Bernina Express

The Bernina Express runs from Chur or St. Moritz to Tirano in Italy, takes about four hours, and is the best of the Swiss scenic railways — more varied than the Glacier Express, shorter, and considerably cheaper.

It is also a serious piece of engineering. The line crosses the Bernina Pass at 2,253 m, which makes it the highest transalpine railway crossing in Europe, and it does it without a rack — on adhesion alone, on gradients of up to seven per cent, in metre gauge. Nothing else in the Alps does that.

The Albula and Bernina lines together are on the UNESCO World Heritage list, listed for the engineering rather than the view.

What you actually see

The line climbs from the forests around Pontresina to a bare high plateau: the Morteratsch glacier close enough to see the crevasses, the milky lakes of Lago Bianco at the summit, and then a long, spectacular descent into a completely different climate.

Within an hour of the glaciers you are in the Valposchiavo, where chestnuts and vines grow, and by Tirano there are palm trees.

The set piece is the Brusio circular viaduct — the line loops over itself in the open air on a stone spiral to lose height in a confined valley. It is the most photographed piece of railway in Switzerland and the train slows for it.

At the end, the train runs through the streets of Tirano among the cars, with no barriers, to reach the Italian station.

Branded train or regional?

As with the Glacier Express, the ordinary regional trains run the same track all day, at standard fares, with no reservation and with windows that open.

Here the case for the regional service is even stronger: the line is short enough that changing at Pontresina is trivial, and being able to stop at Alp Grüm — a station reachable only by rail, with a terrace looking down the Palü glacier — is worth more than the panoramic glazing.

Take the branded train for the guaranteed seat in high season and the commentary. Take the regional for everything else.

Getting back

Tirano is in Italy and is not a natural place to end a Swiss trip. Three options:

• Return the same way — different light, and the descent from the pass northbound is arguably better.
• The Bernina Express bus to Lugano, about three hours along Lake Como, which needs its own reservation and completes a neat loop back into Switzerland.
• On into Italy — Tirano has trains to Milan in about two and a half hours.

Remember that Tirano is outside Switzerland: bring a passport, and see customs if you shop.

Practical

• Reservation is compulsory on the branded train and cheap on this line compared with the Glacier Express.
• Passes cover the fare on both the branded and regional services; the seat supplement is extra. See tickets and passes.
• Which side? Heading south, the right, for the glaciers and the Brusio loop.
• Winter is the underrated season: the pass under snow, the line kept open by rotary ploughs, and the same palm trees at the bottom.

Combining it

The classic Alpine rail crossing is the Glacier Express to St. Moritz, then the Bernina south to Tirano — two days, glacier to palm tree, and the best rail journey in Europe if you only make one.

More on the alternatives in the panoramic trains.