Lake Como and the Bernina Express

Yes, the same train that brought you to Varenna from Milan continues on to Tirano. You walk across the piazza to the RhB station and get the Bernina Express (or other trains going that direction). My question is, if you are then going to Lauterbrunnen, why are you doubling back to Varenna? You could just as easily go to Lauterbrunnen from St Moritz. If you will be there in early October, you could take the Glacier Express as far as Brig, and continue on to Lauterbrunnen from there. Or take the way that is longer by travel distance, but shorter by time through Zurich.

Returning from St Moritz via a different route (and if you don't need to go back through Varenna) you can take the Palm Express bus as far as Chiavenna and then a train back to Milan. Or stay on the bus all the way to Lugano and a train from there to Milan. I am not sure you could do all of that (Varenna - Tirano - Bernina Express - St Moritz - Palm Express - Lugano - Milan) as a day trip. Regardless of whether you could, the scenic beauty of the Palm Express bus ride is during the day.

We left from Varenna - with luggage - and stayed overnight in St Moritz before taking the Palm Express to Lugano for a few nights and then back to Milan.

Varenna is a great choice for stunning scenery on Lake Como and for its easy location on the rail line from Milan to Tirano. From Varenna Esino (Station) get back on the train going Eastward to Tirano (1.5 hr). At Tirano the Swiss train station is right there (2 min walk). You can book on the Bernina Panorama Train with its glass-domed viewing or take a regular train that runs on the same track (more frequent- and what we took) You will see the same scenery and the regional trains will be included in any pass you may have. I am not sure I would backtrack to Varenna. Do you have enough days in your itinerary that you could perhaps stay somewhere like Chur for the night before going onto the Lauterbrunnen valley? (This will take 4-5 hours by train). Is your return flight out of Milan?

Margaret

Hi everyone, this is my first post and to get such quick replies is awesome, thank you!

We are arriving into Lake Como area from Milan which we are getting to from Nice by train. (we don't plan on stopping over at all in Milan as have been there before.)

Travelling straight to the Lake area and was thinking about just doing St Moritz as a day trip?

We thought we would have to head back to Milan to get to Lauterbrunnen but more than happy not to back track if we don't need to.

We were told to skip St-Moritz and to go right to beautiful nearby Pontresina and we were so glad we did. St-Moritz is in a beautiful setting but overbuilt with ugly concrete buildings.

An easy option for the return trip, and probably the fastest, is a Swiss Post bus over the Maloja pass from St. Moritz to Chiavenna, Italy. In Chiavenna a shuttle train brings you to Colico, on the main line Tirano-Milano; from Colico train back to Varenna.

Thank you everyone! Much appreciated!