VACATION HIGHLIGHTS
Please note: Our tours are designed
with flexible itineraries to accommodate
seasonality and desired dates of travel.
•6 Nights Four-Star Accommodations
•Round-Trip Train Transfers from Airport
•Daily Buffet Breakfast
•Daily Dinners
•Gruyère Cheese-Making
•Hands-On Traditional Bread Baking
•Hands-On Fondue Cooking Class
•Maison Cailler Tour
•Working with Chocolate (Master Class)
•Alpine Herbs Walking Tour
•Market Tour
•Guided Village Tour - Gruyères
•Guided Castle Tour - Chillon Castle
•Vineyard Walk & Wine Tasting
•Chaplin’s World
While our tours are designed as soft adventure experiences, walking, climbing stairs,
and in rare cases mild hiking may be required. If you have mobility issues, you should
speak with one of our culinary travel specialists to determine if this tour is
appropriate for your situation.
AVAILABLE DATES
Departures include select dates in May, July and September 2022 and 2023.
SAMPLE ITINERARY
Please note: Actual itineraries are subject to change due to seasonality.
(click item for details)
Day 1
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Rendezvous | Transfer to Montreux | Walk to Chillon Castle and Guided Tour | Welcome Dinner
On arrival in Geneva you'll use your provided train ticket to board the 1-hour train to Montreux in a scenic ride along the shores of Lac Leman (Lake Geneva). After checking into your hotel, a tranquil walk along the shores of Lake Geneva takes us to the stunning and well-preserved 12th-century Chillon Castle. This impressive citadel with its exceptional natural setting on the lake was immortalized by Lord Byron. In inclement weather, or for anyone not able to make the 45-minute walk, alternative transportation is available.
Day 2
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Morning Breakfast Buffet
Each morning, relax and enjoy breakfast with breathtaking views across Lac Geneva (Lac Leman) to the peaks of the French and Swiss Alps. The hotel serves a full international buffet breakfast to energize you for the adventures ahead. Savor fresh fruits, yogurts, breads and pastries, as well as cooked items. If long, leisurely breakfasts aren’t your thing, grab a quick bite and take a morning walk along the lakeshore promenade.
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Maison Cailler | Artisan Bread Baking Workshop | Fondue Dinner
Ascend from Lake Geneva into the Pays d'en Haut, the highlands above the Montreux Riviera where treasured agricultural traditions endure. At Maison Cailler, home to Switzerland's oldest brand of chocolate, you'll tour the factory, immerse yourselves in the world of chocolate, and learn the processes of manufacturing the finest chocolate confections. In the afternoon, you'll begin our first cooking class where you'll discover the secrets of traditional baking in a 200-year-old wood-fired oven. Learn successful techniques for kneading, rising, and shaping the dough. Then once in the oven we discover how to create a crackling crust. Later, you'll explore the history and tradition of cheese fondue—made with the finest Gruyère cheese, of course—then carefully prepare this classic Swiss comfort food to savor for your evening dinner, along with the bread you've just baked
Day 3
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Morning Breakfast Buffet
Each morning, relax and enjoy breakfast with breathtaking views across Lac Geneva (Lac Leman) to the peaks of the French and Swiss Alps. The hotel serves a full international buffet breakfast to energize you for the adventures ahead. Savor fresh fruits, yogurts, breads and pastries, as well as cooked items. If long, leisurely breakfasts aren’t your thing, grab a quick bite and take a morning walk along the lakeshore promenade.
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Traditional Gruyère Cheese-Making | Bean to Bar Chocolate Workshop | Gruyères Village Tour
After breakfast, you'll set off for a mountain dairy where you're on hand for the morning cheese making. Using time-honored tools and methods, the cheesemaker combines the morning milk with the evening milk before cutting the curds. Holding the hem of the cheesecloth in his teeth, he snatches the curds from the whey, and then presses the steaming hot curds into the round forms to produce hand-crafted wheels of Gruyère, Switzerland's most popular and most widely exported cheese. Next. you'll visit the walled medieval village of Gruyères, with its picture-perfect setting on a hill overlooking rolling pre-alpine farmlands. The cows that graze the lush grass and fragrant flora of alpine meadows in the peaceful valley of the River Sarine produce the milk for Gruyère cheese and Switzerland's finest milk chocolate. Once you've arrived and settled in, you will set off for a guided walk of the historic village and its 13th-century castle, home to the Counts of Gruyère. Enjoy dinner in a traditional chalet within the village walls.
Day 4
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Morning Breakfast Buffet
Each morning, relax and enjoy breakfast with breathtaking views across Lac Geneva (Lac Leman) to the peaks of the French and Swiss Alps. The hotel serves a full international buffet breakfast to energize you for the adventures ahead. Savor fresh fruits, yogurts, breads and pastries, as well as cooked items. If long, leisurely breakfasts aren’t your thing, grab a quick bite and take a morning walk along the lakeshore promenade.
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Chaplin's World | Guided Walk | Wine Tasting | Lavaux Vineyards | Dinner
This morning you'll visit Chaplin's World--an innovative and interactive introduction to the life and work of one of the most influential, ingenious, and popular actors and filmmakers of all time, Charlie Chaplin. Next, head off to explore the sun-kissed terraced vineyards of the Lavaux World Heritage Site. If you want to experience the scenery with all your senses you should also taste it! You will wind yourself through the vineyards and end up in Rivaz to join in the vinorama, which includes cellar visits and wine tastings. You'll walk through the vineyards comprised of 14 wine villages nestled among the vines and reflecting the region's 1000-year winemaking heritage. The vineyard walk is very interactive; you will understand the cultural traditions of the region and the complexity and terroir of the wine. The vineyards are daringly constructed on steep hills, so a glass of Chasselas makes the trail to Lutry twice as much fun. You will conclude the day perfectly with a cogwheel train ride up to a traditional Swiss chalet with spectacular lake views where we will have a relaxing dinner.
Day 5
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Morning Breakfast Buffet
Each morning, relax and enjoy breakfast with breathtaking views across Lac Geneva (Lac Leman) to the peaks of the French and Swiss Alps. The hotel serves a full international buffet breakfast to energize you for the adventures ahead. Savor fresh fruits, yogurts, breads and pastries, as well as cooked items. If long, leisurely breakfasts aren’t your thing, grab a quick bite and take a morning walk along the lakeshore promenade.
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Martigny Market | Amphitheater | Alpine Herbs
Terraced vineyards, a Roman amphitheater, and other ruins attest to the influence ancient Rome wielded in the Rhône Valley. Flanked by the Bernese Alps to the north and showstoppers like the Matterhorn and Weisshorn to the south, the sunny Upper Rhône Valley is Switzerland's leading wine region and an agricultural paradise where orchard fruits, nuts, and herbs flourish. On a walk-through mountainside herb fields with a Ricola herb grower we discover both the culinary and medicinal uses of available plants and conclude with a meal in the farmer's home. Raclette cheese originates in this region and at dinner we'll sample different renditions of this favored cheese from top local fromageries and come to appreciate its nuanced characteristics from a knowledgeable racleur.
Day 6
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Morning Breakfast Buffet
Each morning, relax and enjoy breakfast with breathtaking views across Lac Geneva (Lac Leman) to the peaks of the French and Swiss Alps. The hotel serves a full international buffet breakfast to energize you for the adventures ahead. Savor fresh fruits, yogurts, breads and pastries, as well as cooked items. If long, leisurely breakfasts aren’t your thing, grab a quick bite and take a morning walk along the lakeshore promenade.
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Vevey Market | Chocolate Workshop at Läderach | Farewell Dinner
This morning, you will travel the short distance to the popular Vevey Market. You will get a chance to taste award winning cheeses, fresh produce, dried meats and sausages, and baked breads. The giant bouquets of flowers and lively folk music will add the perfect touch to an authentic Swiss market. You will unlikely walk away empty-handed. In Vevey you will be exclusive guests at the Läderach chocolate studios and shop. Läderach chocolate represents the highest levels in chocolate design, quality and taste, and you will learn the art and techniques for making chocolate treats from a master chocolatier. You'll conclude a perfect day and a perfect week with a multi-course farewell dinner where you'll all relax and gaze out over the Alps.
Day 7
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Morning Breakfast Buffet
Each morning, relax and enjoy breakfast with breathtaking views across Lac Geneva (Lac Leman) to the peaks of the French and Swiss Alps. The hotel serves a full international buffet breakfast to energize you for the adventures ahead. Savor fresh fruits, yogurts, breads and pastries, as well as cooked items. If long, leisurely breakfasts aren’t your thing, grab a quick bite and take a morning walk along the lakeshore promenade.
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Check-Out and Departure | Transfers to Airport
After breakfast, pack your bags and your memories, say goodbye to new friends, and bid farewell to your own little slice of Switzerland, with a solemn promise to return. You will be transported by rail to the Geneva Airport in plenty of time to check-in for your departure flight.
Gifts and Gift Cards
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Winner
Small Group Friendly