On E-dawg’s last day, we took a panoramic train. I am a big fan of these trains – you get to see a lot of the beautiful Swiss landscape. It also provides a nice relaxing day if you have been busy.
As you may have read on the blog, there are are four scenic trains: The Golden Pass, The Bernina Express, The William Tell Express, and The Glacier Express. Gabe and I have taken the Glacier Express twice, with The Captain and Swiss Miss, as well as with The Fam.
This time, we took The Golden Pass. We chose it because of its proximity to Geneva, as we wanted to do the entire thing in a day. We bought tickets to ride just until Zweisimmen in the German speaking part.
Cool map courtesy of goldenpass.ch
So, we took an hour train from Geneva to Montreux in order to catch the Golden Pass. One interesting thing about Swiss trains is that they are beautifully timed. For instance, as our train from Geneva rolled into Montreux, the Golden Pass sat awaiting any passengers. Moments later, it departed. This isn’t by coincidence. The entire system is designed for efficiency and there are rarely wait times or “layovers”.
After boarding, The Golden Pass ascended above Montreux. I had not been this way yet so thoroughly enjoyed being a tourist as it winded around, giving glimpses of the lake below.
Leaving Montreux on The Golden Pass
E-dawg enjoying the ride
Passing gorgeous pastures and rolling green fields
Passing Château D'Oex, home of the hot air balloon festival.
Fields of dandelions
Typical Swiss backyard.
Keep that delicious milk, cheese, and yogurt coming, cows!
Passing Gstaad and The Palace.
An enticing road
Descending into Zweisimann
This view never gets old to me.
Back to Lake Geneva....
God shining light through the clouds onto Lake Geneva
This entire route took six hours of travel time from Geneva. We did stop twice on the way home to explore Zweisimmen and Château D’Oex so it took us a bit longer – about nine hours. I’d recommend doing that to break up the trip. If you don’t have reservations*, you can hop on and off wherever you like.
*For our trip, we did buy reservations from Montreux to Zweisimmen not knowing if they were required. We were the only ones with reservations and could’ve saved the $$ by not doing it since it was a low tourist season. It also made it handy not to have them on the way back as it encouraged us to live in the moment and hop off at whatever towns looked neat. However, on the way home, we didn’t get to sit in choice seats when hopping back on.
Thus, if you are in a big group or sitting together is important, its a nice benefit to purchase the reservation.
The Swiss Watch Blog 
Lauren, This blog is incredible. You have a real talent for social media. Hope you and Gabe are having fun.
Hi Bill! So good to hear from you. I hope that everything in DC is good. Graduation is soon??
Enjoyed your blog but have so many questions about your trip. I have been trying to plan a golden pass trip but keep getting hung up on whether to stay in interlaken for two days or just go all the way to Lucerne in one day. Would you be able to answer further questions. This is “the trip” of my lifetime and want to do it right but have been unsuccessful in using the Internet along to get answers. Thank you for your time.
Kathy charleston
Hi Kathy – I actually haven’t done Golden Pass all the way to Interlacken or Lucerne. I think both would be nice places. I have personally have done Interlacken, but not Luzern…its on my list, though! Best of luck with your trip!
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