EUROPE’S most beautiful TRAIN RIDE

EUROPE’S most beautiful TRAIN RIDE

deep in the Swiss Alps lies the highest railway 
in all of Europe climbing to over 2200 m and stretching 113 km from Switzerland into Italy this 
is the Bernina Express and it’s widely considered one of the most beautiful train journeys on Earth 
from lush green valleys to ancient glaciers. Emilia and I knew we had to make this unique 
border crossing part of our European adventure so we headed to Chur Switzerland’s oldest town 
to begin on one of the most unforgettable train rides we are currently traveling Europe and we 
have changed our entire route to take this one train it better be worth it the weather is not 
on our side right now and it’s just started to rain there is a big gray cloud rolling in and 
fingers crossed the weather gets a little bit better tomorrow so we actually have some good 
views this is the town of Core one of the three starting points you can do to take the Bernian 
Express and tomorrow morning at 8:17 we will begin our journey ah I just got a raindrop 
in my eye we go up to over 2,000 meters so it could even be snowing right at the top this 
town is so beautiful but apparently it’s nothing compared to the views we’re going to see tomorrow 
on the train as long as it’s not completely cloudy we arrived from France this morning and we 
are only spending one night in Switzerland because it is so expensive if you didn’t 
already know it cost £130 for one night that’s the most we’ve ever spent on 
any accommodation in the entire world the rain is coming in heavy we’ve got a little 
bit of shelter but I think we’re going to have to make a run for it oh dear we are definitely 
getting a bit soggy now so we’ll see you in the morning with hopefully better weather have a 
look out here what are you doing i am looking at this insane sunset that’s just come out of 
nowhere because it was raining a minute ago and now we’ve got a beautiful sunset hopefully we’re 
going to be really lucky in the morning and it’s going to stay really clear like it is but we 
are in the mountains so could change any moment good morning from core there is a little bit 
of rain in the air right now we’ve got about 10-minute walk to the station we’ve already had 
breakfast because trying to buy it out it’s going to be expensive maybe we’ll get a coffee at the 
station or on the train it’s Sunday morning at the moment and it seems really quiet around here 
but the train is supposed to be fully booked we actually got some of the last tickets available 
so we were super lucky because this thing normally books out months and months in advance but maybe 
because it’s May and still not quite the summer season that’s probably why we’re lucky here 
it is core Station this is not your average high street here in Core you just got massive 
mountains of clouds behind you it’s beautiful there it is bernie Express oh there it is toronto 
that’s where we’re going to in Italy oh we’ve got a coffee but just one to share because one is 
less expensive than two and this was about £460 it’s hot it’s too hot my mouth is burning 
let’s make our way to platform 13 cuz we don’t want to miss this thing cuz I 
think it only goes once a day from Toronto actually don’t quote me 
on that i actually have no idea i can’t believe how busy it is i know we are 
half an hour early we’ve actually got first class tickets for this train and the reason we 
can do first class is actually because we have interrail tickets so because we have the first 
class interal pass we can kind of get onto this somehow but we additionally paid 35 USD each for 
the seat reservation which you have to do on this exact train um and also the interal passes were 
gifted to us not going to lie guys i think we’re the youngest by about 30 years apart from one 
other couple but you know we roll we do the old stuff now basically retired here it comes whoa 
look at the windows the windows look huge i’m so excited are you ready to board this train one 
of the most beautiful trains in the world we have done some pretty good trains though we’ve done Sri 
Lanka that was amazing so see how this compares look at these windows wow why are the windows 
so good we’re on the Bernian Express bernier I think you’re saying it wrong we’re definitely 
abusing this name and I guess this is the map we are here in C and then we go through 
the mountains and all through St Moritz and then all the way to Tirano in Italy time 
for pizza we’re going to have some pizza for dinner i think we’ve already decided that i’ve 
just realized there’s automatic blinds but I don’t think we’ll be putting them down 
today cuz obviously we’re not going to be sleeping on this journey no we actually 
want to see this view so cool here we go he didn’t wave back no I got blank it said it 
was fully booked but there’s literally seats behind you which are free whether the people 
get on at another stop maybe or something thank you ooh snacks and souvenirs they give you a 
menu so you don’t get shocked by the prices guess how much the water is £3 five Swiss Francs five 
Swiss Francs so basically five five quid basically i thought I’d just wander into the free seats 
whilst they are free before more people get on but this is quite nice so this is where you 
can put the luggage it’s obviously very full and there’s not loads of space considering you travel 
from A to B it’s pretty silly that they don’t have more luggage room on the highest railway tracks in 
Europe and the steepest in the world the Bernier Express takes its guests on a unique journey 
through 55 tunnels and over 167 bridges what from the oldest town in Switzerland through wild 
and romantic gorgees past spectacular engineering structures such as the Lance were viaduct up to 
the internal ice of the glaciers and back down to the palm trees all right forget the rest how 
many bridges was it 196 that’s a lot of bridges the journey takes 4 hours starting in lush green 
valleys and pictures little towns with bright blue glacial waters running through you could 
already tell this train ride was going to live up to its name we’ve just seen Snowy Mountains in 
the distance and I think we’re going to be heading right up there to over 2,000 m i think we just 
did our first bridge how many have we got to go 196 to go first tunnel one down 54 to go i guess 
this is where everyone else gets on yeah it’s looking busy looks very busy wo it’s so pretty oh 
there’s a nice view next stop we passed over the Landweaer Vioaduct one of the key features of the 
Bernier Express Journey built in 1901 and standing at over 65 m tall with scenic views all around 
it’s so hard to capture the viol cuz it was so reflective but it was so beautiful i think that’s 
like the most famous iconic one on the whole route our coach is the panoramic first class which 
gives you unobstructed views and spacious seats apparently this is the most spectacular 
part of the whole journey and we’re actually going across the valley multiple times and 
spinning around on ourselves when we’re in the tunnel it’s going to be a bit disorientating 
but it’s weird cuz you don’t feel the spins look we just came across that vioaduct but now we can 
see it from another view literally goes back on ourselves constantly because we’re climbing like 
over 400 m in just this like short section so to be able to go so steep we have to go round and 
round otherwise it would just be like vertical as we’ve climbed up we’re closing in on 2,000 m 
it’s definitely feels more like winter here the trees haven’t got green yeah whereas when we 
started it in core it felt like it was spring or summer whereas it feels like a completely 
different season here maybe we could touch snow today if we’re lucky we’re going through these 
beautiful valleys and mountains and landscapes and all I can think about is we’re going to be 
in Italy i can eat pizza the only thing on my mind we’ve just got some free tea i’ve never 
had tea come in a carton before so it must be cold tea organic that’s interesting it’s basically 
lukewarm tea it’s very meh like dirty water isn’t it that’s my opinion anyway i feel like we’re 
gonna reach a bit of snow at some point we still got a few hundred meters to go i want to see it 
like next to me the views completely changed once we reached over 2,000 m and we were surrounded 
by snowy mountains it must be freezing outside i know so warm in here such a nice temperature yeah 
it’s probably freezing but we’re above some snow there’s people skiing there’s actually people 
skiing i didn’t realize you could still ski chocolate Swiss chocolate train 
i’d heard about this before we came and I’m so excited to have 
my own Bernian Express chocolate train swiss chocolate this is probably 
the only reason Amelia took the train oh my gosh they’re actually lint chocolates oh that’s good it’s the quality 
stuff my favorite it’s so good it’s just turned into like completely 
white now we are properly in the snow generally didn’t think it we’d have 
this much snow like it’s crazy stunning i just can’t believe how white and 
beautiful it is i just didn’t expect this at all we have just stopped 
off for a 15-minute break where we can take in the views i want to 
try and find some snow to touch we have your snow oh yeah ready oh 
that’s chilly oh we touched the snow today amazing this is our Bernier 
Express okay this is our train this is probably got to be the most opposite 
experience that I did when I took that Bangladesh train and surfed on top of 
the roof i’ll cut to that right now that was a lot of black smoke we didn’t 
know this but the second class seats also seem to have the big windows so I’m 
not really sure what the difference is between first and second i think it’s 
just four seats across rather than three but and maybe Lindle chocolates maybe we 
get those as an addition observe Bernia i’m on the Bernier Express and Joel is 
not maybe as I better not miss this train any moment you can you eat a chocolate so good wow and as we’ve come right down it feels 
like we’re back in spring look at all the flowers yeah it’s so pretty down here i love 
the colors just like three seasons in one day it’s definitely better than I thought 
it would be this trip is far exceeded my expectations soon we will be crossing over 
into Italy right at the end of the journey as the journey brought us 
closer to Italy we passed a stunning lake and over the Brusio spiral vioaduct we’ve just crossed the border from 
Switzerland over into Italy and we’re almost at Toronto oh yeah time for pizza 
pizza gelato pasta what else i can’t wait look how close we are to this house we’re here we’re here in Italy welcome to TA off we go touchdown in Italy let’s have some pizza yes 
please i have to be honest i think that exceeded all of my expectations just having the snow having 
like the spring the greens beautiful experience i can’t recommend it enough and save your money and 
do it on the interail pass cuz you save so much after a long travel day we rewarded ourselves 
with a fresh Italian pizza oh damn look at that the aggressive eating is crazy the Bernier Express 
was better than either of us could have imagined and if you ever have the opportunity you need 
to take Europe’s most beautiful train journey

We take one of Europe’s most beautiful train rides, the iconic Bernina express which winds through Switzerland’s beautiful countryside from the lush green valleys, turquoise lakes and snowy glacier peaks.

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