[Removed user]

12 June 2018 at 9:39:26 #816597

We are lucky to have the chance to stay at Munster-Geschinen in the Swiss Alps thanks to the kindness of friends.We will be staying in the village between 25 and 29 August and will travel down from Basel via Brig on 25 August to get there.

We check out on 29 August and want to travel on to Tirano in Italy and wonder how to use the regional train network to do this. The Glacier and Bernina express sound wonderful, but hard to book and expensive.From rail maps, it looks like the village is on the trainline we need to use. How do we buy tickets? Thanks for any advice! Best wishes, Janet.

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[Removed user]

12 June 2018 at 17:50:24 #888102

Hi Janet and welcome to MySwissAlps!

Yes, you can certainly do the same trips, on the same route as those express trains. IE Brig to Chur and then Chur to Tirano.

You’ll have to switch trains once or twice however along the way. Use the timetable to find schedules (it gives you the most direct route by default) https://www.myswissalp s.com/timetable

Tickets can be bought online here: https://www.myswissalp s.com/traintickets however, are you planning on doing any train, bus, boat or cable car travel when staying in Munster-Geschinen? If you use trains throughout your trip here I’d look at a rail pass: https://www.myswissalp s.com/swissrailpasses

[Gunzel]

13 June 2018 at 0:47:28 #888103

Looks like a pleasant trip you’ve planned. All magnificent areas.

As usual, Lucas has offered excellent advice and the resources you need are on this site or through the various links given.

Regular timetabled trains are good and run on time.

What are your plans after Tirano?

Prior planning will ensure wonderful holiday. Enjoy your travels.

[Removed user]

13 June 2018 at 6:31:34 #888104

thank you so much Gunzel and Lucas. We only plan to travel through Switzerland with the one stopover in Munster-Geschinen and maybe one night in St.Moritz to break up a long journey into Italy. On arriving in Tirano we will head to Bologna to stay with friends. I’m tossing up whether or not to buy a half-fare card. Still have to do the math to work out which comes out cheaper – point to point full fare, or paying half fares but adding the cost of the pass. I also discovered the Supersaver ticket which might be available for part of the journey.

It seems tickets on regional trains without a reservation last all day, but a reserved ticket is for the nominated train only. I also believe we can buy the tickets in advance which might be easier since we will be hopping on and off the train at stations that may not have any staff.

[Removed user]

13 June 2018 at 14:03:48 #888105

Most trains aren’t reservable and don’t need reservations even when you can. However, SuperSaver tickets are for specific times so be careful if buying them.

Regular tickets on regular/regional trains are good all day so you can hop on and off as you like.

You can buy tickets online if you like here: https://www.myswissalp s.com/traintickets.

All stations have a way of buying tickets (if no staff then just use the ticket machine).

[Removed user]

14 June 2018 at 0:14:32 #888106

I love Munster and the Goms area – what a nice friend you have!

Munster station is a lovely little station (but unstaffed these days) but all Swiss stations have a ticket machine which is easy to use.

Your route is easy, although you do have to change trains – but in most cases it will be a short distance between platforms.

Absolutely no need (or the possibility to) reserve on local trains, and the beauty of the Swiss ‘taktfahrplan’ regular interval timetable is that you can get off anywhere along the way, sit on a bench and enjoy the view/have lunch, and continue at the same time an hour later

Munster (or Geschinen) – Andermatt (change trains): MGB railway

Andermatt – Disentis/Mustér (MGB railway

Change to Rhätische Bahn (RhB)

Disentis – Reichenau Tamins (change trains on the same platform but your new train will come in the opposite way to the one you have got off)

Reichenau Tamins – St Moritz

Definitely recommend St Moritz as an overnight break so you can get a nice early regional train on the Bernina railway the next morning.

[Removed user]

14 June 2018 at 10:39:24 #888107

Thanks so much for your advice, everyone. Looks like not reserving seats gives us more flexibility in case we want a break along the way. Looking forward to our journey very much. ( Fellow 1960 vintage by the way!)