Jungfrau Express in Winter & Spring 2010/2011 

This tour has something for everyone. Meiringen is a lovely town to stay in as a holiday base. If you wish to experience real snow conditions there are two high mountain visits to fulfil this. Customers especially enjoy the sleigh ride into the forested area around Grindelwald. 

The highlight of this holiday is inevitably the exhilarating narrow gauge cog railway ride to the top of the Jungfraujoch, the highest railway station in Europe. For most this is one of those once in a lifetime experiences (though some are known to repeat the trip in winter to contrast it with a previous summer visit). Incredibly, the last 7 kilometres of this steep uphill journey are through a tunnel inside the mountain, and at two halts passengers leave the train to view the terrain through observation windows cut through the mountainside. The line is a stunning engineering achievement. When the weather is at its kindest the views from the top are positively stunning. 

A treat for sleuths is to investigate the local link with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's mythical detective Sherlock Holmes who almost met his death at a spot near the hotel. Type 'Meiringen' into a Word document and, coincidentally, the spell checker suggests something else to be found in the town! This is essentially a one-centre holiday (save for the journey to and from) and means there is little luggage handling.

Graham Dossett, Tour Manager