The Bernina Express: The best way to travel through the Alps
31/07/2015 · By Sukie Chapman
Journey through the stunning Swiss Alps aboard the amazing Bernina Express and discover the stunning Alps like never before with Rail Discoveries.
Read moreSave £100pp on Europe 2024 last-minute holidays, when you book by 31st July 2024.
2024 Tour code: 24TFS
About the tour
Experience Switzerland's most spectacular train journeys from a family-run hotel in the heart of the beautiful, forested Albula Valley, where you enjoy dinner with drinks each evening.
Travel across the Swiss Alps and past enchanting glaciers to Italy on the UNESCO-listed Bernina Express.
See the 'Swiss Grand Canyon' and incredible alpine scenery from the panoramic carriages of the world-famous Glacier Express.. Journey high into the mountains to a delightful lakeside town on the Arosa Line, and visit chic St Moritz and historic Chur while exploring the picturesque Albula Line.
Unforgettable experiences
What’s included
Itinerary
Your holiday starts at London St Pancras International as you join your Tour Manager and fellow travellers to board the Eurostar to Paris Gare du Nord. Transferring to the high-speed TGV at the neighbouring Gare de l'Est, you pass through the Champagne region and the historic area of Lorraine before arriving in the Alsace city of Strasbourg under two hours after leaving the French capital.
After checking in to your hotel near the station, there is time for you to explore Strasbourg and its eclectic mix of French and German architecture. Its old town, the Grande Île, is dominated by its main square, Place Kléber, and the 13th-century Gothic Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-Strasbourg.
The group gathers this evening to enjoy a three-course dinner at a local restaurant.
Please Note - For departures 20/04, 11/05, 18/05 and 05/10 you will overnight in Mulhouse.
Additional information
Hotel
Trains
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Reviews
4.2 / 5 · 430 reviews
Patricia Galley
Submitted 21/Jul
It has to be taken into consideration that this is an all inclusive holiday therefore one must accept the rough with the smooth. We were very lucky with the weather which made the rail journeys so memorable. Any cons I mention are supported by pros. For instance, there is a walk between stations at Gare du Nord but one can take a taxi. The group is usually given the upstairs seating on the TGVs therefore cases have to be carried up and stowed. This can be offset by taking as light a case as possible. There is a very steep hill from the Tiefencastel hotel to the rail station but there is a bus at 38 minutes past the hour. The hotel staff have a difficult, long day but a pleasant word and a thank you go a long way towards good relations. I can't speak too highly of our tour manager, Christine, who in my opinion was absolutely exceptional. She made every effort to get to know everyone in the group as soon as possible. She very rarely sat down during the train journeys since she spent her time going from seat to seat having a word with everyone. Christine's itineraries were comprehensive, giving us all a choice of how to spend our time at destinations. If you want to visit the Swiss Alps as cheaply as possible this is the holiday of choice. For me the Bernina Express to St Moritz was the highlight because of the spiralling route taken by the train. We were able to get out and take photos at the highest point, not as high as on the Glacier Express, but far more dramatic.
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karen betts
Submitted 20/Jul
Well organised holiday with plenty of options for free time
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David Reed
Submitted 8/Jul
Why,is our country not,that. What a lovely place to visit, better still to live in. Good trip, good tour manager. David was 5 star.????
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Robert Curtis
Submitted 8/Jul
Well organised, rail trips very enjoyable, scenery stunning, rail engineering amazing. Our guide, David, pulled rabbits out of hats when we missed connections due to late running Eurostar train and security alert on French Railways. Don’t expect more than the hotel at Tiefencastel as it’s not a place you’d choose to stay - but not unpleasant and obviously chosen for its position on the railway system. Hôtel was very good though and we found a couple of local churches with frescos which gave a focus to a walk into the countryside. Don’t understand the phrase ‘half a day free in Strasbourg’ - we left at 11.15am and nothing opens until 10am so a bit of a rushed breakfast to see anything. Could have done with more time in Strasbourg, Basel (and possibly Paris) as we had travelled that far. For all that still a 5-star holiday.
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Anthony Thomson
Submitted 7/Jul
The price was all inclusive of meals and packed lunches and also drinks with the evening meal. This was very convenient as Switzerland is quite expensive for most things, Nice to stay in one hotel for 4 nights when on tour saving lots of packing and unpacking.
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S Chaplin
Submitted 6/Jul
We really enjoyed this trip, this is a full on and active but very enjoyable holiday. Having done it before at New Year it was lovely to return and see the area in Summer when the mountains had just a small amount of snow left on them and the lower grass areas were covered in swathes of beautiful flowers. All of the hotels that we stayed in were very good with clean and well equipped rooms, friendly staff and delicious food. We particularly liked having the packed lunches at the hotel in Tiefencastel which were always tasty and made exploring during our days out so much easier as we weren't trying to find a meal while we were out. Also, the evening meals there started with a super salad selection and the main course was always tasty and plentiful with second helpings offered. There wasn't a choice of main course but if it was something that you didn't like or couldn't eat an alternative was not a problem. Our journey to Switzerland was challenging due to a variety of problems which were beyond the control of Rail Discoveries but our tour manager David did a sterling job of sorting things out and making sure that we made it to Strasbourg for our first night and on to Tiefencastel on the second day. He also provided a lot of information about the places we would be going to and the options for things to do there before we had set off on the trip which we found very useful, especially for the free day. Changing trains in Paris for this trip does involve a walk with luggage which is not made very clear in the itinerary on the website but it is only about 500 metres and there is now a lift and an escalator at the Gare De L'Est end of it which makes things easier and quicker too. The one bit of the holiday that we didn't think worked well at all was to be on an afternoon Glacier Express on our last day which meant that we didn't reach our hotel in Basel till 21.30. We would have given it 5 stars if we could have either got on an earlier Glacier Express or at least have been able to spend the time waiting for the afternoon departure in Chur. This made for a very long day having been up early in Tiefencastel. The meal we then went for at a neighbouring restaurant was very good but some people didn't want to eat so late, especially as we had to be up and on another train at 8.30 the next day. We met some lovely people on this trip as we always do but as with previous trips we felt that the tour group was too large, particularly when there are so many trains to get on and off of with luggage !!
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