Red goes with everything. Whether against the white of the snow or the green of the meadows, the scarlet line of the Bernina Express has become a familiar feature of the landscape of the Albula and Bernina valleys, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008. The Albula line, built between 1898 and 1904 by the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) to link landlocked valleys, and the Bernina line, built between 1908 and 1910, run through the canton of Grisons, home of the famous dried meat. They quickly became an obvious tourist attraction. Today, the Rhaetian Railway offers two types of service: one normal, with a regional train, and one "panoramic," with the Bernina Express and its taller windows that go up over your head.

The feat is first and foremost a technical one. The train departs from Chur, at an altitude of 585 meters, and climbs to 2,328 meters above sea level at the Bernina Pass. There are no gear mechanisms or rack-and-pinions, just an impressive 55 tunnels and 196 bridges. The route has its stars: The high, curved Landwasser Viaduct, 65 meters long and 136 meters high, rests on five arches of grey stone. You can imagine how difficult it was to build without scaffolding. From Filisur, a path leads to it, past the beautiful white house of the line's engineers, the Battleship, and a tavern has been set up at its foot.

Between Preda and Spinas, the train enters the Albula Tunnel, a 5.5-kilometer cut through the mountains. After Pontresina, gradients can reach 7%. The descent to Tirano and Italy includes many twists and turns, with the disconcerting effect of offering the same views to the left of the train one moment, the next to the right. One of the most spectacular sights on the route is the Brusio spiral viaduct, a kind of stone spiral that takes the train around a complete circle.

These feats would be of interest only to engineers if the train didn't pass through some magnificent landscapes, summing up the Switzerland of dreams. From plain to plain, it's an Alpine backdrop, from the flower-filled meadows of Albula to the palm trees of Tirano, via the glaciers of the Bernina mountain range.

The first part is the most bucolic: meadows of poppies or buttercups and cows grazing peacefully. Every bend offers a repeated postcard, with mountains in the distance, small villages with needle-like church steeples and large houses with multiple windows. A few castles rise from the peaks, solid stone towers guarding the valleys, like Rhäzüns, an impressive 10^th-century fortress. Below the bridges, the Albula and Landwasser rivers roll their way to swell the Rhine. From the mountains flow numerous waterfalls, often dropping from dizzying heights. The fir forests are dark in places, cut by logging operations that open up views across the valley.

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