Go on a Swiss adventure by train
THE splendours of Europe can be beholden with Golden Tourworld Travel’s (GTT) unique tour packages to Europe.
View Switzerland in a 9D/7N package that takes you exclusively on rails.
The Grand Train Tour of Switzerland is an exclusive package forged with Rail Europe and spans through some of Switzerland’s many attractions and cities; from Geneva all the way to St Gallen, and fly in and out of Switzerland via Emirates Airlines.
Among some of the many attractions that travellers would see include a stop in Montreax, Gruyeres and Broc, where they can see how Swiss chocolates and cheese are made.
At Zermatt, travellers will also get to board the Gornegrat Bahn, the highest openair rack railway in Europe that climbs past Swiss stone pine and larch forests up to a height of 3,089m.
At Interlaken, visitors would get to board a cruise on Lake Thun with plenty of opportunities to capture pictureperfect shots of castles by the lakeside and shoreline.
At Switzerland’s capital of Bern, travellers will stroll among the Old City, one Unesco’s many Cultural World Heritage Sites.
Some of the highlights include the Arcades – the longest sheltered shopping promenade in Europe, a visit to the Bear Pits and more.
There will be a unique trip to Trubschachen to visit to the largest biscuit producer and leading exporter in Switzerland, Kambly, and discover the art of fine biscuit making.
In St Gallen, tourists will get to see the Abbey of St Gallen, a famous attraction for many, and home to the oldest libraries in the world.
They will also see the impressive Rhine Falls, where glacial waters of the Rhine plunge over rocks in large volumes.
Throughout this entire journey travellers will travel in first class cabins aboard Rail Europe.
Another way to explore Europe is an 11D/9N jaunt with GTT to Northern Spain and Portugal.
Again flying in with Emirates, visitors will be landing in Lisbon, Portugal and travel through to Madrid, Spain.
Some of the highlights from this trip include a visit to the sacred town of Fatima in Portugal and Porto, the country’s secondlargest city and one of Unesco’s World Heritage Sites.
Porto is also well known for its wine cellars and of fortified wine, port.
Travelling to Spain after that, visitors will pass through another of Unesco’s World Heritage Sites, Santiago and then to Leon with its Royal Pantheon, Casa Botines and Monastery of San Marcos.
The glacier lakes of Covadonga is another draw as well as its basilica, museum and mythical grotto.
At Fuente De, a cable car ride will take visitors to a 1,823m allwide view of the Picos de Europa range of mountains, then a visit to the Basque city of Bilbao, with visits to the Guggenheim Museum, the Fine Arts Museum, the Puente Colganta, and more.
At San Sebastian, visitors will get a panoramic city tour of this Frenchstyled city.
At Segovia, a historic city north of Madrid, the tour includes visits to the old quarter where another Unesco World Heritage Site – the Roman Aquaduct – is found.
That as well as other Romanesque churches, cathedrals and fortresses dot the landscape around that part of the region of historic Castile.
Another GTT European special is to experience the charms of Italy and the French Riviera.
This 11D/9N trip will cover cities from Rome, Italy all the way to the west into Nice, southern France.
Travellers will also get to stay in the fivestar Fairmont Hotel at Monte Carlo.
Some of the highlights of the trip will include visits to the Vatican City, the ruined city of Pompeii near Naples and Pisa, with its Leaning Tower.
Travellers will journey on to Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance; Venice, famous for its waterways; Milan, the fashion capital of the world and then to Nice and Monte Carlo, the heart of all that is romantic about the Riviera.
■ For more information visit GTT’s Booth No.21652204 and 20252029, in Hall 2, Putra World Trade Centre on Sept 8 to 10 during the MATTA Fair.