Bernina Pass is a scenic train ride through the Swiss Alps, 144 km long, through 55 tunnels and over 196 bridges. If we planned our trip differently, we could have started by flying to Milan (rather than Zurich), taking a train to Tirano from there, and traveling through the Bernina Pass only once... But because we started by booking round-trip tickets Boston-Zurich, our only option was to do the Bernina Pass both ways. We took a series of regular trains, from Zurich to Landquart to St. Moritz to Tirano, spent the night in Tirano, and early the next morning took the famous Bernina Express back.
Here is a railroad map detailing our adventures (right on the little table in the train carriage).
The highlighted portion is the "scenic route", but don't believe them: all the other portions are scenic as well. In fact, even though I worried about getting bored on a 6-hour train ride, I shouldn't have - the scenery is so beautiful, you can keep looking out the window for hours and hours... Here are just a few views on the way there.
We changed trains in Landquart, then stopped for lunch in St. Moritz, in Caffè Spettacolo near the train station. After lunch, we had a bit of time before our next train, so we took the escalators up to the observation deck over the lake (Terrasse Panoramique) and ventured into the town a little bit. We were slightly hampered by having to roll out suitcases along - it wasn't a problem on the escalators or the observation deck, but the cobblestone streets of the town proved to be an issue. Still, I feel we saw enough of it to form an impression.
The final train brought us to Tirano around 5pm. I rented an apartment (with a balcony) near the station and checked out the location of the nearest grocery store in advance (open until 7pm). We only needed groceries for breakfast the next morning - because, after finding ourselves in Italy, of course we had to have dinner there!
We also walked around the town a little bit in the evening...
... and then enjoyed a glorious sunrise the next morning from our balcony.
Our train, Bernina Express, was leaving at 8 am, so we had to get up very early, have breakfast, and get to the station on time. Here we are watching the rest of the sunrise from the train...
And this photo clearly shows the difference between Bernina Express (panoramic train with extra-large curved windows) and a regular train next to us.
I already mentioned how our train went through 55 tunnels and over 196 bridges. Here is a photo of the front of our train, as it starts to climb a 360 circular ramp...
... and here is a look back at this circular ramp, after we passed it.
Bernina Express makes one 10-minute stop, in the most picturesque spot. This is it. First, Alik next to Bernina Express...
... then, view of the station...
... view of the mountains and lake...
... and our selfie amidst it all.
Finally, a couple of the view of the glacier from Bernina Express.
We rode the Bernina Express to Chur, then changed trains twice - to get first to Zurich, and then to Lucerne. This brought out total train count at the moment to seven: train from the airport to Zurich HB (main station) on the first day (Friday), then three trains to get from Zurich to Tirano on Saturday, and three more trains on Sunday - to get from Tirano to Lucerne.
> Lucerne
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