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One day in Switzerland from Lake Como, Italy to St Moritz

Posted by (USA) on

A US citizen figure out navigating the Italian / Switzerland train system to make a dream come true of seeing the Swiss Alps in April.

Four passengers:

We want to travel from Tirano up into the Swiss Alps all in one day, round trip from Lake Como, in mid April.

One post suggested to take a regional train from Tirano to St Moritz, getting off at Pontresina, taking a connector train to Samedan. Then at Samedan, take a regional train to Chur, then from Chur to St Moritz. The claim is that the section between Chur & Moritz is the most interesting and scenic. Does the Bernina Express cover this region of Switzerland?

I can't seem to tell from the maps if Bernina Express covers this or not. I would prefer to do a loop versus and out and back experience to optimize seeing the most country.

I would also like to optimize financial resources. What train routes would you take? Does the Saver Day Pass cover the Bernina Express?

Many Thanks for all your help!!!

Posted by
17418 posts

You got lots of useful information on this in your previous thread:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/milan-swiss-alps-bernina-express-rail-tour

Maybe it will help to see a map of the Bernina Express route on this map of the Swiss rail system:

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

I don’t know how you got the idea that the most scenic part of the trip is between St. Moritz and Chur. That section does include the famous Landwasser Viaduct, but otherwise the scenery is not as remarkable and “alpine” as the part going over the Bernina pass, between Pontresina and Tirano.

https://www.myswitzerland.com/en/experiences/rhaetian-railways-landwasser-viaduct/

And I don’t see how you would make a scenic loop out of this trip if you need to start and end at Tirano. It is more of an out-and-back.

Posted by
7300 posts

And I don’t see how you would make a scenic loop out of this trip if you need to start and end at Tirano. It is more of an out-and-back.

You sort of can make a loop if, once you've reached St Moritz, you take the bus over the Maloja pass to Chiavenna, where you can take the train back to Milan.
But I'd rather travel both ways on the Bernina railway.

And, starting from Lake Como, I would not go further north than St Moritz. Sure, the Albula railway is lovely, but you would spend a lot of time on trains... I

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