Hello, there are 2 of us, staying in Lucerne, trying to figure out how to experience Bernina Express. We were wondering if it possible to leave from Lucerne on the Gotthard Panoramic Express, but change trains (possibly in Andermatt) to take the Glacier Express to St. Moritz? We wanted to not have to stress going through Zurich, early enough to catch the Bernina Express in Chur. We were also wondering if we should skip the Lugano portion and mainly go to the Bernina Express area, via the Glacier Express, stay a couple of nights in Pontesina or? and then take the Bernina Express back up toward Lucerne. As you can see, we're all over the place with ideas. Any help would be appreciated! After this we will be traveling to the Lauterbrunnen Valley area.
Posted by
Green Bay
20085 posts
You do know that the Glacier Express and Bernina Express travel the exact same route between Chur and Samedan, which is just a couple of miles from both St Moritz and Pontresina. The best part of the Bernina Express is the section that goes up over the Bernina Pass to Tirano, italy,l which you are proposing to skip.
How much time are you allowing for this. 2 day, 3 days? There is no hassle changing trains in Zurich. If you want to go the way you describe via Andermatt, you don't have to take the Gothard Panaorama Express with the lengthy boat ride. You can just take an hourly train connection from Luzern to Andermatt.
Posted by
OP
San Diego, CA
11 posts
Thank you for your reply. We are allowing 3 day, 2 nights, to do this. I was thinking if we took the Glacier Express down, we wouldn't duplicate when we ride the Bernia Express up to Chur from Tirano. So do you suggest the bus trip, from Triano to Lugano also? Not to be missed? I really want to stay in Lucerne, and are afraid we would have to leave so early to go through Zurich, to get to Chur in time fto make the Bernina down. So we could take the hourly train to Adermatt, and take the Glacier Express from there? Do you have any better suggestions for us?
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
You appear to be a bit confused about trains in Switzerland. the trains you list are just extra tourist trains. There are thousands (literally) of trains every day in Switzerland.
This is a rail map of Switzerland: https://www.sbb.ch/content/dam/sbb/de/infotexte/uebersichtskarte-sts.pdf
Each and every red line is a rail route with at least one train per hour in each direction. You can go wherever you want.
The Bernina Pass route (note route, one train per hour) runs from Chur to Tirano, over the Alps. It is best done as a method of getting from one side of the Alps to the other. Trying to do the route (or the Glacier Express route) as a loop will be inefficient (doubling back).
For suggestions what to include in this tour, see here: https://grandtraintour.myswitzerland.com/
"We wanted to not have to stress going through Zurich" - no stress, same as changing trains anywhere else.
You can look up train times on the SBB website: https://www.sbb.ch/en/
Posted by
Green Bay
20085 posts
OK, here is a proposal for a 3-day, 2-night excursion using panoramic trains.
Day 1: Take 10:21 local train to Rotkreuz, change to train to Erstfeld, change to train to Goeschinen, change to train to Andermatt, change to Glacier Express to Samedan, change to train to Pontresina arriving 5:55 pm
Day 2: Take the 11:17 Bernina Express to Tirano, change to the Postbus to Lugano, arring at 5:30 pm.
Day 3: Take the 9:22 Gothard Panorama Express to Fluelen, change to the lake boat to Luzern, arriving at 2:47 pm.
The only repeat will be the short way from Goeschinen to Fluelen.
You could continue on from Luzern to Interlaken on the Luzern-Interlaken Express, then the local train to Lauterbrunnen.