Ranjesh_Traveller

Hello,

I will be put up in Poland for a month. I was thinking of visiting switzerland during the period.

Could some one please guide whats the most economical way (route as well as medium) of reaching Chur from warsaw poland, basically I was interested in taking the bernina express.

Thanks

BigRuss

Your best choice will likely be a direct flight from Warsaw to somewhere in Switzerland near Chur or Davos (Zurich?) so you can access the train from one of those cities. It's going to be a real haul by train from Warsaw (16+ hours, 2-3 train changes).

neckervd

Do you want to go to Chur or to the Bernina Express?

For the latter, you best fly with ryanair from Warsaw to Bergamo. Fares start around 50 EUR/PAX/OW.
Proceed from BGY to Lecco - Tirano and board the Bernina EXpress.

Monday:
Warsaw dp 9.45 - BGY 12.05, dp by city bus 12.45 - Bergamo railway station ar 13.00 dp by train 14.08 - Lecco 14.48/15.02 - Tirano ar 16.50.
Standard Bernina train:
Tirano dp 17.40 - Pontresina ar 19.50

Wednesday:
Warsaw dp 16.15 - BGY 18.35, dp by city bus 19.05 - Bergamo railway station ar 19.20 dp by train 20.08 - Lecco 20.48/21.02 - Sondrio ar 22.21.

Friday:
Warsaw dp 14.00 - BGY 16.20, dp by city bus 17.05 - Bergamo railway station ar 17.20 dp by train 18.08 - Lecco 18.48/19.02 - Tirano ar 20.50.

etc. etc.

Bernina standard trains:
Tirano dp about every hr from 7.40 until 17.40 (1 1/2 hrs up to Bernina, 2 hrs up to Pontresina, 4 1/2 hrs up to Chur)

airconditioned Bernina Express trains: 1 to 4 trains daily, according to the season.

Train:
Warsaw dp 20.07 - Wien West 6.34/7.30 - Landeck 12.30/ 13.10 - bus - Scuol 15.28/15.34 - train - Pontresina ar 16.56

PalenQ

Even flying to Milan would not be bad - and take the train to Tirano, Italy - perhaps stay there and then do the Bernina the next day - but I would spend a whole day on the Bernina Pass rail line and not just swoosh thru it in one fell swoop - get off at a station like Alp Grum or Bernina Ospiz and walk around the glacier=fed Alpine lake to the glacier, etc.

This to me is much better than just seeing all that from a train window, even if a panoramic wagon. For lots of nice info on the Bernina Pass rail route check out these sites that have lots of informative info on it: www.budgeteuropetravel.com - their free online European Planning & Rail Guide has a special page devoted to what I consider to be Europe's most gorgeous rail trip - and also check www.ricksteves.com and www.swisstravelsystem.com - has a link to the official Bernina Express train - note that there are locals that run over the same route often - with obviously the same scenery that you can just hop on and off, etc.

In summer some trains have open-air cars that are the ultimate Panoramic Cars IME - nothing between you and the scenery except low rails in these flat-bed cars.

PalenQ

Flying to Zurich is not bad if you can find a decent fare - only a few hours from Chur and another two via the unique UNESCO World Heritage Railway - for its feats of engineering spiralling up and over the Albula Pass via corkscrewing tunnels and swirling viaducts to either St Moritz or Ponresina - many prefer more rustic Pontresina over glitzy St Moritz.

Then do the Bernina Railway for the whole day and stay in either St Moritz or Pontresinda

Then hop the Maloja Pass awesomely scenic bus thru a gorgeous part of the Engadine (several great days could be spent there - take this bus (a k a Palm Express I believe) to Lugano, a sweet city on a sweet lkae - take a lake boat ride (Swiss Pass covers lake boats too and the Maloja Pass bus and the whole of trains on the Bernina Pass though the official Bernina Express charges a small enough reservation fee and you have to pay a few euros to reserve the bus too)

From LUgano you could head to Locarno -to take the Centovalli Railway - another of Switzerland's ballyhooed scenic train lines though not featuring awesome Alpine scenery but 100 nice valleys from which its name stems - well maybe not quite 100 but several pasotral valleys - to Domodsoola (whole train covered bya Swiss Pass even though it goes mainly thru Italy!)\\From Domodossola a Swiss Pass takes you without extra charge to Brig/Visp then to Zermatt or onto Interlaken and the Jungfrau Region, to me and many the absolute highlight of Switzerland that anyone who has not been there should put at the very top of their list - so so many things to do.

Base yourself in a sweet mountain village like Wengen or Grindelwald and do hikes for all emergies, thrilling aerial cable car rides like to Piz Gloria on the Schilthorn (James Bond On Her Majesty's service was in large part filmed here when this famous revolving restaurant was being built.

Interlaken to Lucerne via another thrilling scenic railway - the Brunig Pass line - Lucerne is certainly one of Europe's most gorgeous cities - a few days here and then a short train ride back to Zurich Airport. A great two-week or so trip all together if you have the time.

Ranjesh_Traveller

Thank you all for your responses. yes flying to zurich is costly and then from Zurich to Chur is anothe 3hrs. So does not look pretty as I said I just have a day for the tour in swiss.

@neckervd : Thanks for breaking it up so beautifully. I was going through the ryanair.com and the prices dont seem to be that cheap.. I will be most probably booking in one or two days in advance, may be thats the reason. Is there any alternate route cheap route. And yes, the primary purpose is to take the ride of bernina express.

neckervd

You may also check the http://wizzair.com/ flights from Warsaw to Bergamo. Compare the fares with those from Katowice to Milan Malpensa, from Poznan to Bergamo. Or check http://eurolot.com/ from Wroclaw to Milan Malpensa.
Bus Warszawa - St. Gallen (Eastern Switzerland): http://www.expressbus.ch/de/fahrplan...genf-bialystok

PalenQ

a bus from Warsaw to Switzerland! Not in my worst nightmare would I ever do that - having done such marathon bus rides before - I'd pay beaucoup dollars more to fly.

Ranjesh_Traveller

Thanks all !!

Done with my trip. Had the bernina express ride and it was wonderfull. But I think in switzerland I paid more than I should have.

From Zurich -> chur (by IC)
Chur -> Le Preses (Bernina Exp)
Le Preses -> St Moritz (Combination of REs)
StMoritz -> Zurich (IC)

This entire trip cost me 178 CHF (146 Eur apprx).

I though that was expensive, but since the train was departing in two minutes, I did not have enough time to think and went ahead with the trip.

Was that expensive or its normal considering rail prices are high in swiss

PalenQ

seems like normal rail prices for yes a pricey Switzerland - actually surprised it didn't cost a bit more!

PalenQ

and on that trip I do not think any pass or discounted tickets would be possible to lower the price. You paid the going rate it seems which everyone has to just about - there may be isolated specials that often do not dovetail with your exact plans.

neckervd

So you arrived at Zurich by plane. Otherwise you wouldn't have started your Bernina Express ride there.
Zurich airport - Le Prese and back costs 176 CHF (standard fare either via Albula or via Vereina).
A discounted economy fare ticket (available in the web only) would have costed about 100 CHF (depends on date and train). These tickets are actually available for almost all Zurich - Bernina trains, but will get scarce or even disappear in higt season.

PalenQ

https://www.google.com/search?q=bern...=1600&bih=1075

well for a day on trains you at least picked the best IMO - the Bernina Pass line to me being the most scenic not only in Switzerland but in Europe.