The little red train to St. Moritz
From Tirano, at the end of the Valtellina, the red carriages of the Rhaetian Railway's Bernina line start their climb towards Switzerland. Built between 1906 and 1910 and inscribed together with the Albula line on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2008, it is one of the most spectacular railways in the world: in about 60 kilometres it climbs from 429 metres to 2,253 metres at the Ospizio Bernina, without a rack, with gradients of up to 7 per cent, among the steepest of any adhesion railway.
The Bernina Express, with panoramic carriages and large windows, links Tirano with St. Moritz and Chur. Just outside Tirano it runs through the main street of the town and crosses the famous spiral viaduct of Brusio, a stone loop that allows the train to gain height in a small space. It then climbs past Poschiavo and the lake of the same name, the Alp Grüm, with its view over the Palü glacier, and the White Lake, Lago Bianco, at the pass, before descending to the Engadine past the glaciers of the Bernina and Morteratsch. The landscape changes from vineyards and palm trees to glaciers in two hours.
Tip: booking a seat on the panoramic train is required in high season; the ordinary regional trains on the same line are cheaper and allow you to stop along the way.
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