Bernina Express to St. Moritz or Chur?
Pamela is planning to ride the Bernina Express (BE) from Lugano and is unsure if she should continue to Chur or switch back to St. Moritz before taking the Glacier Express (GE) to Zermatt. She wants to see the full scenic routes but is worried about missing sights or doubling back unnecessarily during her one-night stopover. They have a 15-day Swiss Travel Pass and have made seat reservations for the BE to Chur, but not yet for the GE.
- Stick with your plan to take the BE to Chur, as you already have seat reservations and can then board the GE from Chur.
- Make sure to check the timetable, as not all BE trains stop in St. Moritz, but all stop in Pontresina, which is close to St. Moritz.
- You can get off the BE in St. Moritz if you choose, and take a regular train to Chur for the GE. Just ensure you have the right connections.
- Remember that Glacier Express trains require a reservation, so make your GE reservations soon.
AI-generated summary-
I originally planned to take the Bernina Express from Lugano to Tirano and Tirano to St. Moritz. After doing more reading, it seemed like I should take the BE all the way to Chur. So I changed our plans and booked seat reservations to Chur. We are taking the Glacier Express to Zermatt the next day. After reading more, I am now confusing myself. Is the best itinerary the BE to Chur and then the GE from Chur to Zermatt or should I have stuck with the original plan to take the BE to St. Moritz and the GE from St. Moritz to Zermatt? We are interested in seeing the entire BE and GE routes. I can’t tell if we will miss some by getting off at St. Moritz or if we will double some by going to Chur and taking the GE from Chur. We will only have one night stopover between trains. We are spending 15 days on a Swiss travel pass and will be staying in Zurich, St. Gallen, Lucerne, Lugano, Zermatt, Montreux and Basel. I have made seat reservations on both legs of the BE express ending in Chur. I have not yet made seat reservations for the GE. If it is better to take the BE to St. Moritz, can we change our seat reservations? And, if not, can we just exit at St. Moritz and not continue on to Chur?
Thank you very much for your insight and advice.
Pamela
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Hi Pamela,
The Bernina Express and Glacier Express routes do overlap at one section between Chur and St Moritz/Pontresina, as explained here: http://www.myswissalps.com/berninaexpress/gettingthere
I would stick with your original plan to take the BE to Chur as you have already made your seat reservations. You don’t have to backtrack to St Moritz the next day to take the Glacier Express. In fact you can board the GE train from Chur. The GE route is explained in detail here: http://www.myswissalps.com/glacierexpress/gettingthere
It’s possible to get off the Bernina Express in St Moritz instead of Chur but do take note that not all Bernina Express trains stop in St Moritz. So make sure you check the timetable to see if you have the right connection. All Bernina Express trains stop in Pontresina though, and this is not far from St Moritz (you can take a bus).
Hope this doesn’t add to your confusion. Let us know if you need more information to help you plan your trip.
Regards,
Anna
It is important to understand the difference between Bernina Express and the actual railway infrastructure that the Bernina Express trains travel on. The Bernina Railway* is the railway linking St Moritz, Pontresina and Tirano, the only railway to cross the high Alps without a summit tunnel. Elsewhere the Bernina Express train travels over other routes of the Rhaetische Bahn (RhB), ie the Albula Railway.
In recent years the RhB railway company decided to (try and) make it easier for tourists by making the ‘Bernina Express’ a through train all the way from Chur to Tirano and back, but only half the journey is on the actual Bernina Railway, the other half of the journey is on the Albula Railway en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albula_Railway. The Albula railway runs from St Moritz to Chur. It sees hourly ‘normal’ inter regio express trains, occasional Bernina Express services and 1 or 2 Glacier Express services, plus freight trains (most goods delivered to St Moritz and the Engadin go by train)
*The Bernina Railway is the (independent until 1947) railway built separately from the rest of the Rhatische Bahn railway. There are ordinary trains on this line and short distance Bernina Express services. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernina_Railway
Once you reach Pontresina or St Moritz from Tirano you will have completed the journey on the Bernina Railway. If you are on the BE version that runs to Chur, you can just stay on, if not, you can then get any regular train from Pontresina to Chur, either via Samedan or via St Moritz. From St Moritz to Chur via Samedan is the UNESCO World Heritage Albula railway. It has express trains once per hour St Moritz – Chur, which have large windows and special photographer’s coaches so that when you get to the famous Landwasser viaduct at Filisur you get a good view
The Glacier Express trains are special trains on the Rhaetische Bahn (RhB) and Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn (MGB) railway company lines which run in addition to normal ordinary service trains. The ‘panoramic’ coaches on these trains require a reservation or supplementary fare to be paid in addition to the normal fare. In all cases ordinary trains can be travelled on on the RhB/MGB network without paying any additional fare.
In all cases if you choose (or find yourself on) an ordinary train you won’t miss the scenery as all Swiss train carriages on these lines have large windows giving good views.
It’s possible to get off the Bernina Express in St Moritz instead of Chur but do take note that not all Bernina Express trains stop in St Moritz. So make sure you check the timetable to see if you have the right connection. All Bernina Express trains stop in Pontresina though, and this is not far from St Moritz (you can take a bus).
Bernina Express is a brand name used on multiple different trains. In the 2022 timetable the title is applied to one train per day (two per day in high summer) Tirano – Pontresina – Samedan – Chur, and three trains Tirano – Pontresina – St Moritz (other local trains also run Tirano – St Moritz)
There would be no need to take a bus from Pontresina to St Moritz, as one can just get the relevant train from Tirano depending on where one wants to end up.
By the way there are advantages to stopping in St Moritz after travelling the nearly 6 hours (including 3 hours on the bus to Tirano ). Starting in the morning at St Moritz on the Albula line can mean you are fresh and awake to see arguably the most spectacular section of the whole Glacier Express route, namely the section Albula tunnel – Preda – spirals and loops – Berguen – spirals – Filisur – Landwasser Viaduct – Tiefencastel – Thusis
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