Activities & stops along Bernina Express route?

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    4 October 2018 at 21:03:33 #818596

    Hi we are a group of 7 women wanting to do the Bernina express from chur to tirano. We want to explore the little villages on the Bernina line. We have 5 days. Which villages do you recommend for overnight stays? Also we want to do a bit of walking and hiking. Would be grateful for any suggestions as all the info that we have managed to get so far is only on tourist Bernina express. We are travelling in fist week of may 2019

    Day1Uk to Zurich Zurich to chur

    Day 2 – chur to pontresina (over night)

    Day 3explore st moritz

    Evening to alp grum (overnight)

    Day4hike the poschiavo valley

    Overnight in alp grum

    Day5- to tirano (afternoon onwards)overnight

    Day 6-vineyards? We need to explore more

    Day 7- Bernina express back to chur

    Chur to Zurich (overnight)

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    5 October 2018 at 15:59:20 #897273

    Hi Arpihn8 and welcome to MySwissAlps!

    I think your rough itinerary looks pretty good as far as overnight stays go on the Bernina Express line.

    You can find some ideas on what to do in the Graübunden region and the towns and sub regions of that area here: http://www.myswissalps.com/gr aubunden.

    I don’t have any details on Tirano (in Italy) but a popular route is to take the Bernina Express bus on to Lugano and make a round – trip of it. From Lugano there are express trains (or you can take the Gotthard Express to Lucerne and then) back to Zurich.

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    6 October 2018 at 6:27:36 #897274

    Thanks Lucas

    we plan to take the Swiss rail pass. How frequent are the trains between stops on Bernina line. Do we have to book in advance for local trains?!

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    6 October 2018 at 7:52:47 #897275

    No booking for the regional trains are needed (nor possible usually too).

    You can use the timetable to find the train schedules between any of the towns you decide on. frequency depends on the final destination but it is quite regular in general. http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

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    10 October 2018 at 9:51:28 #897276

    hi lucas,

    i notice that many mountain top hotels are closed for the period we are there? do you know of any that will be open in pontresina area? also we want to do the diavolezza cable car and possibly lunch there- but not sure if its open in first week of may. please advice

    thanks

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    10 October 2018 at 14:43:35 #897277

    Some hotels but not all will be closed in May as it is low season in the mountains.

    You can check hotels for St. Moritz on our suggested list here: http://www.myswissalps.com/st moritz/hotels

    But I don’t have recommendations for Pontresina hotels yet.

    Diavolezza is normally open year round: http://www.diavolezza.ch/en/c urrent-news/ (it seems they closed for one day between Winter and Summer last year but I’m betting it was a typo on their dates).

    You can also use the SBB timetables to search for connections to mountains as well as towns. If the cable car to the mountain isn’t operating it won’t show you any connections. http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable

    If you need help with finding hotels for your travels dates in a particular town, let us know and we can look as well (travel dates, # of people, budget, etc).

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    10 October 2018 at 23:32:31 #897278

    Having so many separate overnights along the Bernina line is unusual. You can visit all the places on the route on day trips, from a fixed base (Pontresina has plenty of accomodation). Remember Switzerland is not a big country.

    Tirano has good cheap accomodation (Italian prices not Swiss)

    My wife and I have walked parallel to almost all the RhB railway network, by going to one station, getting off and walking, and getting back on at the next station, or the one after, or the one after that!

    This technique works well on the Bernina. I have done Brusio – Campocologno in the past, picnicking at the open spiral viaduct on the way. I have also walked Diavolezza – Bernina Suot

    Forget about reservations. Reservations are not necessary on the normal day to day Swiss train services

    Bernina railway timetable PDF here:

    http://www.fahrplanfelder.ch/ fileadmin/fap_pdf_fiel ds/2018/950.pdf

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