Lake Como and the Bernina Train in One Day: Tours and Varenna Route

If you want Lake Como and the Bernina line on the same day from Milan, book the Lake Como Cruise, St. Moritz and Bernina Red Train tour (our review). It costs from $192 per person, rates 4.6 from 6,300+ reviews (the most-reviewed tour on this site), and among the tours we review it is the only one that puts you on the water. Expect about 13 hours, with roughly 45 minutes on the lake and about two hours on the regional red train in 2nd class. If you are already staying at Varenna, skip the tours: the Milan–Tirano train stops at your station.

Four tours that pair the lake with the train

Most Milan day trips to the Bernina line drive north past Lake Como, so the lake shows up in many itineraries. These four make it a planned stop, or start on the lake itself.

The Lake Como, Swiss Alps and Bernina Red Train tour (our review) on Viator is the closest match to the Autostradale day, without the boat. It rates 4.5 from 89 reviews. The Small-Group Bernina Red Train and Swiss Alps Day Trip (our review) caps the group at 18 in a small bus and rates 4.9 from 740+ reviews. The Bernina Panoramic Express and St. Moritz tour from Como (our review) is the one for people sleeping in Como town.

How much of Lake Como you really see

Read the itineraries before you book a “Lake Como” tour: on the three Milan tours the lake gets one stop on the way out, before the long drive into the Alps.

On the Autostradale tour, the Lake Como stop is about 45 minutes, spent on a private boat with views toward Bellagio and some of the lake’s well-known villas. You see Bellagio from the water; there is no time to walk it. After that the coach climbs the Maloja Pass to St. Moritz, where you get a guided walk and free time, about 1.5 hours in all, before the train. The guide speaks English and Spanish, and you hear the commentary through a radio headset (lose it and the operator charges €50).

The TaoTravel tour visits Lecco or another lake town with free time there; the listing does not fix the town in advance. One reviewer in 2023 wrote that the lake part was dropped at the last minute, and the listing also says free time in St. Moritz is not guaranteed. The small-group tour stops in a lakeshore village on the way out and, on some days, at a winery, an old cellar or a café; you get about an hour for lunch in Tirano and about 45 minutes in St. Moritz.

If a glimpse is enough, plain red-train tours also follow the shore. The Milan to the Swiss Alps red train day trip (our review), from $131 per person, makes a coffee stop at Colico, at the north end of the lake. That saves $61 per person against the cruise tour, and you lose the boat.

One more detail on the Autostradale day: its train leg usually runs between St. Moritz and Tirano, but on some dates it runs on the Albula line from St. Moritz to Thusis instead. That is a different stretch of track, without Alp Grüm or the Brusio spiral viaduct. Ask the operator which route your date uses if the Bernina side is the reason you are going.

A panoramic coach if you stay in Como

Every tour above except Frigerio’s rides the regional red train: ordinary coaches with windows that open. If you want the Bernina Express itself, with the glass curving into the roof, the Frigerio tour from Como is the lake-area option on this site. Its listing includes a Bernina Express ticket with a guaranteed place in a panoramic coach, though seats are not assigned and the windows do not open. It leaves from Viale Innocenzo XI in Como, rides the train from St. Moritz down to Tirano, and stops in Tirano for about 20 minutes before the coach takes you back. The day lasts about 12.5 hours and costs from $218 per person. Our guide to the Bernina Express and the red train sets out what you gain and lose with each.

Frigerio also runs a Bernina Train and Diavolezza Glacier Lunch tour from Como, from $223 per person, limited to 10 participants and rated 4.8 from 23 reviews. It adds a cable car to Diavolezza (2,978 m) and a set lunch, with the train in a standard carriage from the Bernina Diavolezza stop down to Tirano. The Milan version has its own review.

Staying on the lake: catch the train at Varenna

If you are based on Lake Como, you do not need Milan at all. The Trenord train from Milano Centrale to Tirano runs up the east shore, calling at Lecco, Mandello del Lario, Varenna-Esino and Bellano, then Colico at the top of the lake. From Varenna-Esino to Tirano takes about 1 hour 26 minutes on current timetable data. In Tirano the Swiss RhB station is a few meters away across the square, and the red train climbs from there to the Bernina Pass and St. Moritz in a little over two hours.

Como town and the west shore are not on this line. From Como, a Como-start tour is the simpler choice.

You can buy each leg yourself on trenord.it and rhb.ch, or pick up a Tirano–St. Moritz red train return ticket (our review) from $121 per person. If you would like it all in one booking, the Varenna Bernina red train ticket to St. Moritz, from $193 per person, bundles the Varenna–Tirano return at set times with a Tirano–St. Moritz red-train return you can use at any time that day, in 1st or 2nd class. Its suggested plan:

That gives you about 3 hours 37 minutes in St. Moritz, more than any of the tours above. It cancels free only up to 7 days ahead, and it excludes the panoramic coach. Sister tickets start from Lecco and Colico. Trenord’s 2026–27 timetable starts in mid-December, so check the times on trenord.it before you travel. Our Milan to Tirano train and Bernina train on your own guides cover tickets, connections and the Tirano change in detail.

Which one to book

Book the Autostradale cruise tour if being on the lake matters as much as the train, and you can live with a 13-hour day mostly spent on the coach. Choose the TaoTravel tour if you would like to walk a lake town; book the small group if you prefer 18 people to a full coach. If you are sleeping in Como and want the panoramic Bernina Express, book Frigerio’s Como tour. Staying in Varenna, take the train. For the full field of Milan day trips, see the Bernina Express from Milan page or our best Bernina train tours from Milan.

Whatever you choose, carry a passport or ID card: every route here crosses into Switzerland and back. To see the cruise tour’s next departures and the price for your group, check dates.