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10
Days / 9 Nights Best of Switzerland
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Highlights
- Discover:
Appenzell, Stein am Rhein, Engadin Villages, Davos or Albula, Ticino
Valley, Zermatt, Leukerbad, Interlaken, Gruyere.
- Attractions:
- prettiest small town in Switzerland
- a very traditional Swiss town whose inhabitants are very proud of
their traditions
- Bernina Express train ride (optional)
- rodel toboganning on the world's longest toboggan run on rails
(optional)
- lunch picnic at and/or swimming in an alpine lake
- alpine hiking
- Top of Switzerland to see the highest ice-packed mountains of the
Eastern Alps & glacier (optional)
- mountain visit for an impressive 360° panoramic view of Swiss
Alp / view of 1000 summits (optional)
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| Day
1 |
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Arrival
and pick up at
Zürich airport. 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.
Appenzell: visit
this lovely
canton known not only for her wonderful
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.)
Take a drive to the holiday corner of Switzerland. Drive through 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'.
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| Day
2 |
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Today we
visit the eastern part of
Switzerland to see nice Swiss villages which you only get to see in
storybook movies and can be found only in this part of Switzerland.
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 in the 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'. Stay a
night in a Romansch-speaking quaint village house with rooms made of
Swiss stone pine wood which can only be found in the eastern part of
Switzerland. Stay a night in a village hotel whose rooms are either
partially or fully made of Swiss stone pine wood - a MUST-DO!
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| Day
3 |
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Visit a
town in the Lower Engadin
Valley with quaint villages where people go to see typical Engadiner
sgraffito-painted houses with huge doors and sunken in funnel-like
windows decorated with flowers. Take a stroll in this unique village or
take dips in various outdoor & indoor mountain mineral spring
thermal pools (optional). Stay a night in an Engadine house (converted
to hotel) of a quaint village - the rooms of this house is either
partially or fully made of Swiss stone pine wood which can only be
found in the eastern part of Switzerland grown at very high elevations.
Village stay a MUST-DO!
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| Day
4 |
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Either
1) Visit the highest city in Europe. This is where 2000 of the world's
most elite people (politicians, business leaders, celebraties etc) go
to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) every winter.
OR
2) Drive over an alpine pass which cannot be driven over by coaches.
Take a hike around a lake
which is said to have a second lake beneath it.
If weather permits, have a lunch picnic by the lake.
Then take a drive back to your village embedded in the holiday corner
of Switzerland and the rest of the day is yours.
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| Day
5 |
Switzerland
is not only about wooden chalets. Visit a side valley and see this hidden
gems with houses made of slates and special stonesfrom the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. Walk through the
charming village after your lunch at a grotto.
OR
If weather permits, we do an optional tour: a panorama
train ride on the Bernina Expresswhich got inscribed on the UNESCO
World Heritage List on 7
July 2008 for being amasterpiece of engineeringamidst 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. |
| Day
6 |
Visit a
town known throughout Europe
for the largest thermal
baths and spa resort in the Alps. Optional: various indoor and outdoor thermal massage pools and one of the best sauna facilities in Switzerland.
Tonight we stay in a hotel whose rooms are made of larch wood.
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| Day
7 |
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Visit
Zermatt. Walk in the town with cobbled streets. Take a peak into
the back alleys to see ancient wooden farmhouses and 'mazot' barns.
If the weather permits, we do an optional
tour: take a cog-wheel train up to Gornergrat to have the
BEST VIEW of the Matterhorn,
close-up. Otherwise, do some shopping or visit the Matterhorn
Museum. Please note that the Matterhorn, being a high mountain, is not always
visible as she can sometimes be hidden behind the clouds. If needed, we
will shuffle today's program to a day suitable to view this Swiss icon.
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| Day
8 |
| Visit a village where
they have the BEST wooden chalets in
Switzerland. (Available late spring, summer or early autumn.)
Having
seen that, we either
1) visit resort town which is situated just below the
highest group of mountains on Swiss ground. Very experienced skiers
prefer the ski runs here and it's also snowboarders' paradise.
Optional:
take a funicular train and
visit the BEST glacier cave in Switzerland . Have your lunch at the
world's largest revolving restaurant overlooking the valley below and
providing a view to the highest group of mountains on Swiss grounds and
the glacier world. 2) visit the town of Interlaken, situated between two lakes. Free time to
walk in the town. Collect your free souvenir gift (guide will provide
coupon).
Optional:
a visit to Mount Gloria
where the James Bond movie On Her Majesty Secret Service was filmed in
1969. From here, you have the BEST VIEW of the Jungfrau group of
mountains, Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, plus a 360° view
of the Swiss Alps in the Bernese Highlands.
OR
3) visit Gruyères situated at the foot of the pre-Alps. You will be
enchanted by the charm and picturesque architecture of this medieval
town which has given its name to the area and to its delicious cheese.
Explore the little town that's been unaffected by the passage of time,
built in a superb setting. Optional: Visit the Castle of
Gruyères or the Giger Museum (if you are a fan of the movie
Aliens which starred Sigourney Weaver.)
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| Day
9 |
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Let's
go and see the largest
UNDERGROUND LAKE in Europe.
After
having done that, we visit the St Bernard dogs that were once used as
avalanche rescue dogs, carrying a barrel of brandy around their neck
for avalanche victims.
If mother
nature permits, we do an
optional tour to have a look at Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the
Alps. Otherwise, we visit an interesting salt mine. Salt is one of the
three natural resources of Switzerland.
OR
Visit this resort town which is situated just below the highest group
of mountains on Swiss ground. Very experienced skiers prefer the ski
runs here and it's also snowboarders' paradise.
Optional:
take a funicular train and
visit the BEST glacier
cave in Switzerland. Have
your lunch at the world's largest revolving restaurant overlooking the
valley below and providing a view to the highest group of mountains on
Swiss grounds and the glacier world.
OR
If weather permits, the following optional tours are lovely: 1) Visit
an alp where you can havethe BEST VIEW of the Aletsch Glacier, the longest glacier in the Alps.
A distant view of the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc is also possible from
here. 2) Visit the Alpine Garden to see the various alpine flowers
and/or the Alp Museum to see how life is on an alp, a place where
farmers take their animals to for the animals' three-month summer
holidays.
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| Day
10 |
Hotel
check-out. Scenic ride to Zürich airport, Zürich main train
station or hotel in Zürich.
Please do NOT schedule your flights to depart Zürich airport
before 8 pm.
(If your flight is at night, we could do a cheese factory and/or a chocolate factory during the day). |
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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) 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 modification. Do
write to us.
What's included:
- Transfer
to and fro Zürich airport / hotel in Zürich /
Zürich main train station.
- 9 nights accommodation in
countryside.
- 9 Swiss breakfasts.
- 4 Swiss dinners.
- 1 driver-guide.
- 1
tour guide.
- 1 touring vehicle.
6
Days Magical Switzerland | 8
Days Swiss Gems |10
Days Swiss Graubünden Special
14
Days West Switzerland | Tour
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