Between Tirana and St. Moritz the "Bernina Express" passes through 55 tunnels and over 196 bridges and viaducts, and if you travel on a sunny winter's day, you will see some of the most spectacular views in the Alps
My attention was drawn to an ad on Instagram where an unregistered tourist agency from Serbia for 299 euros per person offers a three-day package that includes a ride on the famous by train "Bernina Express" from Tirana in Italy to St. Moritz in Switzerland. The photos of driving through the idyllic snow-covered alpine landscapes seemed almost unreal, so I started analyzing the elements of this trip and for a slightly higher amount (399 euros) made a three-day tour for the eight of us that, according to my companions, everyone will remember for the rest of their lives.
A return plane ticket with the low-cost company WizzAir from Belgrade to Bergamo with limited luggage (a small backpack with personal belongings and a suitcase of up to 10 kilograms, which is enough for a three-day trip) will cost you between 70 and 100 euros, depending on the date of travel.
A return bus ticket from Bergamo Airport to Milano Centrale Train Station costs 24 euros. Buses of several companies depart every half hour, and the journey takes 50 minutes. A decent 3- or 4-star "sleepover" hotel near the Milan railway station will cost you around 100 euros for a double room. A return train ticket to Tirana, an Italian town on the border with Switzerland, costs 25 euros, the journey takes two and a half hours and trains run every hour. A good 4-star hotel in the center of Tirana cost us 160 euros for a double room, overnight stay with a hearty breakfast, while a return ticket for the "Bernina Express" to St. Moritz is 80 euros.
So much for prices and logistics, now a few words about experiences. Almost everything is known about Milan and its charms, so in a special report I will write about an interesting museum located in the basement of the Railway Station.
We arrived in Tirano in the early evening and walked ten minutes from the train station to the hotel, which is located next to the bridge on the river Ada, which flows its entire course of 194 kilometers through Lombardy to finally flow into the famous crossword Po. Today, the town has about 9.000 inhabitants.
In the park on Marinoni Square there is an obelisk on all four sides of which there are plaques with the names of soldiers from this place who died in the First World War. There is also a smaller board with the names of the locals who died in the Second World War.
At dawn on September 29, 1504, Our Lady appeared to Mari Omodei, a resident of Tirana. Later, a basilica was built on that spot, today known as Madonna di Tirano. On the altar in the church, believers leave gifts to the Mother of God as a sign of gratitude for the healings. The organ from the 17th century with 2.200 pipes is one of the largest in Europe.
If you travel with the "Bernina Express", take into account that Tirano has two railway stations. One from 1902, which you came to by train from Milan, and the other built in 1908, from which the "Bernina Express" departs for St. Moritz. "Bernina Express" also offers a 1st class return ticket at twice the price of 160 euros, but my recommendation is to get a 2nd class ticket for 80 euros because its carriages have windows that can be opened which gives much better photo opportunities. Of course, with "Selma, don't lean out of the window", precautions are necessary because there are as many as 55 tunnels and 196 bridges and viaducts on the route between Tirana and St. Moritz.
"Bernina Express" was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2008. One part of this line was opened in 1908, the part between Celenina and St. Moritz was connected a year later, so that the complete line was connected in 1910. At the beginning, the line only worked in the summer, and from 1913 its use began during the winter months. This was possible after the installation of a large number of barriers against avalanches, which are common in these areas. In the first years of operation, this railway was constantly on the verge of bankruptcy, but in the middle of the Second World War, it was taken over by the "Rhaetian Railway" company and invested heavily in its modernization. Since the mid-eighties, this railway has become a real attraction, attracting a large number of tourists from all over the world. In October 2011, this route was the first railway in the world to be photographed and uploaded to Google Street View. Towards the end of winter, when the danger of snow avalanches is greatest, Swiss authorities even use artillery to trigger avalanches in a controlled manner so that they don't happen just when a train comes along.
We left at 9 am from Tirana and we were lucky that (at the end of January) there would be a lot of snow and the day would be sunny, so the scenes were really like on postcards. After a little less than two and a half hours of driving, we arrive at the St. Moritz Railway Station, which is located on the edge of the lake whose ice surface is the stage for the Snow Polo World Cup every January. This fashionable event accompanied by a luxury car show brings together the rich and famous from all over the world every year. We came on Monday, the day after its end, so the dismantling of the tent and accompanying equipment was ongoing on the frozen lake.
We went up to the famous Badrutt's Palace Hotel, one of the most expensive in the world. You won't even be allowed to drink tea in its lobby if you don't have a table reserved first. Johannes Badruth (1819–1889), whose bust is located in the central town square in St. Moritz, was a Swiss businessman and hotelier who made this small town what it is today. In the mid-19th century he opened the Kulm Hotel and brought the first English tourists to the city, while in 1896 his son Kaspar Badrutt opened Badrutt's Palace Hotel.
While we were walking cautiously on the frozen sidewalks, we ran into two girls from Belgrade who bought an arrangement from the agency mentioned at the beginning of the text. They were desperate - they got up at 4 in the morning, took a bus for six hours from Milan to St. Moritz, had an hour and a half free in the city and are returning in the afternoon, after dark, on the "Bernina Express" to Tirano, where the bus is waiting for them again, so they will practically miss all the sights that we enjoyed in the sunny morning. Tourist agencies, in their desire to make some money on cheap arrangements, often deny their passengers exactly what was the main motive of the trip.
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