Switzerland of cuisine and wine

Round tour, 6 days, not including transportation to Switzerland. Code 0501 (including wine fair)

Zurich – Gruy­éres – Mon­treux – Lake Gene­va – Aigle – Sier­re – Leuk – Gior­ni­co – Luga­no – Chur – Lake Constance

small, frien­dly gro­ups (up to 7 people) – jour­ney thro­ugh all culi­na­ry regions of the coun­try – helve­tic wine­ry, bre­we­ry and distil­la­tion indu­stries – che­ese and cho­co­la­te fac­to­ries – Wine Fair in Vala­is– the oldest city in Swit­zer­land – the big­gest under­gro­und lake in Euro­pe – ride along alpi­ne serpentines

Day 1 – Zurich 

Arri­val in Zurich. Aro­und noon the tour leader will pick up the gro­up at the air­port. A trans­fer to the city cen­tre. From a monu­men­tal neo-rena­is­san­ce rail­way sta­tion we will walk along the main down­town Bahn­ho­fstras­se, whe­re exc­lu­si­ve shops and restau­rants, the big­gest Swiss banks and a clock museum are loca­ted. After a short walk we will have a lunch in a renow­ned and tra­di­tio­nal restau­rant of the Ger­man-spe­aking part of Swit­zer­land. A clas­sic dish named Zür­cher Gesch­net­zel­tes with Rösti (Zurich veal with Swiss hash­browns) accom­pa­nied by an assort­ment of local wines and beers will give us with a good start into the after­no­on-eve­ning part of the day. From the restau­rant we will take a walk thro­ugh the old town to Lake Zurich and along the Lim­mat river. Along the way we will see more impor­tant monu­ments and pla­ces like a giant Gros­smün­ster cathe­dral, a City Hall loca­ted on the river and Lin­den­ho­fplatz vie­wing point, among others. Next, we will visit the Natio­nal Museum, the most fre­qu­en­tly visi­ted histo­ry museum in the coun­try, whe­re in an appe­aling way we will get fami­lia­ri­sed with the histo­ry and cul­tu­re of the helve­tic people. For a din­ner and night stay we will get away from the city buzz to the almost 200-year old inn, loca­ted west of Zurich. The­re, we will have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to taste the Swiss spi­rit spe­cia­li­ties like Absinth and the Swiss Whi­sky from a small local distillery.

Day 2 – Gruyére, Montreux

After a bre­ak­fast we will take a bus ride to Suis­se roman­de (Roman­die), a French-spe­aking part of Swit­zer­land. In the cho­co­la­te fac­to­ry in Broc an inte­re­stin­gly pre­sen­ted histo­ry of cho­co­la­te manu­fac­tu­ring and a degu­sta­tion of a wide assort­ment of cho­co­la­te pro­ducts and pra­li­nes awa­it us. From Broc we will head towards a che­ese fac­to­ry in Gruy­ére, whe­re we will take a clo­ser look at the pro­duc­tion of the bran­ded che­ese under the same name, one of the most well-known and valu­ed of the Swiss che­eses in the world. Le Gruy­ére Pre­mier Cru has been awar­ded the title of the best che­ese of the world five times. We will go for a din­ner to the restau­rant loca­ted in the medie­val town on the hill. The­re will be an oppor­tu­ni­ty to taste fon­due, which is one of two flag­ship che­ese dishes of Swit­zer­land, along with rac­let­te.  In the after­no­on we will visit a medie­val castle with a modern art gal­le­ry. Alter­na­ti­ve­ly you can visit a museum of a famo­us Swiss artist, H. R. Giger, who cre­ated the movie cha­rac­ter Alien, or the Museum of Tibet. Befo­re we leave Gruy­ére, we will pop in for a cof­fee to Giger bar, a pla­ce that is a pie­ce of art from the flo­or to the ceiling. From Gruy­ére we will go for a night stay to Mon­treux, a town pic­tu­re­squ­ely loca­ted at the sho­re of Lake Gene­va. After check-in we will take an eve­ning walk and have a din­ner at the famo­us, lake­si­de pro­me­na­de with a monu­ment of Fred­die Mer­cu­ry, the voca­list of Queen band.

Day 3 – Aigle, Sierre 

After an ear­ly bre­ak­fast we will go fur­ther to the south to visit a wine indu­stry museum in the town of Aigle. On the way we will stop for a whi­le at the well-known castle loca­ted on the islet in the mid­dle of Lake Gene­va – Cha­te­au de Chil­lon – which is the most fre­qu­en­tly visi­ted histo­ri­cal buil­ding in the coun­try. From the wine­ry area of Aigle we will go to St. Leonard in the can­ton of Vala­is, whe­re we will take a boat ride on the big­gest under­gro­und lake of Euro­pe (tem­pe­ra­tu­re of 15°C / 59°F).  Our fur­ther way will lead us to the town of Sier­re whe­re at this time of the year an annu­al regio­nal Vinea Wine Fair is held. A meal in a repu­ta­ble restau­rant with its own wine selec­tion that has a wide varie­ty of selec­ted regio­nal deli­ca­cies, che­eses, dried meats and a local bre­ad from Vala­is. After a check-in for a night stay we will take a walk to the cen­tre of Sier­re to visit the Wine Fair and to par­ti­ci­pa­te in a degu­sta­tion of a wide assort­ment of wine types from dozens of wine­ries loca­ted in the southern Swit­zer­land. Free time and return for a night stay.

Day 4 – Leuk, Giornico, Lugano 

After having a bre­ak­fast in Sier­re we will go to Leuk, a pla­ce of archa­eolo­gi­cal sen­sa­tion. In the church crypt we will see a genu­ine mum­my, sacral sculp­tu­res and pie­ces of art that has been bro­ught to the day­li­ght after cen­tu­ries. In the church cha­pel you can see a col­lec­tion of over 20 tho­usands of human skulls and bones. From the can­ton of Vala­is, thro­ugh the second highest road moun­ta­in pass in Swit­zer­land – Nufe­nen Pass (2,478 m / 8,129 ft high) – we will ride to Tici­no, an Ita­lian-spe­aking part of Swit­zer­land. We will stop for a meal in Gior­ni­co, known for its medie­val chur­ches. On the tables made of sto­ne and in the sha­de of vines, in a love­ly, small restau­rant loca­ted on the river islet, we will try sim­ple, but tasty and quali­ty cuisi­ne, dif­fe­rent from that of the Ger­man-spe­aking part of the coun­try. From Gior­ni­co we will head fur­ther south to Luga­no, the big­gest city of this region. We will go up by rail­way to the popu­lar vie­wing point on San Salva­to­re, whe­re the­re is a restau­rant, among others. Return and trans­fer for a night stay in the area of Lugano.

Day 5 – Chur, Lake Constance

An ear­ly bre­ak­fast and a trans­fer to Gri­sons, the big­gest Swiss can­ton, loca­ted in the south-eastern Swit­zer­land. Along the way we will go thro­ugh the third lon­gest road tun­nel in the coun­try – San Ber­nar­di­no (6.6 km). We will stop to visit one of the most known and spec­ta­cu­lar gor­ges in this part of the coun­try – Via­ma­la, 300-metre (984 ft) deep, whe­re a dan­ge­ro­us road thro­ugh the Alps was alre­ady pre­sent in the Roman times.  Aro­und noon we will go to Chur, a capi­tal city of the can­ton of Gri­sons, and the oldest city of Swit­zer­land. By cable car we will ascent to the sum­mit of Bram­brüesch from whe­re we can admi­re a view of the city. The­re, we will go for a meal to a typi­cal moun­ta­in restau­rant. As the hun­ting season will have alre­ady star­ted, the­re will be an oppor­tu­ni­ty to taste local veni­son dishes and typi­cal dishes of Gri­sons like Bünd­ner Pizo­kel (type of egg noodles) and Ger­sten­sup­pe (Swiss bar­ley soup). In the after­no­on we will be sight­se­eing the old town of Chur, a city that was esta­bli­shed by ancient Romans. Also, we will visit a muni­ci­pal bre­we­ry whe­re manu­fac­tu­ring pro­cess will be expla­ined and we will try a tasty, non-pasteu­ri­zed beer from Chur. A trans­fer for a night stay to Lake Con­stan­ce area. A walk along the park at the lake and a dinner.

Day 6

A bre­ak­fast and trans­fer to Zurich (ca. 1.5 h). Say­ing good­bye to tour par­ti­ci­pants. Depen­ding on the fli­ght depar­tu­re time from Zurich the­re is an option to visit addi­tio­nal tourist attraction.