For a luxury train holiday, choose Switzerland: its panoramic trains are designed to be the holiday rather than the way to it, every one of them has a first class or premium product built around the view, and a single pass covers the tickets for almost all of them. Austria wins in one situation: when the trip is really about Vienna, Salzburg and the cities, and you would rather travel overnight in a sleeper than spend your days on scenic lines.
The rest of this piece is the reasoning, with the prices each operator publishes. I build rail journeys in Switzerland for a living, so weigh my bias accordingly. I have tried to be fair to Austria, which does several things better than its neighbour.
The short version
| Switzerland | Austria | |
|---|---|---|
| Signature scenic trains | Glacier Express, Bernina Express, GoldenPass Express, Gotthard Panorama Express | Railjet over the Arlberg, Semmering railway, Mariazellerbahn, Transalpin panorama car |
| Best seat on board | Glacier Express Excellence Class, about CHF 874 for the day in 2027 | Railjet Business Class, €15 on top of a first class ticket |
| Rail pass | Swiss Travel Pass, 8 days first class CHF 697 | No national visitor pass of the same kind; point to point fares or Interrail and Eurail |
| Mountain lifts | Mostly extra; three included with the pass | Often included through regional guest cards from your hotel |
| Night trains | None within the country | Nightjet, with private shower compartments on the new trains |
| Best for | The trains and the mountains | Cities, music, night trains |
Panoramic trains: Switzerland's home ground
Switzerland has four trains that people travel specifically to ride, and each sells a premium seat as a supplement on top of a first class ticket.
The Glacier Express runs from Zermatt to St. Moritz in about eight hours. A first class ticket for the full route is CHF 284 at the fares for the timetable that starts in December 2026, plus a CHF 54 reservation, so roughly CHF 338 for the day. Excellence Class is a reservation of CHF 590 per person on top of that first class ticket, which brings the day to about CHF 874 with a five-course lunch, wine and a guaranteed window seat. I have set out who should pay for it in my Excellence Class guide.
The Bernina Express runs from Chur to Tirano in Italy in about four hours, over a line that, with the Albula, has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2008. The GoldenPass Express between Montreux and Interlaken has a Prestige section raised 40 centimetres above the rest of the carriage, with heated seats that always face the direction of travel, for a CHF 49 supplement on a first class ticket. And the Gotthard Panorama Express pairs a lake steamer from Lucerne to Flüelen with a panoramic train over the old Gotthard line to Lugano, for a CHF 24 supplement, running daily from 18 April to 18 October in 2026.
Austria has nothing that matches this set. Its railways are excellent; they were simply built for a different job.
Austria's trains: excellent transport, fewer showpieces
The Austrian flagship is the Railjet, a fast intercity train running at up to 230 km/h with a small restaurant car. Its Business Class is a separate section of the first class carriage with leather seats, leg rests, reading lamps, a welcome drink on Austrian sections and meals from the restaurant served at your seat. It costs €15 on top of a first class ticket, or €17.40 with attended service, which makes it one of the best value upgrades in European rail. First class itself is comfortable rather than special.
The Railjet from Zurich crosses the Arlberg on its way to Innsbruck, stopping at St. Anton and passing through the 10,249 metre Arlberg tunnel. It is a fine mountain line seen through ordinary windows. The closest Austria comes to a Swiss panoramic train is the daily Eurocity Transalpin between Zurich and Graz, which carries first class observation cars with glass reaching into the roof, via Innsbruck, Kitzbühel and Zell am See.
The Semmering railway is the heritage line. Built between 1848 and 1854 over 41 kilometres of mountain, with fourteen tunnels and sixteen major viaducts, it was inscribed by UNESCO in 1998, ten years before the Albula and Bernina. You ride it on ordinary trains between Gloggnitz and Mürzzuschlag, south of Vienna. ÖBB plans to send fast trains through the new 27 kilometre Semmering Base Tunnel from 2030, so the through trains on the old line will thin out. If it is on your list, go before then.
The Mariazellerbahn is the charming one: a narrow gauge line of 84 kilometres from St. Pölten to the pilgrimage town of Mariazell, with 19 viaducts and 21 tunnels, and a first class panorama carriage serving breakfast and regional snacks at your seat on selected days. It is a lovely half day out of Vienna. It is not a reason to choose a country.
Nightjet: where Austria is genuinely stronger
Switzerland is too small for a domestic night train. Austria runs Nightjet, and from Zurich it reaches Vienna, Graz, Hamburg, Amsterdam and Berlin. Since 15 June 2026 the Zurich to Vienna service has used the new generation trains, whose Comfort Plus compartments have their own shower and toilet. A sleeper ticket includes bedding, toiletries, an à la carte breakfast and access to ÖBB lounges. Leaving Zurich at 21:40 and waking in Vienna saves a hotel night and most of a day.
A shower compartment on a modern Nightjet is not the Orient Express, but it is a civilised way to cross a country, and nothing in Switzerland offers it. I have made the case for night trains separately.
[PAU: add personal note on the Nightjet Zurich to Vienna, if you have taken it, and which compartment you would book.]
Passes: Switzerland bundles, Austria does not
The Swiss Travel Pass in first class costs CHF 405 for 3 days, CHF 492 for 4, CHF 634 for 6, CHF 697 for 8 and CHF 787 for 15, at the prices valid to the end of 2026. It covers the tickets on all four panoramic trains, so you pay only the reservations, and includes the Rigi, Stanserhorn and Stoos, with up to 50 per cent off many other mountain railways.
Austria has no national visitor pass of the same kind. Travellers resident in Europe can buy an Interrail Austria Pass and everyone else a Eurail equivalent, with the price depending on where you live. For a trip of three or four long legs, I would simply buy point to point first class tickets and add Business Class where it is offered. ÖBB's cheapest Sparschiene fares are limited and non-refundable, so book early if you want them and pay for flexibility if your dates might move.
Hotels and mountains
Switzerland is the more expensive country to sleep in, and at the top end it is not close. In my breakdown of what a luxury Swiss rail trip costs, a grand hotel in St. Moritz such as the Kulm Hotel runs to around CHF 1,450 per room per night outside summer, a five-star in Zermatt such as the Omnia around CHF 920, and a resort above Lake Lucerne such as the Bürgenstock around CHF 825. Vienna's Ringstrasse palace hotels and the best spa hotels in Tyrol and Salzburg tend to be priced below their Swiss equivalents.
[PAU: add the five-star rates you are currently quoted in Vienna and Tyrol for a like-for-like comparison.]
Mountains are where Austria quietly pulls ahead. In Switzerland the big excursions, the Gornergrat, the Jungfraujoch, the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, are sold separately, with a discount for pass holders. In much of Austria your hotel hands you a guest card. Stay with a partner hotel in Zell am See-Kaprun in summer and the Summer Card includes the cable cars; the Innsbruck Welcome Card covers several lifts free from a two-night stay. Check the current rules with the hotel.
What eight days costs in Switzerland
A rough figure for two people, seven nights in five-star hotels, first class throughout, using the rates above:
| For two people | CHF |
|---|---|
| Swiss Travel Pass, 8 days, first class | 1,394 |
| Glacier Express reservations, first class | 108 |
| GoldenPass Express Prestige supplements | 98 |
| Seven nights, five-star, mixed regions | ≈ 6,500 |
| Total before meals and mountain fares | ≈ 8,100 |
| Swap to Glacier Express Excellence Class | add ≈ 1,070 |
The hotels are four fifths of the bill. A comparable Austrian week, Innsbruck, Salzburg and Vienna with the Nightjet home, will usually cost less, mainly because the hotels do and because the lifts often come with the room. The rail itself is a few hundred francs for two either way: SBB sells Zurich to Vienna from CHF 76 in first class on the cheapest limited fares.
[PAU: add a costed Austrian equivalent once you have hotel and Nightjet quotes, so this section can carry a like-for-like number.]
The combined option: Zurich to Vienna by Railjet
You do not have to choose. The Railjet Express links the two, with six direct trains a day and a fastest time of 7 hours 52 minutes. In the timetable starting 13 December 2026, the 10:40 from Zurich reaches Innsbruck at 14:10 and Vienna at 18:30. Zurich to Innsbruck is about three and a half hours, crossing the Arlberg in daylight.
The shape I would build: the Swiss half first, with the Glacier Express and the GoldenPass, which is essentially what my Swiss Wellness Grand Tour does; then the Railjet to Innsbruck for a night or two, on to Vienna in Business Class, and either fly home from Vienna or take the Nightjet back to Zurich.
Two caveats for 2027. ÖBB is closing the Freilassing to Rosenheim section, the route the Railjet takes through Germany, from 8 February to 9 July 2027, so through journeys to Vienna will be longer or involve replacement buses. And there are shorter closures on the Arlberg from time to time, so check the dates before you build a trip around a single train.
Seasons
Switzerland's trains have off seasons. The Glacier Express does not run from 11 October to 4 December 2026, and the Gotthard Panorama Express runs only from spring to mid-October. Austria's main lines run all year, and Advent in Vienna and Salzburg is when its cities are at their most appealing. If your only free weeks are in November, Austria is the better choice.
The verdict
If the trains are the reason for the trip, go to Switzerland, book the panoramic seats and spend the difference on hotels. If the trip is about Vienna, Salzburg, music and the pleasure of waking up in another city, go to Austria, book Railjet Business Class by day and a Nightjet shower compartment by night. And if you have ten days or more, ride the Railjet from Zurich and do both. For how the Swiss trains rank against the hotel-trains of Europe, see my ranking of Europe's luxury train journeys.