What CHF 59 actually buys you on the Chocolate Train
This isn't a train ticket with a discount on it. It's a packaged day out, and the Swiss Travel Pass knocks it down from CHF 89-99 to CHF 59. The Half Fare Card gets you to CHF 69. First class only, because the carriages are 1915 Belle Epoque Pullmans.
For your CHF 59 you get the train from Montreux to Montbovon, every bus transfer after that, entry to La Maison du Gruyere with a cheese tasting, entry to Maison Cailler with a chocolate tasting, and a guide who stays with you all day. Hot chocolate or coffee and a pain au chocolat arrive at your seat not long after departure, which is the correct way to start any day.
The Chocolate Train timetable and how the day runs
- Leave Montreux at 09:43 or 09:45, depending on the date, in the Pullman carriages.
- Ride up to Montbovon.
- Bus to Gruyeres for La Maison du Gruyere and time in the medieval town on the hill.
- Maison Cailler from 14:30 to 16:15, factory tour and tasting room.
- Back in Montreux around 17:00 on a regular train.
That's about 7 hours 30 minutes door to door, covering roughly 100km. It's operated by the MOB, the Montreux-Oberland Bernois, and only the first leg is on the vintage stock. The rest is buses and standard trains.
When the Chocolate Train runs in 2026
1 May to 29 September 2026, on set days only:
- May and June: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, except Sunday 10 May.
- July and August: the same days plus Saturday.
- September: Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.
Turn up in October and there is no Chocolate Train at all. Nearest station is Montreux, about 3 hours from Zurich, so this is a day you build a Montreux stay around rather than a day trip from the other end of the country.
Booking the Chocolate Train: the excursion ticket is the reservation
You buy in advance from a BLS Travel Centre or through the MOB reservation system online, and that ticket is your seat. There's no separate reservation fee to pay on top, and there's no walking up on the morning to see if there's space. It's compulsory and it sells out on summer Saturdays.
This differs from the rest of the network, where you're paying a small supplement on a route your pass already covers. Here the CHF 59 is the whole thing. If you're planning other scenic days, the seat reservation rules for Swiss scenic trains work quite differently.
The Chocolat Express: the same factories for CHF 0
There's a completely separate service called the Chocolat Express, a regular regional train from Bern to Broc-Chocolaterie. It runs hourly, all year, takes 1 hour 18 minutes, needs no reservation, and your Swiss Travel Pass covers the fare outright. It stops at the door of Maison Cailler.
Entry to both Maison Cailler and La Maison du Gruyere is free with the pass anyway. Gruyeres and Broc are both on the covered network. So you can assemble the identical day yourself and pay nothing.
| Chocolate Train | Do it yourself | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost with the pass | CHF 59 | CHF 0 |
| Season | 1 May to 29 September, set days | Year round, hourly |
| Booking | Compulsory, in advance | None, just walk on |
| Carriages | 1915 Belle Epoque Pullmans | Ordinary regional train |
| Guide | Yes, all day | No |
| Snack on board | Hot chocolate and pain au chocolat | Whatever's in your bag |
| Transfers | Handled for you | You work out the buses |
| Starts from | Montreux | Bern |
The CHF 59 buys you the Pullman carriages, a guide, and not having to think. That's a real product and some days it's worth it. It is not buying you access to the chocolate, because you already have that. Both factories sit on our list of attractions the Swiss Travel Pass covers for free.
Who should pay the CHF 59
The carriages are what you're actually buying, because everything else in the package you already own. The entries are free with your pass, the Chocolat Express runs to Broc hourly all year for nothing, and both factories will let you in whether you arrived in a Pullman or on a regional train from Bern. What the CHF 59 actually buys is a 1915 Belle Epoque carriage from Montreux to Montbovon, every bus arranged for you, a guide who stays all day, and a rural Fribourg timetable you never have to look at.
If that's the day you want, it's a fair price for it. If it isn't, you're paying CHF 59 for transport you'd otherwise have for free, on set days between May and September, from a town three hours from Zurich.
Fitting the Chocolate Train into a wider route
Montreux earns its place on a rail itinerary whatever you decide about the chocolate. The GoldenPass Express leaves from the same station and runs the other way, up to Zweisimmen and Interlaken, and that one your pass covers outright rather than discounting. Come at Montreux from the Bernese side instead and the Lotschberg mountain line drops you into the Valais with nothing to reserve and no supplement to pay at either end. Of all the scenic trains, this is the only one your pass leaves you paying for.
