Davos; Thursday, 14 April, 2022

I had an early start as I wanted to get quite a bit packed in today, so I was down in breakfast not long after it opened, and out of the hotel just after 8. I caught the bus down to Davos Platz station and picked up the train from there over to Filisur.

Filisur is the junction between the line from Davos and the Albula Line, one of the two UNESCO listed lines of the Rhaetian Railway, running from Thusis further down the valley to St. Moritz, my first stop destination of the day. Along the way the line twists and turns up through the mountains, including several points beyond Filisur where it spirals up the mountain side inside of tunnels and on tight switchbacks with the line both ahead and behind the train being visible. The line then reaches it’s maximum height in the middle of the 6Km long Albula tunnel which punches through the mountain range dropping the line out into the Beverin and then Inn Valleys before finally arriving at St. Moritz.

I had about 40 minutes connection time at St. Moritz, so I had a quick look around the station and the views from there over the lake towards St. Moritz Bad, as well as up towards the upper town of St. Mortiz Dorf before it was time to board the second train of the day.

Train two was along the full length of the second UNESCO listed line of the railway. This one follows the course of the Bernina Pass up through the alps with a gradual rise up from St. Moritz before a spectacular descent down from the mountains on the other side, once again the railway line zigzagging down the side of the mountain of a series of switchbacks before reaching a plateau and mountain lake. From there the line continues on down the mountain until it reaches the town of Brusio, where, to deal with an almost impossible gradient otherwise, the line loops through a spiral out in the open with the line dropping down underneath itself in a very compact space, and one of the highlights of not just this line, but all of the railways in Switzerland.

After going round the spiral the line continues to descend before crossing the border into Italy and reaching it’s final destination in the border town of Tirano.

I had about 2 hours to kill in Tirano and as it was 1pm when I arrived it made sense to stop for a very pleasant lunch in the square overlooking the two stations (one for the Rhaetian Railway and one for the Italian Railway) before having a quick look around town and returning to the station to make the journey back.

Back in St. Moritz I left the station and wandered up into the upper town – helped by the multiple escalators that rise up inside the hill that the upper town sits on, meaning you get to the top for almost no effort. Having taken in the upper town I picked up a local bus and headed down to the Spa part of the town in St. Moritz Bad, at the top end of the lake of the same name to have a quick look round there, before walking the mile or so back to the station along the lakeside

Back at the station I grabbed some items for a picnic dinner on the train and then headed over to the train to take me back up through the Albula Tunnel, onto Filisur and then with a quick connection onto Davos.

I made it back to Filisur just as the sun was setting, and by the time I was back in Davos it was already dark, so I hopped on a bus back to the hotel and headed back to my room for a well-earned early night.