Day 1 - London and Colmar
Our Swiss adventure begins at London St Pancras, where we board the Eurostar service to Paris before continuing to the beautiful Alsatian town of Colmar for the night. Overnight Colmar.
Includes
- Dinner
- Eurostar Meal
2024 Tour code: GIS24
About the tour
A story of extremes lies ahead on this memorable journey in Switzerland: extreme beauty, extreme heights, and extreme luxury. All of this is backed by the warm ambiance of a traditional Swiss resort town and views that rival any you have seen before. This eight-day trip begins in London with a Eurostar transfer to Paris and then to Colmar, a French border town. From Colmar, continue by train to Grindelwald, set amongst the peaks of Eiger, Jungfrau, and Monch mountains. There is no better place for five-star accommodations and immense comfort here than the beautiful Romantik Hotel Schweizerhof.
Your week-long stay in this historic hotel is filled with adventure. Each day offers a new chance to get out and explore what makes the Swiss Alps so appealing to travelers from all over the globe. Enjoy views of the surrounding ranges from the Grindelwald First cable-car system and a ride to the Top of Europe aboard the Jungfrau Railway. The Schynige Platte Railway transports you to another summit, this one a kaleidoscope of colors thanks to the Alpine Botanical Garden at the top. Enjoy time in Interlaken and a steam railway journey to the summit of Brienz Rothorn, with breathtaking views of the Elemental Alps from all angles. A memorable cruise on a glacier-fed lake rounds out the excursions and offers another perspective from which to enjoy the scenery. Between these adventures, enjoy fantastic cuisine, plenty of downtime to enjoy Grindelwald and the surrounding area at your own pace, and the freedom a Swiss Travel Card brings.
Highlights
What’s included
Itinerary
Our Swiss adventure begins at London St Pancras, where we board the Eurostar service to Paris before continuing to the beautiful Alsatian town of Colmar for the night. Overnight Colmar.
Additional information
Hotel
Trains
Reviews
4.2 / 5 · 5 reviews
X Vacations By Rail GRJ
Submitted 03 Oct 2023
Great trip, 5 star hotels and rail accommodations. The food at the Hotel Romantik Schweitzer was very good. Our guide Moray was very knowledgeable about the area and helped us to plan trips on our free days.
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EDELEN, GRETCHEN OCHS
Submitted 02 Oct 2023
This trip had fabulous scenery, many opportunities to enjoy the unique beauty of Switzerland, a comfortable, lovely hotel, a guide who worked hard to make sure we enjoyed our trip, and perhaps best of all a terrific group of fellow travelers who were interesting and so nice to get to know. Thank you! Plus the train travel was lovely.
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THOMPSON, DEBORAH
Submitted 11 Jun 2023
I liked that all meals for the most part were included. Could have used more local guides to explain more about the area. This would also help the tour guide assisting differently abled guests as we had a number of elderly with health and physical challenges. Headsets would have been helpful especially in loud/crowded environments. Hotel Romantik was a beautiful place to stay in. Meals were great. Bagged lunches should have had some vegetarian options. Two sandwiches were provided; one with meat, one without. Mercure Hotel needed some TLC (hotel rooms) but location was perfect. I appreciated that assistance was given to secure lodging for the day before the trip started.
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Cullen Ferguson
Submitted 11 Jun 2023
Our tour leader, Mrs. Elaine Simmonds, was excellent, friendly, very helpful, guided us smoothly & kept us well informed about each day's itinerary. After my wife fell and badly sprained her knee while touring a church in Lucerne, Mrs. Simmonds called ahead and arranged wheelchair transfers at several of our transfer points. The scenery was fantastic, the excursions very scenic & enjoyable. The Hotel Romantik Schweizerhof was top-knotch. Our suite was definitely 5-star. The breakfast and service were exceptional. Our fellow travelers were very congenial and fun to talk with. NOW THE NEGATIVES: Great Rail Tours canceled our promised visit to the medieval city of Colmar because they had failed to book rooms at the hotel there in time. Instead, we spent our first night at the VERY MEDIOCRE HOTEL MERCURE MULHOUSE, had a mediocre dinner there, our room was uncomfortably warm, and the tub/shower was dangerously slippery with no safety grab bars. We had to schlep our own luggage at every train transfer, with looooong walks between trains...unconscionable for a tour billed as "5-Star All-Inclusive," especially since we and a number of others in our group were elderly, and several were walking with crutches and one with a walker. Next time, we'll take a river cruise, NOT another exhausting train tour with Great Rail Journeys.
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