TIRANO – ST MORITZ – BERNINA RAILWAY Book well in advance to get a seat on the actual Bernina Express but you can still travel the Unesco heritage route on an ordinary train, buying tickets on the day. There is no glass roof but you still have fabulous views as you can pull down the windows for reflection free photos. I arrived for my train with enough time to realise that there are TWO STATIONS in TIRANO, one for trains to Milan and the other for the Bernina route. Thankfully they are right next door to each other. I had pre-booked 1st class but I felt that if I had booked on the day, there would still be plenty of seats in 1st and 2nd. The journey from Tirano to St Moritz is around 2 hours, during which time the train slowly gets higher and higher, and the grassy landscape gradually turns to snow. There is an occasional commentary telling you about the number of bridges and tunnels on the route and geographical references to whats going past. My carriage all had great fun sticking our head out of the windows for the perfect photograph with no reflections.
ST MORITZ – On arrival in St Moritz, I’d booked a traditional swiss lunch of Schnitzel and strudel at the Eingendin restaurant next to the lake, then walked along the frozen lake front to take escalators up to the heart of the town.
St Moritz feels exclusive to the superrich with expensive designer shops, although I did manage to thankfully find a Co Op to stock up on essentials. I stayed in the Chesa Languard hotel, a cute old fashioned traditional Swiss hotel with views across to Badrutts Palace, voted one of the best hotels in the world. I did try to get in to Badrutts for a drink but was advised that it’s 48 hours notice to do so. Tourists posed for photo’s outside the hotel as the fur trimmed winter travellers arrived in posh cars ready for their luxury ski holiday.
The closest I came to the 5 star experience was a visit to the Kulm, the first hotel in St Moritz founded by Johannes Badrutt in the 1850’s as the pioneering hotel for winter tourism. I booked a spa treatment in Kulm Spa which meant I could use the spa with outside heated pool surrounded with a snow capped mountain landscape. The spa entry and treatment came to £250 which like everything here is extremely expensive but still worth it.
ST MORITZ – CHUR – BERNINA RAILWAY Two hours back on the Bernina Railway for another scenic journey up to Chur, the oldest city in Switzerland. This leg of the journey is just as scenic and you go over the famous Landwasser viaduct aquaduct which you can’t really see when you’re on the train. A little walk round Chur, the oldest city in Switzerland, with cobbled streets , old world charm and independent affordable shops.
CHUR – ZERMATT – GLACIER EXPRESS Next adventure, the punctually departing Glacier Express, for the 6 hour rail journey to Zermatt. I had booked first class with a two course meal which to my surprise was silver served at my table. Be mindful when booking that you have purchase your ticket at the same time as seat reservation, you can’t have one without the other and the website is not clear. The glass ceilings and windows make it easy to see the winter wonderland views as they glide past.
ZERMATT – My favourite town on the trip and as a non skier I certainly didn’t feel as though I was missing out. My hotel, the Bella Vista, had a wonderful view of the Matterhorn, which I didn’t realise was the famous mountain pictured on a Toblerone chocolate bar.
I was here in December and thankfully there was snow on the mountains but not on the roads and pavements. I discovered that during the winter, some hotels don’t support salting the roads as it ruins their carpets which results in quite a few broken bones from slips and falls. Safely walking round the town, I discovered lots of affordable shops and cafes, including the famous Fuchs with a fabulous selection of cakes and pastries.
ZERMATT – CABLE CAR + GORNERGRAT RAILWAY – a great way to experience the snowy mountains without wearing skis, is to take a cable car, the cog railway or a combination of both, upto different levels. I chose just to go as high as Gornergrat at 3135 metres but you can take a Matterhorn Glacier ride up to Europes highest mountain station at 3883 metres for closer views of the Mattherhorn. I took two cable cars upto Riffelberg, picking up the cog railway to Gornergrat, then taking the cog railway back down which took 40 minutes.
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