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7
Days / 6 Nights Swiss Autumn
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Highlights
- Discover:
Zürich or Schaffhausen, Appenzell, Bellinzona, Valle Verzasca,
Lucerne or St. Gallen, St. Moritz or Engadin villages.
- Attractions:
- lunch at a restaurant that was once an arsenal
- prettiest small town in Switzerland
- authenticand very traditional Swiss town
- queen of the north-eastern Swiss Alps mountain visit for a
spectacular view of 5 countries (optional)
- 'balcony of Italy' to see the highest and lowest points of
Switzerland and the southern Swiss Alps
- factory outlet shopping with 160 factory shops, including designer
labels
- dinner at a grotto (stone warehouse that was once used before the
refrigerator was invented)
- UNESCO World Heritage castles and their city walls
- lunch picnic at castle compound
- Swiss cultural show (optional)
- Top of Switzerland mountain visit to see the highest ice-packed
mountains in the Eastern Alps and glaciers (optional)
- various indoor & outdoor mountain spring mineral thermal
pools (optional)
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| Day
1 |
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Arrival
and pick up at
Zürich airport / Zürich main train station / hotel in
Zürich. Proceed to a charming medieval town in the northern
part of Switzerland, also known as 'the prettiest small town in
Switzerland' situated at the River Rhine. Next go to Zürich.
After lunch, walk along elegant Bahnhofstrasse - a shopping stretch.
Visit a very pretty chocolate-cum-confectionery shop and a very
well-known chocolate boutique-cum-café. After that, walk
through narrow lanes in the Old Town area where the largest clockface
in Europe awaits you just around the corner. Then take a walk up one of
the twin towers of the Grossmünster and have a bird's-eye view
of the city of Zürich (optional).
A scenic drive along the Lake of Zürich, Lake Walen and the
majestic Churfirsten mountain range to the Holiday Corner of
Switzerland. Welcome to the land of 150 valleys, 615 alpine lakes and
937 mountain peaks. Pass the Heidi World, THE Pinot Noir region of
Switzerland and the oldest city in Switzerland. Continue to drive
through Graubünden, the most diversified and largest but the
least densely populated canton of Switzerland, known for her widely
untouched landscapes and home to three of the four cultures of
Switzerland.
Drive into the valley of castles & ruins before checking into
your hotel embedded at the foot of an inner alpine valley, also known
as the ‘Orchard of Graubünden'. Here, in the
geographic heart of the Alps, is the crossroads of the high and ancient
alpine passes. Complimentary welcome drink during dinner.
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(Note:
If you have been to Zürich, it might be replaceable with Rhine
Falls (largest waterfall in Europe) and Schaffhausen where you discover
the rare beauty and cultural diversity of this charming town with its
delightful countryside, situated along the River Rhine next to Germany.
The houses of the Old Town are richly decorated with 171 oriels and
valuable murals. Narrow streets invite the visitor to stroll and shop,
and if the weather is warm enough, the streets of the car-free town
centers are transformed into pocket-size Parisian boulevards. These
historical treasures date back to the Middle Ages. Optional: a visit to
a majestic 16th century fortress.)
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| Day
2 |
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Appenzell: visit this lovely
canton known not only for her beautiful countryside landscapes but also
for her specialties like cheese, milk, sausages, beer etc. The
town is yours to admire - typical Appenzeller houses that are
beautifully painted. (Optional: A gondola ride to the queen of the
north-eastern Swiss Alps, for a spectacular view of the Alps
in 5 countries or a breath-taking vista of a sea of clouds over the
valleys. Or visit another nice nearby mountain. All depending on
weather conditions.)
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| Day
3 |
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Visit either 1) a lookout point known
as 'the balcony of Italy' for a splendid view of the southern Swiss
Alps including the massive Monte Rosa range where the highest mountain
in Switzerland, Dufourspitze, is, villages in the mountains and cities
or towns by the lakes below or 2) a large shopping centre with 160
factory outlet stores which includes international designer labels and
250 important brands. And/or try your luck at a casino with 150 slot
machines in the next building. Optional: take a cog-wheel train ride up
to one of the mountains in the southern Swiss Alps for a gorgeous
top-down view of the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland and on a
clear day, even to Milan in Italy (optional).
OR
If the weather permits, do an optional tour: a panorama
train ride on the Bernina Express
which got inscribed on the
UNESCO World Heritage List
on 7 July 2008 for being a masterpiece
of engineering amidst
panoramic landscapes and cultural diversity. Enjoy riding the most
famous train in the Alps on board the Rhaetian Railway panorama coach
whose north alpine route is a 145-km stretch that cuts through
Graubünden, boasting the most beautiful railway routes in the
world. During the trip over the Bernina pass, the train reaches an
altitude of 2.253 m (7.390 ft) and masters gradients of 70%. The
Bernina Express runs without cogwheels, on the highest long-distance
railway transversal in the Alps over up to more then 200-metre long and
90-metre high bridges, through winding tunnels, past raging mountain
torrents, glaciers and a rich array of alpine flowers to southerly
Valposchiavo, over the spiralling viaduct at Brusio and on to Tirano in
Italy.
Note: If the weather is not suitable for train ride today, you still
have the opportunity to do it another day.
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| Day
4 |
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Bellinzona
- capital of the
Italian-speaking canton Ticino in the southern part of Switzerland,
designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its city walls and 3 famous
castles enclosing a picturesque vineyard. Experience the Saturday
morning market and feel a different ambiance. Next, visit the castle(s)
or do some shopping. If the weather permits, have a lunch picnic at the
castle compound. Then visit the famous medieval bridge in a valley
where the opening scene of James Bond 007
‘Goldeneye’ was filmed or go to a beautiful
lakeside town situated at the foot of the southern Swiss Alps.
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| Day
5 |
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Visit Lucerne in the heart of
Switzerland. See the Chapel Bridge or walk along the Musegg Wall to
have a bird's eye view of this picturesque city. Swiss cultural show
(optional). Collect your free souvenirs. Visit Mt Titlis if the weather
permits (optional).
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(Note:
If you have been to Lucerne, it is replaceable with a visit to
Constance, the largest city situated at the largest lake in Germany.
also the 2nd largest freshwater lake in Europe. Freetime to visit the
new shopping centre, the majestic gothic Münster church, Sea
Life Centre (at the yacht harbour), the old city
with beautiful lowrise buildings. [Optional: a boat
ride across the largest lake in Germany to a pretty little town with
terraced streets lined with flowers and half-timbered houses.])
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| Day
6 |
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Today we
visit the eastern part of
Switzerland, St. Moritz, in the Upper Engadin Valley where the wealthy
go to enjoy their riches and where the Alpine Ski World Championship
2003 as well as the Winter Olympics 1928 & 1948 were hosted.
The town is yours to explore. Optional: A visit to one of the mountains
in the eastern Swiss Alps for a very impressive 360° view of
the Alps including a close view of the Bernina range, the highest
mountain range of the whole eastern Alps. On a clear day, depending on
the sun's rays, 7 or 8 layers of mountain ranges can be seen from here!
Graubünden has the most number of mountain peaks in the Alps
exceeding 3000 m, making it the highest region in the Alps and earning
it the name "the roof of Europe".
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(Note:
If you have been to St. Moritz, it might be replaceable with visits to
quaint villages in the Lower Engadin Valley where people go to see
typical Engadiner sgraffito-painted houses with huge doors and sunken
in funnel-like windows decorated with flowers. Optional: Take dips in
various outdoor & indoor mountain spring mineral thermal
pools.)
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| Day
7 |
| Hotel
check-out. Scenic ride to Zürich airport / Zürich
main train station / hotel in Zürich. Please do NOT schedule
your flight to depart Zürich airport before 10:45 am. |
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Note
1) As we would very much want our travellers to get the most out of our
tours, the sequence and/or parts of the content of the above itinerary
are subject to changes depending on weather conditions, forthcoming
special events and unforeseen circumstances.
2) Some tours are included as optional tours because travellers MUST
have the choice not to choose them in case of bad weather. In
Switzerland, views from the summit of mountains are not always
visible. Sometimes there is ZERO visibility due to low or
heavy clouds. If the optionals are included in the
tour price, then the mountain visit is a must-do even when the weather
is not suitable for a mountain visit. This would be unfair to
the unaware traveller and it would be a wasted
trip. We always check the weather one day before and
advise our travellers if the scheduled mountain
visit would be good or not. Otherwise, we either
shuffle the itinerary and do the mountain visit another day when the
weather is good (as per forecast) or advise them not to do it at all
when the next days are not suitable for mountain visits. For other
optional tours like horse-carriage rides, thermal pools, etc, some
travellers might not want to do them for some reason or some may have
done them before.
3) It might be possible to change above itinerary to an all-Switzerland
holiday. Please write to us at switzerlandtours @ hotmail.com.
4) If you have been to a few of the above-mentioned places but would
like to visit other not-to-be-missed places or experience some
interesting activities, we might be able to do some alteration. Do
write to us.
What's included:
- Transfer
to and fro Zürich airport / Zürich main train station
/ hotel in Zürich.
(Transfer to Zürich on last day not included for budget tours.
Top-up applies.)
- 6 nights hotel accommodation in
countryside town.
- 6 Swiss buffet breakfasts. (Not
included for budget tours)
- 5 Swiss dinners.(Not included for
budget tours)
- 1
driver-guide.
- 1
tour guide
- 1 touring vehicle.
Tour
Schedule & Booking | 7
Days Swiss Harvest | 10
Days Swiss View | 14
Days Swiss Panorama
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this tour for me?
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