The Benedictine monastery at Disentis

The Glacier Express prepares to roll out

The Tiefencastel railway station on the way to Zermatt

The serenely beautiful St Moritz lake

A view of the 2033m-high Oberalp Pass

St Moritz isn’t known as Switzerland’s most famous winter resort for nothing! It’s glam and glitzy, seriously fashionable and, above all, the place to be seen at. My husband and I, however, had a more practical reason for travelling to the spa town. We’d booked tickets on the famous Glacier Express, which connects St Moritz and Zermatt, and were therefore staying in the town for a night before embarking on what’s often advertised as the “journey of a lifetime”.

St Moritz lies in the heart of the Engadine valley on the southern side of the Alps very close to the Italian border. The dry, sparkling climate and the fact that it has more days of sunshine per year than anywhere else in Switzerland make it a must-see destination even in a country that’s brimming with tourist hotspots. The Swiss also make sure that you don’t lack for choice. Once there, you can hike in Switzerland’s only national park, go river rafting and horse riding. And if that’s not enough you could instead play golf, go mountain biking or sailing or even summer skiing on the upper slopes of the Corvatsch.

The spa section of this town, St Moritz-Bad offers the long-time tradition of mineral baths, mud baths and spa therapies to revive one’s senses after a day of adventure sports.

In winter, St Moritz boasts some of the most reliable and abundant snowfall in the country and the miles of downhill runs offer some of the finest intermediate skiing anywhere. The area has a network of cross-country ski trails, toboggan and bobsled courses and an Olympic ski-jump.

Not being very sporty ourselves, we decided to explore the town. We began, logically enough at the town square which turned out to be surprisingly unattractive and far removed from the chocolate-box image of the Swiss mountain resort. We didn’t spot a wooden hut and there definitely wasn’t a single well-fed cow in sight. Most of the houses had been built to resemble English council flats — extremely neat and clean ones but lacking in charm.

If your motto is shop until you drop and you have plenty of cash to spare, there’s plenty to do in St Moritz. Hundreds of chic boutiques and major stores are crammed into the resort, leaving shoppers overwhelmed by the number of choices available to them. The less well-heeled can always window-shop at watch outlet Bucherer and buy a truffle or two from Confiserie Hauser.

The town houses may be uninviting, but the setting is spectacular. St Moritz lies at the edge of a long chain of lakes at the foot of the 4,000m Piz Bernina. With its perfect lake, mountains and forests of larch and fir, it looks a million bucks. We started a walk around the lake but kept stopping every few seconds to gawk at the scenery. This place drips romance.

We were at the station by 8am the next day, ready to board the Glacier Express for one of the world’s great railway journeys — across the Alps to Zermatt. The Glacier Express, which has been operating since 1930, has been billed one of the world’s slowest express trains and averages just over 20 miles an hour during the eight-hour trip. There are 291 bridges and 91 tunnels on the route dotted with wooden chalets, tranquil alpine pastures, wild gorges, foaming mountain torrents and valleys. Commentary is available in all coaches explaining the amazing engineering feats in overcoming extreme altitude variations by the train.

There was a motley mix of travellers in our coach, though it looked like we were the only Asians around. Some of our co-passengers already seemed to be on backslapping terms and spoke fluently in Italian, French and German among themselves. We felt like the odd ones out.

This being Switzerland the train pulled out of the station absolutely on time almost exactly as the clock struck nine. We had rushed into the trains and made sure that we had aisle seats, but the large windows extending to the top meant that everyone got to see the excellent panoramic views. At times we felt almost as if we were sitting squarely in the middle of the scenery.

The “oohs” and “aahs” began immediately after we left St Moritz. Passengers who’d previously sported bored looks now seemed as excited as tykes let loose in Disneyland. The landscape was so beautiful and dramatic at times that we stood up for a better view, only to sit down hastily after being remonstrated by the couple across the aisle. “You two are obstructing my view again,” the lady chided for the fourth time as the train chugged into Chur station, the first stop on the way.

The train rolled out for Disentis a few minutes later. I marvelled at the pretty chalets perched high on mountain tops and wondered how their inhabitants made their way home every day. They must be as nimble as the goats, wearing bells like the cows and huddled in groups on the mountainsides.

The train stopped for 20 minutes at Disentis as the engine was changed. This gave us time to photograph the stunning Benedictine monastery for which the town is famous. Post-lunch, a three-course affair comprising salad, meat with vegetables and apple pie, we reached the Oberalp Pass. At 2,033m above sea level and dwarfed on all sides by mountains, it is the highlight of the trip. The Rhine springs from a source near Oberalp Pass.

After almost five hours on the train, we were becoming nonchalant about the fabulous landscapes. I noticed that some people had dozed off and others were reading journals. Someone at the back muttered “not another one” as a tunnel came into view. The sun was shining mercilessly on us through the clear windows and roof and we gladly got off at Andermatt to stretch our legs. A huge party of Japanese tourists left with heavy rucksacks and ski gear.

We were now nearing our destination. The train stopped for another engine change at Brig, a popular destination for winter sports enthusiasts in the canton of Valais. Located at the crossroads where the Simplon Pass crosses the high Alps into Italy, the small town boasts many architectural treasures like the Stockalper Castle. There are around a dozen major ski centres within a short drive from Brig, including the renowned Saas-Fee.

A final halt at Visp and we pulled into Zermatt. Our journey was over. A sense of emptiness enveloped me as it always does when a good thing comes to an end. It lasted only a minute. The majestic Matterhorn suddenly showed itself in all its splendour and we stood spellbound at the threshold of another adventure.

Photographs by Indranil Choudhuri