The ascent begins with the colors of summer painted across the gradual slopes of Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen, the sunlight dusting the bright hues across the landscape in gold. Through the thin bars of the trundling cogwheel carriage, the sides of the mountain are a jewel encrusted carpet of green, the wildflowers swaying in the mild breeze. Abruptly, grassland turns into an enclosed rock face as the train slips into a tunnel burrowing through the sides of Monch or Eiger. Only the curious sensation of scaling the incline plane of the tracks is apparent, the disorienting lack of feedback from the scenery beyond leaving you at a loss as to the true height you are at. Yet when you emerge, the sweet summer heat has given away to a dazzling citadel of snow and ice. Stopovers at Eismeer and Kleine Scheidegg reveal natural sculptures of ice and frost, merciless winds seeking the chinks in your winter armor to nip at any exposed skin with vengeance. Beyond Eismeer stands Jungfraujoch, Europe’s highest train station standing at 3454m.

Here snow reigns king, shaping the landscape with a frigid harshness. Functional aisles carved by hand with picks and saws in the 1930s now store crystal wonders of ice depicting scenes of the wild at the Ice Palace. The fleeting radiance of these ice sculptures is apparent in the beads of water continuously strung at the tips of feathers and minute edges molded to grant these works of art an ephemeral beauty. The beginning of the creamy wonders of the universally loved Lindt Chocolate is revealed at the Lindt Swiss Chocolate Heaven as you participate in its creation at the mixing bowl, bagging a few treats for the long ride back. The Alpine Sensation however, jolts visitors with the horrors it depicts through a stunning interplay of lights and music of the miners’ struggles in constructing the Jungfraujoch and pulls back the curtains on the bloodstained history of this winter fortress. Through drastically different climate zones and glorious displays of the finest artifacts of Switzerland’s natural history, the trip to Jungfraujoch and beyond make an indelible mark on your journey of Swiss discovery.