Two panoramic trains · one comparisonBernina Express vs Glacier Express

Bernina Express and Glacier Express compared head to head

Both trains are narrow-gauge panoramic trains, both require a seat reservation, and on both the Swiss Half Fare Card (Halbtax), GA, Swiss Travel Pass, Eurail and Interrail apply to the fare. After that the similarities end. All prices are in Swiss francs (CHF), not euros.

On the World Heritage status: what was listed in 2008 were the Albula and Bernina lines of the Rhaetian Railway, together 122 kilometres from Thusis to Tirano. The Bernina Express from Chur runs over both lines. The Glacier Express uses only the Albula line – its own character lies further west, on the Oberalp Pass, in the Rhine Gorge and in the Matter valley.

Who the Bernina Express is right for

• You have half a day, not a whole one. From St. Moritz you are in Italy in a good two hours.
• You want to go high. 2,253 m at Lago Bianco, glaciers at the window and Valtellina at the end – the difference in altitude is the experience.
• You are travelling in November. The Glacier Express is at a standstill then; the Bernina Express runs.
• You are coming from Italy. You can reach Tirano from Milan in around 2 h 30 – see Bernina Express from Milan.

Who the Glacier Express is right for

• The train ride itself is your day of travel. Eight hours from Zermatt to St. Moritz, with lunch at your seat – it is meant as a whole day, not as a transfer.
• You want to link the Matterhorn and the Engadine. The train replaces a day of changes through three cantons.
• You are after the luxury version. Excellence Class with a guaranteed window seat and five-course menu exists only here: CHF 540 on top of a 1st class ticket.

Details of the route are on Glacier Express route, all fares on Glacier Express prices.

Honestly: If you can only travel on one of the two and are not a railway enthusiast, take the Bernina Express. Half the time, half the price, the higher pass. Eight hours of sitting is long – on the Glacier Express all the more so with children, and you are not allowed to take a dog at all.

Combining the Bernina and Glacier Express: two ways

Via St. Moritz, with a night in between

The classic combination. In summer the Glacier Express arrives in St. Moritz at 16:37 (PE 902) or 17:37 (PE 904). The last Bernina Express to Tirano has already gone by then (16:14). So you stay overnight in the Engadine and take PE 971 at 09:17 the next morning, arriving in Tirano at 11:32.

Glacier Express

213 CHF

Bernina from St. Moritz

65 CHF

Together

278 CHF

Nights

1 at least

This is calculated for 2nd class at full fare: CHF 159 + 54 for the Glacier Express, CHF 33 + 32 for the Bernina Express. With the Swiss Travel Pass you pay only the two reservations, CHF 86 together.

Via Chur, on the same day

Works well in one direction in the summer timetable: Bernina Express PE 950 departs Tirano 08:06, arrives Chur 12:31. At 14:32 the Glacier Express PE 907 leaves there for Zermatt, arriving 20:07. A two-hour break in Chur, twelve hours on the move. In the opposite direction the Glacier Express PE 900 arrives in Chur at 13:25 and the Bernina Express PE 955 leaves at 13:34 – nine minutes is too tight for two reservation-only trains to build a day of travel on.

Rule of thumb: If you book both trains from or to Chur, you travel the Albula line with the Landwasser Viaduct twice. If you combine in St. Moritz, you see each route once – and save CHF 12 on the Bernina Express reservation.

And the package holidays “Glacier and Bernina Express in 4 or 5 days”?

Tour operators bundle both trains with hotels and travel. That takes the booking off your hands, above all the reservation, which for the Glacier Express only opens 93 days before travel. Do the sums anyway: the pure train costs for both journeys come to CHF 278 per person in 2nd class. Everything above that is hotel, travel and margin. GetYourGuide has practically no multi-day trips of this kind – you will find only day tours there, and almost all of them from Milan.

“I’m in Milan and want to fit in at least the Bernina part.”

From Milan to the Swiss Alps: Bernina Red Train & St. Moritz

Day tour · guided · ★ 4.8 from 4,637 reviews

from, per person€119.01

Check availability on GetYourGuide

Honestly: This is a day trip on the Bernina line, not a substitute for the Glacier Express. If you are travelling in Switzerland anyway, book both trains directly with the railways. Back to the Bernina Express overview.