[Aspen]

6 May 2023 at 3:09:01 #829771

Hello!

2 questions, if you don’t mind!

1)My group intends to travel from Tirano, Italy to St. Moritz, Switzerland by train and we have Swiss Travel Passes (STPs).

I *think* reading on this website indicates that we should be able to show our STPs at Tirano to board the train because Tirano is a ‘border station’…but I just want to make crystal clear! Is there any possibility we need to buy a ticket to somewhere just over the border in Switzerland before we can use our STPs? (I did read the section on the website about traveling from Italy and needing to buy a ticket only to the Swiss border, but the example was for a situation where the border station was on the Swiss side, not the Italian side. So, I just want to confirm that we’ll be able to use the STPs at Tirano, and won’t need to buy any tickets to cross the border.)

2)We carefully researched and decided to take a train to St. Moritz and then another St. Moritz to Chur, making sure to pick journeys that follow the Bernina Express route (but are not BEX trains). We were all set to reserve our seats at SBB. com using our newly-purchased STPs, and now I have realized that there is no way to ‘purchase’ any seat/ticket with our passes to ensure we’ll have a space on the particular trains we’ve chosen. This feels a little risky in tourist season for our group of 10 on a scenic train route! Am I understanding this correctly, and would it feel risky to you? We have planned our train choices quite carefully and it would feel fairly disastrous to not be able to fit and to be stuck waiting hours for another train. I would love your thoughts or advice about my concern. If it’s nothing to worry about, that’s great.

Thank you so much for this wonderful resource!

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[Anna]

6 May 2023 at 8:39:37 #954117

Hi Aspen,

Welcome to MySwissAlps.

That’s right. The Swiss Travel Pass is valid for travel from Tirano station. Upon arrival in Tirano from Milan, proceed to the SBB platform/station which is adjacent to the Trenord station. The Bernina Express and regular trains on the Bernina railway depart from this platform. With the Swiss Travel Pass you can simply board any train. If you are travelling on the Bernina Express, be sure you have seat reservations: http://www.myswissalps.com/berninaexpress/tickets

Seat reservations on regular trains are usually not required as explained here: http://www.myswissalps.com/train/reservations/howtouse. From my experience, the regular trains from Tirano to St Moritz have plenty of seats. But you can still book seats for your group directly at the ticket counter if this is not possible online. You can find more details here: http://www.sbb.ch/en/travelcards-and-tickets/tickets-for-switzerland/seat-reservations.html

Hope this addresses some of your concerns.

Regards,

Anna

[Aspen]

6 May 2023 at 12:13:24 #954118

Thank you so much for these details!

In your opinion, are we making a big mistake to take the ‘regular’ train instead of the BEX? Are the windows much smaller, or is the commentary on the BEX very much worth it? We are able to spend a few hours in St. Moritz by doing it this way, not to mention saving about $300 in seat reservations. I’m interested in whether we are missing out, however. The train we have chosen has an ‘open panoramic car’ which I’ve seen reference to being an actual open air car. This sounds intriguing, but cold, so we’d rather know that the normal interior train windows are decent.

Thank you!!

amy

[Anna]

6 May 2023 at 16:28:08 #954119

Hi Amy,

I have travelled with the Bernina Express and the regular Bernina railway trains. The Bernina Express is a great experience but you need to book seats in advance. Travelling on the regular trains gives you the same views and for me was more convenient in terms of timing. The regular trains have carriages with windows that you can roll down too.

Regards,

Anna