From Thursday, July 17th to Friday, July 25th, I took a 9-day, 7-night trip using Swiss trains to visit four places: St. Gallen, Engelberg, Interlaken, and Bern. I also took a trip using Swiss trains in August 2023 (A Swiss train journey in August 2023. – 旅好き爺の旅行記 ), so this is the second installment.

On this trip, I traveled from Zurich Airport to St. Gallen and took tourist trains such as the Voralpen Express, Lucerne-Engelberg Express, and Lucerne- Interlaken Express to enjoy the magnificent scenery of the World Heritage sites of St. Gallen, the old town of Bern, and the Swiss Alps, including Mount Titlis and the Jungfraujoch.

This time I will introduce Engelberg, a mountain resort centered around Mount Titlis, which means “Angel Mountain.”

July 19th (Sat)
I took the Voralpen Express departing from St. Gallen Station at 11:05. The clock tower you can see beyond the station building on the right is the post office.

I got on the train as soon as it arrived, so there was no one on board yet.

As the name Voralpen suggests, this express train runs through the foothills of the Alps, so the view from the window is filled with hills and pastureland.

Eventually Lake Lucerne came into view.

As the train approached the city of Lucerne, Mount Pilatus came into view.

This is the Voralpine Express I just took.

From here I had to change onto the Lucerne-Engelberg Express.

For some reason, there was a seat with a picture book on it. I guess there are many passengers with children.

As the train left Lucerne station, dark clouds suddenly appeared in the sky and thunder began to rumble.

When I arrived at Engelberg station, the rain had subsided a little, but luckily the hotel was right in front of me. My accommodation for the night was the Bellevue-Terminus Urban Lifestyle Hotel. The photo was taken the next day on a sunny day.

I could see the mountains from the balcony of my room.

The rain had almost stopped, so I headed to Engelberg Abbey. This monastery is a Benedictine monastery built in 1120, and its pipe organ is one of the most magnificent in Switzerland. Engelberg was once under the control of this monastery, and has developed around it.

The interior decoration is also magnificent

There is a monastery shop here, selling cheese and wine made there. I bought some cheese to go with the wine and snacks. The cork of the wine has the monastery’s mark on it. The wine was smooth and went perfectly with the cheese I bought.

On this day, there was a free live performance at the hotel restaurant, so I had dinner there. This wine was also fruity and easy to drink.

July 20th (Sun)
When I woke up this morning and stepped onto the balcony, the sun was shining brightly.

Breakfast at this hotel is buffet style, but you can order one egg dish, which makes it feel luxurious. After breakfast, I took a bus from the Engelberg station to the Mount Titlis cable car station. First, I boarded the 8-seater Titlis Xpress and headed up the steep slope.

After that, I continued on through flat pastureland for a while, and the lively sound of cowbells hanging from the necks of the cows could be heard.

After passing the intermediate station at Lake Trybsee, the slope becomes steep again.

Finally, I boarded the world’s first 80-seater Titlis Roatair, which rotates 360 degrees, and headed to the summit station.

Arrived at the summit station at 3020m

A magnificent panorama unfolds from the summit station.

Here you’ll find the highest suspension bridge in Europe, the Titlis Cliffwalk, with its dizzying heights and sheer cliffs below.

The rocky mountain on the left is Mount Titlis, 3,062m high.

There was also a lift called the Ice Flyer that connects the summit to Glacier Park. The image from the Swiss Tourism Board showed more snow, but perhaps because it was summer, it didn’t have the impact of flying over the glacier. There were few passengers.

You can also experience a glacier cave carved into the glacier.

After passing through this tunnel, I was able to reach the opposite entrance of the cliff walk I had seen earlier. I had a self-service lunch at the restaurant at the summit station and then returned to the town of Engelberg. Engelberg was a small, beautiful town surrounded by mountains.

The mountain before us is Mt. Hahnen, which provides the town’s water supply through its natural springs. The water is incredibly fresh and delicious.

For dinner, I had sandwiches purchased from the COOP in town and red wine. Swiss red wine is also very delicious.

It was great to be able to enjoy the beautiful view of Mt. Titlis and the town of Engelberg. Since I stayed in Lucerne last time, I stayed in Engelberg this time, but it is possible to easily visit Mt. Titlis from Lucerne. Lucerne is a historic town that retains a medieval atmosphere.

Tomorrow we head to our next destination, Interlaken.