Bernina Express From Tirano

Tirano is the easiest place to start the Bernina line if you are coming from Milan. A direct Trenord regional train gets you there in about 2 hours 30 minutes, the Swiss RhB station is across the square from the Italian one, and from the platform you have three ways up to St. Moritz: the red train on a return day ticket from $123, a one-way red-train ticket from $75, or the panoramic Bernina Express booked with RhB. The red train is the ordinary regional service with windows that open. The Bernina Express is RhB’s panoramic train on the same track, with glass curving into the roof, fixed windows and a paid seat reservation.

Getting to Tirano from Milan

Trenord runs direct regional trains from Milan Centrale up the eastern shore of Lake Como, through Lecco and along the Valtellina to Tirano. The trip takes about 2 hours 30 minutes with no change, and a 2nd-class ticket costs about EUR 12.50. Departures run roughly every one to two hours, so check the Trenord timetable for your date and leave a margin before any Swiss train you have booked.

Tirano has two stations on one square. The Italian station (Trenord and Trenitalia) and the RhB station sit a few metres apart, so the change takes minutes, with no transfer to arrange. The RhB station is at about 430 m. By the time the train reaches Ospizio Bernina it has climbed roughly 1,800 m, and that climb is the reason people come.

If you want a relaxed morning, sleep in Tirano the night before. Hotels cluster near the station, and our where to stay guide covers the options along the line.

Three ways up from Tirano

The Tirano to St. Moritz Bernina Red Train return day ticket (our breakdown) is the ticket this page is built around. Visit Valtellina sells it from $123 per person in 2nd class and $212 in 1st. The listing gives departures from Tirano at 07:41, 09:00, 09:41, 11:00, 11:41, 13:00 and 13:14, and it lets you leave the train at any station and catch the next one. It includes a timetable and a mini-guide to the stops. It is rated 4.5 from 1,140+ reviews.

The Tirano–St. Moritz red train ticket (our breakdown) from Rigamonti Viaggi is the cheaper entry: from $75 one-way in 2nd class, $127 in 1st, or $148 for a 2nd-class return. Seats are not reserved and the reseller’s fee is built in. Its sample day leaves Tirano at 09:41, reaches St. Moritz at 12:11 and comes back on the 15:48, arriving at 18:23. A one-way makes sense if you are moving on from St. Moritz to Chur, Zurich or a hotel in the Engadin.

The panoramic Bernina Express is booked on rhb.ch. You need a normal ticket plus a mandatory seat reservation, which sellers put at about CHF 32 for Tirano to St. Moritz. Everyone pays the reservation in full, including Swiss Travel Pass and Interrail holders. The reported 2027 fare is about CHF 35 one-way in 2nd class before the reservation. All winter, train PE 972 leaves Tirano at 10:06 and reaches St. Moritz at 12:35. From 24 April 2027 the summer timetable adds PE 974 at 13:17 and PE 976 at 16:06, plus PE 950 at 08:06 through to Chur. Our Bernina Express vs regional train guide helps if you cannot decide.

A day plan from Tirano and back

The return ticket’s hop-off rule is what makes a Tirano start good value. Trains run roughly hourly, so every stop costs you about an hour. Two stops is a comfortable day.

1. Take a morning Trenord train from Milan, or walk over from your Tirano hotel, for the 09:41 or 11:00 departure.
2. Ride up through the Valposchiavo to Alp Grüm, at 2,091 m. Get off, look down the valley you just climbed and across to the Palü glacier above Lago Palü.
3. Take the next train up to Ospizio Bernina, 2,253 m, the highest point of the RhB network. Lago Bianco lies beside the station, and the lake marks the watershed between the Po and the Danube.
4. Continue past the Morteratsch glacier to St. Moritz if time allows, or turn around here and keep the afternoon for Poschiavo.
5. Ride back down in the afternoon. The one-way reseller’s sample return leaves St. Moritz at 15:48 and reaches Tirano at 18:23, so check the last Trenord connection to Milan before you commit.

In midwinter the light goes early. Sunset in St. Moritz is around 16:35 in late December, so a late return runs mostly in the dark. Ride the high section in the middle of the day.

What you see on the climb out of Tirano

The line starts in the street. Guides describe the run out of Tirano as street running, with the train sharing the road like a tram before it gets its own track. Soon after comes the Brusio circular viaduct, the spiral where the line loops over itself to gain height in a narrow valley. Then the train follows Lago di Poschiavo, passes Le Prese and Poschiavo, at about 1,014 m the main town of the valley, and starts the long climb through Cavaglia to Alp Grüm.

The Bernina line has no rack. It climbs on adhesion alone with gradients of up to 70 per mille (7%), and it has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage site “Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes” since 2008. RhB does not let you book a side. Going north from Tirano, most guides suggest the left side, but nobody can promise the coach will face the way you expect. The best side to sit guide has the detail.

Before you go

Carry a passport or ID card. The train crosses from Italy into Switzerland, and you need one to travel between the two by train, even with no routine border check.

Plan around autumn 2027. Third-party sellers report that the Bernina line will close between Cavaglia and Tirano from 4 October to 25 or 26 November 2027, with replacement coaches. RhB has not announced it on its own pages yet, so check rhb.ch before you book anything in that window.

Leave time for Tirano itself. The Madonna di Tirano basilica, built where an apparition of the Virgin was reported in 1504, is a short walk from the station. See things to do in Tirano for a few hours’ worth. If you would rather start at the top, our St. Moritz to Tirano page runs the route the other way.

Ready to ride up? Check availability for the Tirano return day ticket on your date.