Bernina Express

Building a railroad through the Alps was no small feat. This train goes through many tunnels, over bridges, around in circles (including inside the mountain, on the ground, and even on a bridge) to get across the mountains. In the first picture we're riding along a ledge cut into the side of one mountain, crossing over a 213 foot high stone bridge (the Landwasser Viaduct) about to enter a tunnel at the other end of the bridge. As you can see from the picture, the weather this day wasn't the greatest.

The train continues up through the Albula pass. The approaching train shown here enters a tunnel immediately after this point, spirals around inside the mountain and exits, crossing the bridge shown in the second picture and enters another tunnel at the other end. (These 2 pictures are of the same train, taken moments apart, standing in approximately the same spot.) There's another place where you can stand and watch the same train go by 3 times at different levels as it makes it's way up the mountain. There can't be a better place for train watching.

After passing near St. Moritz, the train continues down through the Bernina Pass. Along the way it passes by the Morteratsch Glacier (first picture) and continues over the Bernina Pass (third picture). There's a train station at the foot of the valley leading to the Morteratsch Glacier. I got off here, and hiked back (1/2 hour each way) to the glacier. This glacier, like others in the Alps and around the world, has been steadily retreating during the 20th century. This picture is taken from where the glacier ended in 1960, there were signs along the way marking where the glacier was from 1900 until now. You can see the moraine (stony debris left by the glacier) in the valley and up on the side walls of the valley. If you stand too close to the glacier, you might be hit by rocks as they fall off the glacier as the ice melts. You could walk right up next to, onto, or under (in some places) the glacier, not that I would recommend getting too close due to the danger of falling ice and stones (it was very warm the day I was there, and the ice was melting quickly). It was obvious that the glacier's retreat was real - near the glacier there were no plants growing in the moraine. As you get farther from the glacier there are bushes, then small trees, then larger and more trees growing in the moraine. The glacier reached much closer to the train tracks in 1900 - the 20 minute hike from this point to where the glacier is today really emphasizes how much melting has taken place.

Continuing south on the Bernina Express, you pass by another glacier at Alp Grüm that you get a better view of (the Bernina Express stops within view of the glacier at Alp Grüm but not within view of the Morteratsch glacier) Further south as you approach Italy the train passes over this bridge at Bivio, coming back around and underneath itself in order to lose altitude.

I made this trip, from Chur, Switzerland to Tirano, Italy and back in one day, with a 2 hour stop for Lunch and a quick look around in Tirano. This train ride was part of an 8-day "Swiss Pass" train pass used on the week of vacation I took in September, 1994. This pass also took me across the Glacier Express to Zermatt in southwestern Switzerland, up to Interlaken and around the Bernese Oberland, and back past Lake Lucerne and Zürich returning to Chur. In November 1996, I took another nice train ride from Chur to Arosa, and in October 1997 I returned again for the hike to the Morteratsch Glacier.

For train schedules in Switzerland and much of the rest of Europe the Swiss Train Timetable can't be beat.

Train Passes: Swiss Pass vs. Eurailpass I've used both the Eurail pass (once) and Swiss Pass (twice) train passes. You don't need a train pass at all if you plan only limited train use, you can buy individual tickets as you go, but these passes give you a great deal more convenience. You don't have to waste time at ticket windows and are free to get on and off anytime you want. This can be useful if you see a good place to sightsee or hike (just get off), and if you make any mistakes (such as get on the wrong train, which I did once) or changes in plans due to weather or hotel availability or missed connections just hop on any train and you're OK. If you can confine your visit to one country, you're better off with the country pass than a Eurail pass. The Swiss Pass costs only about half as much as a Eurail pass for the same time period. Within Switzerland, it covers more than the Eurail pass (more private mountain railroads, cable cars, Postal Buses). It's the best deal if you plan to stay in Switzerland. You don't have to try to see all of Europe in one trip, and you really can't any more than you can see the United States in 2 weeks. Any one country (including Switzerland) has enough to keep you busy for weeks. You can buy the Swiss Pass when you arrive at any major train station (including Geneva or Zürich airports) so you don't need to go to any trouble to get one before you arrive, you just need to show your passport when you buy it (the Swiss Pass is sold only to non-Swiss residents).

The Swiss railroads are very well run - and the staff is very helpful. I tested this unintentionally on my last trip - I accidentally lost my Swiss Pass half way through my trip, and had to buy a ticket back to my hotel. The next morning I went to the lost and found office at the train station, and after a few minutes, they found my pass for me, being held at another train station I had passed through the day before. They offered to have it sent and arrive by noon, but I elected to buy another ticket to go and get it to save myself some time. The lost and found office even offered to refund the two tickets I purchased while my pass was lost if I returned with my pass, but I was so glad to get my pass back I didn't even bother to go back for a refund of the modest fee for 2 short distance tickets. I could have gone back, but it probably would have made me miss a connection and cost an hour, so I decided to let the railroad keep the cost of these 2 tickets as my thanks for finding and returning my pass. Thanks to the Luzern Fündburo who helped me with this, and the Rigi Bahn in Arth Goldau who found and held my pass. This mistake of mine was responsible for my shortened visit to Ballenberg.

I saw other situations too where the railroad was very helpful to other passengers. Any train station will help with schedules and planning. You can buy tickets on trains or buses, and get change, even in foreign currency (I saw someone buying train tickets from the conductor with U.S. dollars). Where I live you can't even get change for a dollar on the bus. At one point in Austria I had to ask the conductor where to change trains because I missed my planned train, and jumped on another train headed in the same general direction departing 10 minutes later, without having time to check connections first (if I did check connections, I would have missed that train too). I could do this because I was using a Eurail pass rather than a ticket for one specific route, and I arrived at my destination via a completely different route about 10 minutes later than the route I had planned. The conductor returned several times to let me know how close I was to my connection point, then at the stop actually got off the train to help me find my connecting train.