The Swiss Alpine
Grand Tour

Land at Zurich and transfer to Baur au Lac, which has stood in its own private park on the shore of Lake Zurich since 1844 and has been run by the same family for seven generations.

The evening walks the city: Bahnhofstrasse, one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world, then down to the lake with the Alps beyond it.

Through the Altstadt to the Grossmünster, the twin-towered cathedral where the Swiss Reformation began, and across to the Fraumünster for Chagall’s stained glass, which is worth going out of your way for. Finish at Lindenhof above the river. Dinner is Swiss: rösti, Zürcher Geschnetzeltes, cheese and chocolate.

North to the Rheinfall, the largest waterfall in Europe — 150 metres wide, 23 metres high, and running up to 700,000 litres a second in summer. A boat takes you right into the spray beneath the falls, which is louder and wetter than any photograph suggests.

Then Stein am Rhein, a medieval town on the river whose half-timbered houses carry painted facades across their entire fronts. It is one of the most complete small towns in Switzerland.

Back to Zurich, with free time on Bahnhofstrasse.

A forty-five minute train to Lucerne, and a transfer to the Mandarin Oriental Palace on the lakefront — a Belle Époque landmark of 1906, and the only international luxury hotel in the city.

The afternoon walks Lucerne: the Kapellbrücke, the oldest covered wooden bridge in Europe, with its 17th-century painted panels under the roof, and the octagonal Water Tower that has stood beside it for over seven hundred years.

Then the old town and its painted facades; the Lion Monument, carved into a sandstone cliff for the Swiss Guards who died in the French Revolution and described by Mark Twain as the saddest piece of stone in the world; the Jesuit Church, the first large baroque church in Switzerland; and the lake promenade. Dinner beside the water.

The Golden Round Trip, and it is the classic for good reason: an 80-minute boat across Lake Lucerne to Alpnachstad, then the ascent of Pilatus on the steepest cogwheel railway in the world — a gradient of 48 per cent, which has to be experienced to be believed.

From the 2,128-metre summit the view runs across 73 peaks, the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau among them. Walk the summit ridge, and take lunch at the mountain restaurant.

The descent is by cable car, followed by a cruise back across the lake with the Alps reflected in it.

One of the great railway journeys, and a highlight rather than a transfer. The GoldenPass runs on panoramic glass, and the effect is closer to a cinema than a train — alpine valleys, the shining water of Lake Brienz and Lake Thun, dense forest, mountain villages and Swiss meadow, unrolling for hours.

Check in at the Victoria-Jungfrau, a grand dame of 1865 in the heart of the Bernese Oberland, with a 5,500-square-metre spa and a heritage-protected ballroom under one of the largest Murano chandeliers in Europe.

The afternoon explores Interlaken: the Höhematte park with the Jungfrau above it, the old town and its 15th-century monastery, and the improbable turquoise of the Aare between the two lakes.

An early departure for the Jungfraujoch. The mountain railway climbs inside the Eiger and the Mönch, with a stop at the Eigerwand window cut through the north face itself, and terminates at 3,454 metres — the highest railway station in Europe.

At the top: a 360-degree alpine panorama over the Aletsch Glacier, at 23 kilometres the longest in the Alps; permanent snow and ice; an Ice Palace carved into the glacier; and the Sphinx Observatory.

Lunch is at altitude, which is a strange and memorable thing to do. Back to Interlaken in the evening.

A private day through the Bernese Oberland. The Lauterbrunnen Valley is a U-shaped trench with 300-metre cliffs either side and 72 waterfalls falling off them. Staubbach drops straight off the rock face; Trümmelbach runs inside the mountain, and is the only glacier waterfall in Europe you can reach underground.

Then Grindelwald, at the foot of the Eiger north face and the heart of the Jungfrau Region. The First Cliff Walk is a viewing platform bolted out over the drop, which is exactly as alarming and as worthwhile as it sounds.

Alpine lunch with the view, an optional cable car higher, and back to Interlaken.

Scenic rail into the Valais, about two and a half hours, to Zermatt — which is car-free, and where an electric hotel vehicle collects you at the station.

Check in at the Mont Cervin Palace, which has been shaping hospitality in Zermatt since 1851 and looks straight at the Matterhorn.

The afternoon walks the village: narrow streets of traditional timber houses, the church of St Mauritius with its famous view, and thirty-eight peaks over 4,000 metres standing around you, the Matterhorn, Monte Rosa and the Breithorn among them. Dinner is Swiss and traditional.

The Matterhorn Glacier Paradise in the morning — the highest cable car station in Europe at 3,883 metres, rising past the Theodul Glacier to a 360-degree panorama of the Alps, with a Glacier Palace cut into the ice at the top.

Down to Zermatt and on to Geneva in the afternoon.

Check in at the President Wilson on the lake, and explore the shore: the Jet d’Eau throwing water 140 metres into the air, and the promenade with Mont Blanc on a clear day.

Breakfast at the hotel and, if the flight allows, a last look at Geneva — the Old Town and St Pierre Cathedral, or the Flower Clock in the Jardin Anglais. Private transfer to Geneva Airport.