Switzerland is best explored by rail - here's our pick of the 7 top rides

1. GLACIER EXPRESS: "The slowest express train in the world" is how this legendary railway trumpets itself. It takes about eight hours to snake 291 kilometres across the Swiss Alps between the chic ski resorts of Zermatt and St Moritz, navigating 291 bridges and 91 tunnels en route. From December to March, a winter wonderland appears through the train's panoramic windows. As the northern spring blends into summer, revitalised rivers gush with snow melt and lush pastures are dotted with cattle, hikers and wildflowers, although the most daunting peaks are coated in white powder year-round. You can wine and dine on board, but you don't have to "do" the Glacier Express all in one go (there are two or three daily services). Consider splitting the journey in Chur. Switzerland's oldest-recorded city has a colourful historic core with cafes, bars and restaurants huddled around a 12th-century cathedral.

2. BERNINA EXPRESS: Chur also happens to be the launchpad for other delightfully sluggish trains, notably the Bernina Express, which courses through south-eastern Switzerland to Tirano, a tranquil town across the Italian border. Taking a little more than four hours, the 144-kilometre route negotiates two alpine passes (Albula and Bernina), scaling 2253 metres above sea level on the highest mainline railway tracks in Europe. Like the Glacier Express, this train rumbles over the curving marvel that is the Landwasser Viaduct, and also crosses a raft of other eye-popping bridges, including the nine-arched Brusio spiral viaduct. After a stroll - and perhaps some pasta or pizza - in Tirano, you could return to Chur or take another train to St Moritz (just over two hours away) or delve deeper into Italy on one of the services to Milan.

3. GORNERGRAT RAILWAY: Zermatt is the place to hop on this heritage line, which was Switzerland's first fully electric rack railway when it launched in 1898 and remains the oldest functioning line of its type anywhere on the planet. Don't be surprised if your ears pop on the 33-minute route, which climbs more than 1500 metres in altitude to the Gornergrat ridge (3089 metres), where awe-inspiring alpine scenery comes with invigoratingly crisp, clean mountain air. On a clear day, you can count 29 peaks soaring over 4000 metres. The most distinctive, with its pyramid-like top, is the majestic Matterhorn. If the weather's calm, its mirror reflection can be snapped in the Riffelsee, a lake near Rotenboden, the train stop before the Gornergrat terminus.

4. JUNGFRAU RAILWAY: That railway not quite high enough for you? Take the Jungfraubahn, which bores up through the jagged Eiger and Monch mountains to the Jungfraujoch, Europe's loftiest train station (3454 metres). As well as ice artworks and the world's highest Lindt shop, you'll find restaurants and viewpoints promising vistas of snow and ice 365 days a year. From the terrace of the Sphinx Observatory, hulking Swiss peaks battle for your attention along with the Aletsch Glacier, Europe's longest at 23 kilometres. In really good weather, you may spy France's Vosges mountains and Germany's Black Forest. Begun in 1896 and opened in 1912, the Jungfrau Railway surges nine kilometres from Kleine Scheidegg, a 2016-metre alpine pass with train and gondola connections to the likes of Grindelwald and Interlaken, two lovely potential bases in this uber-photogenic slice of central Switzerland.

5. GOLDENPASS EXPRESS: Adrenaline seekers flock to Interlaken to go paragliding, canyoning and skydiving, but the city is also blessed with leisurely diversions. A recent addition, unveiled in 2022, is the GoldenPass Express, a luxury train that wriggles to the south-west, francophone part of Switzerland, ending at the Vaudois Riviera town of Montreux. Hugging Lac Leman (Lake Geneva), it charms with its flower-fringed waterfront promenade, romantic medieval castle and annual July jazz festival. Travelling here via the A-list alpine resort of Gstaad, this express takes three hours 15 minutes from Interlaken, using cutting-edge technology to shift the train between standard and narrow gauge tracks. It has three classes, including Prestige, where passengers on heated leather seats are proffered champagne, caviar and local cheeses as cloud-piercing summits, grape-strewn slopes and pristine lakes attract gazes through the panoramic windows.

7. CENTOVALLI RAILWAY: If you are visiting Ticino, be sure to ride the Centovalli (Hundred Valleys) Railway. It marked its centenary in 2023, but few overseas travellers are aware of this hidden gem linking Locarno with Domodossola, a picturesque little city in Italy's Piedmont region. Unless it's the northern autumn, when the glorious fall foliage prompts a spike in Swiss passengers, you're likely to find half-empty carriages, so you can normally shuffle from side to side for the best vantages. Whether it's dramatically perched stone farmhouses and hamlets or vertiginous gorges and viaducts, the journey promises a flurry of breathtaking moments. It takes two hours to travel nonstop on this 52-kilometre railway, but you can hop off at more than 20 stations for hikes, picnics or wine-fuelled lunches at rustic osterias (taverns).