Bernina Express ticket purchase and seat reservation

Reserve seats now, yes.

Tickets you can buy later, up to minutes before travel. So do not worry to much. If you are doing the Bernina Express as part of another trip you can book the whole trip then. How are you getting to Chur? And where from?

Thanks for the prompt replay. We are taking an 8 day bike trip around Lake Constance prior to the train. The bike trips starts and ends in Konstanz, Germany. The day before the Bernina Express trip we are leaving Konstanz traveling by train to Zurich (55 minutes). Then by train to Chur arriving around 2 pm. We are going to stay overnight in Chur then get on the 8am Bernina Express to
Tirano, Italy then on to Milan.

Mike

You can ride the Bernina Express regional trains , which use the exact same tracks as the panoramic trains, and require no seat reservation, as they are just not crowded, (in my own experience.) Many folks here on the Forum recommended using the regular, regional trains, and I'm glad we did. The advantages include:
More schedule options,
Less crowded,
You can open the windows, (smell the mountain air and take pix without window glare ),
Can get on and off and explore stops along the way,
And jump across the aisle to other seats as the best views change directions.
Have a wonderful trip on this spectacular journey.

Thanks. My accomplices want to travel on the panoramic train! I'm OK with that. We are traveling from Tirano onwards to Milan. Looks like some of the timetable utilize a bus for the first 40 minutes. Any experience with that?

Mike

if the first 40 minutes is by bus northbound (where does it say you change onto the train? - very important) you will probably miss the wonderful open air spiral. oh well.

We are traveling from Tirano onwards to Milan. Looks like some of the timetable utilize a bus for the first 40 minutes

All Rhatische Bahn services beyond (south) of Tirano are bus services. They go all the way to Lugano.

But if you are going to Milan, you will take Trenord (Italian regional train) direct from Tirano to Milano Centrale. Those trains run regularly and require no reservation or advance purchase. Its a very scenic route along Lake Como.

That explains why I sometimes see the bus and sometimes the train from the Tirano-Milan section. We plan to take the train. Good to know. thanks.
We will likely spend a little time in Tirano, at least to eat lunch and walk around a bit. Any suggestions for either activity in Tirano?

Thanks again for the information.

Mike

it isn't very big - could even say tiny

Hello! I am so thankful for this forum as I have been trying to figure out how I buy my tickets for the Bernina Express.
We are a part of 7 and made a reservation back in late April. On the reservation, we chose our seats.
In reading some of these responses, it sounds like I just go back on the Bernina Express website and then purchase the tickets for our date and time of trave. That I don't use my reservation number to connect with the purchase of the tickets. We will be taking the train from Zurich to Chur and getting on the Bernina Express in Chur and traveling to Tirano.
If I just buy the ticket 60 days in advance and it's not connected to my reservation that I have already made, am I guaranteed the seats that we reserved back in April. Any help or info on this is so appreciated!

Thank you!
Tracy

Reservations are separate from tickets, and are not linked.

Tickets: Are a proof that you have paid for the privilege of travelling from one particular station to another. By default tickets are valid a whole day, so you can choose at your own discretion which of the tens of trains that ply a route you take.
Now since you will be doing Zurich - Tirano, you need a ticket Zurich - Tirano, and that you can buy on the SBB web site. See www.sbb.ch. Or just at the station when you are there.

Reservation: gives you a seat. You can book reservations without having a ticket, you can buy tickets without getting a reservation.... These are indeed separate, and not in anyway linked.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate the response. Also, it seems as if I buy tickets without using the Bernina Express website, they are less expensive. Is that correct?

The Bernina Express website will sell the same tickets, but will try to sell you a reservation as well.

In Switzerland public transport is fully integrated and you can buy tickets between any two points in the country. So no matter how complex your trip, and the number of trains, busses and other conveyances involved it is always one single ticket. And as such this is produced out of a different system. This is why the ticket and the reservation are separate.

This makes it sound like a reservation is not even required? Is this correct? It gets me a seat, but I still buy a ticket? Then why pay for a reservation?

You will not be on the named "Bernina Express Train, but on one of the regularly scheduled regional train that go every hour. Depending on where you are going, you may have to change trains once or twice, but that is very easy. It is exactly the same scenery.

Bernina Express transport tickets are exactly the same cost as the regular trains, but the Bernina Express has a mandatory seat reservation fee, mainly to cover additional services, like panoramic carriage windows, headsets with multi-lingual narration of the sights along the way., wait-staff with service at your seat.

Hi.

I hope someone can help, I am thinking of making a reservation Bernina Express train Tirano-Chur, It will allow me the seat reservation for the entire route, but on the website says about rail closes for the week I am going in November 2023. Initially I wanted Tirano- St Moritz, but is closed.
"Due to construction work, the route between Pontresina and Tirano has to be closed to rail traffic from Sunday, November 19 to Saturday, November 25, 2023 . The Bernina Express will run normally between Chur and Pontresina, and replacement buses will be used on the closed section of the route."
This mean the route Tirano-Chur will not operate completely in the train? in the buses will I see the Bernina Pass?
I really appreciated any help, cause what is the point of the train if a section will be done by bus?
Thanks!

I would not bother with the Bernina Express if it is going to be replaced by bus. It will not be the same experience. The buses run because this train is also used buy locals just to get around.

Agreed in part with Wengen that it won't be the same experience on a bus as on the train. But the road the bus takes is quite scenic in its own right, so if that's what is available it's worth a try! The only thing is that in November the roads may have snow that'll slow them down a bit. The buses and bus drivers in Switzerland and Italy know how to work with these conditions but it's worth keeping in mind. Berninapass is a high elevation pass that can be affected by snow and ice at that time.