Grand Alpine Explorer

Our incredible adventure begins as we gather at London St Pancras International and join the Eurostar service to Brussels in Standard Premier Class, enjoying a light meal at our seats. From the Belgian capital we travel to Cologne and on to Munich in First Class. The route passes through rolling wooded hills on its way to Frankfurt before heading through the old Swabian towns of Ulm and Augsburg before arriving in the Bavarian capital of Munich.

On arrival in Munich, we check into our 4-Star hotel just a short distance from the main train station. Located within sight of the Alps, lively and historic Munich is one of Germany's best-loved cities.

• Eurostar light meal

Today we get to know the impressive city of Munich and its fascinating culture and heritage on a guided sightseeing tour. Walking through the historic streets, we admire the city's charming main square, Marienplatz, home to the neo-Gothic Town Hall and the famous glockenspiel with performing figurines that enact moments from the city's history at 11am and 12noon. We also see the Church of St Peter, Munich's oldest parish church, known locally as 'Alter Peter' (Older Peter), with its eight clocks decorating the exterior.

Afterwards, we stop for food and drink in typical Munich style as we sample local food with a beer tasting. Munich is renowned for its beer and hosts a lively and world-famous beer festival every autumn. We learn about the history of brewing in Bavaria and the influence of the 'Reinheitsgebot' purity law at the Oktoberfest Museum, before visiting Munich's oldest beer house, the Höfbrauhaus.

The rest of the day is free to enjoy at your leisure before we regroup at the hotel for dinner, and you may be interested in taking a stroll round one of the city's many green spaces. The 17th-century Renaissance gardens of the Hofgarten stand behind Munich Residence, the former home of Bavarian dukes and kings, while the expansive English Garden is larger than New York's Central Park and attracts visitors to its lakes, rivers and peaceful Japanese tea house.

• Breakfast, Dinner

We leave Munich this morning and travel in First Class to Austria. Arriving in Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart and the setting for The Sound of Music, we enjoy a tour of this musical city with Trudy, the singing tour guide. Overlooked by the huge 11th-century Hohensalzburg Fortress, set high on a hill, we stroll through the charming Old Town. The churches, squares and alleyways here are incredibly well preserved and dominated by fabulous Baroque spires in a UNESCO World Heritage site.

This evening, we enjoy dinner with a difference. Making our way to the Baroque banquet hall of St Peter's, we sit down to a candlelit dinner accompanied by the stirring music of Salzburg's most famous son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. A chamber ensemble and singers dressed in Rococo costumes bring selections of Mozart's famous music to life while you enjoy a gastronomic menu inspired by the composer.

• Breakfast, Dinner

After breakfast, you have an entire day to get to know this grand city. One suggestion would be to purchase a Salzburg Card which gives you access to many of the wonderful museums, attractions as well as buses and trolleybuses.

Salzburg is a gorgeous city with a sea of noble white buildings topped with grey slate huddled either side of the gently winding Salzach river. This alpine city is renowned for its musical and culture heritage and Mozart was instrumental in this. You can visit the former residence of the Mozart family, who lived at Getreidegasse 9 from 1747 to 1773. It is where Wolfgang was born in 1756 and is now a house museum detailing his young life. His old Makartplatz home is also a museum displaying artifacts from the composer's life.

You could also take a walk along the river or through the Mirabell Garden, or you may prefer to head out of the city for a cable-car ride up Untersberg Mountain for spectacular views across the Berchtesgaden Alps.

The Museum der Moderne, a museum of modern art, has two locations in the city. One is in the Old Town and the other can be accessed by a lift (free with the Salzburg Card) to the top of the Mönchsberg cliff, from where there are delightful views across Salzburg.

Whether you fancy luxurious gastronomy or would prefer hearty local cuisine in a lively beer hall, Salzburg's many restaurants accommodate all tastes.

• Breakfast

We head to the stunning Austrian Lake District today, an area of gentle alpine hills, dense forests and emerald waters. Our first visit is to the remarkable Kaiservilla, the stately former summer residence of Hapsburg Emperor Franz Josef I. The impressive parkland was designed in the English style and completed in 1860. We have time to explore these extensive and beautifully decorated grounds before moving on to our next destination.

From here we continue to St Gilgen, a charming town of ornately decorated chalets and enticing cafés where you could decide to enjoy lunch before we take a cruise across Lake Wolfgang. Either side of this aquamarine lake, jagged limestone cliffs are carpeted by verdant pine forests casting an air of serenity across this beautiful area. We disembark at St Wolfgang, where we have free time to navigate its cluster of chocolate-box chalets huddling round narrow lanes.

We then travel to pretty Mondsee on the shores of Lake Mondsee whose most famous attraction is its 15th-century Basilica of St Michael. Bedecked in a yellow Baroque façade, this impressive church featured in the wedding scene in The Sound of Music. We have free time here to either pay homage to the cinematic von Trapp family or enjoy a lakeside stroll on the attractive promenade before returning to Salzburg for a three-course dinner.

• Breakfast, Dinner

After a leisurely breakfast this morning, we leave serene Salzburg by train and travel First Class into the heart of the Austrian Alps. The scenery becomes more dramatic as we approach Innsbruck, with steep imposing mountains rising either side of the Inn Valley.

On arrival, just after noon, we get our bearings with an informative guided tour of this charming alpine city set against a backdrop of craggy peaks. Innsbruck's magnificently preserved Old Town still reflects the Tyrolean capital's historic and cultural past, boasting wonderful Renaissance and Baroque buildings as well as traditional Tyrolean architecture. Along the way, we'll see Innsbruck's cathedral and Hofkirche, or court church, built by Emperor Maximilian I. On Herzog-Friedrich-Strasse, the shimmering Goldenes Dachl (or Golden Roof) reflects the city's Habsburg history, while the ornate Hölbling house and imposing 14th-century watchtower look out over buildings with arched arcaded frontages.

The rest of the afternoon is free to continue exploring and the adventurous among us might want to travel on the Nordkette Cable Car, a hybrid funicular and cable car system designed by renowned architect Zaha Hadid. At the top of the funicular, you are rewarded with spectacular views across Innsbruck and the Tyrolean Alps. The cable car takes you to a height of more than 7000 feet for an otherworldly vista of countless impressive peaks.

In the evening, we regroup at our central hotel overlooking the majestic peak for a three-course dinner.

• Breakfast, Dinner

This morning we travel by coach back into Germany, crossing the impressive Fern Pass before we arrive in Bavaria. Our first destination is one of the most beautiful and famous castles in the world - the glorious Neuschwanstein Castle. A magnificent fairytale structure built into the mountains, Neuschwanstein stands proudly above the surrounding forests, its brilliant white turrets and rising walls contrasting stunningly against a backdrop of green.

King Ludwig II of Bavaria commissioned the castle's construction in the late 19th century on a rocky outcrop near his childhood home of Hohenschwangau Castle, reportedly having dreamt of building a castle there since he was a child. This symbol of Romanticism has appeared in countless films, from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to The Great Escape and also inspired Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Afterwards, we embark on a journey aboard the cheerful Zugspitze Mountain Railway, ascending to the summit of the Zugspitze for fabulous views of elemental rocky peaks. Climbing more than 2500 feet in seven miles, the cogwheel railway passes the crystal-clear Eibsee lake and verdant alpine forests on its way up the highest mountain in Germany. From the top, there are views across four countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland and even Italy.

Please Note - For departure 10/05/2024 you will now journey on the Nordkette to the Top of Innsbruck due to planned maintenance works on the Zugspitzbahn.

• Breakfast

After a free morning to explore Innsbruck, we head to the train station for a spectacular ride through the Alps, travelling in First Class all the way. The route starts by winding alongside the Inn river, the jade waters rushing between steep peaks dotted with thick pine forests. Shortly after leaving the Inn at Landeck, the Arlberg railway passes Weisberg Castle at the eastern end of the impressive Trisanna Bridge, widely considered to be one of Austria's finest. As the track climbs higher towards the popular resort of St Anton, traditional chalets can be seen scattered across this beautiful alpine landscape.

Looping briefly into the tiny double-landlocked principality of Liechtenstein, we then enter Switzerland to be welcomed by delightfully scenic views. The last leg of our journey takes us on the UNESCO-listed Albula Line, which zigzags and spirals its way round mountains and over bridges, including the curved Landwasser viaduct. After a panorama of deep ravines, scenic viaducts, snow-capped peaks and rushing waterfalls we arrive in chic St Moritz, where a three-course dinner awaits at our central hotel which boasts uninterrupted views of the lake.

• Breakfast, Dinner

Dubbed the rail experts' best-kept secret, crossing the Alps into Italy on the UNESCO-listed Bernina Express is an incredible experience. From our First Class panoramic carriages, the exceptional alpine scenery continuously impresses. A truly memorable experience is to be had when we step off the train at Alp Grüm. We are greeted by jaw-dropping views of the Palü glacier, which we soak up while enjoying a delightful drink on the station platform. This stunning route then twists its way down the mountains, spiralling round the remarkable corkscrew viaduct at Brusio.

Free time in our destination of Tirano allows us to explore the narrow, cobbled streets and characterful piazzas of the charming Italian valley town, where we can enjoy local delicacies in one of the town's delightful trattorias. One of the regional specialities is pizzoccheri, a hearty pasta dish made with potato, cabbage and cheese.

We return to St Moritz on a local service in First Class, which provides an opportunity to pull down a train window for spectacular photos, before we sit down for a three-course dinner back at our hotel.

• Breakfast, Dinner

Nestled amidst the mountains and lakes of the Engadine Valley, a free day in the glamorous resort of St Moritz lends itself to an abundance of possibilities. Right outside our central hotel, the Via Serlas is one of the world's most famous shopping streets and brims with upmarket fashion boutiques. The St Moritz resort card provides free travel on the cable cars and funiculars surrounding the town so you can be ferried up to the snow-capped peaks in minutes.

Perhaps you would like to visit the church around which the town was built, the church of St Maurice, also known as 'the church of the springs'. You could enjoy a traditional 1930s Swiss high tea at Badrutt's Palace Hotel, or stop by the Segantini Museum, dedicated to the works of alpine painter Giovanni Segantini.

The Swiss Travel Card's 50% discount on trains means adventurers can explore the fashionable resorts of Davos or Klosters. For a more relaxing day, St Moritz's serene lake can be enjoyed on a gentle stroll or from our hotel's glorious terrace along with uninterrupted mountain views.

• Breakfast

Today is a highlight of any rail holiday to Switzerland as we embark on one of Europe's most iconic train journeys - the incredible Glacier Express to Brig in First Class. The 'slowest express train' delves into the Rhine Gorge, where our panoramic carriages provide great views of the 'Swiss Grand Canyon'. The breathtaking scenery continues to impress as we enjoy a two-course lunch at our seats.

The train climbs steadily and steeply up and over the Oberalp Pass, the peak of the route, before spiralling down past little villages on the approach to Brig. Here we change trains and travel in First Class to Interlaken, via the pretty lakeside town of Spiez. Interlaken is a delightful town nestled between two lakes and famed mountain peaks and our 4-Star hotel is on the main street, providing great views. We check into our hotel overlooking mountains and the historic castle grounds to enjoy a three-course dinner.

• Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

An incredible journey to Jungfraujoch - Europe's highest train station - on the historic Jungfrau Railway awaits us today. We travel in First Class to Kleine Scheidegg to board the sensational Jungfrau Express. The journey rises gently through alpine meadows, passing the imposing north face of the Eiger. From Kleine Scheidegg we travel by cogwheel train through the final section of the route, into an incredible tunnel which cuts through the Eiger. Even more incredible are the carved-out viewing windows meaning we can enjoy the scenery from inside the tunnel.

When we reach Jungfraujoch, the vistas from the Sphinx viewing platform are truly awe-inspiring. At the top, we're treated to vistas across an eternally snowy wonderland that includes the Aletsch Glacier - a UNESCO-listed World Heritage wonder - which stretches as far as the eye can see.

This First Class journey continues as we descend via the charming village of Grindelwald before returning to Interlaken.

• Breakfast

This morning you're free to explore the perfectly positioned Interlaken, an attractive resort town that buzzes with life. With a variety of cafés, bakeries and shops - from souvenir outlets to Swiss watch retailers - you can wander to your heart's content. The town's historic centre is compact, so it's easy to discover the medieval monastery, castle and ancient square on foot.

Interlaken is also a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts, so whether you're looking for an adventure or just a peaceful stroll, there's something for everyone to enjoy. Maybe take the funicular railway for a 10-minute trip to the top of Harder Kulm, where you can enjoy panoramic views above Interlaken, across the mountains and Lake Brienz.

Another great option is to take a peaceful lake cruise on a vintage paddle steamer - your Swiss Travel Card gives you a 50% discount on this and other boat tours, as well as for most trains and mountain railways. For those wanting to adventure further afield, the travel card can be used for a day out to historic Lucerne or charming Meiringen. Here, you can board a quaint funicular to the Reichenbach Falls that played an important part in the Sherlock Holmes stories or visit the town's museum honouring Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective.

We gather tonight at the hotel for our final three-course dinner together.

• Breakfast, Dinner

After breakfast this morning, we board the train to Zürich Airport for our flight back to London Heathrow. The train journey takes us through delightful alpine scenery allowing us to reflect on this incredible holiday. Whether it was bustling Munich and its heady mix of history and beer, cultured and classical Salzburg, Innsbruck's incredible backdrops or St Moritz's stylish mix of mountains and boutiques, the towns and cities on our great alpine adventure will have left an impression.

However, the star attraction is surely the spellbinding scenery and how we experienced it. Mighty peaks and ethereal glaciers, enchanting forests and luminous lakes have all been viewed from some of the Alps' most spectacular railways.

On landing in London, we bid farewell to our fellow travellers who have accompanied us on this incredible journey and shared the many unforgettable experiences we have enjoyed.

• Breakfast