Switzerland Highlights — 6 Nights

Met at Zurich Airport and taken to the station for the hour-long train to Lucerne, or driven directly if you would rather not change. The afternoon is for settling in and finding your bearings: the Chapel Bridge and its water tower, the painted houses of the old town, and the lakefront promenade for the evening. Overnight in Lucerne.

A morning train to Engelberg, then the cable cars up to Titlis, with the last stage in the rotating Titlis Rotair so the whole valley turns beneath you. At the top there is snow in every month, the glacier cave, the Cliff Walk suspension bridge and the Ice Flyer chairlift for anyone who wants to be out on the snow. Back in Lucerne by late afternoon, with the evening free. Overnight in Lucerne.

The morning is yours in Lucerne — the Lion Monument and the old town walls, or an hour on the lake by boat, which the pass covers. In the early afternoon the Luzern–Interlaken Express climbs over the Brünig Pass and runs the length of Lake Brienz into Interlaken, one of the prettiest two hours of railway in the country. Overnight in Interlaken.

The day the trip is built around. Trains climb through Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg, then the Jungfrau Railway tunnels through the Eiger to the highest railway station in Europe at 3,454 metres. On a clear day the Sphinx terrace looks down the length of the Aletsch Glacier; the Ice Palace and the snow plateau are there whatever the weather. Down by the other valley for variety, and a quiet evening in Interlaken. Overnight in Interlaken.

A slower day in the valleys below the peaks. Lauterbrunnen sits in a glacial trench with the Staubbach waterfall dropping past the village; the Trümmelbach Falls a little further on run inside the mountain. In the afternoon, Grindelwald under the north face of the Eiger, with the First cable car and its cliff walk if you want one more high point. Overnight in Interlaken.

A morning on the water — the boat along Lake Thun to the castle at Oberhofen, or Lake Brienz to the Giessbach Falls — is the calm counterpoint to the mountain days. Then the train to Zurich in the afternoon, with the evening for the old town lanes on both banks of the Limmat and the lakefront at Bürkliplatz. Overnight in Zurich.

Bahnhofstrasse and the Grossmünster if your flight allows a last morning, then the private transfer to Zurich Airport.