Primavera Europae

Diavolezza - Tirano

From Bernina Diavolezza I hopped on the Bernina Express again, to complete the UNESCO World Heritage route to Tirano. The route from Bernina Diavolezza onwards is actually the most stunning of the route in my mind. The train still keeps on rising from the 2km height of Diavolezza station and the landscape looks so harsh & hostile it’s as if we’re deep in the Siberia - nothing but snow and rocks as far as the eye can see. And as the clouds are definitely back for good again, it’s actually quite not that far that the eye can see. You can only here and there get a glimpse of the nearby peaks, and sometimes the visibility drops to zero and all you can see from the window is the solid whiteness of the cloud. At some points the scenes look almost alien, as if were on some other planet already: stones and rocky hills of various tones of brown and yellow, with white of the snow here and there and the mist of the clouds being blown by the winds on the hills.

But again, as we start the decline from the top the landscape becomes less hostile and trees and plants reappear in the scenery with finally even some green in the fields when we come down to the first valleys. It’s funny how at some point in a valley you think the train has already done all the descending there is to do, but then yet another steep decline starts as we head down to yet another valley another kilometer below the first one - that really puts the heights of the mountains into perspective!

The finale of the Bernina Express is a unique 360 spin of the track where the train makes the final descent into the valley where the end of the tracks, Tirano is located. And with that spin it is time say goodbye to Switzerland as the train makes the final couple of kilometers to Tirano already on the Italian territory. Danke, grazie, merci Switzerland - it was quite a ride!

Diavolezza

I decided to end my stay in Switzerland on top. I found a hostel/hotel that was situated at 2978m, just by the 3905m peak of Piz Palü. To get there I hopped of the Bernina Express at the Bernina Diavolezza stop, which is really just a tiny stop almost in the middle of snowy nowhere at the height of 2km. The only thing in a vicinity is a cable car station, where I hop on the gondola lift for the final part of the journey: a one kilometer rise to the top. On top there’s nothing but a start of a skiing slope and the restaurant/hotel/hostel where I’m staying. As the last cable car goes downhill at 17:00, it’s just us 20 or so persons who either are staying in the hotel or who work there overnight on the top of the mountain. Don’t think I’ve ever slept in such a remote location.

I had pictured myself enjoying the sunset, the blue hour, stars in the crisp night sky and then sunrise again in the morning there high up with the, supposedly, spectacular scenery. But, Diavolezza (she-devil in Italian) was being a big tease: the whole top was in a dense cloud when I got there - visibility was 10m at best. It was pretty chilling to see some skiers still hit the slopes in those conditions, but I guess they knew the bends by heart already. So all there was to see was gray whiteness all around, not even a slight hint of the mountain tops nearby. For all I knew I could have been on flatlands of Idaho. (Well, the air was so breathtakingly thin you could tell you were at high altitude).

Needless to say I was really disappointed with the weather conditions, but there was nothing to be done. So I just spent couple of hours sifting through the photos again while sipping a beer, before starting the 4-course dinner which was included in the room price (not that there really would have been any other options for dining at the top). That was actually the first real dinner I had in Switzerland, so it was a nice change to the routine of kebabs and sandwiches…

When I got to my room after dinner and opened the window, I noticed the weather had cleared up a a bit - there were a few periods where the clouds were less dense and in those moments I could notice the looming shapes of the nearby peaks and an occasional glimpse of the moonlight from above.

And in the morning, the moody mistress Diavolezza finally decided to reveal herself: for a while after the sunrise it was crisp & clear and I was finally able to see where I had stayed the night. And what a great location it was, and especially beautiful in the morning light! That clarity didn’t last for long, before I had finished breakfast it was already almost fully cloudy again.

Andermatt - St. Moritz - Bernina Diavolezza

One of the most well known train routes in Switzerland sightseeing-wise is the Glacier Express, running from Zermat in the west near Matterhorn to St. Moritz in the east. And again the sights come with a high price, well over 100€ for the whole trip (and again not covered with Interrail ticket). Last spring I did a day trip with a car from Italian North-Western town of Stresa to Zermat, driving on roads following the Glacier Express tracks in that part - so this time I chose to enjoy landscapes on the eastern part of the track. There’s only a rather short passage from Andermatt towards St Moritz (until Disentis) that isn’t covered with Interrail ticket, so I was able to do the trip without breaking the bank.

Andermatt was already quite high (around 1,5km) and had loads of snow, but the track took a steep rise again heading east and the views got more and more arctic by each twist of the track. From Andermatt the train was full of skiers, but they all left on the next stop so I was again left in privacy of an own train car enjoying snow-filled sceneries left and right of the train, with windows pulled down for better photo-ops. The high point of the track is Oberalppass, at 2033m where the sights are absolutely arctic: snow everywhere even in April. From there the train starts heading downwards and the amount of snow in the landscape little by little goes down to zero, still offering gorgeous Alpine views.

I highly suggest paying for the Andermatt - Disentis part if you’re traveling with Interrail pass - I don’t think it was more than 10€, but it offered perhaps the most exotic, arctic views I’ve ever seen.

What really amazes me about the Swiss landscape, is how much the landscape can vary even in short passages. From the classic Alpine hillside villages near Disentis, there’s a huge change continuing eastward towards Reichenau: suddenly the train is passing a sweeping river with staggering rock formations on the opposite side with pine trees growing in almost vertical cliffsides. Quite unlike any other scenery I’ve so far seen in Switzerland. And then as the route starts to rise again towards St. Moritz we get again more and more snow.

From Reichenau onwards I was on the Bernina Express track, which is an UNESCO World Heritage site and again one of the most famous train tracks in Switzerland. And for a reason. There’s a great variety of gorgeous landscapes, lots of height variation too and beautifully constructed bridges. And it’s all covered with the Interrail pass, so a must for all interrailers in Switzerland!