Tour Director: Marina Rossow

Switzerland checks off all the boxes of an idyllic mountain vacation. It offers ravishing landscapes of green pastures, hiking trails, views of glacier-encrusted Alps, glittering lake shores and pea-green vineyards, while the uber-cool Zurich gives it a modern urban edge. Traveling through Switzerland is mapped by castles and craft beer, new-wave restaurants and relaxed waterfront bars with Alpine views, mountain chalets brightened with red geraniums, folk fairs and the alp-horn concerts, while the celebration of gooey cheese, velvety chocolate, and air-dried meats provide a flavorful culinary background, spiced with the unexpected encounters with modern aesthetics, contemporary art and fresh-faced design. Beyond cheese, chocolate and cuckoo clocks, lies the contemporary Switzerland, land of four languages, once-in-a-lifetime train journeys, heart-racing Alpine pursuits and tantalizing urban culture.

Defined by unspoiled, iconic mountain ranges with massive, snow-covered peaks reaching to the sky, azure lakes, Alpine meadows filled with rare flowers, sloping green hills sheltering medieval towns and castles, a sophisticated network of trains and cable cars, and of course cheese and chocolate, Switzerland is easy to love. This is a country of geologic and natural wonders, fresh mountain air, cows wandering freely in green pastures, and people adhering to old ways, yet embracing the newest technological achievements and doing their best to preserve the planet.

The Cool Switzerland Tour offers an intimate, in-depth encounter with the Swiss mountain wonderland, and it incorporates an amazing array of varied activities: Zurich, Lucerne, Interlaken and the Bernese Alps, Zermatt, St. Moritz, Appenzell, the Glacier Express, a castle, a hermit's cave, Alpine hikes, lake cruises, scenic drives and train journeys, cable cars to famous summits: Jungfrau, Schilthorn, Harder Kulm, Gornergrat, Klein Matterhorn; chocolate making and tasting experience, cheese making, Baroque Abbey with a stunning library, each day is different and exciting.

• While staying in Zurich, we'll tour the Old Town, then take a day trip to Lucerne, where we'll cruise on Lake Lucerne, admire the town's art filled covered bridges and the medieval Old Town. On the way from Zurich to Wengen, we'll tour the 12th century Oberhofen Castle and its Alpine lakeside gardens.
• While in Wengen, a car-free village in the Jungfrau region of the Bernese Alps, we'll take two easy mountain hikes, ride the mountain trains, cable cars, aerial gondolas and cogwheel trains to the Alpine summits of Jungfrau and Schilthorn. We'll spend a day in Interlaken, admiring the town's location between two lakes from suspended platforms at Harder Kulm and indulging in a chocolate-making class.
• While in Zermatt, we'll admire Matterhorn both from Gornergrat and from the Klein Matterhorn, as we get to play in the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise.
• We'll ride the legendary Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz.
• Before returning to Zurich, we'll follow the Bernina Express route, stopping in St. Gallen to see the Baroque Abbey with its beautiful library, and in Appenzell for a cheese making class.

• Carefully designed itinerary, including signature Swiss experiences
• Accommodation in upscale, perfectly located hotels throughout the tour
• Knowledgeable private guides
• Experienced Tour Director
• Private, comfortable transportation
• Exquisite meals throughout the tour
• Exclusive, private experiences, not available to larger groups
• A small group of maximum 16 women
• No forced shopping

The Alps | Swiss Trains | Swiss Cheese | Swiss Chocolate | Books & Movies 
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