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A Bit Confused On Booking Bernina Express and Local Trains

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Hi Forum! We will be in Switzerland October 9-23. We will have a car (yes, it is required for some places we want to go) but we do want to do a train ride or two. We have decided to take the Bernina Express from St. Moritz to Tirano and then take the local train back so we can get off and experience some of the local towns/villages. We have the Swiss Half Fare card (we will be doing several mountain excursions so this will be cost effective). I would appreciate some help on exactly what we need to do and when and where for the train ride. I purchased our half fare cards on the sbb.ch website. Do I need to link that to my Swisspass account? Is my next step to select and pay for a seat reservation on the BE? What about the actual train ticket? Just buy at the station the day of the trip or do I need to buy in advance? As I understand it, I buy a roundtrip ticket for the St. Moritz - Tirano run and it doesn't not matter if I take the BE or the locals or how many times I get on and off in the same day? Is that correct?

Thanks!

Posted by
20905 posts

You don't want to get off the Bernina Express, as your seat reservation is good for only that train. Yes, first priority is to get your seat reservations. You can buy tickets anytime before you travel. Coming back on regional trains, yes, you can hop on and off as you like as long as you complete travel by the end of the day.

If you get the SBB app, you can add that you have a Half Fare Card onto it so you get the half fare price when you buy tickets. Not sure about linking it to your SwissPass account.

Posted by
3 posts

Awesome, Sam. Thanks for the info. Definitely do not plan on getting off the BE, only on the locals on the return trip. Sorry, I meant I already have the sbb app and I can see both of our HFC. Next step is to purchase our seat reservations on the BE.

In the SBB app, on time tables, how do I know which of the 10 St. Moritz and 4 Tirano listings I want? ... or am I going about this wrong? I tried just St. Moritz to Tirano, selected a time, then book, then I selected seat reservations only and got a pop up that said "Unfortunately, we cannot offer you a reservation for this connection". I tried several times and days and always got the same message.

Do I perhaps need to book it on the RHB site. I checked there and it indicates there are plenty of reservations available.

Thanks!

Posted by
20905 posts

Yes, you need to book directly with RhB for Bernina Express seat reservations. It is their show.

Posted by
2372 posts

To travel by train you need a ticket. So you will need a ticket st. Moritz - Tirano and back. You can buy that in st. Moritz. A train ticket is good for a route, for a whole day, and can be used on all trains on the route. Including the Bernina Express trains.

Then for the Panorama Cars you also need a reservation. That you can also get at the station, or you can get that on line in advance on www.rhb.ch. You do not need that reservation in if you sit in the normal cars at the front. In fact, many people prefer those, as they are interestingly often quieter, and you can open some windows.

If you bought the HFC using your "Swiss Pass" account it will automatically be visible in the app. But you do not need to "link" it to buy half price tickets. Just select the reduction when buying tickets. You can even buy for two persons on one phone. You do not need the HFC to buy reduced price tickets, you only need them when traveling on them, and that will be checked on the train.

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