All aboard the best train ride in the world

No timeline cleanse like a Swiss timeline cleanse

I love a good train system, partly because they are a testament to great public infrastructure, and partly because at heart I am a 9 year old kid.

Last year I wrote about the joys of travel in Switzerland, saying it offered the best public transport system in the world. Some train geeks point to Japan, so I also visited there. While I loved the train museum in Osaka…

…and appreciated the scale of the urban rail systems in the major cities, it felt like an apples and oranges comparison. Japan is just operating on a different scale given the much larger country and population. It invested in high speed rail in a way Switzerland never really needed to. Both systems are efficient. Japan’s trains system is more impressive, and its trains more beautiful. But the Swiss system is just more integrated across transportation types. And the experience of being on a Swiss train is just more pleasant, in large part because of what you get to see outside the train.

I was reminded of this in Hakone, Japan by the clever people behind a Swiss tourism ad for the Bernina Express, featuring a lifesize mock-up of the train.

So, next time I was back in Italy, I headed north to Tirano, and from there jumped on the Bernina Express route.

“Express” is a bit of a misnomer here. It never gets up much of a speed, sometimes because it is cutting through towns…

…sometimes because it is managing hairpin bends…

…swinging by lakes, or going up steep mountains...

The key attraction of the Bernina Express are the breathtaking Alpine views.

HACKS!

Obviously, you should do the Bernina Express. But here are some useful hacks to get you on your way.

Take the local. You can book a ticket on the Bernina Express, which is a specific touristic train, but you shouldn’t. It is the route and the views, not the train, that is the Unesco World Heritage site. The regional trains run on the same tracks, are less busy and slightly cheaper. Better yet, you can jump on and jump off, which you can’t do with the official Bernina Express, which requires you to reserve a seat. I visited in July and the local train had plenty of space.

The main advantage of the official Bernina Express train is that they have glass panoramic carriages, but they also run less frequently while the regional trains run about every hour. The other downside is that windows on the Bernina Express cannot be opened, so your photos will often have reflections. The regional trains allow you to poke your head, and camera, out of the windows.

Look for the open carriages: Another benefit of the regional trains is that during the summer they add open panoramic carriages. If the weather is good, this is fantastic. I lucked into one without planning to. If you look on the Rhätische Bahn (RhB) website, find the "open panoramic car" or "AW" symbol on schedules. It is hard to overstate how much childish glee is to be had from riding on an open carriage through the Swiss countryside.

Stop along the way: The Bernina Express runs from Tirano in northern Italy to Chur, Switzerland. (Be warned: the train line into Tirano is being upgraded on the Italian side, so for now they are running buses, which was a bit haphazard when I traveled: late in one direction, not bothering to collect fares on the other).

It takes more than 4 hours each way. In theory you can do the entire loop in one day, but even if you love trains, that is a lot. So make time for stops. I stopped at the Alp Grũm hotel for a beer and lunch, and then hopped on a later train. You can also stay at the hotel there if you book early enough (I didn’t). Because there is no car access to the hotel, this is about as remote as you can get on the route.

I spent the night in Pontresina, which is smaller and much more charming than the ritzier nearby ski town of St. Moritz. It is also a great base for hiking. I stayed at and recommend the elegant Hotel Walther.

Note that if you stay in hotels there for a couple of days, you get a free local travel pass which covers the costs of transport up and down the mountain on the funicular, cable cars and ski lifts. On my first evening I hiked the Muottas Muragl Panorama Trail which includes the Unterer Schafberg restaurant at the top.

The next morning I took advantage of a chairlift to shorten the hike up to Plz Languard.

I then proceeded onto the rest of the journey. Taking the extra day not only gave me the chance to add two hikes to the itinerary but also meant I felt like I actually stopped to explore some of the amazing landscape I was seeing on the train.

Is this the best train ride in the world? Well, its the best one I’ve ever taken, offering breathtaking views, a leisurely enough pace to take them in, and an inviting array of stops. Look forward to hearing from readers who want to offer their nominations.

If you made it this far, you may as well check out previous travel writing on Ghent, Utrecht, Stockholm vs. Copenhagen, hacks to manage Italy, the west coast of Ireland, what to do in Portland, ME, and AI-enabled beer drinking in Copenhagen.