hawki1989
Traveller
39 comments
Posted 11 years ago
I'm looking at doing the 7:58 from Chur to St Moritz and then the 10:45 from St Moritz to Tirano... I have recently read that the private company running the Bernina Express charges a reservation? Can I ask what the difference is, if any, between the two journey's I have mentioned?
Should I reserve the two journey's from Chur to Tirano or not?
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
These connections are RE (Chur - St Moritz) and R (St Moritz - Tirano) services, no reservation needed.
[u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail/chur-to-st-moritz[/u]
[u]https://rail.cc/en/train/st-moritz-to-tirano[/u]
A reservation is only required for travel on GEX (Glacier Express) and BEX (Bernina Express) services and for observation cars attached to some RE trains.
Direct Chur - Tirano BEX services: [u]https://rail.cc/en/train/chur-to-tirano[/u]
Flo 8)
hawki1989
Traveller
39 comments
Is it a case of:
The split journey is cheaper, longer, and involves changing - and the other is more expensive, shorter and is one clean journey - or is there any real difference that should make me think about the BEX? Like, is the split journey likely to be busy, therefore reservations are advised - in which case the BEX is better?
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Not quite. If you dont want to visit St Moritz you can travel faster by changing trains at Samedan and Pontresina. Reservations are not necessary for the RE and R services, if it is a busy day usually extra carriages are added and especially when entering the train in Chur already you wont have troubles finding a seat.
In my opinion, no need to spend the extra cash for a reservation be it on the Bernina Express or on a regular train.
hawki1989
Traveller
39 comments
I understood that the BEX was compulsory to reserve? Am I misunderstood?
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Yes, it requires a reservation for the observation cars. On some BEX services you can get a seat on the leading EMU without a reservation though.
Anyway, what I meant was that you will be fine using the regular trains without an extra reservation as well. And if you dont want to visit St Moritz, take a RE train leaving Chur at xx58, then change at Samedan and Pontresina to a R (regional) train to Tirano.
eastwestdivide
Traveller
7 comments
Related to the above, a currency question: when buying Bernina Express reservations (or even local RhB tickets) at the station at Tirano in Italy, do they accept either Euros or CHF? It's a Swiss company, but operating in Italy, so I'd expect to be able to pay in Euros. Thanks in advance.