SWISS ALPS SUMMER RAIL TOUR
August 28-September 11
Land tour from $2199.00, plus your choice of Swiss Rail Pass
Join Rail Travel Center General Manager Carl Fowler on this remarkable new tour of the Swiss Alps by train. We have designed this program with sightseeing quite different than our annual "Springtime in the Alps" tour. Even if you have been to Switzerland previously, we hope you will seriously consider this trip, as it visits many new destinations!
Only two hotels are used during the tour. The first week is at the Hotel des Alps in Nyon, a lovely village on the sunny shores of Lake Geneva. The second week is at the beautiful Park Hotel du Sauvage in the village of Meiringen, high in the Bernese Oberland. Meiringen is where Sherlock Holmes supposedly was staying when he fought his "fatal" battle with the evil Professor Moriarty.
This itinerary is the result of a visit Mr. Fowler made while completing his "Swiss Travel Expert" course through the Swiss National Tourist Office. Carl's "final exam" included touring less-visited areas of western and northern Switzerland. (Not a bad "test" he reported!) Our tour shares the treasures he found, including the wonderful Swiss Music Box Museum, views from the "Balcony" of the Jura Mountains, the charming folkloric museum at Chateaux D'Oex, and breath-taking mountain railways to Engelberg and the Furka Pass.
We include many amazingly scenic train journeys. In the Jura we see high lakes and narrow canyons near Vallorbe and sweeping vistas nearing St. Croix. In the Alps we climb by steam-powered rack (cog) railways to the summits of the Brienzer Rothorn and the Roches de Naye. There is an even more remarkable steam journey on the newly reopened route of the original "Glacier Express" on the Furka Pass. This line reaches such a high elevation, it cannot be operated except in summer. We also ascend by electric cog railway to the legendary view of Lake Lucerne at the crest of the Rigi and ride to the outstanding view of the Jungfrau/Eiger/Monch Range at Schynige Platte above Interlaken.
For contrast we take paddle-steamer journeys on the Lakes of Geneva, Brienz and Lucerne; have an on-board dinner on a tramcar rolling along the streets of Geneva; and ride the unique Swiss Postal Buses over the renowned Three Passes drive, a "summer only" alpine route. Another trip takes us to the Ballenberg Open Air Museum, a reconstruction of several mountain farms displaying the typical regional architecture of Switzerland.
Each participant will have a Swiss Rail Pass allowing unlimited travel not only on the mainline (and most mountain) railways, but also on city trams, Postal Buses and lake steamers throughout Switzerland. The tour includes several unstructured days to allow participants to do independent sightseeing. Complete details follow. ALL ABOARD!
Your Itinerary
Day 1:
Day One, Tuesday, August 28 (D)
Airport to Nyon train journey, Welcome Dinner. Flights arrive in Zurich and Geneva this morning. The escort will accompany passengers from the Zurich Airport, but participants also can fly into Geneva and take the train independently to Nyon from there. No activities are scheduled until this evening, when we have our delightful Welcome Dinner at the Hotel des Alps, our home in Nyon for the next seven nights.
(D)
Day 2:
Day Two, Wednesday, August 29 (CB,D)
Tour Nyon and Geneva, dinner on Geneva Restaurant Tram (Trolley Car Diner). Nyon is a beautiful, historic village located on the shores of Lake Geneva. We explore the historic area with visits to the Swiss National (History) Museum and the Roman Museum. Nyon has a remarkable Roman basilica-temple ruin among its treasures. Later we take a short train ride to Geneva and tour the city by tram (trolley car). A unique highlight is dinner enjoyed on the Geneva Restaurant Tram!
(B) (D)
Day 3:
Day Three, Thursday, August 30 (CB,D)
Train and postal bus tour of Jura Mountains. We take the train north into the rolling Jura Mountains along the Swiss/French border. These peaks are less visited than the Alps, but are a region of great beauty. The Jura are densely forested on the heights, while the valleys are dotted with lovely lakes and ancient towns. We explore Vallorbe, touring the museum devoted to the iron mining/forging trade and visiting the unusual Vallorbe Railway Museum, which has a great collection of model trains. Later we ride the narrow gauge route into the Vallee de Joux, passing beautiful Lac de Joux to the town of Le Brassus. We change to a postal bus for the climb over 4447-foot Col du Marchainuz pass, descending from the Jura heights past lovely vineyards back to Nyon.
(B) (D)
Day 4:
Day Four, Friday, August 31 (CB)
Swiss Music Box Museum; the Mittelland, Fribourg and Bern. We take the train to Yverdon, changing to the narrow gauge line that ascends to the "Balcony" of the Jura and the pretty town of St. Croix. Enroute we enjoy striking vistas over the Mittelland ("Middle-land") between the Jura and the Alps to the distant peaks. At St. Croix we tour the Swiss Music Box Museum, which displays and plays music boxes from the 18th century to the present. We ride the quiet cross-country route north from Yverdon, on the Lake of Neuchatel, to the ancient town of Fribourg and change there for Bern, Switzerland's beautiful capital. We enjoy a brief walking and tram tour in Bern, with the balance of the day free for independent explorations.
(B)
Day 5:
Day Five, Saturday, September 1 (CB)
Steam-cog train to Roches des Naye, Blonay-Chamby Museum Railway. We take a fast train along the shore of Lake Geneva to Montreux and board the mountain-climbing cog railway for the Rocks of Naye (Roches des Naye). Enroute we change to a steam-powered train at Glion and pause for photographs over the lake at Caux before reaching the summit, with its incomparable vista of eastern Switzerland and the French Alps. There will be free time for optional lunches on the summit. In the afternoon we ride the train to Chamby, changing to the steam-powered Saturday service to visit the narrow gauge Blonay-Chamby Railway Museum. We return via Vevey, descending through lovely hillside villages.
(B)
Day 6:
Day Six, Sunday, September 2 (CB,D)
Paddle-steamer cruise on Lake Geneva; visit Evian, France; steam train to Swiss Steam Miniature Park. We cross Lake Geneva on an historic paddle steamer to the pretty French village of Evian les Bains (of Evian water fame) with free time to explore the town. Later we board the steam train back into Switzerland, detraining near the head of the lake at Le Bouvert to visit the Park Vapeur (Swiss Steam Miniature Park). Here we ride garden railway steam trains past miniature towns and lovely floral beds, with vistas down the great sweep of the lake.
(B) (D)
Day 7:
Day Seven, Monday, September 3 (CB)
Unstructured day. Today is free to spend more time in Geneva, take a train trip to Zurich or Basel, or make another mountain ascent. The steep rack-railway to Chamonix, France offers sublime views as it ascends from the Rhone River Valley in Switzerland to the slopes of Mount Blanc in France.
(B)
Day 8:
Day Eight, Tuesday, September 4 (CB,D)
"Golden Pass" train to the Bernese Oberland. At Montreux we board a narrow gauge train over the renowned "Golden Pass" line. The tracks climb in great horseshoe curves from the shores of Lake Geneva, then pass through a tunnel under the Alps. At Chateaux D'Oex we detrain to visit the Folkloric Museum, then continue the climb through the famous ski resort of Gstaad to Zweisimmen. Here we change to a standard gauge train that descends to Spiez and follows the Lake of Thun to Interlaken. At Interlaken we board the only narrow gauge route owned by the Swiss Federal Railways (all others are privately managed) and travel along Lake Brienz to the beautiful village of Meiringen, located at the base of the massive peaks of the Bernese Oberland (the high country of Bern). Our home for seven nights is the four-star Park Hotel du Sauvage.
(B) (D)
Day 9:
Day Nine, Wednesday, September 5 (CB,D)
Sherlock Holmes Museum, Reichenbach Falls, ascend the Brienzer Rothorn. We visit our hotel's unique Sherlock Holmes Museum, then view the awesome cascades of Reichenbach Falls, where Holmes and Moriarty purportedly fought to the death! In the afternoon we ascend the great peak of the Brienzer Rothorn on a (usually) steam-powered cog railway. From the summit, the view encompasses all of northern Switzerland, plus parts of Germany and France!
(B) (D)
Day 10:
Day Ten, Thursday, September 6 (CB)
Unstructured day. If the weather is good, we suggest taking the series of cog railways to the Jungfraujoch (the saddle of the Jungfrau), Europe's highest railway station at 11,000 feet in elevation. Features here include a walk on a glacier or seeing the sculptures in the Ice Caves! An extra fare of about $60 is required on the Jungfrau line. At no extra fare, a trip to the car-free village of Murren is another possibility. Interlaken also beckons with lovely gardens and fine shopping. Paddle steamers on either the Lakes of Thun or Brienz are another possibility, with the passage fare included in the Swiss Rail Pass.
(B)
Day 11:
Day Eleven, Friday, September 7 (CB,D)
"Three Passes" by postal bus and cog railway. Today we conquer the Furka, Grimsel and Susten Passes. This high road and steep railway only can be enjoyed in summer due to deep snows that fall in this region. We motor over towering Grimsel Pass to Oberwald and board the Furka Oberalp Bahn, a narrow gauge railway that takes us to Realp. Here we change for the historic Furka Pass line, the original route of the "Glacier Express" before the Furka Base Tunnel opened. This cogwheel track has been reopened after many years of inactivity and ascends to Furka Station near the face of the Rhone Glacier, source of the Rhone River. The steam engines originally were built for this line but operated for many years in Vietnam before returning to the Alps! Our day concludes with a train ride down the gorge from Andermatt to Goschenen and a drive over Susten Pass.
(B) (D)
Day 12:
Day Twelve, Saturday, September 8 (CB)
Lucerne, Swiss Transport Museum, Rigi Cog Railway, sail Lake Lucerne. We take the narrow gauge train over rugged Brunig Pass to Lucerne. After a short walking tour of the town, we visit the remarkable Swiss Transport Museum. In the afternoon we climb from Arth-Goldau to the Rigi Kulm (Summit) by electric cog railway for the legendary "greatest view of the Alps". The descent takes a different route to Vitznau, where we board a paddle steamer for a voyage back up Lake Lucerne. There is an option this evening to stay in Lucerne for a dinner/folkloric show (additional cost about $30 per person) before returning to Meiringen.
(B)
Day 13:
Day Thirteen, Sunday, September 9 (CB,D)
Alpine gardens/views at the Schynige Platte, cruise Lake Brienz, visit Ballenberg Open Air Museum. We ascend by narrow gauge cog railway to explore the alpine gardens and see the sublime vista of the massive Jungfrau/Eiger/Monch Peaks at the Schynige Platte high above Interlaken. We then cruise Lake Brienz to the wood-carvers' village of Brienz and travel by postal bus to visit the Ballenberg Open Air Museum, where reconstructed farm buildings represent all styles of Swiss architecture.
(B) (D)
Day 14:
Day Fourteen, Monday, September 10 (CB,D)
Train to Engelberg, Mount Titlis Cable Car. Narrow gauge cogwheel trains take us to Hergiswil and Engelberg this morning. Engelberg is renowned as a ski center and is the starting point for a sequence of aerial cable cars to the 10,854-foot summit of Mount Titlis, which has a vast panorama of the high Alps and unique ice-caves to tour. The ascent of Titlis is dependent upon clear weather. The lovely setting of Engelberg is at the headwall of a glacially carved valley surrounded by immense peaks. It has an historic Abbey and many fine shops and cafes as well as the Titlis cableway. Our Farewell Dinner is this evening in Meiringen.
(B) (D)
Day 15:
Day Fifteen, Tuesday, September 11 (CB)
The tour ends with transfers by train early this morning to the Zurich or Geneva Airports.
(B)
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
TOUR PRICES include all hotels; sightseeing; admissions; escort services; and meals noted as "included" above. Transfers and luggage handling are included throughout the tour round trip to/from the Zurich Airport or from Nyon to Meiringen for those arriving/departing from the Geneva Airport. In addition each passenger must have a First Class Swiss Rail Pass at the rates noted below.
$2199.00 per person, double occupancy
$2499.00 single occupancy
Swiss Rail Pass Prices
$400.00 for a 15-Day Individual First Class Pass
$340.00 per person for a 15-Day First Class "Saverpass" for two or more people traveling
together at all times
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