Every Indian Who Has Been to Europe Wishes They'd Known About This Train
Quick Answer: The most breathtaking experiences in Europe aren’t found in its cities. They are in between. The overnight train from Paris to Venice, the Glacier Express, the Bernina Express and the West Highland Line across Scotland have quietly become the highlight of many an Indian traveler's European visits. This post is a love letter to all of these.
There is a type of remorse that arises on the journey home from Europe. No regret for museums not seen, restaurants not attended. It’s not very silent. It’s the feeling of moving from city to city, airport to airport, ticking off the attractions as the real Europe flashes past the taxi window.
Most Indian visitors tend to overpack quite a bit when they visit Europe, I think. 2 weeks. 7 countries. To-do list. And that’s all right. Ambition is rewarded in Europe. But something is lost between a flight from Zurich to Venice and a bus from Edinburgh to the Highlands. The feel of place. The ease and gradual recklessness of it.
Almost all the travelers who keep Europe altered them—really altered them—mention a train.
Not the rapid intercity rail, but a delight of its own. Slow dudes. The ones that weave over mountain passes, the ones that cling to the edges of glacial lakes, the ones that slither through valleys so lush they must be fake. The ones where the journey is so plainly the point you lose track of time and begin to watch.
At Hikeaholiday, we have heard this narrative one too many times. A person going to Europe for the Eiffel Tower and the Amalfi Coast. They return with accounts of the four-hour train excursion in Switzerland. It is this kind of conversations that make this blog what it is.
Glacier Express, The Most Beautiful Train Journey in Switzerland
What is Glacier Express & Why Do Travelers from India Love It?
The Glacier Express links two of the country’s most storied mountain towns — Zermatt and St. Moritz — in around eight hours. It crosses 291 bridges, passes through 91 tunnels and climbs to the height of 2,033 meters at Oberalp Pass. The stats are quite astonishing. But people don’t cry on this train over numbers.
They call for light.
Panoramic windows, ceiling high with a curving roof, so you don’t miss a scene of the Glacier Express. And what scenes they are, peaks still capped with snow in August, stone towns seemingly unchanged through the centuries, rivers so cold blue they seem lit from below. The train crawls along at an average of 36 km/hr. so you can soak it all in. A farmer’s field. A hilltop chapel. A child waving from a pathway.
For the Indian visitor who counts Europe in monuments, this is disconcerting in the best way possible. Here no memorial. But there is only landscape, and you, stupid in it.
Glacier Express is all year round, and the winter route is a different ball game altogether. A white silent realm that seems really otherworldly if your visual reference for mountains is the dust-brown Aravalli's or the green-grey Nilgiris. No one tells you to expect the Swiss Alps in January.
If you can afford it, go first class. The seats are wider, the windows larger, and the food served onboard -- yes, there is a dining car -- is quietly superb.
Bernina Express: Your ticket to Italy and the Alps
Bernina Express Vs Glacier Express: Which is best for Indian Travelers?
The Glacier Express is the most majestic version of Switzerland; the Bernina Express is the most cinematic representation of Switzerland. From Chur or St. Moritz, the route offers views down into the Engadin valley, crosses the Bernina Pass at 2,253 meters – the highest railway crossing in the Alps – and drops down into the Italian town of Tirano.
That fall is the kicker.
At Alp Grüm the train swings south, and the scenery changes almost with theatrical suddenness. The rocky landscape of the high Alps yields to something more lush, more warm, more Italian. Below you, the Poschiavo valley opens in rich greens and terracotta roofs. It smells different when you get off at the stops.
The Glacier Express and the Bernina Express are both part of the Rhaetian Railway and are a UNESCO World Heritage route together. But they play in distinct emotional registers. If you want grandeur and size, go for the Glacier Express. For drama and contrast, try the Bernina Express. Ask many Indian travelers who have done both, and they would tell you, without prodding, that the Bernina Express was like seeing a film.
The Bernina Express also has the advantage of ending in Italy; thus, it is a genuinely useful route for anyone commuting between Switzerland and the Italian lakes or Milan. Slow journey with a logistics sense. That’s an unusual pairing.
Paris to Venice Night Train - Romance on the Rails
Is the night train from Paris to Venice worth it for Indians?
The Paris to Venice night train is not the fastest. It’s not the cheapest. Not as efficient as a 2-hour flight. But what you get is a night you are going to have a real hard time forgetting.
Paris Gare de Lyon. Evening embarkation. You get to your couchette or private cabin. You see the outskirts of Paris fading away into the French rural side, golden then dark; You’re asleep. Or half-asleep. You’re rocking gently. Then you wake up in the Alps, and look through a misted-up window at the peaks catching the first dawn.
Then the train crosses into Italy, and when you come into Venice Santa Lucia station you are coming not into a city but through one. The station opens right onto the Grand Canal: no taxi rank, no vehicle park, no hideous airport approach. There is nothing but water, and boats, and the unusual feeling of having arrived where one ought to have arrived.
This is a reimagining of what a sleeper train can be for the Indian traveler who relates the phrase ‘overnight train’ with the Indian Railways experience. It’s about you. It’s kind of slow. It is surprisingly romantic, whether you go with a boyfriend or with family or alone.
The Thello (now Trenitalia) line has been accessible some years and not others, so check schedules and book early. But it is the highlight of their entire European trip, say the visitors who have ridden it almost unanimously.
The Train Through the Scottish Highlands – Wild, Windy and Unforgettable.
The West Highland Line in Scotland is special for Indian travelers for what reason?
Scotland asks of you. It’s not an easy charmer like Paris or the Amalfi Coast. It is more harsh, more difficult, less easily read in its beauty. Nowhere is this more so than on the West Highland Line — the railway line that runs from Glasgow up through the Highlands to Mallaig via Loch Lomond, Rannoch Moor and the Glenfinnan Viaduct.
That bridge? You’ve seen the Harry Potter movie, haven’t you? Well, most Indian travelers have. In real life, the Jacobite steam train that crosses it is a living piece of cinema. But the ordinary ScotRail line also goes through here, and the effect is no less breathtaking: a stone arch bridge across a Highland valley, a lake stretching behind it and mountains dissolving into cloud.
Rannoch Moor is one of the bleakest and most stunning sites in Europe: a vast blanket bog which the train crosses on the middle part of the journey. Roads are not to be seen. No structures. The train, slow though, churning along. Everywhere nothing but peat and heather and sky.
Travelers from India who have traversed both the Swiss train routes and the Scottish Highlands typically remark that Scotland was the biggest surprise. Switzerland is the sort of location you half expect to be gorgeous. Scotland is more beautiful still. Not the way you don’t. Rougher. Stranger. Harder to explain when you get home.
Here’s what Indian travelers have to say about how these excursions affected their outlook on travel
“The kind of feedback that Hikeaholiday receives is from Indian travelers who have done such routes. Not scenery. However, it is, of course, about landscape. It’s all about tempo.
India’s travel culture is maximalism, for the generation tripping over Europe in droves. See all this! Take a pic of everything. Go as far as you are able. That instinct is not bad. It comes from a real excitement, from having worked hard to get here, from wanting to make the journey matter.
But on a slow train through the Alps, or over Rannoch Moor at nightfall, something happens. They are meaningless pictures—no more timetable. Instead the space is filled with attention, the kind travel, at its best, is supposed to provide. The act of being there, in fact being there, not merely passing through.
Several tourists have told us, separately and in the same words, that a certain hour on the Glacier Express or the Bernina Express was when they knew what Europe really felt like, under the landmarks, under the tourist routes. That’s not that easy to do.
Cool down. The Window Has More to Offer You.
Hence the travelers who have undertaken these travels tell everybody who will listen. Not that the trains are mysterious or secret – the Glacier Express is famous, the West Highland Line well known – but that the experience of being on the trains is so distinct from the rest of European travel that it works as almost a correction.
Europe, seen slowly, through a train window, with mountains or moorland or the lights of a French town slipping past in the evening, reveals something no highlight reel can tell you. It rewards the patient.
If you dream of a trip to Europe or have already been and felt that special, silent regret on the flight home, let Hikeaholiday help you design an itinerary around these excursions, not as an afterthought but as the heart of the trip.
The window seat calls.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best European train journey for first-time Indian travelers to Europe?
The Glacier Express is often the most recommended starting point for Indian travelers — it's comfortable, well-organized, and delivers an alpine experience that's genuinely unparalleled. The Bernina Express is a close second, especially for travelers already planning to move between Switzerland and Italy.
Do I need to book European scenic train journeys in advance?
Yes. Trains like the Glacier Express and the Bernina Express require seat reservations in addition to rail passes, and popular dates — particularly summer and winter peak seasons — sell out weeks in advance. The overnight Paris-to-Venice service also books quickly given its limited availability.
Is a Eurail pass useful for these scenic train routes?
A Eurail pass covers basic passage on many of these routes, but scenic trains like the Glacier Express and Bernina Express require an additional reservation fee. The Jacobite steam train in Scotland operates independently and must be booked separately. It's worth researching each route individually before relying solely on a rail pass.
Are these train journeys suitable for families and older travelers?
Absolutely. The Swiss panoramic trains and the West Highland Line are accessible, relatively relaxed journeys with onboard dining or catering. The overnight Paris-to-Venice service is also well-suited to families who want to maximize time — traveling through the night means arriving fresh, without losing a travel day.
How does slow train travel in Europe compare to flying between cities?
Flights are faster, but slow train journeys through scenic routes offer something a flight cannot: the landscape itself. For travelers whose goal is to genuinely experience Europe rather than simply cover it, these train routes consistently rank among the most memorable parts of the trip.
