TOUR SUMMARY

SPLENDORS OF EUROPE offers this one week luxury escorted tour to Switzerland featuring Luzern, Interlaken, Jungfrau mountain and the Alps.  This is a small group  tour of Switzerland that includes walking tours and excursions which highlight Switzerland’s lakes, mountains, history, architecture, art, medieval towns and museums.   This tour has a regional focus and provides wonderful in-depth cultural experiences and grand gourmet culinary experiences.  Two professional escorts ensure that everyone in our small group of 12 or less has a rewarding  personal experience.  Travel in Switzerland is by first class panoramic train, cogwheel mountain train and luxury lake steamer.  The tour includes lake cruises and visits to all the best sights near Luzern, Interlaken, and the high Alps in the Eiger and Jungfrau region of Switzerland.   Travel to the exquisite lakes and mountains of Switzerland with SPLENDORS OF EUROPE and you’ll enjoy some of the most stunning scenery anywhere.  You'll have the best vacation trip ever.  Visit the hotel, restaurant, and tour photo galleries at the end of this page.

Breakfast welcomes us each morning in our hotel.

Today we take a walking tour of old town Luzern. We start at the romantic stop at the 14^th century covered Chapel Bridge with its medieval stone tower.

Nearby we see the Altes Rathaus or old town hall built in 1599 and still in use today.

Next we visit the beautiful 17^th century Am Rhyn House with its fine Picasso collection. We visit the Kornmarket a medieval square once home to the grain market. Next we walk through the Weinmarket with its splendid fountain squares and frescoed buildings. We walk across the Spreuerbrucke, another romantic covered wooden bridge from 1408 decorated with many medieval paintings.

We also visit the Franciscan Church with its rich wooden carvings and the vast Jesuit Church with its perfectly restored rococo interior.

We continue our walk along the river Reuss to the Culture and Congress Center at the edge of the Lake. It’s a modern glass and steel architectural masterpiece.

We enjoy a wonderful two hour lunch cruise on Lake Luzern aboard a classic steamer.  From our ship, we enjoy the spectacular mountains with scenery like an oil painting that came to life.

This afternoon we visit more of Luzern starting with a visit to the Hofkirche, a monastery from 750 rebuilt in the Renaissance style after a fire in 1633. Inside we’ll see one of Switzerland’s finest pipe organs.  Our next stop is the Bourbaki-Panorama. This is a large wraparound panoramic painting from the 19^th century. It depicts grand scenes from the Franco-Prussian War.

Next we see the Lion Monument, a tribute to 760 Swiss soldiers who died defending Louis XVI in Paris during the French revolution.  We stop and rest in the peaceful Glacier Garden carved and polished during the Ice Age.  Our last stop today is the Zytturm a clock tower from 1400 and one of the remaining nine remaining towers that formed the old town wall.

Today we take the dramatic cable car excursion to 6,953 foot high Mount Pilatus. Here we enjoy refreshments on the summit with sensational views of Luzern and the lake below.

After our Alpine expedition, we’ll enjoy a café style lunch in town.

This afternoon choose between exploring more of Luzern on you own, a shopping tour with your escort or more escorted museum visits.  Choices include the Swiss Transport Museum the Historical Museum and the Natural History Museum.

Tonight we have an elegant gourmet dinner celebrating our visit to Luzern. B+L+D

This morning we depart Luzern for Interlaken. We take the scenic Golden Pass Panoramic Train over the Brunig Pass. We continue to the resort town of Interlaken, which enjoys a privileged location between two large Alpine lakes.   We check into our fabulous hotel in Interlaken, and enjoy its grand Belle Epoque ambiance.

Today we take pleasure in a unforgettable lunch high on a mountain summit. We board the red funicular railway from near our hotel to the top of Harder Kulm.

Here we dine at the mountain restaurant. From the restaurant terrace, you will have a spectacular vie of our playground for the next three days. You’ll see the lakes Thun and Brienz and the whole chain of snow covered 13,000 foot giants with Interlaken spreading out directly below. This afternoon we explore wonderful Interlaken.

Today we take a steamer across the Thunersee to the town of Thun. 

We visit the great Zahringen Castle with its fine historical museum, and magnificent views of Thun from its towers.  We visit Thun with its many streams, wooden covered bridges, and flowered terrace sidewalks. 

We have lunch at Zu Metzgern, enjoying views of the charming medieval square.

After lunch we travel to the waterfront Oberhofen Castle with its many spires and towers.  We visit this fairy tale structure, situated right on Lake Thunersee. After our visit we continue to Interlaken.

Today we take a dramatic Alpine excursion to the towering Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau mountains. We board the train in Interlaken for Lauterbrunnen. Here we take the cogwheel Wengernalp Railway to the hilltop traffic free resort of Wengen.

We proceed to Kleine Scheidegg with some of the best Alpine scenery in Switzerland. Here we catch the Jungfraubahn which tunnels right through the Eiger, offering stunning views through enormous openings blasted through its face.

We enjoy a refreshment break in Grindelwald before we return by scenic train to Interlaken.

Today we make the scenic train Journey back to Zurich.

Here we enjoy an exceptional lunch at our hotel. This afternoon we visit old town Zurich and explore some of the shops before dinner.