The GoldenPass Line: Switzerland's scenic railway

Linking Zürich and Geneva, the GoldenPass Line takes in some of the country's finest cities and countryside. Anthony Lambert hops aboard

The GoldenPass Line between Zürich and Geneva is the perfect introduction to Switzerland. It is not intended as a day journey, though it can be easily accomplished in a day, but as a route through some of the country's finest scenery on which to stop and explore at leisure. The outer sections, between Zürich and Lucerne and between Montreux and Geneva, are both delightful, but it is for the central parts that the special ticket and trains have been created.

With its waterfront location, surrounded by mountains, Lucerne is a place to linger. A journey on Switzerland's most picturesque lake is a must, and few leave without a ride on the world's steepest rack railway up Mount Pilatus, perhaps returning by cable-car. To reach Interlaken, you take the metre-gauge Zentralbahn which offers a dining car and panorama car, to enjoy the turquoise water of Lungernsee and the climb through wooded meadows to the Brünig Pass, dropping steeply to the birthplace of the meringue at Meiringen.

This is another place for excursions; to the Reichenbach Falls where Conan Doyle set the fatal struggle between Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty, or to one of Europe's most spectacular gorges, reached by a pedestrian suspension bridge from an underground station at Aareschlucht Ost on the branch line to Innertkirchen. Continuing to Interlaken, the train skirts the shores of Lake Brienz and you may glimpse a cloud of steam near the foot of the historic rack railway from the woodcarvers' village of Brienz up Mount Rothorn.

Sandwiched between lakes Brienz and Thun, Interlaken is the gateway to the Bernese Oberland and start of the unmissable journey to Europe's highest station at Jungfraujoch. There is much to see in and around Interlaken, and from 1 to 3 September this year you have a once-in-a-decade chance to experience the Unspunnen Festival, a feast of Swiss folklore from Alpine wrestling to folk dancing. Marmots and the rare ibex can be seen at the Alpine Wildlife Park. The antique funicular up Interlaken's mountain, the Harder, leads to walks enjoyed by Mendelssohn.

There is bar service in the lounge of the onward journey by standard gauge train past Lake Thun and through Spiez to the valley of the Simmen. The entrance to the valley is guarded by the imposingly sited 15th-century castle at Wimmis, but it is the chalets of the valley with their elaborate carved decoration that astonish most passengers. At the terminus of Zweisimmen, you join the impressive metre-gauge GoldenPass Panoramic train, designed by Pininfarina. By placing the driver in an elevated cab, passengers with reservations can sit at the front of the train and enjoy a privileged view.

It's immediately obvious what a special journey this is, as the train heaves itself up a tremendous horseshoe curve out of the Simmental into a pastoral valley that forms the watershed between the Simme and Saane rivers. After the small resorts of Saanenmöser, Schonried and Gruben, the line descends steeply to the fashionable skiing and summer resort of Gstaad. The train then follows the wooded valley of the Sarine through country known as the Pays d'Enhaut, where cattle and cheesemaking dominate the agriculture.

Brown-black chalets, different in style from the Simmental but equally decorative and with pronounced overhanging eaves, add to the beauty of the gentle landscapes, as the train crosses the linguistic boundary from German to French. Approaching Château d'Oex you may see a hot-air balloon, for this has become the European centre of the sport, thanks to a perfect sheltered microclimate. Rossinière boasts the largest chalet of the valley with 113 windows and intricate carvings, paintings and inscriptions, which can be seen from the train.

After the junction of Montbovon, where a branch goes off to the castle and cheese centre of Gruyere, the railway enters an enchanting and lonely valley as the train climbs steeply towards the long summit tunnel under the Col de Jaman. Clinging to the mountainside and crossing frequent bridges, the train reaches the resort of Les Avants, which so captivated Noël Coward when he came here first in 1959 that he spent the rest of his life in the chalet he bought.

As the train emerges from the valley, there comes a breathtaking moment as the whole panoply of the French Alps opens up before you, beyond the waters of Lac Léman below. The descent into Montreux is the nearest a railway can get to a mountain road, with a series of hairpin bends that repeatedly change the direction of travel. Some passengers pause at Montreux to take the rack railway up Rochers-de-Naye for even more stupendous views and the Marmottes Paradise.

The final part of the journey to Switzerland's most international city along the main Milan-Brig-Geneva main line is no anti-climax. The lake is seldom out of view, and vineyards line the hillsides.

For further information, contact the GoldenPass Centre (00 41 840 245 245; www.goldenpass.ch)

Full steam ahead

For many, a graceful Swiss paddlesteamer gliding through the water with a gentle curve of white water from the bow is the closest that engineering gets to poetry. For aficionados, the same is true of the magnificent engines that power them, but almost everyone on board spends a few minutes leaning on the polished handrail over the exposed engines, admiring the almost hypnotic revolution of the burnished cranks. The brass steam gauges, the polished copper piping and the oil lubricators shaped like Grecian urns transform a functional machine into an object of beauty.

It is 105 years since Switzerland's oldest paddlesteamer entered service: the Uri has been plying lakes Lucerne and Uri since 1901 and she is one of 15 across Switzerland: five on Lucerne, four on Geneva, two on Zürich, and one each on Brienz, Thun, Maggiore and Constance. All are covered by the Swiss Pass.

Of course, most people take them because they offer unrivalled views of the lakes they cruise, but they are also useful ways of getting from A to B, to the extent that some people even commute to work by them in the summer months. For walkers, they can be the best way to reach a footpath; on lake Lucerne and Uri, for example, there are 33 piers, and boat is the only way to reach some sections of the 35km Swiss Path around Lake Uri.

Some have restaurants in the elegant setting of restored wood-panelled dining-rooms, and most lakes offer evening cruises, some with dinner/dance or jazz themes. On National Day, 1 August, the boats on Lake Thun circumnavigate the lake, passing by the carefully timed firework displays of each village. Whatever the occasion, it would be hard to find a more romantic way to end the day than a moonlit cruise.