Swiss Alpine Glories and the GoldenPass Train

Upon arrival, meet your tour manager and make the scenic transfer by coach to Chateau d’Oex and your hotel. Settle in and get to know your surroundings, and depending upon your time of arrival, take a stroll through the village before dinner is served. 

This wonderful week-long tour commences with an included full-day excursion to nearby Gruyères, the famous cheese-producing village that is also a medieval gem with an exquisite flower-decked, cobbled main square. Enjoy a demonstration of the cheese-making process (entrance to the factory and museum payable locally), which combines ultra-modern technology with centuries’-old traditions and soak up the atmosphere of this most typically Swiss of villages, before returning to Chateau d’Oex. 

Today is free for you to explore Chateau d’Oex and its surroundings a little further. In the heart of the Pays d’Enhaut (Upper Country) region, the village has been a favourite of Newmarket guests for over 30 years and offers everything to ensure a memorable stay. For the energetic, there’s a fine outdoor pool (open mid-May until early Sept), a super sports complex, riding stables, mini-golf, ten pin bowling, tennis courts and miles of walking trails. A trio of fascinating museums chronicle life in this corner of Switzerland, the history of cheese-making, and, thanks to the village’s world renown as a hot-air-balloon centre, the magnificent men (and women) and their flying baskets! 

If you’re eager to travel up into the mountains again, you can join your tour manager for an exhilarating excursion to Glacier 3000, a mountain area east of Montreux. You’ll start by travelling in a cable car to the top of the snow-capped peaks, taking in the spectacular views as you go. Once you’ve arrived at the mountain station, you’ll set off on the Peak Walk across the only suspension bridge in the world that connects two mountain peaks. This bridge looks out over the Alps and Matterhorn, Mont Blanc, Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau are visible. If you choose, you can take the Glacier Walk across to the restaurant (lunch not included) then descend via the cable car to take the coach to visit Gstaad for coffee and cake (payable locally) before returning to your hotel. 

Set off on today’s excursion aboard the GoldenPass Express train to Interlaken. Travelling through stunning countryside, you’ll take in scenic Lake Thun and the famous resort town of Interlaken, overlooked by the snow-capped peaks of the Jungfrau range, and one of Switzerland’s most popular places to shop.  

From here, you’ll journey by coach to the truly spectacular resort of Grindelwald, famously set at the foot of the mighty Eiger, before making the scenic coach journey back to Chateau d’Oex at the end of a memorable day. 

Today you can discover and explore Switzerland’s historic capital city, Bern, on an optional tour. With its medieval houses, great churches and wonderful covered shopping arcades all huddled together above a sweeping meander in the River Aare, Bern is one of the world’s most picturesque capitals. One of its most unusual features is the fascinating mechanical clock, be sure to hear – and see – it strikes the hour. We return to Chateau d’Oex in the late afternoon, time-permitting making a call in the charming town of Fribourg, an ancient university seat boasting an especially attractive Old Town, with haphazardly arranged houses on cobbled streets sloping steeply away from the river Sarine. 

Today’s included excursion heads to the sun-kissed shores of Lake Geneva, travelling on the spectacular GoldenPass Train through the heart of the Swiss wine-producing Valais region to the fashionable resort of Montreux. You’ll enjoy a fantastic panoramic view as the train rolls gently down the mountains and through a picturesque patchwork of vineyards, framed by a dramatic mountain backdrop and the shores of Lake Geneva. 

Basking in a microclimate, sheltered from the north wind by the Alps, Montreux is home to the famous Jazz Festival, has a delightful lakefront promenade and a host of shops and stores. Close by, brooding Chateau Chillon, Switzerland’s most famous landmark, guards the dark secrets of the past, and makes for a fascinating visit. Enjoy some free time to explore before your return train later. 

Bid farewell to your Alpine idyll, returning to Geneva Airport for the return flight, after a memorable few days.