Ouzo, Schnapps, Rosé & Prosecco
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Gem56
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We stayed at the Hotel Excelsior Splendide. Great location - right on the waterfront and between the 2 ferry wharves. Bellagio is very steep from the street that runs across the front, so the thought of having to carry our bags up all those steps doesn't even bare thinking about. The room was satisfactory - just a couple of things to whinge about: 
No tea/coffee in the room; the lift was so small we had to go up to our room separately; the locking system to the room was that we needed to lock the door from the inside using an old fashioned key - not very friendly if you need to escape in a hurry; no fridge in the room; and breakfast was very basic with the only hot (well it was once) food being greasy bacon and scrambled eggs. No SHUB though!
No tea/coffee in the room; the lift was so small we had to go up to our room separately; the locking system to the room was that we needed to lock the door from the inside using an old fashioned key - not very friendly if you need to escape in a hurry; no fridge in the room; and breakfast was very basic with the only hot (well it was once) food being greasy bacon and scrambled eggs. No SHUB though!
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When +1 posted this, I should have mentioned that our first night at the Sheraton was done on points.
I set a budget for our travels with a specific amount for accommodation. When the room is below or close to our budget, we pay. Otherwise, I use points (where I can).
This was one such occasion. The paid rate for the first night was showing as EUR664
This seemed like a good time to blow 35,000 points.
The $ cost on the second night was far more reasonable.
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Gem56
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Time to move to Tirano via Varenna. We've got tickets to take the Bernina Express to Zurich the following day.
This was the vehicle section. Being such a short ride and we have a lot of luggage, that we weren't going to leave alone, we rode in this area with about 4 cars.
This was the vehicle section. Being such a short ride and we have a lot of luggage, that we weren't going to leave alone, we rode in this area with about 4 cars.
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Gem56
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Varenna
Train from Varenna to Tirano.
The distance from the ferry wharf to the railway station is 450m up a couple of slight inclines and there's a pub about half way. We walked it dragging our bags, even in the heat. There is a slightly shorter route that involves around 20 steps. The alternative is to follow the road which has a short section that is narrow with no footpath. JV thought it looked a little dangerous.
Once at the station, there's a nice little cafe, however they charge €2 per person for service that we didn't remember seeing on the menu. Just a little surprise thrown in. Made a good value EUR8 pizza a not-so-good value EUR12 pizza.
The tickets from Varenna to Tirano were €8.30 per person + €1 to have the tickets printed out at the station (it's an agency that handles the ticket purchases here), which can be avoided if you book them online and print yourself, presumably. Duration was approx 1hr 30mins.
It isn't known which platform the train will pull into, so you just wait and if it's the other platform, which is what happened, you walk across the tracks and hop on, Interesting!
Train from Varenna to Tirano.
The distance from the ferry wharf to the railway station is 450m up a couple of slight inclines and there's a pub about half way. We walked it dragging our bags, even in the heat. There is a slightly shorter route that involves around 20 steps. The alternative is to follow the road which has a short section that is narrow with no footpath. JV thought it looked a little dangerous.
Once at the station, there's a nice little cafe, however they charge €2 per person for service that we didn't remember seeing on the menu. Just a little surprise thrown in. Made a good value EUR8 pizza a not-so-good value EUR12 pizza.
The tickets from Varenna to Tirano were €8.30 per person + €1 to have the tickets printed out at the station (it's an agency that handles the ticket purchases here), which can be avoided if you book them online and print yourself, presumably. Duration was approx 1hr 30mins.
It isn't known which platform the train will pull into, so you just wait and if it's the other platform, which is what happened, you walk across the tracks and hop on, Interesting!
Gem56
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Tirano
We arrived in Tirano, thinking it would be fairly cool and in fact was quite the opposite - around 35 deg. JV booked us into the Hotel Bernina, which is only a 5 min walk from the railway station. Perfect!
Well, the location was perfect, however the room wasn't air conditioned, and we only had a fan that barely made any difference and as I said it was sooo hot. I've probably slept on worse beds, but I just can't remember when off the top of my head, but it's amazing how you manage to sleep when you're exhausted. No SHUB though!
Breakfast was very ordinary - no hot food other than cook your own boiled eggs.
We normally stick to chain hotels because they have a standard for each of their brands, but of course not all hotels exactly meet the standard - some are better, some are worse, but you generally have a fair idea of what you'll be getting.
Of course, there is always the odd town that either doesn't have a chain hotel or if it does it's way out of our price range. Then we revert to the aggregators, ie Expedia, Agoda, Trivago etc, etc. Our experience on this trip is that the hotels have been way below the standard that they're advertised as, although JV has had good experiences using Zen Hotels in the past, and including the hotel we booked in Heraklion earlier in this trip.
We arrived in Tirano, thinking it would be fairly cool and in fact was quite the opposite - around 35 deg. JV booked us into the Hotel Bernina, which is only a 5 min walk from the railway station. Perfect!
Well, the location was perfect, however the room wasn't air conditioned, and we only had a fan that barely made any difference and as I said it was sooo hot. I've probably slept on worse beds, but I just can't remember when off the top of my head, but it's amazing how you manage to sleep when you're exhausted. No SHUB though!
Breakfast was very ordinary - no hot food other than cook your own boiled eggs.
We normally stick to chain hotels because they have a standard for each of their brands, but of course not all hotels exactly meet the standard - some are better, some are worse, but you generally have a fair idea of what you'll be getting.
Of course, there is always the odd town that either doesn't have a chain hotel or if it does it's way out of our price range. Then we revert to the aggregators, ie Expedia, Agoda, Trivago etc, etc. Our experience on this trip is that the hotels have been way below the standard that they're advertised as, although JV has had good experiences using Zen Hotels in the past, and including the hotel we booked in Heraklion earlier in this trip.
ellen10
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We did the same trip in 2013.
Stayed in Bellagio 3 nights, ferry to Varenna, train to Tirano. (I remember the scramble across the train tracks).
Not so hot for us in Tirano, we had lunch in town before catching the Bernina Express. Loved the Bernina Express, such a beautiful trip and spectacular scenery, spiral aqueducts, amazing mountains. Ahh the memories, enjoy!
Stayed in Bellagio 3 nights, ferry to Varenna, train to Tirano. (I remember the scramble across the train tracks).
Not so hot for us in Tirano, we had lunch in town before catching the Bernina Express. Loved the Bernina Express, such a beautiful trip and spectacular scenery, spiral aqueducts, amazing mountains. Ahh the memories, enjoy!
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After having read a couple of TRs on AFF about the Bernina Express, and deciding to add it to the bucket list, I did what I always do when looking to book train tickets for @Gem56 and I....... I consulted The Man in Seat61: BERNINA EXPRESS from €29.90 | Switzerland's ultimate scenic train
Anyone who has bought train tickets (or anything else) in Switzerland would know that you need to take a second mortgage on your house to cover the cost. However, Mr Seat61 has a clever method of purchasing tickets for the Bernina Express through Deutsche Bahn using a cheap advance-purchase Sparpreis tickets. I won't repeat the method here as it's very well covered in the link above.
Needless to say, I followed his instructions and purchased our tickets for EUR32.35 per person. This will let you travel on any train through the Bernina Pass but if you want to travel on the actual "Bernina Express", the one with the Panoramic windows, you also have to pay a seat reservation fee. We did our seat reservation in Lausanne at the main railway station earlier in this trip as we were going there anyway. The seat reservation cost an extra CHF16 per person and is definitely worth the extra cost IMHO.
A word of warning though: as Mr Seat61 says, booking the ticket this way you get a paper ticket that is posted to you so you need to allow enough time for your tickets to arrive by mail before you leave home.
I didn't
....and had to get a friend to find them in our mail and post them back to us in Europe causing myself and +1 a considerable amount of unnecessary stress.
However, it all worked out in the end...
Anyone who has bought train tickets (or anything else) in Switzerland would know that you need to take a second mortgage on your house to cover the cost. However, Mr Seat61 has a clever method of purchasing tickets for the Bernina Express through Deutsche Bahn using a cheap advance-purchase Sparpreis tickets. I won't repeat the method here as it's very well covered in the link above.
Needless to say, I followed his instructions and purchased our tickets for EUR32.35 per person. This will let you travel on any train through the Bernina Pass but if you want to travel on the actual "Bernina Express", the one with the Panoramic windows, you also have to pay a seat reservation fee. We did our seat reservation in Lausanne at the main railway station earlier in this trip as we were going there anyway. The seat reservation cost an extra CHF16 per person and is definitely worth the extra cost IMHO.
A word of warning though: as Mr Seat61 says, booking the ticket this way you get a paper ticket that is posted to you so you need to allow enough time for your tickets to arrive by mail before you leave home.
I didn't
....and had to get a friend to find them in our mail and post them back to us in Europe causing myself and +1 a considerable amount of unnecessary stress.However, it all worked out in the end...
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Indeed, and if I remember correctly, your TR was what brought the Bernina to my attention in the first place.
ellen10
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Yes sometimes we do put added stress on ourselves.
I bought a Swiss rail pass (first class) for 8 days which gave us a 50% discount for the second person. We included a trip on the Bernina Express, unlimited train, ferries, buses, 50% discount on the trip up to the Jungfrau and cog railways, Mount Pilatus, the Golden pass line to Geneva, boat trips on lake Geneva and the list goes on. Saved us so much money and gave us so much flexibility.
We travelled in the "dome" carriages, which gave great views but also at the back of the carriage is a little deck that you can open the window and get photos of the scenery outside without the window reflection. My keen photographer husband "hogged" the window!
I will look forward to seeing your photos.
I bought a Swiss rail pass (first class) for 8 days which gave us a 50% discount for the second person. We included a trip on the Bernina Express, unlimited train, ferries, buses, 50% discount on the trip up to the Jungfrau and cog railways, Mount Pilatus, the Golden pass line to Geneva, boat trips on lake Geneva and the list goes on. Saved us so much money and gave us so much flexibility.
We travelled in the "dome" carriages, which gave great views but also at the back of the carriage is a little deck that you can open the window and get photos of the scenery outside without the window reflection. My keen photographer husband "hogged" the window!
I will look forward to seeing your photos.
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