Bernina Express From St. Moritz in First Class: How to Do It as a Luxury Day

To do the Bernina Express from St. Moritz as a luxury day, take a morning train south to Tirano in first class with a seat reservation, have lunch in Italy, and come back in the afternoon, ideally on the regional train with windows that open. The journey takes about two hours and fifteen minutes each way, and since summer 2026 there is a genuinely premium option too, the new Pullman Class carriage, though it is a very different thing from Glacier Express Excellence Class.

If you have not yet decided between the two great Swiss trains, read Glacier Express or Bernina Express first.

The route from St. Moritz to Tirano

Starting in St. Moritz rather than Chur is the decision that turns this into a relaxed day instead of a long one. Chur to Tirano takes about four hours, St. Moritz to Tirano about two and a quarter, according to the Rhaetian Railway. Be clear about what you give up: the Albula line between Chur and St. Moritz, with the Landwasser Viaduct, is the half you skip. From St. Moritz you ride the Bernina line only, and it is the more dramatic half.

Both lines together form the Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes, inscribed by UNESCO in 2008. The Bernina section is 61 kilometres with 13 tunnels and galleries and 52 viaducts and bridges, and it crosses the Alps without a cogwheel. The train climbs out of the Engadin past the Palü glacier to Lago Bianco and Ospizio Bernina at 2,253 metres, drops past Alp Grüm, then descends through the Poschiavo valley to the Brusio circular viaduct, the stone spiral where the line turns a full circle to lose height, and on into Italy.

The joy of this section is the contrast. You leave St. Moritz among larches and glaciers and arrive among vineyards and palm trees in under two and a half hours. [PAU: add personal note on the moment the landscape turns Italian, and what you look for on the descent.]

First or second class, and is there anything above first?

The scenery is the same in both classes. The panoramic cars have windows that curve up into the roof in first and second alike. The difference is space: first class has a single row of seats on one side, extra-wide seats and fewer seats per car, where second class is two plus two. On a two-hour ride that sounds like a small thing, but in summer the train is full, and a quieter carriage with fewer people leaning across you to photograph the glacier is most of what you are paying for. For a couple, first class is the right answer.

On the question of a top class, the honest answer has changed this year. There is no Excellence Class on the Bernina Express, with nothing comparable to the five-course lunch, bar car and concierge you get on the Glacier Express, which I cover in my Excellence Class review. But since 2026 the Rhaetian Railway has run Bernina Express Pullman Class: a nostalgic 1930s-style carriage for up to 32 passengers, with champagne and canapés on the way south, coffee and petits fours on the way back, and a three-course lunch with paired wines at the La Gatta winery, a short transfer from Tirano included in every booking. In 2026 it was bookable from 1 June to 25 October, leaving St. Moritz at 9.17 am, reaching Tirano at 11.32 am and returning at 4.06 pm, back in St. Moritz at 6.25 pm. On the way north Pullman passengers also get an open scenic carriage of their own.

The published price is CHF 625 per person for the round trip with lunch, or CHF 490 one way with lunch, dropping to CHF 575 and CHF 440 with a Swiss Travel Pass or GA travelcard. That includes the train, the hosts, catering on board, the winery lunch and a cellar tour. RhB has not yet published 2027 dates, so check the page before you plan around it. Two practical notes from the same page: it cannot be cancelled, and luggage space is very limited. [PAU: add personal note on whether you would book Pullman Class for clients, once you have seen or ridden it.]

What it costs, and what the Swiss Travel Pass covers

You pay an ordinary ticket plus a compulsory seat reservation, and the reservation is the only part a pass does not cover.

One detail catches people out. The reservation is priced by train, not by the distance you ride: the trains that start in St. Moritz cost CHF 32, but if you board a Chur to Tirano train at St. Moritz you pay the long-route CHF 40 or 44. These are the prices for the timetable running to 12 December 2026, and RhB notes that prices are subject to change.

The reservation is charged in full to everyone, children included, even though children aged six to fifteen travel on a half fare ticket. MySwitzerland confirms the whole route is covered by the Swiss Travel Pass, the Swiss Travel Pass Flex and the GA travelcard, Italian section included, so pass holders simply book the reservation on its own. For a first class seat you need a first class pass or ticket. If you are building a whole trip around passes, my breakdown of what a luxury Swiss rail trip costs puts these figures in context.

Book through the Rhaetian Railway rather than a reseller. Sales for the 2026/2027 timetable, for departures from 13 December 2026, have just opened on rhb.ch.

Seasons, and which side to sit

The train runs all year. The Rhaetian Railway publishes a summer timetable, which in 2026 ran from 2 May to 25 October, and a winter one, with fewer departures, for the rest of the year. Summer gives you the green Poschiavo valley and the warmest lunch in Tirano. Winter gives you Lago Bianco frozen and the pass deep in snow, which is spectacular, though you trade the Italian terrace for a shorter, colder day. Late September and early October are my choice: the larches turn gold, the crowds thin, and lunch outside in Italy is still possible.

One date to watch this autumn: between 29 October and 13 November 2026, trains 951 and 952 are diverted via the Vereina tunnel, so check that your departure still calls at St. Moritz.

On sides, the usual advice, repeated by Seat61, is the right-hand side going south to Tirano and the left-hand side coming north. You cannot choose a side when you book, because the carriage orientation is not known in advance. The line twists so much that both sides get their share, and the panoramic roof means nobody misses the glaciers.

Getting back: train or bus to Lugano

Back to St. Moritz by train. This is the right choice if you are staying in the Engadin. My suggestion is to take the Bernina Express south and come back on the regional train. The regional trains run the same line more often through the day, have ordinary windows that open, which is the only way to photograph the Brusio viaduct without reflections, and need no compulsory reservation. A CHF 5 reservation is optional, and in summer worth having. You see the line twice, from two different kinds of window, and you are not tied to one fixed return time.

On to Lugano by the Bernina Express Bus. This is the right choice if you are moving on rather than going back. The afternoon bus leaves Tirano at 2.20 pm and reaches Lugano at 5.30 pm, and like the train it needs a reservation. In 2026 it ran Thursday to Sunday from 26 February, daily from 26 March to 25 October, then Thursday to Sunday again until 22 November, so check your date. It is a coach, comfortable but not luxurious, and I would only use it if Ticino is the next stop of the trip.

Tirano, honestly

Tirano is a small Valtellina town, pleasant rather than remarkable, and it is not a reason to make the journey. The Swiss and Italian stations sit a few metres apart across the same square, with cafés around it, so you can be at a table within minutes of arriving. What it gives you is Italy, briefly, at the bottom of a glacier railway, and the best use of the time between trains is a long Valtellina lunch, which is precisely what Pullman Class builds in with the winery. [PAU: add personal note on where you would have lunch in or near Tirano.]

Where to stay in St. Moritz

The St. Moritz hotel in my itineraries is the Kulm Hotel, which dates the birth of Alpine winter tourism to its own terrace in 1856 and sits above the lake. It is where my Swiss Wellness Grand Tour spends two nights in the Engadin.

The Kulm is seasonal, and this matters for planning. The hotel's own site lists summer 2026 as 12 June to 30 August, and winter 2026/27 as 4 December to 29 March, so it is closed from roughly the end of August to early December and again in spring. That gap includes September and October, the months I most like on the Bernina line. If you want the autumn larches, you will be staying somewhere else in the valley, and that is a conversation worth having before you book the train. If you are adding the Glacier Express on either side, my Glacier Express guide covers the connection into St. Moritz.

How I would plan the day

• Night before in St. Moritz, so the morning is unhurried.
• Morning Bernina Express south in first class, reservation booked as soon as your date opens, or Pullman Class if it runs on your date and the price makes sense to you.
• Long lunch in Tirano or nearby in the Valtellina.
• Afternoon regional train back to St. Moritz with the windows down, or the bus to Lugano if you are moving south.

Most of the luxury here is in the timing: the right direction, the right season and a lunch that is not rushed.