Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast Episode 182 Transcript

These Rail Tours in Switzerland are the Perfect Solution for a Hassle-Free Swiss Vacation

You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Welcome to the Holidays to Switzerland Podcast. If you’re planning a trip to Switzerland, this is the podcast for you. I’m your host Carolyn Schönafinger, the founder of holidaystoswitzerland.com and in each episode, my expert guests and I share practical tips to help you plan your dream trip to Switzerland. You’ll get helpful advice about travelling around Switzerland and hear about the most popular destinations as well as some hidden gems. And we’ll introduce you to plenty of wonderful experiences that you can enjoy as part of your Swiss vacation. Each episode is packed with expert tips, itinerary ideas, and inspiration to help make your Swiss vacation planning easy. So let’s dive in. 

Grüezi, welcome to this week’s episode. If you’d love to explore Switzerland by rail, but you don’t want the hassle of planning and booking everything yourself, you’re going to love today’s episode. I’m thrilled to welcome back Andrea Caspani from ECHO Rails to tell us about his company’s guided and self guided rail tours of Switzerland. With over 500 five star reviews, ECHO Rails is clearly doing lots of things right when it comes to Swiss rail vacations. So if planning your trip to Switzerland feels overwhelming, settle back and listen to how ECHO Rails can take all the stress out of your trip both before you arrive in Switzerland and during your vacation.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Good morning Andrea. It’s great to have you back on the podcast again. For our listeners who haven’t heard you on previous episodes, would you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your company ECHO Rails and how it all started.

Andrea Caspani: Hey Carolyn, thank you very much for inviting me to this podcast. It’s always a pleasure. Yes, I am originally from Italy, but from Lake Como. I have lived in Lucerne since 2011. I have a small daughter, she’s six years old. I love skiing, I love hiking and I love travelling around by trains in Switzerland. I love being in Lucerne. I believe Lucerne is the most beautiful city in Switzerland. And yeah, ECHO Rails basically today it’s a company that offers exceptional rail tours throughout the country.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay, well we’re going to hear more about those today. But what is it that inspired you personally to focus on rail travel in Switzerland for your tours?

Andrea Caspani: Well, that came basically absolutely naturally, Carolyn, because Switzerland is an extremely beautiful country for its nature, for its glacier, the landscape, the views. And of course the rail system in Switzerland is extremely developed. I believe we have more than 50 cogwheel trains and it’s just amazing to travel in Switzerland by train because you just really can enjoy the views instead of driving and, you know, be afraid to take a fine or not finding the parking or. So travelling by train for me is the best way to experience Switzerland. Even myself, when I travel with my daughter, we can, you know, read a book, have food, go to the toilet if you need to go to the toilet. So it’s really like the best way to move around.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah. And it’s often so scenic too, isn’t it? Travelling by train in Switzerland, it’s not just about getting from one place to another, because along the way, as you look out the windows, you just see the most amazing scenery as well.

Andrea Caspani: Absolutely, Carolyn. This is a journey. Whenever you travel from Lucerne to Zurich, for example, you have beautiful lakes, mountains, cows, meadows. So it’s not a mean of transportation, it’s just part of the journey.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, it certainly is. All right. So can you tell us about the small group rail tours that you offer? They’re guided tours, I believe. So what’s included and what can someone expect on one of these tours?

Andrea Caspani: Absolutely, Carolyn. So we specialise in small group rail tours, which basically are maximum 16 participants and we include everything except lunch. So the hotels are included. We work with exceptional 3 stars hotels and 4 stars hotel throughout the day the trip. Of course, breakfast is included, dinners, we have three course dinners every, every evening, occasionally lunch, depending on the. On the day, basically, and all the mountain excursions as well. The Swiss Pass first class is also included and we offer, like, the most beautiful train rides that Switzerland can offer, such as the Glacier Express, the Bernina Express and a lot of cogwheel trains around the country, such as the Gornergrat or the Pilatus or Rigi. But what makes it truly exceptional, our guided trips are obviously our guides. So the guides are there for the clients. Since the group is small, we get to know the clients. It gets quite intimate. A lot of our guides get invited in the US to be, you know, guests at their home. So it’s, it’s really like a truly and memorable trip.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, so the, it’s, it’s like being part of a family by the sounds of it. Like, by the end of the trip, you know your guide so well that it’s, it’s like you’ve been travelling with that, with the family member, which is fantastic. So who would you say that your guided tours are best suited to?

Andrea Caspani: I would say, Carolyn, that the, the guided tours are best suited to people that don’t like to plan meticulously their itineraries. Usually our travellers are 50 plus. They enjoy basically travelling around like enjoying the views and they like also to meet like minded people, make friends and of course it’s, it’s a lot of fun with our guides and the other member of the, of the trip.

Carolyn Schönafinger: So I guess they’re getting kind of the best of both worlds because they’re seeing all those fantastic sites and going on all those amazing rail journeys but they haven’t had to worry about planning any of that or booking any of those things themselves. And they’ve also got the support of the guide there if they’ve got any questions or they need any assistance.

Andrea Caspani: That’s exactly it Carolyn. So the guides make it truly exceptional. They are also quite flexible, our trips, so if somebody feel like a little bit tired they can stay at the hotel and relax. But basically the guide, since the moment that our clients land at the airport, they will be taken care of.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay, well yeah, that’s very reassuring, especially I think for people who haven’t travelled overseas before and they might be a bit concerned that okay, I’m going to Switzerland, will they speak English? How am I going to navigate my way from the airport? So having knowing that the guide will be there to meet them, that’s very reassuring.

Andrea Caspani: That’s very true, Carolina. It’s not only that. So yes, we do have such clients, but also most of our clients are also well travelled. So sometimes Switzerland is really kind of the last tick on their bucket list and they really want to experience it fully and authentically. So our clients do a lot of research before booking with us. Of course our sales team in the US is absolutely super friendly and happy to answer all their questions and at the end for some reasons they trust us and they end up booking with us.

Carolyn Schönafinger: You say for some reasons, but I’ve seen on your website you have so many five star reviews. So I think there’s a good reason why they’re booking and why they’re trusting you with their vacation in Switzerland. So how much time or how much free time is included on your tours? Is it sort of, you know, go, go, go from the moment that they get up in the morning or what does a typical day look like?

Andrea Caspani: That’s a fantastic question, Carolyn. Actually we started to, you know, ask feedback from our clients, you know, more systematically a couple of years ago and what we realised back then is that they didn’t have much free time. So it was quite packed. The itinerary, it’s still packed but we did some changes, we reversed the itineraries, we made the train connections optimised. So today the pace of the tour is much more enjoyable. I will say that there is the possibility of some free time. However, the guides always offer some sort of optional walking tours and for some reasons most of the time the clients decide to stay with the guide and enjoy. The time with them, however is flexible. As I said, there are some afternoons here and there throughout our itineraries where we can give some free time to the clients or the clients can again decide to stay and stick with the guides for some more fun storeys and some more knowledge about Switzerland.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, okay, well that, that’s great that they’ve got that, that option. So what are the different itineraries that you offer for travellers to choose from

Andrea Caspani: for the guided tours? Carolina we start from three days itinerary which are absolutely fantastic for people that for example are going on river cruises is a perfect option for pre and post tour on their cruises. And then we jump to seven days that goes all the way to Lugano and touch also Lake Como. And then we have our classic grand train tour of Switzerland which can be a combination between either a 9 day or a 13 day for a more complete trip of Switzerland. And we have also one last addition. It’s. It’s a new itinerary is the Swiss icon collection. It’s a 13 day which is fantastic. And it goes also again to Ticino and goes above the Gothard Pass. So with this fantastic Gothard panoramic express. And ultimately like also one of our last addition to the itinerary is the 16th day. So the 16th day is really the ultimate grand train tour of Switzerland that is actually touching all the most beautiful points of this great itinerary via train throughout the country.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Fantastic. And what about for people that are planning to visit at Christmas time? I think you have a special Christmas markets tour as well.

Andrea Caspani: Absolutely, yes. We have twice fantastic itineraries for winter in December. So a lot of clients that travel with us during summer, obviously they want to see this beautiful country white. So we have a fantastic Christmas market tour which touches I believe almost 11 Christmas market tours not only in Switzerland, but we touch also Germany. So we go to Constants as well. So it’s kind of a multi-country trait. Otherwise for people that are not so obsessed with Christmas market, we have a wonderful winter wonderland rail trip which also happens in December. So we have a lot of recurring clients. They come here in summer and then they are curious to see it with white and sipping a little bit of glue wine. So, the hot wine basically and breathing a little bit more the Christmas vibes in Switzerland.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah. And it’s, it’s certainly, it is a whole different vibe as you say, in winter than, than it is in summer. So it’s. Yeah, it’s no surprise that people want to return to, to see it in, in a different season. Now I will put links to all those guided tours that you’ve mentioned in the show notes for this episode. But I know that you also offer some self guided rail tours for people who prefer to travel independently. So how do those tours work?

Andrea Caspani: Absolutely. Carolyn. The self guided tours are also a great product that we offer. We mention self guided but rarely it’s actually we leave the clients by themselves. So we still offer for example on some itineraries, the meet and greet at the airport with a small briefing about the trip. Or in some places we offer some guided tours and they offer great flexibility. Of course, our guided tours have fixed departure dates while the self guided instead they can choose the date that they want throughout the season. There is also like a level of freedom to choose how much time or how much to discover in the places. Of course we provide an app with the itinerary and we are very meticulously writing these itineraries in a way that we provide suggestions on, for example, the best restaurants in town or the most beautiful sites that they can discover by themselves. So it’s a great way for people that love to travel independently with a family for example, or a couple or also solo travellers. We have a lot of solo travellers travelling with us.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay, but they’ve got that support from you behind the scenes as well. So what is included in these self guide trips? You mentioned that some of them have the option of the meet and greet at the airport. What else is included most of the time? Carolyn?

Andrea Caspani: We include everything. In comparison to the guided trips, we don’t include dinners and of course lunch. Unless for example, they are travelling from Zermatt to St. Moritz with the Glacier Express. In that case, obviously the lunch on the Glacier Express will be included. This is to allow them to explore the town. Of course, choose from our recommended restaurants if they wish to do so. Of course hotels and breakfast are always included. Mountain excursions are always included. And one key element is that most of our self guided trips include as optional the luggage transfer. So once they book a trip they can decide also to add on basically these great services so they can travel light throughout the trip. While instead during our guided trips the luggage transfers are included by default. And this is a great service that people really appreciate.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, certainly takes even more of the effort out of travelling when you don’t have to be dragging your suitcase on board and trying to put it up on the luggage racks or find a space between the seats. So yeah, that’s great that that’s included with the guided tours and an option with the self-guided. Now we didn’t mention with the guided tours, obviously the seat reservations on the panoramic trains are already included, which again takes another element of hassle out of the trip. So I’m guessing that they’re included on the self guided trips as well.

Andrea Caspani: That’s absolutely correct, Carolina. Whatever. Whenever we include panoramic trains also the reservations are included. This can be like a huge headache, especially during the peak months because these special trains have very limited space and they are in high demand. So for the clients booking with us, of course we make sure that they have the best seats available at the time. Of course.

Carolyn Schönafinger: That’s excellent. Okay, so do the itineraries for both styles of trips, the guided tours and the self guided tours, do they mainly just include the well known destinations and the famous train journeys and activities or are there some sort of lesser known experiences that you include as well?

Andrea Caspani: This is a great question, Carolyn. I would say that on the guided one are the one that are more particular and more off the beaten track. Like for example, on one of our itineraries, on the guided version we include the steam train Furka, which is a wonderful train ride in the Gothard region. And of course the guides always have their hidden spots in all these small villages that we are touching. We are also visiting a local cheese production facilities around the lake of Lucerne, where we meet basically the husband and the wife, which they are going to mention as how they, how they manage to produce cheese, where do they sell it and what, what kind of energy it takes basically to keep such such an activity running while instead on the self guided we’ll try to have them a little bit easier because otherwise the complexity required to visit such places, it would basically increase the anxiety for them if they will be able to make it. Because getting a little bit off the beaten track requires changing trains, changing buses and of course that’s where the advantage to have the guide with you comes in.

Andrea Caspani: So you will not get lost, you don’t need to be worried and you would basically see places that are quite special.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yes, that’s a very good point about having, having the guide with you. You can just follow along and you don’t have to worry about checking timetables or finding the right platform, you just follow your guide. Okay, so do travellers need to be particularly fit or experienced to join one of your tours or are they suitable for people of all fitness levels?

Andrea Caspani: We have different itineraries. That requires different fitness level, for sure. Definitely. The sales team can, you know, can recommend or suggest certain itineraries depending on your fitness level. I can tell you, Carolyn, the oldest client that we ever had was 92 years old. So of course it, it was challenge. I still remember we had a discussion with Seis with the guides and then we wanted to make it happen because it was a dream for him and he made it. You know, of course there is also certain flexibility on the itineraries. As I mentioned before, occasionally some clients that travel with me at some point, they said, hey, Andrea, look, I’ll take it easy today. I’ll take a rest, I’ll go to the spa or, you know, I just chill at the hotel. I can say, Carolyn, that on average, per day we roughly do between 5 to 12,000 steps. But as I said, it’s flexible and the guide is always there to brief you basically the night before about the next day, hey, tomorrow we are going to do this and that and it is going to be. We also offer during our trip optional hikes or optional walks in the mountains.

Andrea Caspani: And usually that’s where the group split and you, you have like the, the people that like to rest or the people that feel a little bit, you know, more sporty, they join the guide for, for a walk in the, in the meadows and in the mountains.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay, so there’s always an option which is great. So what are some of the common mistakes that you see travellers make when they’re planning a rail trip in Switzerland?

Andrea Caspani: This is a great question, Carolyn. I would say the biggest mistake is that people when they travel to Switzerland, they just want to tick boxes. So they stop quickly here and there. They take pictures, they take off. Or maybe they travel from overseas and they just pass through Switzerland. They don’t even stop for an overnight in the places. So they are just here to collect basically the pictures and so on. This is one of the things that I don’t like in tourism. I mean, I understand there is a certain way to travel, but that’s basically what we are not. We believe that a place needs and deserves to be explored fully and deeply with the knowledge of a local guide or the knowledge of, you know, our experience, basically. The other thing is, I believe like a poor selection base. So likely a lot of people choose to stay in places that are not so authentic. Like for example, you can check on our website. We do not have any itinerary that pass or overnight in Interlaken. I believe Interlaken through the years has changed. We’d rather be either in Murren, Wengen or Grindelwald for a better experience.

Andrea Caspani: You are more close to the mountains. But again, that’s also quite subjective. We definitely had custom trips with overnights in Interlaken, but it’s not a place that we believe deserve an overnight stay. I mean, it’s beautiful. We pass through there, we have walking tours. But then I believe that staying in Grindelwald, Wengen or Muren offer a better authentic and Swiss experience for the travellers. The other thing that I believe is choosing the wrong Swiss pass. I believe a lot of people travel here and they don’t know if it’s first class, second class or just the half fare card. It’s very subjective again, but people should be very careful considering what kind of travel pass to buy. Depending also on their itinerary, the activities, the mountain excursion, the museums, if they want to visit museums. So those are I believe, three things. Spending only one night in each destination, poor base selection and choosing wrongly the travel pass.

Carolyn Schönafinger: It’s good to know that yes, you. You’ve considered all those things and, and you. You obviously then help your clients or the travellers to create an itinerary that is going to give them a really memorable, authentic experience. Now you actually personally guide some of your tours, so I’m sure you’ve got plenty of amazing stories. But is there a particular moment on one of your tours that really sticks in your mind?

Andrea Caspani: Absolutely. I mean, I love guiding personally the tours Carolyn, because it brings me very close to  our clients and, and I just love it. And I learn so much also from the clients when I am on tour. Because the exchange of knowledge and it’s simply magic. Now magic moments on tour are always the one unexpected. I can give you a small story. What happened last year? So basically I was around with 10 or 12 clients and the Furka was not running, probably because of the avalanche risk or something. So I had to come up with an alternative plan. Now if you have a lazy guide, we say, oh, well, the Furka doesn’t run. You know, we are going to leave later and we arrive in Andermatt, we leave Zermatt later and we arrive in Andermatt at this time. But that’s not the philosophy of our guides. So they can always come up with alternative plans and we end up going up on Grimsel now of course I asked the group, hey, ladies and gentlemen, this is happening. We can choose. You know, Switzerland is a direct democracy so we need to choose as a group because we are travelling together.

Andrea Caspani: And I asked them if they wanted to go on the Grimsel pass. And it was one of the best moments of the trip. So we went on these yellow buses with the, the funny, the funny horn. Maybe you can Carolyn, add like a link about these post bus in. In Switzerland which are very, very typical. And they loved it. So it was quite a windy road. And then we went on the Grimselsee, so the Grimsell Lake where, where there is a dam and there, there is a cable car which is a self service cable car. So we walked around them, we saw a little bit how hydroelectric energy works. And then the small cable car fit only four or five people. So we had to go like three times, you know, by themselves pushing the buttons. And of course on top of the cable car there was still snow. So we started a snowball fight and everybody was absolutely super happy about the day, myself included. And then we continued our journey to Andermatt and we closed the day with a fantastic dinner.

Carolyn Schönafinger: And I’m sure as you said that you know those unexpected moments are what people remember most from a trip. And I’m sure those, those clients were not. Were no different. That they were probably still talking about that snowball fight and that self service cable car months and months after their trip.

Andrea Caspani: Absolutely. And other things, of course Carolyn. I mean if we spot an ibex or if we spot a chamois or a marmot, those are also great moments. But again something that doesn’t go according to the plan, usually people take it extremely positively and, and they remember it because it’s something outside, something unexpected. Basically.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, definitely. Okay, so if someone listening is considering a rail vacation in Switzerland, why should they book with ECHO Rails?

Andrea Caspani: This is a question that I always ask my clients when I travel with them. But if I can summarise in few points. First of all, we just remove the complexity for our clients to plan their trip. So basically they can focus on what they love most. Secondly is that we offer luggage transfers throughout the trip on our guided trips and they can still choose it as an optional on the self guided. And this basically it’s a great advantage when travelling around, especially if you need to make a lot of connections to your next destination. On top of that you can also decide to stop. Again the, the. Travelling is the journey. So for example, if you’re travelling from Lucerne to Grindelwald and you have the luggage transfer, then you can stop in Interlaken and have a walk and you don’t need to check out, oh, where should I put the luggage in Interlaken? Is there, you know, like a luggage service and so on. So a lot of our clients appreciate extremely much the service to transport the luggage for our group travel. People choose us because of our small group trips and this is an absolute advantage because again, as we mentioned before, it gets quite intimate.

Andrea Caspani: You make friends and you really bond with the people that you travel with. It gets very personal. The other aspect, which I believe it’s also extremely important, is that we are absolutely obsessed with the quality of the itineraries that we craft and we design. So we check every single connection. We check at what time is the best connection to take for the panoramic train? Because at the end of the day it is not about knowing trains, it’s about knowing which routes, at what time, which stops are worth it, where to slow down. And that’s quite important because we have the experience throughout the years on how to make it the best out of your trip. Another thing is basically the full Switzerland experience. So we, in our itineraries, we bundle everything, you know, boat rides, cable cars, cogwheel trains, panoramic trains, all integrated in one beautifully designed itinerary. Of course, for the self guided, we provide also support seven days a week so people are not left alone. And I believe, last but not least, I believe we briefly mentioned before, our reviews are quite good. So you can check, definitely. Our websites, the testimonials, we have a lot of word of mouth.

Andrea Caspani: So a lot of people that travel with us, they hear by them friends. So they trust us and they also want to travel with us. So everything we do, Carolyn, is around the clients. that’s what we are like a customer centric company.

Carolyn Schönafinger: You’re absolutely doing something right because I think you’re underselling yourself there when you said our reviews are quite good. I think there’s over 500 five star reviews, which is just incredible. So, yeah, well done. It’s. You’re obviously giving the clients exactly what they want. Authentic, fantastic experience in Switzerland and you’ve generously offered our listeners a 5% discount off your tours. So can you tell everyone listening how that works?

Andrea Caspani: Absolutely, yes. We are very happy to welcome your listener, Carolyn. And for that reason we are happy to provide a 5% discount to everybody that is listening and is interested in traveling with us. I’m sure that Carolina is going to give you the code which basically you can apply during checkout. So of course you can be in touch with our sales team if you have any questions about our trip or if you are not sure on which tour you want to go, you can mention actually to our sales team that you heard about us from this podcast and then we will help you out to make sure that you receive this 5% and we will be extremely happy to see you here in Switzerland.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay. Well we’ve had our partnership going now for a couple of years and it’s been wonderful and we’ve had some fantastic feedback from listeners who’ve travelled on the tours. So happy that that is continuing on. And that code which I’ll of course put in the show notes but it’s H T Swiss to get your 5% off. Now all the tours that you offer, guided and self guided are shown on the Holidays to Switzerland website with that promo code as well. But if people want to get in touch with your sales team or find out more about the company, where can they go to get that info?

Andrea Caspani: Absolutely, Carolyn. So on the website echorails.com, you can find all our itineraries including also a page where it shows the calendar with the departure dates for the guided trips. If you are not sure again our sales team is ready and happy to help you as well as if you want to have a custom trip. We are very, very specialised also in providing customised solutions for our travellers and the sales team is extremely knowledgeable about Switzerland. We have been doing this already for almost more than 10 years so we are just here, just give us a call and we are super friendly, don’t be shy and I’m sure that will make you happy.

Carolyn Schönafinger: I’m sure you will. Thank you very much Andrea. It’s fantastic to chat with you again today.

Andrea Caspani: Thank you Carolyn and I wish you and everybody have a great rest of the day.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Are you ready to book your EchoRails adventure? You’ll find links to all the tours mentioned today and the exclusive holidays to Switzerland promo code that gives you 5% off in the show notes for this episode. And if you’d like to read the testimonials from Echo Rails previous clients, I’ll include a link to them too. Those show notes are at holidaystoswitzerland.com/episode182 thank you so much for joining me today. Until next week when I’ll be back with more Swiss travel tips and inspiration. Tschüss.

You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.