We’ve always loved train travel and one of the attractions of travelling in Switzerland is the opportunity to ride on a myriad of trains of all descriptions. From fast inter-city ones down to the quaint little mountain railways that seem to defy gravity as they trundle up and down the mountains, you are spoilt for choice. Plus, like most things in Switzerland, everything runs like clockwork!
We had noticed the little blue and cream train sitting on a side platform in Montreux station and found out that it went up the mountain above the town to the summit at Rochers de Naye. Β Although we could get a discount with our Swiss Passes, we did have to pay a proportion of the ticket price. It would, however, have been well worth it for the journey alone.
Run all year round by the Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway (MOB for short), the journey transports you on the cogwheel train via Glion (known for its hospitality school) and Caux, wending its way via a series of tunnels and switchbacks to the top. It probably wasn’t the best day weather-wise but we still had stunning views back down to Lake Geneva.
The lakeside settlements gradually got smaller and smaller until they looked like toy towns. Every time we thought we had seen our last glimpse of the lake we went through another tunnel or round a corner to find that it had magically appeared again on the other side of the train.
Being late spring the meadows still had some of the narcissi in bloom – apparently the spring floral displays are famous here. We started to see snow appearing too – even at this time of year there was still plenty on the upper slopes (albeit a little grey and sludgy). There were even a few intrepid skiers still around.
After a journey of around 55 minutes we arrived at the little summit station. Rochers de Naye sits at an altitude of 2042 metres above sea level and in the course of our train ride we’d climbed around 1600 metres. The air at the top was lovely, crisp and fresh and we set off to explore more!
Copyright Β© 2017 Rosemary Thomas Le Chic En Rose. All rights reserved
Le Chic En Rose 
Brrrh! What’s all that white stuff? π π But I agree, there’s definitely something about a train journey. π π And that’s a lovely photo of the two of you riding along. Have a great weekend!
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Thanks Jo! It was a bit brisk outside! Still lovely to be up in the mountain air. Yes not sure what makes train journeys so special – I guess you have more room to move around than in a bus or coach plus you don’t have to drive so you can admire the views! You too – hope your weekend is a lovely one π
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Sounds like the perfect train ride Rosemary and those views are just incredible. Gorgeous picture of you and your daughter too! We spent a week in Switzerland a few years ago and did all our travelling by train, as you say everything ran like clockwork and we were so impressed. I remember even being on a train with a children’s play area in one of the carriages – they think of everything!
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Thanks Joy! Yes it’s such a well organised place. You know that you can cut the connections quite fine in some cases and still make your next train. We’ve stayed on Lake Lucerne before, had a leisurely breakfast, caught the 11 am ferry into the town centre and then got the midday train in time to drop our bags at the airport soon after 1pm! Would never risk that anywhere else! A children’s play area sounds a wonderful idea – as you say they think of everything! π
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So beautiful!
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Thanks Anabel – it was a lovely ride to the top of the mountain and such a beautiful place! π
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Can’t go wrong with a train ride in Switzerland, the views are stunning. I remember when we visited Interlaken we took a train up the Jungfraujoch which was incredible. I would love to go back to that region, but also visit this area around Lake Lucerne…gorgeous π
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That’s one of the few trains we haven’t done yet! We took the train up to Gornergrat to see the Matterhorn and that was spectacular (we were so lucky that it was a clear sunny day). Lucerne is wonderful – we had a couple of days there at the end of our trip such a lovely place π
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