During the summer, after arriving in Tirano with the Bernina Express coming from Chur, it is possible to continue towards Lugano with a red bus of the Rhaetian railway, also called BERNINA EXPRESS. Same thing in the opposite direction. It is included in the price of the Eurrail pass, Interrail pass, Swiss Travel Pass and similar. Only seat reservation, mandatory, is not included. The Tirano railway station of the Rhaetian railway, although it is in Italy, is considered Swiss territory, therefore Swiss VAT applies to tickets, souvenirs etc. sold at the counter. Luggage shipped from Switzerland to Tirano is not subject to customs declaration.
Hello Luigi it is very helpful for me planning trip there on April; using Eurail is the trip from Tirano to Como included, also from Milan -Lugano then Lucern?
Just came across your channel researching this train. Your smile when you get off the express sells it to me. I too love train travel and have often sought it out on my trips, as part of the trip. My husband is a train geek which helps. My favourite was the Amtrak Pacific Starlight and Cascade. Also one I did in Alaska. I’m now researching both Europe and Canadian trips, my dream trips are the Rocky Mountaineer, Via Rail 1, and the Bernina Express, so thank you for this helpful guide.
Absolutely beautiful views on the train ride . Im planning to bring my family there in December. We plan to book the panoramic trains. Where and how big are the windows that you can have an outside shot? planning to have some cool lifetime memories with my son.
The windows of the panoramic carriages are huge but cannot be opened. Perhaps you are better off taking a regional train made up of classic carriages with opening windows. During the summer there are trains in which there are also open yellow wagons, very useful for taking photographs of the surrounding landscape.
I really enjoy your videos! Love how genuine they are, the way you capture all these beautiful scenarios and the information you give, and of course, the music! Thank you!
Absolutely beautiful! Thank you for sharing both the stunning views and the helpful explanations- and your contagious excitement! Looking forward to taking this journey hopefully soon!
Every time she says "Tirano" I understand "Toronto" and my brain goes "wait, she's in Toronto?" "Oh, Tirano!! She's in Tirano! Brain fart!" Lol... Thank you for sharing this amazing journey.
Awesome video. Simply incredible. Planning to do almost the same route this coming winter (Zurich - Venice). What would be the best time to hop onto a train in Zurich in order to catch the morning Bernina Express from Chur - Tirano?
In some scenes you look down the center of the car and we can see the view out both sides and above all at once. Breathtaking! Imagine working on that train and taking it daily? Thank you!
Glad that you had a good experience and you could get to your next train to Milan from Tirano. Unfortunately it can be totally different. We were stuck in a tunnel for almost 3 hours due to a thunderstorm. The company that owns the Bernina Express gave a lousy service during the ordeal and after! If you like you can read the true 'story' below. The service of the Bernina Express (RhB) is TERRIBLE! Safety might also be an issue! (quite a long story, needed to show the essence). On July 18th 2023 a thunderstorm hit the power-cables. The Bernina Express got stuck in a tunnel for almost 3 hours. The only information we got was after 10 minutes: 'we are experiencing a power-down due to a thunderstorm'. That was all the information we got. After about half an hour the passengers got a bottle of water (which was a good service ofcourse) and after about an hour also some chocolats in a small Bernina-express-souvenir (also good). Due to the fact that passengers started to complain that it was getting to warm in the train, the personnel forced a door open (windows can not be opened). Still no information anymore! Toilets got out of use (electronic flushing did not work anymore, so poop was floating in them and the toilets were almost flooding te floor). On the right side of the train the space between the tunnel-wall and the train was approximately 20cm, on the other side maybe 50cm?). It would have been good to now how to get out of the train and tunnel in case of a further emergency (thunderstorm can also cause fires), so after an hour we and other passengers asked which way was the shortest way out of the tunnel (only possible if there would be enough room in between the tunnel-wall and the train on the left side, which was not sure. Reaching the front or back of the train through the train itself was not possible). After around 2 hours and 30 minutes we suddenly felt some movement (like in a very small collision). No information! After another 20 minutes the train suddenly (without any information or warning) started to move. Apparently we were towed back to Bürgun station by a Diesel-locomotive. Arriving there, still no information! Passengers opened the train and started to get out, walking across another train-track to the platform (not knowing if another train could arrive at high speed!). There were still people on the track when another train arrived. Slowly fortunately but nevertheless somewhat dangerous. On the platform no personnel to be found! No personnel to give us any information! A friendly man who worked ar the museum (that had just closed) told us to perheps get on the just arrived train since it would probably bring us back to Chur. It did! Still no information. Another friendly man on the train told us, after we asked, that this train would bring us back to Chur. Only about 10 minutes before arrival in Chur, a friendly lady who worked for RhB (the company that owns normal trains and the Bernina Express) came into the train and told everybody that all the bills of hotels (we needed to book another hotel as many other people did) transportation needed and food needed would be fully refunded by RhB upon sending the bills. We specifically asked her if we had understood the information correctly and booked a new hotel for the night. So we did sent the bills as soon as our vacation was over. In our case only another hotel-reservation (since we never arrived in Tirano and could not enjoy that city and hotel overthere) and a dinner-bill (we drank water to keep the bill as low as possible. In Tirano we would have eaten a salad from the supermarket, but when we arrived in Chur at around 20:30 at night there was no supermarket to be seen that was still open). Do you know what happened? Nothing! RhB (the company) tells us via e-mail that thunderstorms are a reason not to refund. I called today (August 30) because of the fact that personnel had told us that we would have a refund (name of the person was given to RhB). The reaction: 'We know that our colleague, Mrs.......... , has told you and many other passengers wrong information about the refund. We had internal meetings in our company about this issue', but still we can only gave you the 52 euros of the ticket-reservation costs. We can not refund anything else! You have to go to your travel-insurance-company, like we advised all the other passengers too'. INCREDIBLE! We have paid 52 + 2x63(Chur-Tirano) + 2x52(Tirano-Chur) + 149 (newly booked hotel since we could not use the hotel in Tirano and that hotel has not given us a refund) + 56,00 (cheapest dinner we could find in Chur). All in all we paid almost 500 euros! If we would have known up front how bad the service would be and that safety would be an issue (you can't get out in that tunnel or many other tunnels probably, so if a fire would have come like in Kaprun in Austria it could have ended really badly) we would have never taken this train! Unfortunately we did not know! Although we tried to stay really calm in the train-tunnel, which we could manage and many other passengers also (fortunately), we were very very glad to be out safe. Also the windows were not clean and one even had a big moisture-problem, making it impossible to take nice pictures (the lights within the train are on as well during daytime and since the windows can not be opened taking pictures is somewhat difficult anyway). Going back on the regular train, not exactly knowing were we would sleep and eat that night but still feeling relieved to be out safely, we could open windows and take some nice pictures. The information-system on the Bernina-Express that tells you what you see during the trip (guide-system which could be activated via a QR-code on a tablet or telephone) and wifi did not work (we, and other passengers, asked at the start of the trip. Both systems were out of order).
I so enjoy your channel. From my point of view there's a perfect balance of train geekery, enjoyment of travel and sustainability. I really hope you build up the viewership you deserve
Hi Sarah, thanks for the video! I am planning a trip in January 2023. I am thinking of walking around Tirano to visit a church there before heading to Milan. Are there lockers for luggage in the Tirano station? Many thanks!
This is absolutely great and so informative. Thanks for this video. I am planning to take this train in next month from Torino to St. Moritz or Chur. Could you tell me which side of the train (right or left) that I should book my ticket to see more beautiful sceneries? :D
Ah thanks so much. Glad you enjoyed it. Very good question. I sat on the left initially but it wasn't busy so moved around a lot. The photo in the thumbnail is me sitting on the right. Honestly though the views are amazing from both sides!
When you have written Torino do you mean Torino (Turin) or Tirano? Easily confused. From Milano Centrale station to Tirano if you head that way sit on the left for the beautiful views of Lake Como but if heading from Tirano to Milano Central you of course sit on the right.
@@simonpilk Thanks for your reply. I mean Tirano. Actually I did this a couple of week ago. Exactly as you mentioned, I chose left side from Milano Centrale to Tirano and right side from Tirano to St. Moritz. I enjoyed this journey very much and recommend anyone who wish to do it. :D
Hi ,great video. We are doing the Bernina Express in September. Which side of the train do you recommend sitting on for the best views or does it not matter. Is there a difference in window size in first class to standard? Thanks.
Just found your channel, it’s so inspiring! I’m thinking of taking a trip to Paris and Italy in Jan 2023 and I’m so tempted to go via the Bernina Express, it looks incredible in winter. Do you recommend taking the 7 hour train from Paris to Milan or go via Zurich and take the Bernina express? What train do you take from Paris to Zurich? Thank you 😊
Thanks so much Ellie! That’s very kind of you. You can take a fast train (4hrs) from Paris to Zurich. I usually buy mine from trainline - but it’s best to buy around 2/3 months ahead so may be quite expensive now. Try a few different sites though to compare - Rail Europe, Omio and SNCF x
Oh and I would do a loop so depending on what is cheaper I’d go Paris - Zurich - bernina express - Milan and then on the way back do the Milan - Paris route or the other way around x
