Itinerary help for Bernina, Grindelwald and/or Lucern

That is a rather awkward trajectory, as you are travelling east (Austria) to west (Grindelwald) and you want a north-south train (Bernina Express) in the middle.

I can only offer what I would do:

• train from Salzburg to Chur
• overnight in Chur
• Bernina Express to Tirano (arrive ~1:00pm)
• Bernina Express bus to Lugano (depart 2:20pm; arrive 5:30pm)
• overnight Lugano
• train Lugano to Grindelwald the next day

That's 3 days but it adds a lovely overnight in Lugano. Perhaps someone else can figure a more efficient route?

I don’t think there is an efficient route that includes the Bernina Express. Take a look at the Swiss rail map (with scenic routes highlighted) and you will see why—-Tirano is served by only one rail line in Italy, coming from Milan via Varenna on Lake Como. The best way to reach Tirano from Austria would be to head to Chur and ride the Bernina Express southbound as Darrenblois suggests.

https://cdn-doc.myswissalps.com/docs/default-source/rail-network-maps/swisstravelpass.pdf?sfvrsn=7788603a_56

But then you have to get back to Switzerland. If you want to continue on to Lugano as suggested, and overnight there, you would take the BE bus, which only runs once a day, departing Tirano at 14:20 and reaching Lugano 3 hours later. The only BE train that will get you to Tirano in time for that bus is the early 8:28 departure, which appears to be already sold out for many dates in September. You could take a regular IC train departing Chur at 9:08, but you will change twice on the way to Tirano, and one of the legs is a bus link.

There are other options, such as train from Tirano to Varenna or Milan, etc. But all of them are complicated and add time, which you don’t have a lot of.

Would another scenic line do? You could travel to Chur and spend the night, then take the Glacier Express either to Visp where you would change trains to head to Grindelwald or stay on the GE and end up in Zermatt.

six hours Innsbruck to Milan, overnight, early train to Tirano, Bernina Express or one of the hourly non-named local trains doing the same route on less fancy trains, to Chur to Luzern to Interlaken Ost to Grindelwald/Lauterbrunnen Valley?

Thanks all. Some good suggestions. Leaning toward renting a car across from the border at Dornbirn, Austria to St. Gallen. With only 3 days and as pointed out going East to West and South to North is a challenging itinerary (darn mountains in the way) doesn't leave a lot of time.

Will check out Innsbruck to Milan train and overnight. Looked at flights from Innsbruck and Milan but not train. Thanks for that suggestion.

If anyone has other suggestions please advise!

I'm enjoying the planning as much as the upcoming trip.

Trying to figure out this whole itinerary. I assume you flying from Poland (from where?) to Austria (to where?)
The only solid item I see is to drive the Grossglockner Hwy (which direction?)
What dates are you planning on traveling?

Flying from ORD (Chicago) 9/21 to KRK 9/22 Four days in Krakow. Flight from KRK to VIE Tues 9/26. Drive to Salzburg / Grossglockner. Stay overnight. Then next day (Wed) Grossglockner and/or Salzburg another day and/or make way west to Switzerland. Original plan to get to Switzerland on Thursday then stay to Monday a.m. Would like to do Bernina express/pass (Poschiavo ok to turn around), then Lucerne and/or Grindelwald. Bonus is Zermatt. Then Frankfurt Mon/Tues for visit with friend in Heidelberg and fly back to ORD Wed (10/3) and eventually to Grand Rapids that evening.

Leaning toward renting a car across from the border at Dornbirn, Austria to St. Gallen.

That's got me confused.

Are you renting in Austria and driving into Switzerland ?

Are there rental places in Dornbirn? The main Austrian city around there is Bregenz.

Yes. Rental cars in Dornbirn. Idea would be to drop off in Dornbirn (or Bregenz for that matter) and hop on a bus/train across the border and pick up a car in Switzerland and avoid expensive drop off fees. St. Gallen is one of the larger cities so picked that one. Then that opens up a lot of options to do Bernina, go to home base, or set up to do Bernina the following day.

Very complex I understand. It was much clearer in my head over 6 months ago before I got into all the details!

A rental car in Switzerland is the latest thinking. Original plan was to try to use trains/bus through Austria into Switzerland, but keep running into complexities.

I think with only 3 full days in Switzerland after you arrive, forget Zermatt.
The suggestion of the bus from Tirano to Lugano by darrenblois does not appear to work as the bus is fully booked for your dates.
If you feel really adventuresome, you could go this way:
After driving the Grossglockner Hwy, drive to Innsbruck, turn in the car and spend the night.
Thursday, train to Landeck-Zams, then bus to Martina, Switzerland, then the 921 bus to Scuol-Tarasp, then train to Pontresina. The SBB schedule says the 921 bus is "running irregularly due to road construction", thus it would be adventuresome.
After spending the night in Pontresina, take a regular train over the Bernina Pass to Tirano, then return on regular trains to Chur and on to Luzern and spend Friday night there.
Now you have Saturday and Sunday to enjoy Luzern before heading to Heidelberg on Monday.

Basically you are trying to do too much in too little time, and will have to make some choices and compromises.

We will be in Switzerland and Italy our family in September and some of the routes have proved to be challenging, due to construction or other track issues. Some routes are closed (the Gotthard Basistunnel) and other have bus links for part of the way. A rental car might solve these problems, but create other issues.

Sam’s suggestions are always good. I would give his itinerary a good look.

Sam's suggestion is exactly what I had in mind. I've never tried that bus shortcut between Tirol and the Engadine valley, but construction aside it is a significant time saving vs taking the train all the way from Austria. There are a lot of "moving parts" on that route but I tend to trust Austrian and Swiss efficiency and helpfulness if things do not run as planned.

I would not attempt to reach Zermatt, which is too far from your route.