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If the Glacier Express is Switzerland’s stately eight-hour banquet, the Bernina Express is the espresso shot: four hours from Chur to Tirano in Italy, over the highest rail crossing of the Alps, on a line so audacious UNESCO listed the track itself as a World Heritage Site. You start among glaciers and step off beside palm trees.
Why engineers make pilgrimages here
The Bernina line climbs to 2,253 metres at Ospizio Bernina — with no cog-wheel assistance, the highest adhesion railway crossing in the Alps. To manage the gradient, the builders resorted to beautiful madness:
- The Brusio Circular Viaduct — the train corkscrews 360° on a stone spiral in open air. You can see your own rear carriages curving below you.
- The Landwasser Viaduct — shared with the Glacier Express route, six arches vanishing into a cliff.
- Lago Bianco — the milk-white glacial lake at the summit, right beside the tracks.
- The Morteratsch glacier — visible from your seat shortly after Pontresina.
Which side to sit on
Heading south from Chur to Tirano, the right side wins overall — it gets the Landwasser approach and the best of the Val Poschiavo descent. The Lago Bianco summit plays out on both sides. If you can’t choose, the rule is: right side south, left side north.
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Panoramic car or regional train?
The same choice as the Glacier Express, and the same secret: regional trains run the entire Bernina line with no seat reservation, windows that open, and the freedom to break the journey. The panoramic Bernina Express cars are glorious, but on a warm day, an open window over the Brusio spiral is better photography than any glass roof.
The Bernina Express proper requires a seat reservation on top of your fare — cheaper than the Glacier Express supplement, but just as compulsory.
Making it a loop
The classic plan: panoramic train south to Tirano, then lunch — you are now in Italy, and the pizza is real — followed by the Bernina Express Bus along Lake Como to Lugano, and Swiss rails back north. It turns a there-and-back into one of Europe’s great circular days out.
Bernina or Glacier Express?
If you only have time for one: the Bernina Express packs more drama into half the hours and half the price, and it delivers you to Italy rather than to another ski resort. The Glacier Express wins on comfort and legend; the Bernina wins on scenery per minute. Ideally, of course — ride both.