Milan to St. Moritz Switzerland

Should be no problem returning to Milan the next day. It may not necessarily be the named Bernina Express trains, but you can return by regular hourly trains. Yes, you can make stopovers during the day your ticket is for, as long as it is not the Bernina Express train, which has a mandatory seat reservation.

You can also take another route by bus over the Maloja Pass to Chiavenna, Italy and go by train back to Milan from there.

Yes, trains go both ways, A to B and B to A!

The route would be Milano Centrale to Tirano, which takes 2½ hours and roughly 1 train every other hour; then from Tirano to St Moritz, which takes again 2½ hours and there is a train every hour.
The section from Tirano to St Moritz is the Bernina Pass route, which is very scenic. You will get to see mountains and glaciers. As well as the regular hourly trains, there is 1-2 extra tourist trains per day, branded as "Bernina Express". Whichever train you take, it is the same route and you see the same mountains.

For Swiss trains, you can get off the train, and get back one a later train (1 or 2 hours later) with the same ticket.
There is also a bus, one daily, which runs St Moritz to Lugano, from where you can get a train back to Milan. Thta would give you a different route comng back.

For info about this route, see here: https://www.seat61.com/BerninaExpress.htm

Thank you for all your help. So basically there is no advantage to taking one train or the other. Does the Bernina also leave from MIlan? How about stops along the way? Any you feel are worth stopping and wondering for a while?

No, the Bernina Express (and other Swiss trains) leave from Tirano, Italy. You have to take an hourly train from Milano Centrale station to Tirano. You then walk across the piazza to the RhB station where the Swiss trains go from. They are narrow gauge trains and actually run through the streets of Tirano before heading into the mountains.

You could stop over in Varenna, to check out Lake Como. You would need to buy separate tickets, as it is a Regionale train. If you buy it at Milan, you need to stamp one ticket before boarding in Milan, then stamp the other before boarding the continuing train in Varenna to Tirano.

That helps Sam. Thanks! I have not yet experienced the trains in Europe often so they are still confusing to me. I guess I just have to travel more. LOL!
Thanks again.

We have traveled from Milano to Samedan, Switzerland many, many times traveling through the Bernina Pass. Samedan is a few stops before St. Moritz. The Bernina Pass is beautiful no matter what train you take up through that area.

Getting there is easy and going one day and returning the next is also easy. If you are wealthy you can stay at the Badrutt Palace. Their hotel shuttle is a new Rolls Royce.

Try to stop at the Cafe Hanselmann for a coffee and a pastry. The place opened in the mid-1700s and is still outstanding. When you walk in the dessert case is in front of you a little to the right. Their products are works of art and they are as tasty as they look.

Buon viaggio,

Kristine,
In 2016, I did this trip with a couple of girlfriends but we came from Milan to lake Como (Varenna - highly recommended by the way!). From Milan take the train to Tirano and walk across to the Swiss platform to take the Bernina Express route. You dont have to get on the BEX trains. The regional trains go on the same track and you can get on and off as you please. The Bernina Express was a hight light of our trip. Even if you take it just half way - its just beautiful scenery. The trains in Switzerland are supper easy to navigate. I use the SBB app on my phone for timetables. It works great.
have a great trip.
Margaret

You have been both so helpful. So I either have to take train from Milan to either Lake Como or Tirano, then get on the Bernini train or Swiss train and continue to Switzerland getting off as we please until we reach St Moritz or any place before if we choose. We can then stay in Switzerland and just return next day. I looked at the train prices and they where about $250 round trip. Does that sound correct? I thought it was rather high compared to other trips I have done.

You have been both so helpful. So I either have to take train from Milan to either Lake Como or Tirano, then get on the Bernini train or Swiss train

No, not quite.
1) You take a train from Milano Centrale to Tirano. This trains goes along the east side of Lake Como.
You can, if you want, stop off for a night in one of the towns the train stops at on Lake Como, for example Varenna, and continue to Tirano the next day.
It is not a different train "to either Lake Como or Tirano", it is the same train.

2) You walk across the square in Tirano from one station to the other, and catch a train to St Moritz via the Bernina line
It is not "Bernini train or Swiss train", the Bernina Line train IS a Swiss train

I looked at the train prices and they where about $250 round trip.

No! Where were you looking?
For Italian trains, look on the Italian Railways website: https://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en
Milano Centrale to Tirano is €11.50 per person.
For Swiss trains, look on the SBB (Swiss Railways) website: https://www.sbb.ch/en
Tirano to St Moritz is CHF 34.00 per person.
Add that up, double for return journey and do any necessary currency conversion: (€11.50 + CHF 34) x 2 is a lot less than $250.

I suggest you read this webpage, lots of info pictures and a video: https://www.seat61.com/BerninaExpress.htm

If you did want to stop for a couple of hours in Varenna, here is how it would work.
Buy two tickets, one for Milano Centrale to Varenna-Esino for 6.70 EUR and one for Varenna-Esino to Tirano for 7.30 EUR. Take the 8:20 train from Milano Centrale, remembering to stamp the ticket in the machine on the platform before boarding. Arrive at Varenna-Esino at 9:23 and walk around by the lake. Get the next train at 11:23, again stamping the other ticket and continue on to Tirano, arriving at 12:52.
So you would be paying an extra 2.50 EUR to stop over at Varenna, since the 2 tickets would cost you 14 EUR, where as a single ticket from Milan to Tirano is 11.50 EUR.

Per the current schedule (likely to change somewhat during summer), There is a train to St Moritz from Tirano at 1:00 pm (you'd have to hustle), or another train at 1:41 pm. You could wait until 2:25 pm and take the actual Bernina Express train with panorama cars and pay a bit more for the mandatory seat reservation. If you took that train, you could also stop over along the way, taking a regular train for the rest of the way to St Moritz.

Returning a different way, you could take the No 4 bus from St Moritz to Chiavenna at 15 past the hour, mostly every hour with a few exceptions. Cost is 26 CHF and takes 1 hour and 44 minutes. At Chiavenna, take a train back to Milano Centrale. Trains every 2 hours, costing 9.20 EUR and taking 2 hours and 15 minutes with a train change at Colico.

Doing that way, using regular trains, it would cost about the equivalent of $87 per person in transport tickets.

Thank you everyone for the detailed information. It was all very helpful.

If you wait in Tirano and take the Bernina Express, it is worth a quick wander to see the pretty little church (Chiesa di San Martino, housing a Last Supper painting, beautiful altar and columns) and clock tower, some lovely old courtyards and the remains of a 15th century gate and wall with built-in (inhabited) homes. I felt as though I'd stepped back hundreds of years in time.

The windows on the Bernina Express do give that bit more panoramic view of the mountains and towns as you roll towards St Moritz - which I felt was worth it. But then I was staying a couple of nights in St Moritz and had the extra time to take the later Bernina Express train from Tirano.