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Hello MSA Forum members
I am doing homework for an alternative route to get from Chur to Locarno without using the whole part of the Bernina Express.
This is just a back-up plan if things will still be problematic during September 2022 with extra regulations, maybe PCR tests and lots of documentation to do the border crossing from Switzerland to Ticino for the Bernina Bus route from Ticino to Lugano.
We will travel the previous day from Zermatt – Chur (via Visp, Andermatt and Disentis) – for overnight stay in Chur.
Therefore we will not see the 4th leg of the Glacier Express Route from Chur – St Moritz.
Due to the fact that the Chur – St Moritz route is the 1st part of the Bernina Express route, we can do this route and back the next morning with an IR Train:
Depart Chur 8h58 // Arrive St Moritz 11hoo
Then do the same route in reverse back
Depart St Moritz 12h02 // Arrive Chur 14h04
Then take the Bus at 14h58 from Chur via Thusis/Splügen/Mesocco/Bellinzona.
Then Train from Bellinzona – Locarno (arrival time 17h44)
The above times/schedules are as on SBB Timetable for our mentioned dates in September 2022.
This route will take more or less the same time as the Bernina Express route from Chur – Ticino – Lugano.
Questions:
1. With the above mentioned routes, we will stay in Switzerland and no border crossing(s) are involved. Will this be a better/safe alternative due to CV19 situation that can change quick regarding entering/exit other countries?
2. Is this Bus route from Chur – Bellinzona also a scenery route (as they say, the whole of Switzerland is beautiful 🙂 !! )
3. If we use the Saver Day Pass for the entire route, no seat reservations are necessary for the Bernina Route from Chur – St Moritz – Chur on the IR Trains. Correct?
Your feedback will be much appreciated.
Regards
TravelElla
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Hi TravelElla,
1. The bus is a sensible alternative to travel from Chur to Locarno via Bellinzona. In some cases you may be required to make seat reservations prior to departure. This is usually indicated on the timetable. For more details: http://www.myswissalps.com/bus/reservations
2. For information about the bus route from Chur to Bellinzona, please check out this information from Postauto which operates the bus service: http://www.postauto.ch/en/excursion-tips/chur-bellinzona-route
3. You are correct. No reservation is needed to travel on the regular trains between Chur and St Moritz. Please find the difference between panoramic and regular trains explained at https://www.myswissalps.com/glacierexpress and https://www.myswissalps.com/berninaexpress.
Regards,
Anna
Therefore we will not see the 4th leg of the Glacier Express Route from Chur – St Moritz.
Due to the fact that the Chur – St Moritz route is the 1st part of the Bernina Express route, we can do this route and back the next morning with an IR Train:
You seem to have quite a good understanding of the differences between the ‘Express’ services and the ordinary trains on what might be called the ‘red narrow gauge network’ [in other words the RhB*/MGB* group] which runs across the Alps in Southern Switzerland.
Nevertheless, it is worth taking a few moments out to understand the railway geography and titling, which is confusing especially since the railway authorities created the current long distance Glacier Express and Bernina Express brands.
The Bernina and Glacier Express trains are special trains on the RhB and MGB lines which run in addition to normal ordinary service trains.
The Glacier Express travels over four originally separate lines, the Brig – Visp – Zermatt line (Brig – Zermatt), the Furka Oberalp line (Brig – Andermatt – Disentis Muster), the RhB Rhine valley line (Disentis – Reichenau – Chur) and the RhB Albula Railway (Chur – Reichenau – Samedan – St Moritz)
The Bernina Express tag is given to a once a day direct service from Chur, but also to several service limited to the original Bernina Railway. The Bernina railway itself is the railway linking St Moritz, Pontresina and Tirano, the only railway to cross the high Alps without a summit tunnel. Elsewhere the Chur version of the Bernina Express train travels over other routes of the Rhätische Bahn (RhB), ie the Albula Railway.
In recent years the RhB railway company decided to make it easier for tourists by making the ‘Bernina Express’ a through train all the way from Chur to Tirano, 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 Bernina Railway is the (independent until 1947) railway built separately from the rest of the Rhätische Bahn railway. There are ordinary trains on this line and short distance Bernina Express services. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernina_Railway
Then take the Bus at 14h58 from Chur via Thusis/Splügen/Mesocco/Bellinzona.
Then Train from Bellinzona – Locarno (arrival time 17h44)
Questions:
2. Is this Bus route from Chur – Bellinzona also a scenery route (as they say, the whole of Switzerland is beautiful 🙂 !! )
You bet! The San Bernardino road is spectacular. I drove it a few years ago with a friend (the benefit of that being that I could stop at the panoramic viewpoints – try seeing if it is possible to break the bus journey). I think it is probably more scenic than the Tirano – Lugano bus.
Not long after Thusis, look out for the Viamala gorge, then after the San Bernardino summit, look out for the descent into Mesocco and the Moesa valley.
Trivia: This is one of several routes that would have been railways but the First World War stopped all the RhB expansion projects.
Hello 1960man
Thank you for the info provided.
I am glad that I have “found” this Bus route and am excited to hear that this is a spectacular route!
We will look out for the Viamala Gorge and the descent into Mesocco and Moesa Valley.
I think to combine our travel with these two mentioned routes (Chur – St Moritz – Chur & Thusis – Bellinzona – Locarno) is the best of two worlds, without any worries of border crossings etc.
I saw on the SBB timetable that it would not be necessary to go all the way back from St Moritz to Chur. We can get off the train in Thusis and then do our North – South transfer from Train to Bus in Thusis. Because the train travels past Thusis from St Moritz – Chur AND the busroute from Chur – Bellinzona also travels past Thusis. Therefore it is not necessary to travel twice past the same stop on the two routes. We only change/transfer then from train station to bus station (4min walking apart). Am I understanding this correctly? I have already looked at September 2022 timetables, and there are more than enough connections to do this easily.
As you have explained in a previous thread to me (about the Rover ticket in UK and that the SDP becomes actually a 1 day STP), if we use the Saver Day Pass for the train route Chur – St Moritz – Thusis & then bus route from Thusis – Bellinzona & then train from Bellinzona – Locarno, the SDP ticket will covers the whole distance. Correct?
Your help and feedback are much appreciated.
TravelElla
I saw on the SBB timetable that it would not be necessary to go all the way back from St Moritz to Chur. We can get off the train in Thusis and then do our North – South transfer from Train to Bus in Thusis. Therefore it is not necessary to travel twice past the same stop on the two routes. We only change/transfer then from train station to bus station (4min walking apart). Am I understanding this correctly?
Absolutely correct. Sorry for not mentioning this – I thought about it but then didn’t make this suggestion as many visitors to this forum would be reticent about changing at an ‘unusual’ station, and because if it is a busy day and the bus time you choose is not a ‘reservation obligatory’ bus boarding the bus at Chur – its starting point – might be safer than boarding it – but I don’t have experience of what the passenger loadings are like on this bus route – the above may not be an issue at all!
, if we use the Saver Day Pass for the train route Chur – St Moritz – Thusis & then bus route from Thusis – Bellinzona & then train from Bellinzona – Locarno, the SDP ticket will covers the whole distance. Correct?
Correct.
As long as a line is shown as ‘free’ on the ‘GA’ Swiss Travel system ‘synoptic map’ a SDP will be valid
In fact if you look at the map you can see how the planned but never built Thusis – Bellinzona railway would have been a logical addition to the railway network (Bellizona – Mesocco existed but was closed in stages between 1972 and 2013)
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