Switzerland – from the underground to the sky

Round tour, 6 days, not including transportation to Switzerland. Code 0701

Zürich – Baar – Luzern – Vit­znau – Pila­tus – Moléson – Gruy­ère – Broc – Mon­treux – Aigle – Sion – Zermatt – Leuk – Leu­ker­bad – St. Moritz

Heli­cop­ter fli­ght – Mat­tern­horn and Gran­de Dixence
Pano­ra­mic tra­in ride on the Gla­cier Express
Boat trip on Lake Luzern
The ste­epest cogwhe­el rail­way in the world
The big­gest Alpi­ne ther­mal spa
Che­ese and cho­co­la­te manu­fac­tu­ring presentation
Caves of cen­tral Switzerland
Wine­ma­king museum
Under­gro­und mili­ta­ry fortress
Small and frien­dly groups

Day 1 – Zürich – Baar

Arri­val in Zürich, Switzerland’s big­gest city. We will meet you at the air­port and take you to down­town Zürich, whe­re we begin our tour with a visit to the Natio­nal Swiss Museum. Loca­ted in a sty­lish pala­ce at the conver­gen­ce of the Lim­mat and Sihl rivers, this is the most fre­qu­en­tly visi­ted histo­ri­cal museum in the coun­try. Here, we will learn a lit­tle abo­ut the histo­ry and cul­tu­re of the Swiss and the most impor­tant pro­ces­ses that ulti­ma­te­ly sha­ped Swit­zer­land into the coun­try it is today. From the museum, we will go for a walk along the Bahn­ho­fstras­se, whe­re Zürich’s exc­lu­si­ve shops and restau­rants, the big­gest Swiss banks and a clock museum can be found. Lunch will be taken in a well-known restau­rant that serves the Ger­man-spe­aking part of Switzerland’s most tra­di­tio­nal dishes. Inde­ed, tuc­king in to Zür­cher Gesch­net­zel­tes mit Rösti – Zürich rago­ut with Swiss hash browns – accom­pa­nied by an assort­ment of local wines and beers, is an excel­lent way to conc­lu­de our mor­ning and see us into the after­no­on. From the restau­rant, we will walk thro­ugh the old town, along the Lim­mat river, to Lake Zürich. The jour­ney will inc­lu­de even more pla­ces of inte­rest, such as, among others, the huge Gros­smün­ster cathe­dral; the town hall, loca­ted on the river, and the Lin­den­ho­fplatz vie­wing point. The rest of the day will be spent away from the hustle and bustle of the city, as we head to Baar, in cen­tral Swit­zer­land, to visit the Höl­l­grot­ten caves (tem­pe­ra­tu­re: 10°C / 50°F). Here, we will be trans­por­ted thro­ugh a fasci­na­ting world of bizar­re rock for­ma­tions and sta­lac­ti­tes and sta­lag­mi­tes, all pre­sen­ted with colo­ur­ful, arti­stic lighting.

Day 2 – Luzern – Vitznau – Pilatus

Next day in the mor­ning we will visit Lucer­ne, a pic­tu­re­sque city loca­ted at the sho­res of Lake Lucer­ne. The city is a cul­tu­ral cen­tre of the cen­tral Swit­zer­land. We will expe­rien­ce the 15th cen­tu­ry Kapel­l­brüc­ke – the oldest, and second lon­gest, roofed wooden brid­ge in Euro­pe. We will also visit the old town and for­ti­fi­ca­tions, among other things. Then, we embark on a boat trip across Lake Luzern to the town of Vit­znau. Here, a spe­cial tre­at, unse­en in many typi­cal tourism bro­chu­res, awa­its us as we visit a con­tem­po­ra­ry mili­ta­ry artil­le­ry for­tress – until the end of the 1990s a secret faci­li­ty used by the Swiss army – situ­ated in rooms carved into the rock. We will learn abo­ut for­ti­fi­ca­tion con­struc­tion and the Swiss con­cept of mili­ta­ry defen­ce, which is based on a for­ti­fi­ca­tion network that spans the who­le coun­try. After lunch, we head towards Mount Pila­tus, (2,132 m a.s.l.), one of Switzerland’s best known vie­wing points. The pano­ra­mic views of Luzern and the lake are won­der­ful. Then, we will go up to the moun­ta­in on the ste­epest cogwhe­el rail­way in the world, which has a gra­dient of up to 48% in pla­ces. From Pila­tus, two dif­fe­rent types of cable car will take us to the other side of the massif.

Day 3 – Moléson – Gruyère – Broc – Montreux

We spend the third day of our tour in Suis­se Roman­de, the French-spe­aking region of Swit­zer­land. In the moun­ta­in town of Moléson, we will learn how real Alpi­ne che­ese is made. From Moléson, we con­ti­nue to Gruy­ère, whe­re the epo­ny­mo­us che­ese, one of the most well-known and appre­cia­ted varie­ties in the world, comes from. Le Gruy­ère Pre­mier Cru che­ese has been awar­ded the title of the best che­ese in the world six times. We will have lunch in a restau­rant situ­ated in the medie­val town on the hill. The­re, we will have the chan­ce to try fon­due, one of Switzerland’s flag­ship che­ese dishes, as well as rac­let­te. The after­no­on will see us visit a medie­val castle that also houses a con­tem­po­ra­ry art gal­le­ry. We will also drop by a uni­que museum con­ta­ining the work of famo­us Swiss artist, H.R. Giger, the cre­ator of the movie cha­rac­ter Alien (Alien movie series). Befo­re leaving Gruy­ère, we will drop into the Giger bar for a cof­fee – this pla­ce tru­ly is an artwork in itself, as you will see! Our next stop will be the Cail­ler cho­co­la­te fac­to­ry in the near­by town of Broc – Cal­lier is the oldest brand of Swiss cho­co­la­te. You will have the chan­ce to learn in an inte­re­sting and enga­ging way abo­ut the histo­ry of cho­co­la­te making and to taste a wide selec­tion of assor­ted cho­co­la­tes and pra­li­nes. We will call it a day in the pic­tu­re­sque town of Mon­treux on Lake Gene­va. After we check-in to our accom­mo­da­tion, we will go for an eve­ning walk along the banks of the lake whe­re you can see a sta­tue of the late Fred­die Mer­cu­ry, lead sin­ger of the band Queen.

Day 4 – Aigle – Sion – Zermatt – Leuk – Leukerbad

After bre­ak­fast, we will ven­tu­re fur­ther south to the town of Aigle, famo­us for its whi­te wines. On our way, we will stop for a moment at Chil­lon castle; the most fre­qu­en­tly visi­ted histo­ri­cal buil­ding in Swit­zer­land, on the banks of Lake Gene­va. In Aigle wine­ma­king museum, not only will we learn abo­ut the deve­lop­ment of wine­ma­king tech­ni­qu­es, but also we will also see a col­lec­tion of 1,200 wine labels. Both the rich­ness and the attrac­ti­ve mul­ti­me­dia-edu­ca­tio­nal form its exhi­bits take tru­ly make this museum a refe­ren­tial pla­ce of this kind in the coun­try. From Aigle, we head to Sion, the capi­tal of the Vala­is can­ton. It is from here that we will fly by heli­cop­ter to the highest water dam in Euro­pe – Gran­de Dixen­ce, Swiss engi­ne­ering at its finest! We con­ti­nue over nume­ro­us gla­ciers to Zermatt, one of the most well-known moun­ta­in resorts in the coun­try. We will be able to gaze in won­der as we soar over the Mat­ter­horn (4,472 m a.s.l.), con­si­de­red to be Switzerland’s most beau­ti­ful sum­mit. Later in the after­no­on we will visit a medie­val town of Leuk, a pla­ce of arche­olo­gi­cal sen­sa­tion. In the church crypt, we will enco­un­ter a real mum­my, won­der­ful church sculp­tu­res and works of art retur­ned to the light of day after cen­tu­ries, as well as an ossu­ary – a col­lec­tion of 20,000 human bones and skulls – in the cha­pel neigh­bo­uring the church. Our jour­ney on day 4 will finish in the high­land resort of Leu­ker­bad, (1,402 m a.s.l.). This is the big­gest spa in the Alps, offe­ring many attrac­tions for adults and chil­dren, and pro­vi­des excel­lent oppor­tu­ni­ties to help you relax after a long and busy day disco­ve­ring the local area.

Day 5 – St. Moritz

From Leu­ker­bad, we will tra­vel by tra­in to the town of Brig, loca­ted in the eastern part of the Vala­is can­ton. Here, we will step on to the Gla­cier Express, a famo­us pano­ra­mic tra­in, and embark on a uni­que six-and-three-quar­ter-hour jour­ney to the remo­te, exc­lu­si­ve St. Moritz ski and leisu­re resort in eastern Swit­zer­land. Along the way, we will cross 291 brid­ges, and tra­vel thro­ugh 91 tun­nels, over the Obe­ralp Pass (2,033 m a.s.l.) and coun­tless moun­ta­ino­us land­sca­pes that exem­pli­fy Swit­zer­land in the best way. During the tra­in ride, a selec­tion of culi­na­ry spe­cia­li­ties and wines will be ava­ila­ble to you. Upon our arri­val in St. Moritz, we will take a cable car up to the popu­lar Muot­tas Muragl vie­wing point (2,454 m a.s.l.), which has ama­zing pano­ra­mic views of the Upper Enga­di­ne and the world’s most accu­ra­te sundial.

Day 6

After bre­ak­fast, we will head back to Zürich air­port. Depen­ding on our depar­tu­re time, the­re might be the option to visit ano­ther tourist attrac­tion or pla­ce of inte­rest along the way. Then will come our good­by­es to our tour participants.