Bit late to comment, but thought I'd add our experience on the Bernina Express. We went last May, and I can recommend just buying a standard ticket, but perhaps first class if you want to treat yourself. We had the first class section of about 20 seats shared between us and one other couple almost the whole way from Chur to Tirano and could easily change sides for the best views. While we could have used local trains entirely, the BE is the only one that's a single-train ride, the others requiring changes to take that same route. The BE also includes a photography stop at Alp Grüm (which was still snow-covered in May!). Every seat on the pre-booked panoramic cars was sold out and it looked a bit raucous full of loud international tourists - our carriage was extremely quiet. The windows were still plenty big enough to enjoy the views and you could even open them a bit for uninterrupted photography. Do bring plenty of provisions, as there's no food or drink available on the 5-hour journey.
We actually managed to purchase a single, one-way journey from Frankfurt airport all the way to Tirano, with an overnight stop in Chur, which was great value for money. This requires some careful operation of the Deutsche Bahn web site and only paper tickets were allowed (it had to be mailed to us in Australia which was a bit nerve-wracking). Interestingly, our tickets were never checked in Switzerland. This journey was four trains total: Frankfurt - Basel on an ICE, Basel-Zurich and Zurich-Chur on standard Swiss intercity trains, then the overnight stop and Chur-Tirano the next day as described. In Chur, we stayed at the Ambiente Hotel Freieck which I can recommend; it's right in the middle of the old city, about 15 minutes walk from the station (with luggage).
Interestingly, when planning I didn't notice that bus connection from Tirano to Lugano depicted on the map earlier in this thread, that would make a nice loop trip if you weren't otherwise planning to go to Italy (otherwise you need to take Italian trains quite far south towards the outskirts of Milan to connect to the Lugano line). In hindsight, we should have stayed a night in Tirano rather than continuing immediately to Milan - it looks like a cute town.
Edit: When we stopped in Chur, we also went on a mountain cable car (Chur-Brambrüesch cableway) which I think would be included in the Half Fare card mentioned above. There is also a free discount card for Chur specifically that would also have given us the same 50% discount ( Guest Card Chur | Chur ). You can get this from your accommodation provider, but I forgot to ask and the hotelier didn't offer it unprompted. So I think we were one of the very few chumps paying full fare!
We actually managed to purchase a single, one-way journey from Frankfurt airport all the way to Tirano, with an overnight stop in Chur, which was great value for money. This requires some careful operation of the Deutsche Bahn web site and only paper tickets were allowed (it had to be mailed to us in Australia which was a bit nerve-wracking). Interestingly, our tickets were never checked in Switzerland. This journey was four trains total: Frankfurt - Basel on an ICE, Basel-Zurich and Zurich-Chur on standard Swiss intercity trains, then the overnight stop and Chur-Tirano the next day as described. In Chur, we stayed at the Ambiente Hotel Freieck which I can recommend; it's right in the middle of the old city, about 15 minutes walk from the station (with luggage).
Interestingly, when planning I didn't notice that bus connection from Tirano to Lugano depicted on the map earlier in this thread, that would make a nice loop trip if you weren't otherwise planning to go to Italy (otherwise you need to take Italian trains quite far south towards the outskirts of Milan to connect to the Lugano line). In hindsight, we should have stayed a night in Tirano rather than continuing immediately to Milan - it looks like a cute town.
Edit: When we stopped in Chur, we also went on a mountain cable car (Chur-Brambrüesch cableway) which I think would be included in the Half Fare card mentioned above. There is also a free discount card for Chur specifically that would also have given us the same 50% discount ( Guest Card Chur | Chur ). You can get this from your accommodation provider, but I forgot to ask and the hotelier didn't offer it unprompted. So I think we were one of the very few chumps paying full fare!
Last edited:
