I know… The red train of Bernina is not properly ‘italian’ but it still leaves form Tirano and Valtellina. Anyways it’s such an amazing trip and it’s worth it.
The connection Tirano-Sankt Moritz was born because of commerce and then it became, with the Sankt Moritz and Coria, UNESCO heritage and a tourists spot with over than 1,5 million tourists each year. It’s a one of a kind experience; a trip into nature that has breath taking landscapes .
For a long time I wished to go on this trip and finally I planned it with a group of friends. As everything I plan, the holiday has to include good food and relaxation. For this reason the trip included a stop in a thermal center and, of course, two dinners in authentic restaurants .
The best way to get to Tirano is to take the street that comes from Milan and passes through Sondrio.
Who ever comes from Pianura Padana the best way is to go through Brescia and go to Iseo, Edolo and fare il passo dell’Aprica. I chose the last one. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t the best and I did the passo dell’Aprica dealing with snow and ice. It took me an extra hour but I managed to get to the destination.
We booked rooms in the Bed&Breakfast ‘Il Seicento’ to sleep in, a building in the Sernio town, 4 kilometers away from Tirano. The apartments were really big and in optimal conditions. The owners are accommodating and a kind couple. After our trip, in the middle of a blizzard we absolutely had to relax with food and good wine. From the owners suggestion we went to ‘La Locanda di Giovanna’ in Mazzo di Valtellina. It was great advice! Our table was in a 1600s rustic palace. The room where we ate has original wooden panels and a really welcoming and warm environment. The food was delightful; the typical valtellinese dish called ‘pizzoccheri’ was as amazing as the cured meat , meat and so on…
We ate a lot.. maybe too much!
But after that everybody went to sleep because the day after we finally went on the red train.
We got a tourist guide for the red train. Her name is Chicca and she turned to be a really important source for our trip and a really nice adventure mate!
Besides booking us seats in the back of the train (the best spot to take pictures of the train and the landscape), she taught us the history , the peculiarities and curiosities about the train. I strongly suggest , to those who would like to organize our same trip, to call Chicca (http://www.guidetreninorosso.it/guida-per-individuali.html) or to call an authorized guide.
Guide excluded, we didn’t rent our tickets on the internet, since we didn’t want to go on the panoramic carriages but on the ‘normal’ ones. Why? Because in these ones it’s not required to rent seats ahead of time, and most of all, these carriages have windows that can be opened. This is vert important information since the window reflection won’t be in your way while taking pictures!
The train left perfectly on time ! It passed through Tirano ‘s downtown and it started its journey 2253 meters above the sea level.
This train is the only one in the world to fight 7% inclines without the need of rack . How? With a narrow-gauge trak and curves!
It’s a mechanical creation planned and built more than 100 years ago. The travel is comfortable and the two and a half hours went really fast. Each turn shows amazing surprises and beautiful spots to look at. I had my camera ready to flash and I was jumping from one side to the other of the train the whole time.
The weather wasn’t that bad and the sun came out in the best moments.
After a while, where fog was all you could see, the sun came out brightening up the Poschiavo lake and the snowy mountain tops.
Wonderful. The slow movement of the train allows you to admire and take pictures of the landscape.
The very top is at the same height of Alpe Grunn where we were floating over a White Sea made of snow which was glowing with the sun. The red color of the train made a great contrast with the whiteness of our surroundings. It was such an amazing moment.
I took more than 100 pictures afraid of not capturing this wonderful scenario. Fortunately some picture came out pretty good…
The guide made us stop at the ever ice Morteratsch. We went for a walk under the glaciers, seeing how global warming caused by humans changed this place drastically. The ghiacciaio because of that has been shortened by 1 kilometer and that made me really worried and sad.
After this stop we traveled till Pontresina. The guide suggested us to walk till Sankt Moritz. The walk in the middle of a story tale scenario was really appreciated and not tiring at all. I would really recommend it .
Once in Sankt Moritz we spoiled ourselves eating a delicious Krapfen in the Caffè Hallsmann pastry, after that we took the red train to go back to Tirano. I won’t describe Sankt Moritz in detail because it didn’t really impress me…
What really deserves appreciation is this amazing red train and while I was coming back from Tirano I promised myself that in fall I would come back here again but this time I will keep going till Coira!
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