Bernina Express: 1 day round-trip from Zurich?
A traveler is planning a one-day round trip from Zurich to Tirano on the Bernina Express in mid-October and seeks advice on the feasibility. They are concerned about a tight 6-minute connection time at Chur and are open to alternatives that allow for scenic views without too much travel strain.
- Consider using regular trains for a similar scenic experience with shorter travel times.
- The Swiss travel system is efficient, so the tight connections usually work out fine.
- If you're worried about train time, consider breaking the trip up by taking sections of the scenic routes instead.
AI-generated summary-
Hello! I was wondering if anyone had advice about whether it’s sensible to do a one-day round trip from Zurich to Tirano on the Bernina Express? My trip is in mid-October and I’d really like to experience the scenic trains. From what I can tell, the full round trip will be about 12 hours, which seems doable, but I’d love to hear input from others. I’m also a little worried because when I checked SBB, the connection from Zurich at Chur is only 6 minutes. It looks like the platforms are next to each other, but it still seems like a very tight turnaround?
I’m also open to any suggestions for alternatives that would include taking local trains one-way instead and/or turning around earlier to shorten the trip so long as I wouldn’t miss out on too much of the scenery.
The main reason I want to do a one-day round trip is because I plan to take the GoldenPass next. From what I can tell, going to Interlaken (or any of the major GoldenPass stations) from St. Moritz or Tirano would route through Zurich anyways. I figured it isn’t worthwhile to book another hotel, and staying in Zurich would make my next travel day shorter.
Thank you for your help!
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Hello Ace13,
Welcome to MySwissAlps.
Thank you for sharing your plans. Yes, you can also take the Bernina Express route with the regular trains. It does involve train changes vs the Bernina Express, which is one direct train ride but correct, you can still enjoy the same wonderful scenery.
All about the Bernina Express can be found here, including the mandatory seat reservations and an overview on “regular trains vs Bernina Express”:
You do save a little bit of time (varying from 30-40 minutes) using the regular trains. Do research via the SBB timetable and see what works for you.
Connection times are all doable, they do seem tight but generally speaking, the Swiss travel system plans these connections with such efficiency that there is sufficient time for such changeovers from platform to platform. As you have discovered, your connecting platform is next to your arrival platform, so you will likely only need a small amount of time to cross over.
Here’s our handy link below to many of the popular scenic train rides on offer in Switzerland. Within, you’ll also find ‘breakdowns’ of the routes, so you can actually just choose sections that work and fit with your schedule.
As for taking a round-trip journey with the Bernina Express back to Zurich. Yes, this would involve a lot of train time but is doable. Personally, for me I think it would be too much time on a train in one day but for others, it may not bother them at all.
Alternatively, here’s our sample itinerary link below. I am not sure how much time you will have here but within, you’ll find two itinerary suggestions for a self guided tour of Switzerland, traveling by scenic trains.
Traveling from St.Moritz or Tirano to reach the GoldenPass would require a transit through Zurich and is quite time consuming. If time allows, I think per the proposed 7-day sample itinerary could be a nice option for you and your time is utilised efficiently.
Kind regards,
Yolanda
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