Chur or Pontresina?

Chur to Stresa shouldn't be too long of a day. Bernina Express leaves Chur around 8:30, gets into Tirano around 1:00. Can't remember exactly what time we got into Varenna, but must have been around 2:00-2:30. Lots of time to cross the lake to Stresa. When we did it, we continued on to Milan, connected to Venice, and still got to Venice by 8:30.

If you started your day in Pontresina you would only be starting later in the morning; you would be arriving in Stresa at the same time. There is only one Bernina Express per day (although there are other non-Bernina Express trains that cover the same route, without the panoramic window cars).

Chur was a very nice overnight stop. I only passed through Pontresina so I can't comment on there.

Pontresina is a lovely town with decoratively painted houses,lots of charm. We spent several days there and highly recommend it.

Pontresina is a lovely town with decoratively painted houses,lots of charm. We spent several days there and highly recommend it.

Quick clarification: I'm not planning to take the "official" Bernina Express, so I'm not bound by its schedule.

Melissa,

You should easily be able to make it to Stresa in one day from Chur. The trip from Tirano to Milano Centrale is only 2H:32M, and then another hour to Stresa (plus waiting time between trains). You'll need to go to Milano Centrale for that connection, rather than "cross the lake to Stresa", as Varenna and Stresa are on different lakes.

The ordinary trains running on that route take between 4-5 hours from Chur to Tirano, with one or two changes. If you want to use the Bernina Express, it will be a direct trip (no changes) with a travel time of 4H:17M. The B.E. departs Chur at 08:32, arriving Tirano at 12:49 (reservations required).

I would recommend staying in Pontresina or one night f the nearby villages (we liked Samedan) as you will then be in the mountains, with nice views.

Thank you for the responses! I think I didn't explain my concern very well; I didn't mean to ask how long it would take to get from Chur to Stresa (I knew that), but rather how long it would feel like it had taken, from those who had made a similar journey. Nine hours in transit sounds like a long time to me, even with scenery to view. So between that and the recommendations for Pontresina, I think I'll go that far the first day and cut a couple of hours off my trip to Stresa.