Bernina express

The Bernina Express route is too long to do as a daytrip from Milan because it takes 2.5 hours by train just to get from Milan to Tirano— the starting point of the route. Then it’s 2.5 hours from Tirano to St. Moritz, Switzerland for half the Bernina Express route. The complete route runs from Tirano to Chur, Switzerland and takes about 4.5 hours.

The OP is a little confusing to me because they say overnight in Chur then next day Bernina to Tirano and on to Milan; but then they say no luggage involved. Where would your luggage be left if you are going to Milan? You could do a full day of train travel one way from Chur to Milan if you plan to stay in Milan. The Bernina regular train on the same route as the more expensive Express would give you more trains per day to select from. If you want to return to Chur the same, you might pick a stop not all the way to Tirano (from Chur) and head back from there but that would still be a long train day.

Thanks everyone for reply. Yes, i know its confusing. We will bd attending musical festival in Verbier. Our route at the end would be Verbier- Milan, stay few days there before the flight back home. Day trip is very tempting because we would have our luggage in hotel. The other option is to break the trip from Verbier to Milan, to stay over in Chur and do Bernina express route on the way to Milan.

Even more confusing. It sounds like you will be going from Milan to Verbier in the morning to attend a festival performance in the afternoon, then going to Chur afterward, which is a 5 1/2 hour journey by the fastest way. That would be going all the way to Zurich to get to Chur. I take it you will have some overnight bags. Seems like a lot of travel time just to do the Bernina Express. The Verbier Festival is July 16 to August 2, 2026. Italian train schedules for July will not be out for a while.

Sorry to make it confusing. We will be traveling from Geneva to Verbier to attend the festival. This part of our trip is pretty straightforward so I did not include it in my post. After attending festival for few days, We plan on going from Verbier to Milan to stay few days before flying back home from there. My question was whether we should include Bernina Express on the way to Milan ( with overnight in Chur) or going to Milan from Verbier and later make it as s day trip. From responses I understand the day trip like that is very long. But wanted to see other opinions. Thank you.

My confusion is that your statement that no luggage was involved, but coming from Geneva, staying a few days in Verbier, then going to Chur, then to Milan, it sure sounds to me like you will have luggage. Not that there is any issue with traveling with luggage.

Since scenic train rides seems to be of interest to you, you could take a slower, but more direct route to Chur. To Martigny, then Brig, then Andermatt, then Disentis/Muster, then Chur. Brig to Chur is the same route the Glacier Express route takes, but you can take local trains without the luxury and expensive seat reservation fees.

Verbier to Chur is a minimum of 4 hours by train. Chur to Tirano ( the Bernina Express route) is another 4.5 hours.by train. Then, Tirano to Milan is 2.5 hours by train . So, either direction you go— this is not comfortably done as a daytrip. I suppose you could travel 5 hours from Milan to St Moritz— which would include HALF the Bernina Express route—and then return to Milan in 5 more hours. But most would not consider 10 hours on trains all in one day.
I just traveled in September from Milan to St. Moritz ( 4.5 to 5 hours) and overnighted in Switzerland before returning to Tirano.