Bernina express from Milan - train through Europe help

[Powergower]

I'm looking for advice for a holiday in planning. 5 adults travelling in Aug. We plan to fly to Milan and use that as our base. We want to stay there a few nights then get the train to Tirano and from there get the Bernina express to chur. We plan to stay here for a night then travel back to Milan the next day.

Is this possible? I've read everything the man in seat 61 says about this trip but i can't make sense of how best to do it from Milan if you use that as your base and need to return there for flights home.

We would love to actually get the eurostar from London to Zurich, stay there overnight, travel to chur then on to Milan but I've totally confused myself with how and where to buy tickets. Plus it's ridiculous, but our travel from up north to London eurostar is costing way more than flying into Europe! Do we need to show passports if travelling from Italy to Switzerland and back? I've tried booking tickets in advance but you can't book as far in advance as this but you can reserve a seat on the Bernina express (but not book the ticket)??

Maybe we should fly into Milan-tirano-chur-zurich- then fly back from Zurich. Any views on this route?

We've had a terrible few years and this is meant to mark the beginning of some time together as a family.

Any advice at all for a euro rail traveller most welcome.

Actually I'm now thinking of flying into Zurich, staying one night then traveling to chur staying there one night, then on to torino via bernina express, then on to Milan the next day then stopping in Milan for 3 nights and flying back to the UK.

Any thoughts ?

That is a good route

would recommend the Schweizerhof hotel in Zurich for one night as it’s lovely and opposite the station

Look on the man from seat 61 website, he covers this route in detail. We did both ways from U.K. by train , stopping en route in Zurich, and coming back via Venice, Verona , Rome and Munich. https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/bernina-express.htm

Sorry just read you've read the link. It's easy to get back and forward from Milan , there are multiple trains a day .
long distance trains you can mostly book 6 to 9 months in advance. We booked everything in advance and had reservations on most of the trains .
No passports shown Switzerland to Italy.
Get two together rail cards if you are not entitled to any other railcards , will bring down U.K. travel costs. We booked most things through train line other than Rome to Munich night jet train which we booked direct.

You can combine Bernina Express with travel to Italy like this https://www.seat61.com/Italy.htm

No passports shown Switzerland to Italy

Please don't take this for granted! Always take your passport if travelling to/ from Switzerland, they are not in the European Union.
I've m done Bernina Express from Zurich (25 odd years ago) ... so definitely recommend this route.

Switzerland is part of Schengen Agreement , so once you get into Schengen area you don't have border checks . Obviously you will need passport to get in in first place.
It's very nice not to be woken up in the middle of the night to show passports .

Thank you! I've been on the man in seat 61 website for the last fortnight. His YouTube channel is Also great.

I'm now thinking we should just go for it and travel by train the whole way to Milan. This would be train to London- eurostar to Paris-zurich-chur- Milan. Flying back from Milan.

Is it better to stay over one night in Paris, one night in Zurich or get to Zurich in one day? Or is chur a nicer place to stay for a night?

My main worry is train strikes and never having travelled by train in Europe so I'm expecting it to be as crap as the UK. However, everything I've read suggests train travel in Europe is easy and accessible.

The train from up north to London is extortionate. And unreliable but we're going to risk it.

The budget is increasing by the minute, haha....

If your traveling from up north to London then on to Paris it might make sense to break up the journey from north- London- Paris in Paris for one night, then get on an early train to Zurich so you get there early enough to enjoy one night there. Otherwise you'll get to Zurich late and barely see anything of it before traveling on to chur?

I've never done the journey but am loving this planning and enjoying reading the advice.

My main worry is train strikes and never having travelled by train in Europe so I'm expecting it to be as crap as the UK.

Of course I can't comment on any strikes in the future but you will be pleasantly surprised by train travel in Europe. Switzerland is positively 5* (and they depart on the dot of time).

Enjoy!

https://www.seat61.com/european-travel-from-uk-regions.htm#London%20International%20CIV
Have a look at a London CIV ticket for the journey to London. Might save you some money, depending in when you need to travel.

We stayed overnight in Zurich, and was easily doable to get there from Northern U.K. in a day but arrived in Zurich in evening so literally ate , checked into b and b and slept . Only saw Chur railway station so can't comment.

Book the panoramic carriage on Bernina express , it's worth it.

Railway travel is mostly pretty reliable in Europe , except some of the sleeper trains into Munich and Austria regularly run very late , so easy to miss connections.

French railways regularly go on strike , so best checking there . The Italian system was good , particularly the express trains where your meal comes with wine included in second class on the Rossa trains.

I would also say , it's not much further , but rather than stop in Milan I would go to Venice or Verona . The railway station in Venice is on the Grand Canal and Verona is a lovely city to walk around . There's an airport in Venice served by budget airlines, I think.

EU long distance trains are normally more reliable than the UK, apart from DeutscheBahn which is possibly even shitter.

I would suggest as an alternative eurostar to Amsterdam, a day in Amsterdam then the OBB Nightjet sleeper to Zurich, then back up to Paris with the TGV. I wouldn't try to do North UK to Zurich in one day because it will be 14h on a train, but London to Zurich is doable. The trains Zurich-Milan are straightforward. Chur is nice, but small so I wouldn't spend long there. Locarno, Bellinzona, Como and Luzern are all roughly en route too and very pretty.

Our experience of nightjet sleepers is that they are very often late, the last one we were on was 6 hours. The plus side , for us, was we got 50% of the fare back. The minus side was for other people on the train who were taking transcontinental trains was they missed connections . If taking a night jet leave half a day so you know you will make any connections, unless you are using local trains.

Tbh there is no much worth seeing in Chur. Maybe take a train up to Arosa or Lenzerheide to overnight.

Just to throw in a curve ball:
You can look into the London Cologne ticket... from there you can get a train to Basel and from there to Zurich.
I think you might even get a train straight from Cologne to Zurich...
Could work out a bit cheaper - but not sure. As I said up-thred it's been yeaaars!

@Lollygaggle - please take it from a seasoned France/ Germany/ Italy to Switzerland traveler- They do border spot checks & they have customs officers on the ground, the borders have 24/7 personal ... some hopping on / off trains (especially the long distance ones).

PS: from Basel you can get a high speed train to Chur or even Milano 😉

We had to actually.

We will definitely be carrying passports (let's hope the butter fingered teens don't lose them en route).

Cologne-basel-chur is a good shout. None of us really want to be in Paris for any length of time. And Zurich is eye wateringly expensive. In fact the cost of the whole damp trip is snowballing. We used one of the tour companies seat 61 recommended to give us a quote last month and it came to almost 6.5k without flights home or food added on.

I think we can cut costs and want to try and do it all within a budget of 5-6.5k.

Chur is pretty and for one night it wohld be fine.
look at the Swiss travel pass. Might be worth it for the amount you are taking the train in Switzerland

It is perfectly possible to book it yourself for a lot less than that. We do it independently , mostly booking through train operators direct , because although you could book through trainline it often doesn't come up with some of the special cheaper fares on the regional trains and some of the long distance trains are not available until very last minute.

Agree with PP - if you want to make it cheaper, stay out of Switzerland as much as possible! On the plus side though, Swiss trains are great, and you can get a half fare card which could pay for itself in one 4-hour journey (not sure if the Swiss pass above would get you a better deal).

Also beware of having to change stations in Paris - Eurostar comes in to Gare du Nord and if you're heading towards Milan you'll be going from Gare de Lyon. Not impossible but a faff with luggage (there are taxis though).

Both Zurich and Milan are lovely. We've been to Milan in August and it was very quiet as a lot of Italians leave the city for summer. As a result however lots of restaurants and small shops were closed for their summer break, so check before turning up to eat!

Will just throw in Turin as another attractive city since you'll be in the area

Apologies in advance if this has already been covered - I haven't read the whole thread - just wanted to say that YES - you will need (or might have to) present a passport at the Swiss border!

Have a great time!

Still here and still planning but ready to book this weekend.

I'm going to risk the Bernina express hack that seat 61 suggests of booking a ticket from Germany to Italy. Apparently, this includes the Bernina express (Germany-zurich-chur- torina) and is half the price of booking the Bernina express direct.

Wish me luck. So many separate elements to book and also hotels along the way! We will stop in Milan for 3-4 nights but then will take trains to see Venice and verona.

Any other top tips?