The Bernina Express

 One of my bucket list items that we were finally able to tick off this year was to take the Bernina Express. This is a scenic train trip that runs from Tirano in Northern Italy, across the alps and ends at St Moritz Switzerland. 

I had been wanting to do this since our very first trip to Italy in 2015 but for multiple reasons, it just never worked out. 

For this trip I was determined to make it work - though it very nearly may not have . Not for the first time, my pre trip research paid off. 

The main reason that we started this trip in Italy rather than France was in fact to take the Bernina Express and secondarily get an extra few days at Lake Como.

It is possible to take the train trip as a day excursion from Milan and from various towns on Lake Como. In fact normally probably the best place to stay in order to do this trip completely as a do it yourself day trip would be to stay in Varenna. From there you can take a train direct to Tirano, then take the Bernina Express from Tirano to St Moritz and back.  However as I explained in a previous post, I couldnt find ideal accommodation for our group of 5 in Varenna . This would have added a ferry trip across the lake in each direction to the do it yourself itinerary, and I discovered quite late in the planning that the spring ferry timetable ended very early in the evening making it pretty risky to do it this way .

The alternative would be to take the Swiss Post bus back from St Moritz which sometimes stops in Mennagio but I couldnt find definitive proof it would stop there in late May 2024. 

The other alternative was a guided bus tour which bussed you from Menaggio and other Western Lake villages to Tirano and then bussed back . This was approximately 70 Euro pp and quite a good option except that you joined the train more than half way through the train trip, only doing about an hour ( albeit probably the most scenic hour of the trip) 

In the end I chose a private tour. While it cost a little  more per person, it was much more tailored to our desires and extremely convenient, being picked up and delivered back right to our apartment.

As I mentioned earlier, this was an excellent choice for many reasons, one being that had we chosen to do the trip as a DIY option we would have been stuck, as the train line from Varenna was closed for several days  due to flooding from an exceptionally severe rain storm in the area - that had actually seen the cancellation of the Grand Prix. 

I booked Giovanni from comolake.holiday and he was a superb guide. 

He picked us up and we travelled up the western side of the lake while he gave us a good run down on the history and geography of the area and we stopped at a winery in Northern Lombardy on the way to Tirano

(Journalling on these pages reads: We were picked up early by Giovanni who would take us by van to the start of our train journey from Tirano Italy to St Moritz Switzerland. The drive was a couple of hours and we passed through one of the DOCG wine regions of Lombardy, called Vallentina.

Vallentina is near Sondrio, north of Milan and surrounded by very steep hills where the grapes were grown in every possible and many seemingly impossible spare pieces of ground. Most of the grapes grown in this district are Nebbiolo. We stopped at Pietro Nera Winery where Giovanni gave us a quick tour of the cellars and we purchased some wine to drink on the train.)

Giovanni also organised a great packed lunch for us to eat on the train with the wine we purchased at the winery and on arrival in Tirano guided us as to what tickets to buy and where to get off the train. He would meet us there, travelling by van, while we took in the sights on the train .

I was so glad we took the train from the beginning of the trip as we had great seats with excellent views ( Giovanni had advised us it was totally unnecessary to pay the extra for 1st class seats as the next car along was just as comfortable and cost half the price, and he was right) We almost had the whole carriage to ourselves .

Journalling reads: Once we reached Tirano Giovanni guided us through purchasing tickets and finding the best carriage. With instructions to get off the train at Diavolezza he left us and drove to meet us there . We had just under 2 hours on the train and the views started almost immediately we left Tirano and started the uphill journey to the mountains. The first point of interest was the Brusio spiral viaduct. It is 110 metres long, has a horizontal radius of curvature of 70 metres, a longitudinal slope of 7 percent, and is made up of nine spans. It was built in 1908 and is one of several viaducts on the Bernina Railway. We passed over the Italian Swiss border into Switzerland after only a few minutes on the train.)

We would also have missed the views of MiraLago and other wonderful sub snow level views had we taken the cheaper bus tour that joined the train much later in the journey.

Journalling reads: By the time we reached Miralago station on the picturesque Lake Poschiavo we had climed to an elevation of 964 metres. We would be climing a lot more though before we left the train. The maximum elevation of 2,253 metres

Over the next 45 minutes we climbed up to over 2000-metres into the  snow line though it was clear from the avalanche galleries (like a porch roof structure over the lines) that snow falls to much lower levels in the winter 

As we climbed into the mountains the scenery was so amazing it was hard to know which way to turn, and the cameras were clicking almost continuously! 

See the video below to experience the wonderful views near the summit 

There are 2 reservoirs at the summit of the Bernina Pass. Lago Bianco drains to the Mediterraean, through several rivers and Lej Nair, the lower of the two drains north to the Black Sea , through the Inn, and Danube rivers. 

Giovanni had arranged to meet us off the train at Diavolezza, before our final destination of Saint Moritz so he could show us the great viewpoint of the Mortaratsch Glacier . There are certainly breathtaking views of the surrounding mountain range too.

All too soon, it was time to get off the train and make the short drive to St Moritz. I have to say, it was a little underwhelming after the incredible views we had just experienced.  It was of course off season, so very empty with a lot of construction, but to me it just lacked character and I definitely think that its a "one and done" location for me, though im sure in the winter it would have a lot better vibe. 

Giovanni gave us a walking tour of the town, and left us for some free time where we had a hot chocolate ( delicious) and purchased some of the most expensive chocolate ever created, before meeting back up with him, and proceeding on our trip back to Italy, taking a different route, this time through the Maloja Pass .

Journalling reads: After picking us up from the train, Giovanni drove us to St Moritz where he gave us a walking

 tour of the town. Im not sure if it was because it was “off season” but it felt a bit like a town 

without a soul. It certainly was undergoing a lot of construction ready for the next season, and apparently it pretty much closes down once the winter is over and this may have had something to do with why it wasn't as appealing as other places we visited on the trip. We did visit the “leaning tower”, an old church tower that is definitely on a lean, and we had to partake in a visit  and a purchase or 2 at a to a chocolate shop.

Journalling: On leaving Saint Moritz we made our way back to Italy by road, taking a different route, via 

another pass known as the Maloja Pass. Part of this road is very well known as it takes in 

numerous very sharp switchbacks as it weaves its way down the mountains to the valley below

and back into Italy 

Our last stop for the day was at Acqua Fraggia Falls, near the Italian town of Chiavenna. These pretty falls contain water draining from the lakes near the swiss border that we had passed on the road. 

 This trip certainly lived up to my very high expectations. I think in retrospect, doing the trip with a private guide made it even better than it would have been ( certainly better than it might have been as a DIY as I cant see that we would have been able to complete it due to the railway closure, and simply the guidance of Giovanni as to where to buy tickets and what tickets to purchase made life a lot simpler. In addition, the packed lunch of braesola and goats cheese rolls along with a bottle of Italian red, made for a very inexpensive and delicious lunch. Had we waited till St Moritz to buy lunch we most certainly would have paid a lot more!

Dont overlook Menaggio

 When deciding where to stay on Lake Como, many people look at Bellagio and Varenna, and on both occasions we have stayed on Lake Como ,Varenna was the first place I looked. Likewise when planning for our trip earlier this year, I started looking at Varenna, however on neither occasion did we actually end up staying there. The first trip we stayed in Como itself which is a really interesting place to stay with a lot to see in terms of sightseeing, and numerous hotel, and restaurant options. The trouble with Como, though if you are wanting to visit other towns on the lake, is the distance and time involved in travelling up and down.  Lake Como looks deceptively small on a map, but it is NOT small at at all - it is very long and it can take up to 4 hours to travel from Como in the south up to the top of the lake. It can take 2 hours or more by ferry to get from Como to Bellagio, Varenna or Menaggio in the middle of the lake.  Even when going by bus it can take well over an hour to get from the mid lake villages to Como.

This time, as we were looking for a 3 bedroom apartment for our group of 5, preferably with at least 2 bathrooms, it quickly because obvious that there was going to be very little that would be available within our budget. 
I easily found a great lake front apartment in the village of Menaggio, on the Western side of the lake , directly across from Bellagio . While the village doesnt have the visual appeal of either Varenna or Bellagio, behind the slight grittiness, there is a lot to love. 

Firstly it is quite a bit cheaper than the 2 more touristic mid lake options, while having lots of accommodation options from low priced to ultra luxury hotels . There are a variety of restaurants and some supermarkets, which are lacking in the other 2 villages.  A direct bus to Como makes road travel easy to other western lake villages too and we used this service twice along with the ferry 

Our apartment was called Menaggio Fronte Lago. I booked it through booking.com and it was exactly as advertised  You can find it here 

As you can see from the layout above, the location couldn't be better. Literally lake front, with private beach access ( however the weather and available time weren't conducive to beach time on this visit.)

The apartment was very spacious, with each bedroom having its own ensuite bathroom for real convenience when travelling with a group 

Journalling on the page above reads : 

Our first accomodation was Menaggio Fronte Lago, a name that very well described the apartment, which was lake front on the third floor of a probably 18th century building with 54 very worn stone stairs to reach it. It was nicely decorated and had everything we could want, including the best views of Lake Como.

On arrival I was relieved that I had chosen Menaggio as our base. What I hadn't foreseen was the huge increase in travel since covid which had such a huge effect on the small villages on the lake. While Varenna was busy, a lot more so than our visit in 2015, Bellagio was packed to such a degree that it was not remotely pleasant to be there at all. It was actually a relief at the end of the day to return to the more peaceful village of Menaggio where we never had trouble getting a table in a restaurant for breakfast or in the evening for dinner or to the local wine bar, Enoteca Re Di Quadri which became a quick favourite with its excellent snacks provided free with each round of drinks.

The frequent mid lake ferry timetable with a less than 20 minute traverse,makes it so easy to visit both Varenna and Bellagio so there is literally no downside to making Mennagio your base on Lake Como