Frequently named Europe’s most scenic train ride, the Bernina Express is a romantic throwback to the golden age of European rail travel, when the journey was the destination
Envisioned primarily as a sightseeing train, the route was chosen to be as beautiful and dramatic as possible, passing glaciers, Alpine villages and crossing over the 2,253 meter Bernina Pass. To negotiate the incredible differences in height, engineers designed an intricate network of curved tunnels and radial viaducts which crisscrossed the valleys and folded in on themselves like a double helix. This was not just meant to be a daring feat of engineering but a work of art too.
We stop briefly at Filisur, from where you can catch a connecting train to Davos. The Bernina Express really should be experienced twice, once in winter with snow and once in summer when the valleys revert to a lush green stillness. I’m sure autumn and spring also have their charms—this is Europe’s most scenic train ride after all.
After the 5,865 meter Albula tunnel, we emerge at the Engadin valley, like moles blinking into the sunlight. Compared with the claustrophobic valleys before, the Engadin is virtually a plain, with large villages stretching heedlessly into the distance. We stop at Samedan with its postcard-pretty center contrasting with a rather merciless sprawl, much of it built in that solemn, gray cubism that is typical of Alpine modernism and which no one seems to actually like.
I look back at Alp Grüm station. Sure enough, there is a hotel emanating from its modest foundations.“There’s a hotel in the station? A hotel? On a remote mountain top that is only accessible by a train which comes twice a day?” I splutter, with some confusion.At this point she goes quiet, her eyes transfixed on Piz Palü in the distance. I look at the mountain, then at her, then at the mountain again, slightly unsettled by her sudden stillness.
Tirano is bigger than I expected it to be, but then for centuries this was one of the most important Alpine crossings and was frequently contested between rival powers. During the Thirty Years’ War , a dizzying array of armies fought for control here, including France, Spain, Venice, Savoy, the Papal States, the Holy Roman Empire and the local Swiss contingent known as the Grey Leagues, which gradually came out on top due to a mix of brutal fighting and skilled diplomacy.
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