Bernina Express help

It's not going to be easy

A few questions....when is your trip? Are you going directly from the Bernina Express to Zurich for your flight home or do you plan to make other stops?

Hi Frank II
We will be there in May. We can make other stops. We are in Budapest until about the 13th May and don't fly home from Zurich till 24 May. I've been trying to work out the best way to do it without flying...at one stage I thought we could fly from Budapest to Milan then train to Tirano... then it just seemed easier to train from Budapest to Vienna and spend a couple of nights there and then to Munich... but I am still not sure. I've been to both Vienna and Munich but my parents and husband have not.
Thanks

to start at the bottom from Munich you can take a flight from Munich to Zurich or Milan; you can get a bus from Lugano (or is it Locarno?) to Tirano related to the tourist version of the train, or train from Milano Centrale to Tirano. Both take a chunk of time.

Very easy to do north to south from Chur or other Swiss city..

What time of year?

Do you plan on the fancy expensive touristy train called the Bernina Express or will you plan on some of the trip on local regional trains - same routes, same speed, same scenery, less cost, no reservations, better for photography. no wine in fancy glasses?

thanks for the additional info.

Will you do anything in Munich or just head to the train? If you you don't have particular plans in Munich you would be much closer arriving in Zurich or Milan, near both ends.

If you're willing to skip Munich, you could get a train from Vienna to Milan with a change in Venice. From Milan you take a regional train to Tirano. (A very long day if you try to do this in one day.)

If you decide to start in Chur and end in Tirano, you could take the regional train to Milan and then switch to a high speed train to Zurich. Probably more comforatble than the 3+ hour bus ride.

Keep in mind, the train schedules may change for April.

You don't say where else you are going on this trip.
One option is to take a train from Munich to Chur, stay overnight, then the morning Bernina Express to Tirano. then you could take the Bernina Express bus to Lugano, stay overnight, then take the Gotthard Panorama Express to Zurich. Or go from Tirano to Varenna on Lake Como for a few days, then return to Zurich, either by back tracking or through Milan or Monza.

What ever you decide, you should do it soon so you must secure seat reservations on the Bernina Express. It can get booked up way in advance.

Thanks for information so far.
In terms of where we are going - we begin in London - Brussels - Amsterdam - Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Krakow, Budapest...we fly out of Zurich to come home. We have from 25 April to 24 May. I am on a work trip before this and meeting my husband and parents in London and we get straight on the train to Brussels, stay one night then onto Amsterdam. We have roughly 3 days in each place except Dresden with just one night and two full days.
Last time my husband and I took the Bernina we had flown into Zurich from Russia and we were heading into Italy so it was a natural progression. This doesn't seem to be! I only added Vienna because it was any easy train journey from Budapest. We could also fly from Budapest to Milan.then train to Tirano...there's a part of me that thinks scrap the Bernina this trip as it is proving difficult to get there and back into Switzerland and takes up time getting there. - I am open to other suggestions of how we spend our time. We have all travelled to Italy so had planned not to go back this trip...but we could...

The Bernina Express train route is incredible, even better than the videos. It is one of the high points in all my travels.
We used the regional trains, as Nigel suggested above, for the reasons he named. In addition, the regional trains don't sell out, no reserved seats, and aren't crowded. If at all possible, keep this experience !
Have a great trip!

You can get from Munich to Chur. Switzerland in 3-1/2 hours by train with only one transfer in St. Margrethen, Switzerland. This one-transfer option is available about every 2 hours. Stay in Chur. It's a nice town. After breakfast, hop on the local trains that follow the Bernina express route. The train we took a year ago in August was not crowded and we were able to open the windows to get great pictures, an option not available when taking the Panorama Bernina express. The only problem with taking the local train is that you cannot use the bus associated with the Panorama trains that takes you from tirano to Lugano. We got around that problem by taking a morning train from Chur to Poschiavo. After a very good lunch and some shopping in Poshiavo we took the train back to Chur along the same route. It's great to see it from 2 different perspectives. If you want to have more scenic trips in this area, take the Post Bus from Chur to Bellinzona or Locarno and then the Gotthard Express back to Lucern or Zurich. This loop can be done in 1 long day but an overnight stay in Bellinzona or Locarno is recommended.