Ten mountain railways with views you won't believe

Mountain railways are engineering's love letters to scenery: built at ruinous cost through rock that clearly didn't want them, purely so the rest of us can sit down and gawp. The ten journeys below range from a two-hour Welsh puff to an eight-hour glide across the Swiss Alps, and each turns transport into the day's main event. Universal advice: check which side of the carriage gets the views, book window seats ahead in summer, and resist the buffet trolley until the tunnels — you'll regret every glance away from the glass.

A UNESCO-listed line that spirals from Chur over the 2,253-metre Bernina Pass and down to palm-fringed Tirano in Italy, passing the Morteratsch glacier and curving across the six-arched Landwasser viaduct. Panoramic carriages need a reservation, but here's the trick: regular regional trains run the identical route for the standard fare, with windows that actually open for photographs. Sit on the right heading south for the glacier.

Since 1912 this railway has burrowed through the Eiger itself to Europe's highest station at 3,454 metres, emerging at an observatory above the great white river of the Aletsch glacier. It is magnificent and it is expensive — comfortably over two hundred francs return — so protect the investment: go only on a forecast-clear day, take the first train from Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen, and stop at Eigergletscher on the way down to walk a little.

Twenty kilometres, 866 vertical metres, one of the steepest standard-gauge lines on earth: the Flåmsbana drops from mountain-plateau Myrdal to the fjord-side village of Flåm past waterfalls, cliff farms and hairpin tunnels. The train pauses at Kjosfossen falls, where a red-dressed 'huldra' spirit dances for the cameras in summer. Combine it with the fjord cruise to Gudvangen for the classic Norway in a Nutshell day, and book weeks ahead in July.

The world's first true mountain railway, finished in 1854 and now UNESCO-listed, curls over the Semmering Pass on a parade of stone viaducts that look borrowed from a Roman aqueduct catalogue. The genius is accessibility: it's a normal line, so any regional train from Vienna to Mürzzuschlag rides it for a few euros — no reservations, no panoramic-carriage surcharge. Sit on the left leaving Vienna, and walk the Bahnwanderweg trail alongside for the viaduct views.

Britain's only rack railway has been shoving carriages up Yr Wyddfa since 1896, some behind original steam locomotives, and the reward is the summit view across Eryri to the sea — cloud permitting, which is roughly a coin flip. Trains sell out days or weeks ahead in summer, so book online early and pay the supplement for steam if romance matters to you. If the summit is clagged in, Llanberis consoles with the excellent National Slate Museum.

The self-deprecating 'slowest express in the world' takes around eight hours between Zermatt and St Moritz, crossing 291 bridges and the 2,033-metre Oberalp Pass while lunch is served at your seat. Full-length it's a splurge; the smart economy is riding just the best section — Zermatt to Andermatt, or Chur to St Moritz — on regular trains with a normal ticket. Winter arguably beats summer: the Rhine gorge under snow is otherworldly.

Open since 1898 and climbing to 3,089 metres, the Gornergrat Bahn out of Zermatt is the best-value big-view railway in Switzerland: thirty-three minutes from village lanes to a ridge ringed by twenty-nine four-thousanders, with the Matterhorn showing its finest profile the whole way up. Sit on the right ascending. The connoisseur's move is the summer sunrise train — book it, watch the peak catch fire, then walk down one station to the Riffelsee for the reflection shot.

The steepest cogwheel railway on earth hauls itself out of Alpnachstad at a 48 per cent gradient, tilting past cliff faces and the occasional unbothered ibex to Pilatus Kulm high above Lucerne. The Victorian engineering still feels faintly cheeky. Do the classic Golden Round Trip: paddle steamer across Lake Lucerne, cog railway up, cable cars down the other side to Kriens. Note the railway only runs roughly May to November — the line is simply too steep to clear of snow.

Europe's first mountain railway has been climbing the 'Queen of the Mountains' since 1871, and Rigi still does the definitive Swiss day out: steamer from Lucerne to Vitznau, red carriages rising through orchards and cliff cuttings, and a summit panorama sweeping across thirteen lakes to a horizon crowded with Alps. On selected summer days the original 19th-century steam locomotive hauls vintage stock — check the heritage timetable and plan around it. Swiss Travel Pass holders ride free.

The last mountain line in Switzerland still running daily steam, the Brienz Rothorn Bahn shoves polished-brass locomotives up 1,678 vertical metres of cogwheel track from the shore of Lake Brienz. The smell of coal smoke and hot oil is half the ticket price; the summit view over the impossibly turquoise lake to the Bernese giants is the other half. It operates June to October only. Sit on the right going up, and book the first departure of the day.