Skiers and snowboards came here directly off the slopes to warm-up with a hot beverage and jam out to the awesome 70s music blaring from the speakers. With its old-world charm and gorgeous alpine landscape, St. Moritz was the perfect spot to spend Christmas Day.
After the journey back to Chur, we ended our holiday celebrations with another outstanding multi-course dinner at the cozy and romantic Bündner Stube restaurant.
My favorite dish was the puff pastry-topped deer consommé; however, the truffle-crusted beef medallion came in a close second.
We had a very merry Christmas in Chur and had one last Swiss rail adventure remaining the following day.
Glacier Express
As we left Chur on the Glacier Express, we traveled a different route this time through the Rhine Gorge. We were so enthralled by our surroundings that we somehow managed to not take a single picture of this unique stretch of the railway. The steep limestone cliffs towered above us as the train snaked along the turquoise Rhine River. Of course, I didn’t forget to take a picture of the delicious spread of fresh regional cheeses that we got to nibble on during the journey. Insert facepalm emoji here.
After the gorge, the train starts the long, gradual ascent to the Oberalp Pass (6700ft), following the Rhine river past quaint Swiss villages.
While the Glacier Express continues on (an 8-hour journey if you take the whole line), we hopped off at the ski resort town of Andermatt.
From here, we took some regional trains to our next destination, Lugano, a surprisingly delightful Swiss-Italian city (blog here). But, that was a wrap on our Christmas in Chur riding the iconic railways through the Swiss Alps. The experience was every bit as romantic, cozy, gorgeous, and magical as we had dreamed.
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