I am looking for people who have gone on the Bernina Express and also travelled and stayed in the Lake Como region for your opinion. We will be spending a good 10 days in Switzerland. My original itinerary is to travel zurich - chur - Zermatt via glazier express. But after reading Rick's suggested itineray and recommendations, i am considering doing zurich - geneva - lugano - tirano - chur with the Bernina express. I am lost after realising that the bus that's part of the bernina express does not travel in winter. My questions are, is there another way to travel from lugano to tirano via lake como ? I would like to spend some time around there after reading much about the mild weather and spectacular views of the lake.
Would you recommend bernina express over glazier express? Any other attractions in Lake Comoe region to justify my change of plans?
Posted by
Hendersonvlle, NC
486 posts
Yan,
I took the Glacier Express in March a few years ago from St. Moritz. We stayed at Lake Como then took the train to Tirano. We stepped out of the station, went around the corner, through immigration and caught the "Bernina Express". Understand that both the Bernina and Glacier Expresses are just tourist cars replacing other cars on the same route. For the G.E., the normal first class car has three across & normal windows. For the tourist version, there are four across & bigger windows. I believe the B.E. is the same but on that one since the tourist version doesn't run in winter, we rode regular cars.
The B.E. ride turned out great! The train had only 2 cars, each 1/2 first & 1/2 second class with the engineer in the first car which was also the "engine" like a subway train. I walked up to the engineer and asked if I could stand in the cab with him as I was a train museum volunteer. He spoke no English & I no Italian but he got my meaning and let me. What a view!