Interlaken to St Moritz in one day?
A couple is planning a trip to Switzerland in October and wants to know if they can fit both the Gotthard Panorama Express and Bernina Express into one day while traveling from Interlaken to St Moritz. They also have questions about train connections and alternative routes for their travel from Davos to Interlaken.
- Take regular intercity trains from Interlaken to St Moritz for the quickest route; it takes about 5.5 hours.
- If you want to experience the scenic routes, consider planning carefully as the Gotthard Panorama Express and Bernina Express require specific schedules.
- For travel from Davos to Interlaken, normal trains can be used instead of the Glacier Express, but they might take longer and go through Zurich.
- Seat reservations are necessary for the Gotthard Panorama Express, Glacier Express, and Bernina Express.
AI-generated summary-
Hi!
My husband and I will go to Switzerland in October. On the 13th, we want to travel from Interlaken to St Moritz.
Is it possible to fit both the Gotthard Panorama Express and the Bernina Express into one day? From the SBB app it seems like I can get from Interlaken to St Moritz in one day, but it will take around 10 hours. Which is fine.. My questions are:
– Is it on the Gotthard Panorama Express and the Bernina Express, or normal trains?
– And if it is normal trains, is it on the same routes as the two express trains?
-I saw that their is a ‘Treno Panoramico Vigezzo’ that goes to Locarno. Is that an option to combine with the Bernina Express? Which route is nicer? The route that this train takes, or the Gotthard express?
And my last train conundrum. On the 9th, we want to travel from Davos to Interlaken. I would like to take the Glacier Express route, but I’m not too keen to pay for the seat reservation. Can that same route be done with normal trains? On the SBB app, when I for Davos – Interlaken, everything except the Glacier Express goes through Zurich. Am I doing something wrong?
Thank you!
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As a traveller in Switzerland for 60 years and railway expert/author, regular readers on this forum will know I always give honest advice about Swiss railway routes.
Two basic facts about Swiss railways:
1) In some cases it is quicker to go the long way round via the Swiss ‘lowlands’ area by fast Inter City train than to stay in the mountains. This can be seen a s a good thing. You will still see views of the Swiss countryside – and in the process get a rounded appreciation of Switzerland, rather than the purely ‘chocolate box’ impression.
2) Too many people get ‘hung up’ on the ‘panoramic’ trains. All the Swiss ‘panoramic’ trains are just a train with specific types of coaches with larger windows. In all cases however, those trains run on regular railway routes that have normal hourly (or more frequent) trains daily in both directions. The views are the same and in many cases not paying supplementary fee for the ‘special’ service makes them more economical. Indeed you have fallen into that very ‘trap’ as you mention the ‘Glacier Express route’ – in fact the Glacier Express not a ‘route’ but is a type of train running on a connected set of narrow gauge lines (operated by MGB and RhB railway companies) with a full timetable of other train services.
Answers to your specific questions (bearing in mind some of the explanations above):
Is it possible to fit both the Gotthard Panorama Express and the Bernina Express into one day? From the SBB app it seems like I can get from Interlaken to St Moritz in one day, but it will take around 10 hours. Which is fine.. My questions are:
– Is it on the Gotthard Panorama Express and the Bernina Express, or normal trains?
– And if it is normal trains, is it on the same routes as the two express trains?
It is best to separate Gotthard and Bernina railways, but in my opinion, I would not include the special ‘Gotthard Panorama Express’ and concentrate on getting to the Bernina railway – however, note that the Bernina Railway is south of St Moritz (St Moritz – Tirano). The most efficient way of getting from Interlaken to St Moritz is on an intercity train to via Bern and Zurich to Chur, then on the Unesco Heritage listed narrow (1000mm) gauge Albula railway from Chur to St Moritz, operated by the Rhaetische Bahn. The whole of this route normal trains every hour throughout the day.
we want to travel from Davos to Interlaken. I would like to take the Glacier Express route, but I’m not too keen to pay for the seat reservation. Can that same route be done with normal trains? On the SBB app, when I for Davos – Interlaken, everything except the Glacier Express goes through Zurich. Am I doing something wrong?
As explained above, Davos – Interlaken can be undertaken by normal trains. The reason the app shows via Zurich is that this is the fastest way as it is on fast Intercity trains on flatter railways. For Davos – Interlaken, the route choices are as follows:
The ‘mountain’ route (takes a long time) Davos – Filisur – Reichenau Tamins – Disentis – Andermatt – Brig – Spiez – Interlaken
The ‘lower altitude inter city route’ Davos – Landquart – Zurich – Bern – Interlaken. On this route Zurich – Bern has a lot of ‘high speed line’ tunnel but Davos – Zurich and Bern – Interlaken trains have good views of quintissential Swiss pasture, farmland as well as mountains (and you will see the nice river view on the approach to the Capital city, Bern
I saw that their is a ‘Treno Panoramico Vigezzo’ that goes to Locarno. Is that an option to combine with the Bernina Express? Which route is nicer? The route that this train takes, or the Gotthard express?The ‘Vigezzo’ train is on the Centovalli route – a fairly spectacular railway route from Domodossola (Italy, Swiss train link from Brig) to Locarno. Can be combined with the Bernina railway but not really within one day. The ‘Gotthard Express’ is again as explained above, a type of train but the route is traverses is the old Gotthard mountain route from Northern Europe to Italy and has a normal regular train service.
Hi Sonneblum,
Welcome to MySwissAlps.
To answer your questions, the connections you see on the SBB timetable (https://www.myswissalps.com/timetable) could both be on panoramic trains and regular trains. The panoramic trains are indicated as PE on the timetable. PE (panoramic) trains travel on the same routes as regular trains. If you would like to find out more about the differences between taking a panoramic train and a regular train, please refer to these links and read the sections about regular train vs panoramic trains:
- http://www.myswissalps.com/berninaexpress
- https://www.myswissalps.com/gotthardpanoramaexpress
- https://www.myswissalps.com/glacierexpress
The fastest way to get from Interlaken to St Moritz is by taking the regular intercity trains via Bern, Zurich and Chur. The journey takes roughly 5.5 hours.
If you wish to travel on the panoramic trains instead, in this case the Gotthard Panorama Express and Bernina Express, you first need to travel to Lucerne and join the Gotthard Panorama Express (GPE) there. From Lucerne the GPE will take you to Lugano, where you can board the Bernina Express bus to Tirano for the Bernina Express train. This will need careful planning as the GPE and the Bernina Express bus and train run on limited schedule. Alternatively, you could opt to skip the GPE altogether and take the quick train to Lugano and switch to the Bernina Express bus to Tirano.
Another option is to travel on the GPE and the Glacier Express to get to St Moritz/ Davos. For more details on how to do this, see this link: http://www.myswissalps.com/gotthardpanoramaexpress/gettingthere (section under alternative routes)
For your information, seat reservation is needed on the Gotthard Panorama Express, Glacier Express and Bernina Express.
Hope this clarifies some of your uncertainties. Feel free to post again if you have more questions.
Regards,
Anna
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