If I need to use only one word to describe my Bernina Express ride, will be…. Fantastic! The train section from Thusis to Tirano is UNESCO World Site Heritage thanks to its 196 bridges and 55 tunnels. Before booking, they are a few things to know, that will help you to enjoy your ride better:
* The weather:
That is the main factor. Bad weather, you will be in the clouds, rain drops again the windows…. you won’t see much. So, if you can, check the weather before booking.
* The booking status:
An original and very good part of your booking, is, you book the date of your train ride, not the time. That means you can take any train of the day matching your itinerary, and that is great!
* Like the Hop On Hop Off buses.
You can go down at one station (to enjoy the view, or….), get back in the following train, or, go down at one station, and walk to the next station (through the hiking trails along the train track) and get back to the following train. That is very cool!!! I couldn’t do it, because I did not know about it, and I had luggage with me, but, if, I take this train again I will do that way. I spotted a few nice/easy hiking trails along the track, especially along the lakes….
* Tirano:
Your train ride will ends in Tirano, Italy (just at the border with Switzerland). When you arrive in Tirano, you have different options.
. Take the following Bernina train back to where you come from (worse idea to my opinion…)
. Spend a night in Tirano (like I did) and I do recommend to stay at Bernina express apartment ( nice and clean apartment 3mn walk from the station)
. From Tirano, take a long distance bus and go father deep to Italy.
* What train car is better?
You have different option:
. First-class or second-class coach. I was in 2nd class coach, and it was great.
. old cars, new cars or roof glass coach?
– Roof Glass train coach.
As you can imagine, everyone wants to travel in those coaches for comfort and better view, but……..
– New train coaches.
The seat are a little bit better than the old coaches, and they look nicer, but……
– Old train coaches.
My favorite. Why? because half of the windows can be lower down. That means, not only you can have your head outside the window, but, you can have your camera/phone outside the car. And it makes all the differences. Because, when you take photos behind the window, you can’t get the right angle, you have your reflection on the window, or the car roof light reflection, or the glare ……. You understand. If you want to take nice photos, it can not be done from behind the window.
So, it is up to you. Is taking good quality photos important for you.

The best photos you can see online may not come from the train, but drones or people away from the train. Because, when you are in the train, you don’t see much about the bridges, or don’t have an overview of the train. For this reason, I was disappointed…..
The 2 last photos of the train over the bridge were taken from my Swiss friend Phil, who knows where to be to get the best photos…. Once again, from the train, you don’t see much of the bridge…