Riding the Alpine rails on the Bernina Express
Weaving through the Alps, a journey on Rhaetian Railway’s Bernina Express is one you’ll never forget. Start in the Swiss city of Chur before winding south to Tirano for a slice of laid-back Mediterranean charm.
The Swiss began making inroads into the rugged Alpine terrain more than a century ago, building the world’s most outstanding railways with an obsessive eye and effortless hand. And today, these little red trains still chug over ravines and rivers and below glaciated mountains grazing the 13,000ft mark. Totally dwarfed by their colossal backdrop, these railways corkscrew around spiral viaducts, shoot through rock and ice and sail over mighty bridges.
Nothing sums up Switzerland like hopping aboard one a great train like the Bernina Express and letting the wild, wild landscape unfold, with the language flicking from German to Italian as you edge further south. Green? Absolutely. Swiss Railways (SBB) is aiming for carbon neutrality by 2030, so every journey here comes with a clear conscience.
Call of the Alps: Chur
Everyone’s so intent on dashing up to the peaks that the cultured little city of Chur, hugging the right bank of the Rhine, barely gets a look-in. But don’t just blaze on through; it’s worth allowing a day or two to get a feel for the capital of Graubünden and Switzerland’s oldest city, which archaeologists have dated back to the Neolithic Pfyn culture (3900-3500 BC).
Begin with a walk around the historic Altstadt, where pastel-painted Renaissance houses line cobbled alleys and courtyards. On fountain-splashed Martinsplatz, your eye is immediately drawn to the spire and giant clock face of the late-gothic St Martin’s Church, which soars above the rooftops. The interior is illuminated by a rainbow of stained-glass windows by Chur-born abstract artist Augusto Giacometti (1877-1947).
For high-calibre regional art, dive into the Bündner Kunstmuseum, which showcases the work of homegrown stars like Giacometti and neoclassical painter Angelika Kauffmann (1741-1807). The gallery brings together a 19th-century villa and a strikingly avant-garde, grid-like extension designed by Spanish architect Barozzi Veiga. The other cultural showstopper is the Rätisches Museum, lodged in a baroque patrician residence, which wings you through the region’s history in artefacts from the Bronze Age to baroque.
One look at the glacial Plessur River flowing through Chur and the mountains that ring the city will have you itching for greater heights. For a taste of the Alps proper, glide up to 5,250ft] on a cable-car to the peak of Brambrüesch, where hiking trails twist through a Heidi-like tableau of wildflower meadows, woods and glinting lakes. An Alpine bike park with five downhill routes ramps up the thrills.
Back in town, prepare for tomorrow’s journey over a glass of regional Riesling and a plate of Maluns (grated, fried potatoes) with apple sauce and Alpine cheese in the warm, woody Bündner Stuben.
From peak to palm: the Bernina Express
You’d expect the highest rail crossing in the Alps to be special, and it doesn’t disappoint. The 90-mile ride from Chur to Tirano aboard the Bernina Express is a rail journey you’ll never forget: four hours of cloud-grazing glaciers, deep gorges, startlingly turquoise rivers, stark, wind-battered plateaus and peaks reaching the 10,000ft mark. Sit back and relax in one of the comfortable panoramic carriages, which frame the views like a postcard.
The UNESCO World Heritage railway is a feat of early 20th-century engineering. It might look impressive on paper, ticking off 55 tunnels, traversing 196 bridges and looping the loop on the 360-degree Brusio Spiral Viaduct, but in reality, it’s even more astonishing.
Sip a coffee or prosecco as the cinematic scenery rolls on by. Highlights are many, but crossing the single-track, six-arch Landwasser Viaduct, swinging around the Montebello curve as the Morteratsch Glacier glints above, seeing the shimmer of Lago Bianco as the train climbs to Ospizio Bernina, on a wild pass 7,390ft above sea level, are moments you’ll cherish forever.
Get the 8.32am train from Chur and you’ll be in northern Italy in time for lunch.
Buongiorno, Tirano
And just like that, the train glides over the border into Lombardy, where pines give way to palm trees, vines rib steep hillsides and wooden huts are replaced by campaniles and stone houses in fresco painter’s colours. Tirano is much more than just the end of the line for the Bernina Express, so linger a while. Sitting on the banks of the fast-flowing, turquoise Adda River and peering up to an amphitheatre of Alpine peaks, the town is visually stunning.
And Tirano delivers an espresso shot of Italian life, with its mellow cafe terraces, pretty piazzas and trattorias serving specialities like bresaola (air-dried, salted beef) and pizzoccheri (buckwheat pasta with potatoes, chard, cheese, butter and garlic). When the sun’s out, grab an ice cream — family-run Toldo has been whipping up the best fresh-fruit gelato since 1925.
Just north of town, the cultural big-hitter is the Renaissance Sanctuary of the Madonna di Tirano, with its Latin cross-shaped triple nave, cupola and riot of baroque ornament. The basilica was built as thanks for a miraculous apparition of the Virgin Mary in 1504. On the other side of the river is noble Palazzo Salis, home to fanciful baroque interiors, trompe-l'œil, mythological frescoes and coffered ceilings. Its Italian garden, furthermore, is an oasis of symmetry and calm, with a box-hedge maze, fragrant roses and Lebanese cedar tree.
Stray further and you’ll find yourself in unchartered tourist territory: for instance, tasting full-bodied Rosso di Valtellina reds at ultra-modern winery Plozza Vini, or hiking or biking a stretch of the 70-mile Sentiero Valtellina, an old mule trail linking Colico on the shores of Lake Como to Bormio in the Alps.
For more information, visit berninaexpress.ch
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