Interlaken

“We booked this trip to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. Apart from a few minor hiccups all went brilliantly. Grindelwald was all we expected and more with the added bonus of an overnight on the way out in lovely Colmar in France. Thank you GRJ for a great holiday

“Absolutely First Class!!

“Friendly group really well organised holiday and great fun

“Leaving by Eurostar remains a pleasure compared to a busy airport. First class rail travel between centres worked well. Good to excellent hotels en route. Affable small group and our friendly tour guide kept everything moving to schedule. Stunning locations.

“This was an area that I had visited previously and was familiar with. It was disappointing that some of the attractions were closed for maintenance. I suspect that it always happens in May so should have been anticipated.

“Very little snow this year. Still enjoyed the trip even though I was unable to do all on offer due to unexpected health probs. Team leader Ros excellent in looking after all our needs. Hotels very good.

“This was booked as a surprise special birthday trip for my wife and was on the whole a great experience. However there were a few issues that didn't quite make it a 5 star rating. Firstly I fully understand that this is a rail trip and on the whole was ok, but the journey out was not fully explained as the first 2 days was taken up with traveling to Interlaken via Brussels with an overnight in Cologne then there was an 8hr train journey from Cologne to Interlaken, which we considered a waste of a day as there are quicker routes which would have only taken a day which the return journey route was taken. Secondly the tour manager was a lovely, friendly lady, but was lacking in experience of the locality and could have done some more research around what was available to do in around Interlaken especially on our one free day we had. Talking to other guests on this trip, when they asked her for advise she could only direct them to the hotels reception staff who were very helpful. She also seemed lacking in confidence around train times and facilities on board and often panicking when arriving at stations as to where to go next to either exit the station or where the connecting train was, which wasn't really rocket science as the train announcer was very clear and spoke very good English as do most of the Swiss people we came in contact with and very helpful. Thirdly the hotel was comfortable and clean, facilities were basic, but pricing was very expensive i.e single measure of whiskey £19 no tea or coffee making equipment in the room there was a mini bar which was hideously expensive i.e. small bottle of water £5, however there are various shops local to the hotel where these items can be purchase a lot cheaper. As mentioned above on the whole the experience was amazing and would definitely return, but would choose to fly in and only use local trains, which were excellent, clean, always on time and reasonably cheap, the British rail service could learn a lot from the Swiss train service.