We had two travel days left in our Interrail Global Passes (10 days of traveling in two months) from the July’s train travels that needed to be used by the end of August, so we decided to utilize them this past extended weekend (+ a couple of extra days) traveling Switzerland’s scenic railways. We chose The Golden Pass scenic train that first took us from Montreux by Lac Léman to Interlaken Ost, where we changed trains and continued over the Brünig Pass to Lucerne (Luzern). This last section was especially beautiful, so we took it also on our return trip, but then chose a faster route from Interlaken to Montreux, via Spiez and Visp.
On our first day of traveling we took a train to Geneva from Grenoble, and transferred there to another one that took us to Lausanne. We did not do any sightseeing in Lausanne; the stop was planned just to make next day’s travel more manageable with less time sitting. The next morning we took a train to Montreux, where we transferred to the Gold Pass scenic train. We had more than five hours of train travel ahead of us: first 3h15 from Montreux to Interlaken Ost, and then 1h50 to Lucerne! In the first leg we were seated with an older American couple, one of which spent the first thirty minutes coughing violently. Fortunately, they were nice enough to put on a mask, as did several other older people in the car. As soon as we found out that there were unreserved seats available, we switched to them — although we, as many others, had optional seat reservations. For the second leg we did not bother to reserve seats, as we trusted there to be plenty of places available, since not everyone continued from Interlaken to Lucerne. Immediately from Interlaken the train started a steep climb to the Brünig Pass, and rode on the edge of the slope most of the way to Lucerne. The scenery was magnificent, but unfortunately our seats were on the up-slope side of the train, so no pictures were taken. We were more careful with the seat choice when coming back!
In Lucerne we stayed at an apartment hotel near Emmenbrücken station. It was not the most attractive area, but the least expensive place we found within a convenient 5-minute train ride away from the main railway station and the city center. This was again one of those self check-in places that did not have key access, but doors had to be opened with an app. After several attempts we managed to get into the building, but the app did not open the apartment door. Luckily there was a number to call, and someone actually answered and helped us to activate a key card for apartment access. However, thereafter the key card only worked every other time when trying to enter the building, but it worked flawlessly to open the apartment door. Go figure!
The next morning was the first cloudy one for ages, and nicely cooler, too. It was our long run day, so we headed to Lake Rot (Rotsee), a longish rectangular lake popular among rowers. There was a 7-kilometer pedestrian path around it (+ 2.5km to reach the lake from the apartment) that was supposed to be virtually flat all the way around, save for the sections where roots had made the paved path quite bumpy. However, it was not true; at some point the path climbed quite a bit above the lake and the railway tracks that ran along it. And then descended an equally steep gradient down to the lake level. A couple of times!
After the run the sun almost came out, and it started to get hot and humid. We spent the afternoon sightseeing in the city center. Among the sights we visited were the Archway (Torbogen) wishing travelers coming from the railway station welcome to Lucerne; the Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke); Lion Monument (Löwendenkmal), “The Dying Lion” that commemorates the Swiss soldiers who died in 1792 trying to protect the Tuileries Palace in Paris during the French Revolution; Musegg Wall (Museggmauer); and Spreuer Bridge (Spreuerbrücke).
Our five-day scenic Switzerland tour was nearing the end. We still had two things to enjoy: the scenic Golden Pass train back to Interlaken Ost and then further to Montreux, and an early morning run by Lac Léman in Montreux. And then of course, train rides from Montreux to Geneva to Brignoud, from where we chose to walk home (4km), instead of continuing on the train all the way to Grenoble and taking the bus back home.
In the Lucerne-Interlaken train we were joined by a young Indian couple, who watched (and listened) to music videos on the phone for the first 30 minutes, not using earpieces. Fortunately to us, several seats were freed at the first few stations so we could switch to new seats far away from them. We could still hear the woman talking to her phone for the whole trip.
The scenery from Interlaken to Montreux via Spiez and Visp was very different from the Golden Pass route, a lot drier and more rugged.
Our final travel day started with a run by Lac Léman. There was some interesting artwork by the waterfront promenade: Le Petit Prince, a Penguin sculpture, a statue of Freddie Mercury, and a couple of female figurines. There was also a statue of Chinese gymnast Li Ning, who after winning six out of seven medals awarded at the Sixth World Cup Gymnastic Competition in 1982, earned the title “Prince of Gymnastics.” He lit the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics.
This was the first time we (two together) spent time in Switzerland longer than just changing trains in Geneva when traveling North or a night at a hotel when coming back home. Of course we only saw a fraction of the country, but the impression was that it is clean and at least the railway system works really well, which makes this kind of improvised, extempore traveling easy. The downside is that the country itself and traveling there is outrageously expensive — it is not only that the prices are high, but our bank charges exorbitant fees using our cards outside of the EU. This all makes Switzerland an unlikely destination for more frequent or longer visits, at least to us.