Ends July 16th: Save up to $300 per person on Escorted & up to $200 per person on Independent vacations in 2025.
2025 Tour code: WE-GTSS-25
About the tour
Discover the diverse regions of Switzerland on this 11-day vacation. This trip, which takes you on a variety of Swiss rail lines, is a train lover's dream. Filled with twists and turns along rivers and mountainsides, you can relax and enjoy stunning views only available via rail.
You'll view stunning landscapes such as the Bernese Oberland, Simmen Valley, Lake Geneva, the Rhine Gorge and, of course, the Matterhorn. As you travel from city to city, there is plenty of free time to explore each area and immerse yourself in Swiss culture.
Highlights
What’s included
Itinerary
Arrive in Zurich and settle into your hotel. Your day is free to discover the world-famous shopping mile Bahnhofstrasse or stroll along the banks of Lake Zurich. Overnight Zurich.
Additional information
Trains
Enhance your holiday
Upgrades
Reviews
4.6 / 5 · 73 reviews
WILLIAM BURRICHTER
Submitted 27/Jun
We had a great time traveling around Switzerland through Vacation by Rail. The detailed itinerary was easy to follow and allowed us the flexibility to do our own adventures along with the planned trips. It was nice to not have to worry about lodging or what train to take to get to our destination. That coupled with the SBB app we were able to get around with ease. The mix of special trains and our own flexible options created a great experience. We had a cancelled train on a specific, special train on a weekend. When I called the in-country support number I was told they couldn't help us. It might have been different on a week day but I don't know. We leaned into our collective resiliency and Eventually we figured out a solution our own and it worked out well. Overall it was great and would recommend this to others. Being "old school" I printed everything but it would have been nice to have all tickets uploaded to an app that could be easily accessed and scanned by conductors or terminal kiosks.
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JAMES BUDD LEONE
Submitted 23/Jun
Excellent balance of planning help and independent travel
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BARBARA SCHULZ BENGSTON
Submitted 16/Jun
The trip was outstanding....all Hotels (3 star) where in wonderful locations with lovely rooms and excellent breakfasts. The upgraded train tours were more than we expected. All ticketing was accurate and very easy to follow and use. Working with Vacations by Rail was an easy process and extremely professional. The (phone) staff was always helpful and friendly to work with. This is a wonderful way to see all of Switzerland without a "tour". It can be done independently (and we are 80). We will recommend this tour to anyone. Thank you. (we extended our stay in Bern & Lausanne and a return to Luzern) B. Bengston
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Ski Bum
Submitted 10/Jun
Your team was great to work with assisting us put our independent travel plans together. Itinerary details were spot on and easy with the exception of an excursion to Gruyer. A few more words explaining what type of tour was involved would have helped, I probably made it harder than it was. Minor detail. Overall another great experience.
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GEORGE CANNELOS
Submitted 2/Jun
We had a wonderful experience traveling independently by rail through Switzerland! We did not feel rushed with an itinerary of one-night, two-nights, etc. in each place. Do use the Swiss Rail app on your phone, always carry your 1/2 off ticket voucher, pack light & you’ll have a great time.
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MARY ANN KIRCH
Submitted 25/May
The trip itself was fabulous. The service from vacation by rail was unacceptable and poor it best. I’ve done this review twice so I’ll try to be brief –They sent me three sets of tickets – the second set was canceled while we were in the beginnings of our trip. We are advised by the train conductor that our tickets had been canceled. She checked all of them and everyone of the 32 that we still had to go had been canceled. I called the company andVacation by Rail fixed it and sent us a third set of tickets with new ticket numbers, but never could figure out what happened and they kept doubling down and telling me that our tickets had not been canceled. They knew very well they had been canceled. Otherwise they wouldn’t have sent me new tickets with new numbers They also didn’t give us a choice on seats on the segments where we were able to reserve seats. We would prefer to have not faced backwards, but they didn’t give us that option. I know that Ford facing seats were available seven months in advance because people on the trains with us were able to secure forward facing seats a month before the trip When I asked them towards the end of our trip to change the last leg that had reserve seats, two people who have been communicating with me directly through their individual emails ghosted me. Never responded. Three days after I got home, somebody responded that my trip was already over. I’m not sure why they didn’t think I knew that and I’m not sure why they didn’t look at the date on my email. Also, the person that helped us for seven months, left their company around one month before our departure but no one told usand when we sent emails to him requesting our final documents which we still did not have, apparently they just shut down his email box. They didn’t forward it to anyone and nobody was monitoring it. I later found in my junk mail emails to our agent that had been rejected because the mailbox is no longer valid. No company should ever just shut down somebody’s mailbox with active clients. Nobody picked up our account. I would never use this company again
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