Seven Ideas for a Sustainable Holiday by Rail
09/07/2021 · By Sukie Chapman
Plan a sustainable holiday by rail with Great Rail Journeys. Explore our blog for six eco-friendly travel ideas to inspire your next amazing trip.
Read more2024 Tour code: MTS24
About the tour
Enjoy having your head in the clouds as we stay in a selection of Switzerland's best mountaintop hotels, all with sweeping views of mountains and lakes.
The Belle Époque Grandhotel Giessbach is located on Lake Brienz and is only accessible to the public via boat and its own funicular railway, while Pilatus Kulm lies at the top of a mountain accessed by the steepest cogwheel railway in Europe.
Experience the country's most magnificent rail journeys as we board the iconic Glacier Express to St Moritz, the awe-inspiring Bernina Express across the Alps to Italy, and the charming Brienz-Rothorn Mountain Railway for incredible views of Lake Brienz and the surrounding mountains.
Unforgettable experiences
What’s included
Itinerary
We meet our fellow travelling companions at London St Pancras and board the Eurostar in Standard Premier Class, enjoying a light meal at our seats on the way to Paris. In the French capital we take the direct train to Basel - the quickest route to Switzerland. This sleek journey transports us through Jura and Alsace before arriving in the Rhine-side city of Basel. Our hotel near the station is popular with our passengers and we have some time to explore this typically Swiss city with an old town of beautifully characterful buildings before gathering at the hotel for our first dinner together.
Additional information
Hotels
Trains
Enhance your holiday
Upgrades
Reviews
4.4 / 5 · 40 reviews
M Ricketts
Submitted 23 Oct 2023
The trip was a great experience however 80per cent were over 70 or disabled and there didn’t seem any allowance for them. The guide rushed and want visible leaving a younger member to wait for the slower people. The only day of rest was at the end of the trip and it might have been better in the middle.
Collected by Trustpilot
T Yeoman
Submitted 16 Oct 2023
Good choice of hotels in interesting places. Excellent tour guide.
Collected by Trustpilot
Marian
Submitted 16 Oct 2023
Excellent holiday from itinerary to tour leader Andy
Collected by Trustpilot
ERMJD
Submitted 11 Oct 2023
Fantastic views, great group and brilliant tour manager
Collected by Trustpilot
Carol Archer
Submitted 10 Oct 2023
This was an amazing holiday overall, the scenery and trains in Switzerland were fantastic. The Tour Manger was excellent and organised everything really well. We used Sherpr for our luggage and didn’t realise that there was a long list of items we could not pack in our cases, that we would not get our cases until we reached the second hotel, and that they would be collected from the second to last hotel when we were coming home. This meant that we had to carry everything for the first night and two days including toiletries, medicines, iPads, shoes, etc, and then again for the last two days. The first and last hotels were very basic and a bit tired which is why I did not give this trip 5 stars. There were set menus at the hotels with only 2 choices each night. Some of the hotels provided better quality food than others. We experienced some confusion regarding where to leave our luggage to be collected from Pilatus Kulm hotel as GRJ advised to leave it at reception but the hotel was at the top of a mountain and only accessible by cog wheel railway or a cable car. The Tour Manager therefore advised us to take it down on the railway and leave it with the staff at the station. We therefore had to contact Sherpr regarding where it had been left and were somewhat concerned about its safety. We asked GRJ to send us a detailed itinerary including what time we would leave the hotels each day, what time the boats, trains etc were but we never received it despite having requested it many times. We only received the times of the trains which was not very helpful. We felt that an extra day of free time mid way through the trip would have been good as the trip was very busy. Having said all this I would still very much recommend the trip as we really enjoyed it and met some lovely people. We would definitely go back to Switzerland.
Collected by Trustpilot
P Jeffery
Submitted 05 Oct 2023
Beautifully organised with hotels and first class travel to match. Very much for a lover of Swiss railways. An excellent guide who quietly saw that we all made it to deadlines so we were never bothered by late comers and missed connections. At a rough count 40 different trains plus lake steamers and one coach transfer. Giessbach Hotel and Pilatus Kulm hotel were particularly good.
Collected by Trustpilot
Europe Holidays 2024