Hi, I'm very confused about booking this route.
I've read that the Bernina Express starts in Torino, but the routes I find go through Milan. Can we just pick up the Express in MIlan?
Torino has different stations. Which do we take to get on the Bernina Express? Should we reserve?
Some tickets require reservations with an added fee. In 2nd class, it looks like you just purchase the ticket, but there is no seat assignment. Does that sound right?
Thank you.
Sorry, but it starts in Tirano, northeast of Milan. It is reached by an hourly regional train from Milano Centrale station.
The regional train has no reservations. The actual Bernina Express train requires seat reservation fees, but you can also take regular trains that have no reservations. These do not have panoramic windows, but you can open them for better photos, are less crowded so you can easily move side to side. They follow exactly the same tracks with exactly the same scenery. They may require train changes along the way to Chur.
You can purchase tickets and seat reservation for the actual Bernina Express trains here.
https://tickets.rhb.ch/en/pages/bernina-express
If you are using a Eurail Pass, you can purchase seat reservations alone.
Also, when you transfer at Tirano from the Italian regional train, you have to walk across the piazza to the RhB station.
Several locations in Italy have similar names, and sometimes we speak about places by their anglicised names - think Florence for Firenze, Rome for Roma, Venice for Venezia, etc.
There is a large city in the northwest of Italy that we call Turin - where Fiat cars come from and the fabulous coffee and chocolate drink called Bicerin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicerin What we call Turin is called Torino in Italian, and that's what is in your question.
A very small town northeast of Milan (Milano) beyond Lake Como is called Tirano. It is right near the Swiss border, it is the final station on the Trenord local commuter train from Milano Centrale, the main station in Milan. Just across the piazza from the Trenord station is the RhB (Rhätische Bahn) Swiss railway which runs the Bernina Express, named for the high Bernina Pass that it traverses on its way north.
Making connections between different railway companies is the normal procedure, just the same as making connections within one company. So you can buy a ticket from where you are to your destination and just change trains along the way.
So you could have one ticket all the way to Interlaken from Milan routed via Bernina, or in your case you just need your Eurailpass and reservations for those trains which require them, including the fancy Bernina Express but no reservations if you choose the normal trains on that route. The Trenord trains don't need reservations, nor do the connecting Swiss trains after you get off the Bernina Express in Chur or an intermediate station.
So for your three questions - number 1, no. You get that in Tirano, but you can take the Trenord train from Milan to Tirano.
Question 2 - see above
Question 3 - that's right - but didn't you decide on the Eurailpass? In which case on regional trains in Italy in 2nd class you just get on and when the train captain comes through show the Eurailpass.
I hope that helps...
And I once got sot down because I misspelled Tirano by putting an "a" at the instead of the "o", thus turning it into the capital of Albania.
Note that you can travel on the Bernina Express without a reservation. The first three cars are normal, non reserved. And if you want you can always approach the conductor and ask if there are free seats in the panorama cars, and get a reservation on the spot.
Trains, especially local trains, are mass transit. You indeed just get on and find yourself a seat...
