Bernina Express day trip
 

We'll be doing a round trip from Tirano - St. Moritz on the Bernina Express at the end of September. Will only have about 2 1/2 hours in St. M.... Any suggestions for lunch with a great view? I figure this may be our only time there, so a splurge is not out of the question. Now, when I say splurge I'm thinking under $100 each, not a $200 lunch:)

From where will you start your trip and what's your final destination?
St. Moritz bound Bernina railway trains leave Tirano about every hr from 07.40 until 17.40; the OW journey lasts about 2 1/2 hrs.
If you want to go from St. Moritz to Lake Como destinations like Colico, Varenna, Menaggio, etc., it's faster to take the Maloja Pass PostBus from St. Moritz up to Chiavenna (every hr) and to change there to a Colico - Varenna - Lecco bound train (every 2 hrs).
St. Moritz is by far not the most scenic place for a lunch stop. Check rather:
Alp Grum (railway statio n restaurant)
Ospizio Bernina (railway station restaurant)
Diavolezza (gondola from Bernina railway station)
Muottas Muragl (rope railway from Bernina railway station Punt Muragl)
Stuvetta Marguns (gondola from Bernina railway station Celerina Staz)
http://www.daprimo.com/htm/eng-alp-g...ant-hotel.html
http://www.daprimo.com/htm/e-bahnhof...o-bernina.html
http://www.gastro.mountains.ch/en/
http://www.bernina-hospiz.ch/en/inde...=1&i=730425937
http://www.diavolezza.ch/en/gastronomy/
http://www.muottasmuragl.ch/en/

We're staying in Varenna. We have RT tix from Tirano. We'll arrive in St Moritz at 12:30 and depart St M at 15:15. I'll check on these other stops, hopefully we can find something with good food and spectacular views!
Thanks very much.

Yes indeedy - many find St Moritz rather blah - a little glitzy but IME you may want to get off at Bernina Ospiz - about half-way and dine at the hotel's outdoor sun terrace with a delicious view and have a walk around the glacier-fed Alpine lake there and re-board a local train for St Moritz or wat till the GE you have booked for a return comes thru - neat to walk to a glacier - most folks just ride thru this gorgeos scenery but IMO the experience is best when you get out a walk around a bit - for lots of details on Bernina Express trains and route check www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Note regional trains you can just hop on with your ticket and the view of course is exactly the same. I actually prefer the local trains that are not typically chock full - I can whip back and forth from side to side as the scenery dictates (though most of the scintillating scenery is on the west side).

https://www.google.com/search?q=bern...=1600&bih=1099

Bernina Ospiz station showing the hotel with restaurant and the Top of the World look and feelin g- most folks just quickly train by this amazing scene - taking pictures galore from the train but IME it is muchmuch nicer and impressonable to get off the train and do a little walk or have a lunch on the sun terrace at the hotel, etc.

Much better than spending a few hours in a blah St Moritz - that's most folks feelings here in the past - very few say much exciting about St Moritz though it certainly has nice expesnive restaurants - be prepared for Swiss sticket shock!

" I'll check on these other stops, hopefully we can find something with good food and spectacular views!"

Forget it:
If you want to leave Varenna after 8am and be back before 8pm,
if you want to go up to St. Moritz
and if you want to take in both directions the longer itinerary via Bernina,
you will have no chance resp. no time for "something with good food and spectacular views".

Skip St Moritz and their $100 budget lunches! You do not ride a train that afr to see an uneventful city when you could be traipsing thru some of Europe's most wondrous countryside.

It's difficult to find budget lunches at St. Moritz. Most restaurants prefer to offer à la carte, like the well known restaurant Laudinella where a 3 course dinner costs 60 USD whereas chicken breast with pumpkin seed crust and summerly leaf salad costs 30 USD.

People who don't want to spend so much go to the Coop Restaurant Bellevue St. Moritz where the daily lunch costs 14 USD (this week: meat loaf, creme sauce with mushrooms, German Spaetzle, grilled tomato)

Coop is a cafeteria or proper restaurant - I've dined inmany but they were cafeterias, anethema to most well-heeled tourists who want a proper sit down restaurant with waiters. Coop is a great deal and you get down home Swiss food - what the locals eat.

I wonder if tickets on the official BEX can be used without formality on local trains - I would think they could well be butnot sure - even though they cost more - I would ask and then if you want to break your journey at say Alp Grum or Bernina Ospiz you could hop any of the about hourly regional trains back to Tirano or onto St Moritz for a quick look.

"I wonder if tickets on the official BEX can be used without formality on local trains"

Of course, unless it's a highly discounted fare (supersaver tickets) or a ticket downloaded to your cellphone.

"Of course, unless it's a highly discounted fare (supersaver tickets) or a ticket downloaded to your cellphone"

It should be:
Of course, unless it's a e-ticket/web-ticket (like supersaver tickets) or a ticket downloaded to your cellphone.

Are there any highly discounted tickets on the BEX - official train - never knew that?