THE BEST OF AUSTRIA & SWITZERLAND
Day 1 - Board your overnight transatlantic flight. Day 2 - Arrival in Vienna, Austria. Time to rest or start exploring the Viennese capital. At 6 p.m. meet your Tour Director and traveling companions for a special welcome dinner at your hotel. (D) Day 3 - Vienna. Meet your Local Guide and start your sightseeing with vistas of Prater Park with its giant Ferris wheel, and the United Nations City on the banks of the Danube River. Then drive along Ring Boulevard, pass the State Opera House, the Jewish quarter, and stop at the Hofburg Palace, winter residence of the Austrian Imperial family. Marvel at the impressive courtyards and famous Heldenplatz and visit awesome ST. STEPHEN'S CATHEDRAL. Afternoon at leisure. Optional excursions to Schönbrunn Palace and the wine village of Grinzing are available. (BB) Day 4 - At Leisure in Vienna. A full day to explore Vienna independently. Why not visit the imposing Hofburg Palace to see the precious Habsburg dynasty treasures" If you are interested in great paintings, do not miss the Museum of Fine Arts, with works by Jan Van Eyck, Rubens, Rembrandt, Raphael, and more. Later, you may want to join an optional excursion. (BB) Day 5 - Vienna - Melk'Salzburg. This morning enjoy a leisurely DANUBE CRUISE. Afterwards, follow the Danube Valley to historic Melk for pictures of the Melk Abbey. No landscape is more typically Austrian than the Salzkammergut lakeland. A picture stop at the Parish Church in Mondsee, which was used for the wedding scenes in The Sound of Music, then continue to Salzburg. (BB,D) Day 6 - Salzburg. A pleasant stroll with a Local Guide takes you through the historic center. Admire exquisite MIRABELL GARDENS, the Great Festival Hall, ST. PETER'S CHURCHYARD, the monumental Domplatz and take pictures of Mozart's birthplace in the charming Getreidegasse. Afternoon at leisure with optional possibilities. (BB) Day 7 - Salzburg - Innsbruck'St. Moritz, Switzerland. Morning visit to Innsbruck in the Tyrolean Mountains. Enjoy a pleasant walk through its quaint medieval lanes to Emperor Maximilian's GOLDEN ROOF. Next, enter the Swiss Engadine, considered by many as the most beautiful mountain area in the world, with its deep-blue lakes, airy larch forests that turn golden in the fall, mountain peaks exceeding 12,000 feet, and quaint villages with massive white stone houses in the characteristic Grisons style. The rest of the day is at leisure in ritzy St. Moritz. (BB,D) Day 8 - St. Moritz - Chur - Zermatt. Drive through exhilarating Alpine scenery. At Chur board the first-class panoramic coach of the world-renowned GLACIER EXPRESS TRAIN. Admire thundering waterfalls, impressive peaks, glacial ice fields, and tiny villages as you pass through the Valais, a region known for its great mountain resorts and excellent wines. This afternoon you are in Zermatt, a picturesque cluster of rustic chalets beneath the majestic Matterhorn. (BB,L,D) Day 9 - At Leisure in Zermatt. An entire day at leisure to breathe the fresh mountain air and to catch up on your postcards. A suggestion: ride Europe's highest rack-railway to 10,272-foot Gornergrat for a breathtaking panoramic view of the Alps. (BB) Day 10 - Zermatt - Berne. Board the MOUNTAIN TRAIN to Täsch and motor through the vineyards and apricot groves of the lower Rhône Valley to the shores of Lake Geneva. Here enjoy a highlight visit to CHILLON CASTLE, the 12th-century water fortress immortalized by the poet Lord Byron. Evening arrival in Berne. (BB,D) Day 11 - Berne - Interlaken - Lucerne. Sightseeing with a Local Guide starts at the popular BEAR PIT and then focuses on the monumental Federal Palace and the beautifully preserved medieval Old Town. Witness the hourly parade of painted figures at the Clock Tower and take your pictures of ornate, floweradorned fountains. Leisurely lunch break in Interlaken, beautifully situated beneath the towering Jungfrau. Over Brünig Pass to picture-book Lucerne. You may wish to sign up for a folklore party with yodeling and alphorn blowing for a first-hand impression of Alpine merrymaking. (BB) Day 12 - Lucerne. On your walking tour this morning, admire Thorwaldsen's LION MONUMENT and ornate patrician houses of the walled Old Town, then cross the famous covered CHAPEL BRIDGE to the Jesuit church. Afterwards, shop for watches and choose from our optional activities: climb a mountain by cable car or take a cruise on the fjord-like lake. Tonight a farewell dinner to celebrate the success of your Swiss vacation. (BB,D) Day 13 - Lucerne - Zurich Airport. Homebound flight. Morning transfer to Zurich Airport in time for homebound flights leaving no earlier than 10 a.m. Extra nights are available in Zurich, not Lucerne. (BB) |
