Trying to ski in St. Moritz via Chur and Tirano

  • Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    10 December 2018 at 18:39:46 #819151

    I apologize beforehand if this is in the wrong place…

    I am trying to travel beginning March 23 from Zurich -> Italy. I arrive in Zurich, and then we were going to take a local train to Chur. We have a hotel in St. Moritz to ski March 24 – 25. I thought we could take the Bernina Express from Chur -> St. Moritz.. stay in St. Moritz overnight to ski the next day, and then pick it back up from St. Moritz -> Tirano.

    It turns out this doesn’t sound like it is possible because there are no Bernina trains that run to St. Moritz at this time. Instead we need to take local trains? I’ve read that these trains are as good as the Bernina train and views.Do we need to take local trains all the way through? Is this going to be a nightmare beginning of the trip because of all the train travel?

    Is it worth doing all this and stopping in St. Moritz to ski? Or maybe there is a better ski option? We do have to be in Italy starting March 26.

    Thank you for any tips / suggestions on this itinerary.

    Christine

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    Arno
    Moderator
    15471 posts
    10 December 2018 at 18:58:22 #900205

    Hi Christine, welcome to MySwissAlps!

    The Bernina Express is just one of many trains operating in that area. You’ll have an enjoyable trip, no nightmare. No worries 🙂 There are comfortable direct trains from Chur to St. Moritz. On the 26th you can take either the Bernina Express or any other train from St. Moritz to Tirano, Italy.

    You’ll find all schedules here: http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable, and all about the Bernina Express here: http://www.myswissalps.com/be rninaexpress.

    And here’s some St. Moritz information: http://www.myswissalps.com/st moritz.

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    11 December 2018 at 0:51:17 #900206

    You are worrying unduly – your journey will be much simpler than you think!

    It is a (very) common theme on this forum – the assumption that the ‘famous’ / ‘panoramic trains’ are the only trains in the Swiss Alps (there are clearly some great marketing guys out there!).

    First of all, Chur – St Moritz is not the Bernina Railway. There are regular hourly express trains which are ‘walk on’ services. Chur – St Moritz is the Unesco listed Albula railway (I have attached a picture I took from my chalet in August 2018 showing the spirals on famous Bergün – Preda section – the same railway can be seen at three different levels with a train on the middle level)

    You do not have to travel on the Bernina Express, any local/regional train is free to board in Graubünden if you have the right valid pass.

    It is important to understand the difference between the ‘Bernina Express’ and the ‘Bernina Railway’. The Bernina Railway is the (originally independent) railway line from St Moritz to Tirano – it became part of the RhB in 1943. It has regular ‘normal’ train services:

    http://www.fahrplanfelder.ch/ fileadmin/fap_pdf_fiel ds/2019/950.pdf

    Therefore, your journey will be:

    Chur – St Moritz: any Rhaetian Railway (RhB) IR train, departing Chur and xx.58 every hour (eg.10.58)

    Ski in St Moritz

    St Moritz – Milano: any Bernina line train to Tirano, then regional Italian train (2h30 to Milano)

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