Chur, Switzerland - the Beautiful Alpine Bottleneck

Planning the Europe trip has involved a lot of itinerary work, especially for our trains in and out of Switzerland. The current plan has us travelling from Paris to Chur, Switzerland, one of the oldest inhabited areas in the country and historically a strategic location.

The Bernina Express runs north to south through the alps from Chur to Tirano, Italy.

Bernina Express, Switzerland

Switzerland's Bernina Express is one of the world's great train adventures, and we'll be riding these rails in mid June on the family's European Rail Adventure. I'm very excited about this part of our trip as the Bernina Express is one of the world's great train trips. Photo Credit Viator.com

The "express" does not refer to speed, rather to the fact you have the same seat for a fairly long trip through the Alps, traversing them north to south or south to north from Switzerland to Italy. Two lines on this Bernina express route are a designated World Heritage Site.

Wikipedia's Bernina Express page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernina_Express

Summer 2010 Eurail pass Instructions from the Rhätische Bahn, which runs the Bernina Express and other train lines in Switzerland:

Can purchase tickets and reservations for Bernina Express and Bus at http://www.rhb.ch/reservation .

You will be given a "dossier number". With the dossier number you can pick up the travel documents at any train station in Switzerland.

Note: If you do not pick up the tickets/ reservations your total fee will be charged.
General terms of contract are onine here a the Rhätische Bahn website www.rhb.ch/GTC

The Bus from Tirano to Lugano is included in the Eurail pass but you must make a reservation in advance.
You can make reservation for Bus and train in advance without holding the Eurail pass.

One can change the reservation dates (not clear if there is a fee for this or not). Rhätische Bahn said the most important thing is always to inform them of the travel plans and changes to avoid problems.

Rhätische Bahn: http://www.rhb.ch

International Travelers: http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/

100 years of the Bernina Line www.mybernina.ch

Please note: Eurail Pass is a sponsor of our great European Train Adventure.

The Reichenbach Falls

The Reichenbach Falls
Originally uploaded by Bods

Sherlock Holmes fans will be glad to know there really is a Richenback Falls - in fact there's a statue commemorating the fictional Holmes, one of history's most prolific crime fighting characters, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the 1890s.

Reichenback is the location of what Doyle intended to be Holmes death, but for reasons that remain unclear but probably related to the huge popularity of Holmes, Doyle later wrote that Holmes escaped his legendary fall at Reichenback, returning to many more crime fighting adventures with Dr. Watson.

The falls are in Switzerland's Interlaken region - one of the world's most beautiful mountain areas:
http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/destinations/top_attractions/attractions-nature/reichenbach-falls-meiringen.html