Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast Episode 59 Transcript

The many advantages of taking a private tour in Switzerland

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

Announcer

Are you dreaming of visiting Switzerland? Planning a trip to Switzerland is very exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. How do you choose which are the many scenic cities, towns, and villages to visit? Which mountaintop excursions should you take? And what’s the best way to get around Switzerland? And of course, how much of the country can you realistically see within your time frame? If you’ve asked yourself any of these questions, this is the podcast for you. This is the Holidays to Switzerland Travel podcast. And in each episode, your host, Carolyn Schönafinger, chats with Swiss travel experts to answer your most commonly asked questions, provide practical tips and take you on a virtual visit to the most popular destinations, and of course, some hidden gems to help you plan your dream trip to Switzerland. You’ll hear plenty of conversations about Swiss cheese and chocolate, too. Are you ready to plan your trip to Switzerland? Well, let’s get started.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Grüezi, and welcome to episode 59 of the Holidays to Switzerland podcast. I’m so glad you’ve joined me today. On numerous previous episodes of the podcast, we’ve discussed travelling around Switzerland by train. We’ve had episodes where we’ve talked about renting a car and driving yourself, too. These are both excellent and very popular ways to get around Switzerland, but they may not suit every traveller. For instance, you may have limited time to spend in Switzerland, and you want to make the most of every possible moment. Perhaps you have mobility issues, and you don’t want to have to negotiate train stations with your luggage. Or maybe you just like to have more influence over your day-to-day itinerary, but without the need to follow set timetables or have to drive yourself. In today’s episode, I’m joined by Catharina de Sa, who has the perfect solution for you. Catharina is the founder and owner of Swiss Epic Tours, a tour company based in Zurich who offer for private tours and experiences. Catharina works directly with her clients to design a personalised itinerary that suits their exact requirements. Whether it’s a private day tour or a multi-day tour, a tour to popular tourist locations or off-the-grid destinations, Catharina can tailor-make your dream Swiss vacation.

Carolyn Schönafinger

There are many benefits to private tours, not the least being that they offer flexibility to travel wherever you wish, and they provide accessibility to out-of-the- away places that would otherwise be hard to reach. In this episode, Catharina is going to share the many advantages of taking a private tour, and she’s also going to tell us about some of the many wonderful places in Switzerland she has had the privilege of sharing with her guests. Make sure you keep listening right to the end of this episode, as Catharina is going to share a fantastic bonus offer, exclusively for holidays to Switzerland podcast listeners. We’ll hear from Catharina in just a moment. But before we do, I’d like to say thank you to the folks from Switzerland Tourism, the sponsors of the podcast. Be sure to check out their website, myswitzerland.com, for inspiration to help you plan your Swiss vacation. If you need to go on a tour, you need Switzerland. Now, let’s hear from Catharina.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Hi, Catharina. Thank you very much for coming on to the podcast. Looking forward to chatting to you today.

Catharina de Sa

Thank you so much, Carolyn. It’s very nice to meet you, and I’m very excited about today’s call. I love to talk to you about Switzerland and let’s explore a little bit some ideas for private tours to Switzerland because it’s such a great country. 

Carolyn Schönafinger

Wonderful.Would you like to start by introducing yourself and telling our listeners a bit about what you do and how your business came about?

Catharina de Sa

Yes, absolutely. So my name is Catharina. I studied Roman languages and cultures a couple of years ago in psychology and then out of interest because I’ve always been interested in history and travelling and culture and so on, cultural differences. So I started this company to help travellers find their way through Switzerland, actually, because what we do is we organise private tours with private driver guides in private vehicles, and we show our customers the best Switzerland has to offer. And we do that on a private basis. So we accommodate a lot of families, a lot of homeowners as well, some elderly people who would like to visit Switzerland, but on a on a private basis and who need some help in getting around here. So that’s what we do. And it works out very well. Actually, we started a couple of years ago, about six years ago, with our first trips to Switzerland. And now we have grown quite a lot. And I’m very happy to accommodate the requirements and the interests of our customers. And that’s what we do on a daily basis, because Switzerland is a great season or a great country to travel to, actually all year, not only in summer, but some people might think that for sightseeing summer would be the best season.

Catharina de Sa

But Switzerland is a beautiful country to visit all year long. We have the four seasons. So in summer, sightseeing is great. In autumn, the same, plus hiking. Yes, we love hiking should come definitely in autumn because you have the beautiful colours, leaves who are changing and so on. Wintertime is great, of course, because of winter sports, the Christmas markets, the snow and so on. And the same continues a little bit in early spring, where people still can go skiing. And then in May again, or April, May starts again the sightseeing season. So we actually run our business the whole year. It’s not only summer season or only winter season. Switzerland, as you know, is definitely a destination which you can visit 12 months, basically.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Absolutely. Now, regular listeners of the podcast will know that it’s really easy to get around Switzerland by train. We’ve had numerous episodes talking about travelling by train in Switzerland, and it is a great way to get around. But travelling by train or even renting a car for that matter may not be for everyone. What are some of the reasons that travellers should consider booking a private tour?

Catharina de Sa

The main reason our guests book a private tour is because they just want to be on vacation and they don’t want to worry with getting on and off a train, with getting around with their luggage, for example. And of course, there is the luggage services and so on, but they don’t reach all destinations. So private tours are great for those guests who really want to enjoy, want to relax, don’t want to worry with where to drive, what to do, where to go, but just someone who guides them, basically, who is with them all the time and shows them the best places. So definitely relaxing. That is one of the reasons people book our tours. On the other hand, flexibility, of course, because if you book a private tour, you can just travel on the way on the day, which is good for you to date. You are not depending on a schedule, departure time, for example. So we would pick you up at the hotel, whether it’s a day trip or whether it’s a multi-day tour. We always pick you up at the place where you are, maybe at the airport when you just arrived to Switzerland, or maybe even at the train station, because some of our travellers also come in by train by Venice or by Milan or by Munich, for example.

Catharina de Sa

And we meet them at the train station. The first day, typically, we help you with the transport to the hotel, private transfer, and then we start the tour. So we pick you up at the hotel. That is one of the first things, very important. And then we tailor the itinerary. So most of the times in advance, we are in contact, of course, and we know more or less what our guests would like to do, if they are more interested in nature or if they want to do or cultural things, or if they want to do a wine tasting, or if they would like to do a combination of all. And then we tailored the itinerary exactly according to their needs. So that’s a huge advantage of booking a private tour, comparing to regular schedule two, for for example, because we can stop wherever they want to stop. We can start what time they want to start. Some people wake up early, so they would like to start at seven or eight o’clock in the morning. Others like to sleep a little bit more because they are on holidays, so they start only at 10 o’clock or 11 o’clock.

Catharina de Sa

And that’s totally fine if you have this private tour because you have the private driver and the private vehicle just for you and your group. Another advantage, I think, of a private tour is the accessibility. I mean, the trains in Switzerland work perfectly, so They basically cover all places. But if you want to see more things on one day and you want to go a little bit more to the off-the-grid places, then it’s still better to travel by car because you can get more of the day. You can stop at different places also along the way. What happens quite often, for example, I think you are familiar with the system of the little farming shops which we have. We call them Hofladen here in Switzerland. Those are little shops where they sell their local products, everything biological. So the cheese, the milk, the yoghurts, the fruits, and so on. And if our guests are on tour with one of the driver guides and they cross by there, they can easily stop and say, hey, let’s go here, let’s have a look how the locals make their biological products and so on. They can buy even some things there.

Catharina de Sa

So all those little stops on the way we can easily implement spontaneously, even when you are on a private tour. And of course, if you have a scheduled trip, that is not possible, a regular scheduled trip, and if you’re travelling by. I think those are the main reasons guests book a private tour. So the accessibility, that it’s tailormade, that it’s flexible, relaxing. Of course, there is the local knowledge of the driver guides as well. And I think another reason for guests to book a private tour is because many guests do not have an overview of what is possible in Switzerland, plus not the time to prepare that trip. And that happens a lot with our guests. They contact us to say, look, I want to go to Switzerland, let’s say, in June for 10 days with my family, but I just am lost. I don’t know where to go. I don’t know what I should see. I don’t know, should I skip things or what is really important for the first timer in Switzerland? What should I do? And I don’t have the time to prepare it. So can you help me? And then we design an itinerary based on the requirements of our guests.

Catharina de Sa

So we try to listen to what they want to do. Then we prepare the itinerary and And then, well, most of the times our guests are very happy and say, yeah, let’s go for this. I want to book this because this is exactly what I was looking for. So I think those are the main reasons for booking a private tour, comparing to train tours and the regular scheduled tours.

Carolyn Schönafinger

And I think what you said there, too, is right, in there’s so much information out there on the Internet that it just can be overwhelming. You start looking about organising this trip to Switzerland, and suddenly there’s so many ideas and so many places that you want to see.

Catharina de Sa

You are correct. Sometimes it can be very overwhelming all the information you find on the internet and not knowing what to do. And it’s not that when you book a private tour, that you don’t come to experience the trains at all. Because many of our guests who book a multi-day trip, they write to us and say, Hey, I know the trains are so fantastic in Switzerland. We would at least try to experience one of these beautiful train rides. Then we implement them because there are so many possibilities. For example, the Glacier Express, you know about it for sure. Between Zermatt and Saint-Moritz or just a part of it, we can very easily implement that on one of the days. Or the golden train line which runs between, let’s say, Interlaken and Montreux. Then we are more in the in the western part of Switzerland. Many of our guests who spend the night in Montreux, for example, they would like to do a little bit a panoramic train ride. So our driver guides, picks them up at the hotel, takes them to the train station, gives them the tickets, explains them how everything works. While they are on the train relaxing, having a nice lunch with beautiful views, the driver takes the luggage, drives to the other side where the train will reach, and picks up the guests there again and takes them to the next hotel or do some sightseeing still on the way.

Catharina de Sa

We can implement these train rides, mostly the panoramic train rides, which are, of course, one of the most beautiful experience in Switzerland. So that’s all possible because it’s everything tailor-made. So we just adapt to what our guests would like to see and do.

Carolyn Schönafinger

So they definitely don’t have to miss out on the train rides by booking a private tour, they get the best of both worlds.

Catharina de Sa

Exactly. That’s it.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Now, I know you’re based in Zurich, but can you pick up clients in other destinations? So if someone’s staying in Lucerne or Interlaken, for instance, can they book one of your private tours?

Catharina de Sa

Yes, absolutely. Even Geneva, for example. We We have our headquarters in Zurich. We are very close from Zurich Airport, which is also a huge advantage for last minute tours because sometimes we have these layover tours that happens. That guests are on a plane and they think, oh, I have seven hours in Zurich. I would like to do something while I’m there and while I wait for my next flight. So then we get these last minute layover bookings once in a while. That’s easy for us because we are literally 10 minutes away from the Zurich Airport. So that is fantastic. And the other destinations as well. We basically cover the whole Switzerland. So whether you are in Zurich or you are in Lucerne or you are in Interlaken or in Geneva, and you would like to book a private tour, no problem at all. We cover all of these destinations. And most of our guests actually start the tours in these cities we just mentioned. For multi-day tours, it’s either Zurich or Geneva because those are the main international airports. And many guests, of course, they stay in Lucerne or in Interlaken because those are the hotspots for Switzerland, a base for starting a tour or a trip. So we can pick up there as well. It’s totally tailored, so we completely adapt to our guests.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Wonderful. Before we talk about some of the places that clients can visit on your private tours, can you tell us a little bit about the driver guides and the vehicles that you use?

Catharina de Sa

Of course. Our driver guides are all licenced, first of all. They have all done a course in tourism, and we always prepare a course ourselves as well to prepare them completely to our standards so that our driver guides are on the latest level. And they are all multilingual, so mainly English, of course. I think about 80 % of our guests are English-speaking, but we also cover other languages. We have guests from South America, for example, quite a lot. So Spanish and Portuguese, of course, German, but I think that is less important for our listeners. We can do French, we can do Italian, and we even can do Mandarin because we have now some Mandarin-speaking guides. So we have several languages. That is the first quality, I think, our driver guides have apart from the licence. And then the vehicle vehicles we work with, they are actually at the moment all Mercedes brands. So we have the Mercedes GLE, that is an SUV vehicle which accommodates easily 2-3 passengers. So that would be for a smaller group, honeymoones, for example, or a couple travelling. Then we have the Mercedes V classes. They’re all the last or the latest models, so 2021, ’22, and we are getting a new one after the Christmas season. So a new one from 2023. And there are Mercedes V classes accommodate five to six passengers comfortably. And there are all the extra long versions. So also enough luggage space, I would say. And then Then we have the Mercedes Sprinters. So they are minibuses. We have a little bit more basic version, which accommodates up to 15 passengers. And then we have the more luxury version for up to 19 passengers and luggage. And we can always, if needed, get a luggage trailer as well. If people say, Hey, we want a little bit more space, we want to move the seats and so on, then we can do that. And we have the luggage trailer as well. And for 2023, We are expecting a new vehicle, which is a nine-seater. So it would be a Mercedes Sprinter, but only with nine seats, meaning a lot of space. It gives a little bit the feeling of a first-class plane, to say like that. So that would be great for families travelling. They want a little bit more space. There is enough space for the luggages, for the legs, and so on. That would be great or that is great for multi-day trips for a family.

Catharina de Sa

And then, of course, we have, as per the rules and regulations in Switzerland, we always provide the car seats if they are needed for the children, so up to 12 years. We do that free of charge, of course. We always take them. We just need to know in advance if the guests are travelling with children. But of course, because we are in contact, we know this thing. So then we provide the child seats and the baby seats if needed. We always have water in the cars, bottled water, free of charge as well. We can provide WiFi. Many of our guests would like, mostly if they are on a multi-day trip, they would like to have Wi-Fi on the car. We can provide that as well if we know it in advance. So everything to accommodate. And some of our guests would like to have a newspaper on board or they would like to have a bottle of champagne. The new bus is going to have as well a coffee machine for the way. We try to make our guests feel as comfortable as possible while they are travelling.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Wonderful. Coffee on the run, sounds great. Now, I noticed on your website that you have some suggested one-day itineraries that can be booked. Would you like to tell us what some of the most popular itineraries are?

Catharina de Sa

I think for the most popular tours, we go to the mountains. That is what a lot of people want to see when they are in Switzerland. Some of the tours which are booked most are the Jungfraujoch mountain in combination with Interlaken. This one is bookable all year long. And the Jungfraujoch mountain is, you can say, one of the highest mountains of the Swiss Alps, travelling up by cable car with the cogwheel train, reaching the Top of Europe, which is the highest railway station in Europe. There is one that is a 10 to 12 hours tour. From Zurich or from Lucerne, you are with 9, 10 hours more or less. And you visit the mountain and the village of Interlaken, plus something in the surroundings, if you like. Then we have one of the other mountains, which is very, very popular. I just had a look yesterday at the tours we booked most this year, we’re booked most this season. And that is one of the is the Mount Rigi tour. This is a very nice one because you have all means of transportation. So it includes, of course, the private driver guide with a transfer to Lucerne or to Weggis or to Vitznau from where the cable cars and trains depart. And then You have the cable car included, you have the cogwheel train included, you have a boat ride included on the Lake of Lucerne, plus afterwards, the visit of Lucerne itself. We can combine this tour very well as well with a visit to Victorinox, for example, where our guests can make their own penknife, which is a very nice experience. Those two tours, I would say from the ones which are published on the website, are the tours which are booked most, most populur tours, and they both run all year long. The Mount Pilates is also very popular, but Mount Pilatus, the cogwheel train for the Mount Pilatus only runs between May and October. So then we would have to go up and down the mountain by cable car in the winter season, which is totally possible and beautiful as well. But then you would not have the boat ride and the cape, and the cogwheel train in wintertime. So that’s why most of our guests, when I talk to them, they want the full experience. So then they choose Mount Riui over Mount Pilates because they still have all means of transportation. Those are the two main tours, I think.

Carolyn Schönafinger

So what about then, obviously, you mentioned before that you can tailor make tours to exactly have the guests once incorporating exactly what they want to see. Could you give us some examples of some of the private tailor-made tours that you have designed for your clients?

Catharina de Sa

So one of the most beautiful tours, in my opinion, which we have designed for our guests is definitely the tour to the Bernese Oberland. The Bernese Oberland is the heart of Switzerland. It’s in the Swiss Alps, and it’s a combination of, I would say, mountains and the local villages with the waterfalls. So a typical tour to the Bernese Oberland privately, would be starting in Zurich or in Lucerne, going to the other gorges, which are beautiful gorges from the Aare Gorge here. Not so far away. It’s like one and a half hours away from Zurich, more or less, and 45 minutes away from Lucerne. There we would spend about an hour. Our guests would walk from one side of the gorge to the other side, and our driver would pick them up at the other side. So you don’t have to repeat the route to say like that. You start at one side and you finish at the other side, where the driver guide will then be waiting. Then we would continue via the Lake of Brienz until the Giessbach waterfalls to see them and possibly to have lunch there. That is a possibility. And then afterwards by Iseltwald, which is a very charming village at the Lake Brienz until Interlaken. People like to do some shopping there sometimes. If you don’t want to do it, we can skip that and we continue to. But I would say is the most off the great mountain in the Bernese Alps and the most beautiful a place to go. That would be the Sulwald cable car. I don’t know if you’ve been there. That’s a beautiful picturesque place.

Carolyn Schönafinger

I haven’t been on the cable car, but wow, just the drive up there is incredible.

Catharina de Sa

It’s super charming. And it’s literally, it’s a very small cable car. The driver guide has to manage to get it working. There is those little buttons and you can travel up by yourself to say like that. Of course, there is someone supervising, but you can go on your own. And it’s literally a cable car accessible for either eight people or one cow. So that shows a little bit how the size of this cable car is. But once you reach the top, you have, I think, the best views over Mönch, Eiger and Jungfraujoch, the three main mountains in the Bernese Oberland. And what I like very much about that place, you can go hiking there to see the beautiful views, of course. But there is also a very little mountain restaurant. We call it a Stubli, where you can sit outside on the terrace, watch the beautiful views, and have a nice typical Swiss plate. For example, they serve fondue there, they serve the veal sausages there, the typical dishes from Switzerland, surrounded by the most beautiful views, and you won’t see any tourists there because it’s completely off the grid and it’s only a place where the locals go, basically.

Catharina de Sa

And that is what we want to show our guests. Of course, there are the highlights which our guests want to see, the mountains, the lakes, and so on. But if we can do it on a little bit more off the grid-based, then our guests are happy and we are happy. So we have spent there many, many days this summer. And it’s also possible to go there in winter. I remember I was there last January. I was with a little group of travellers from the United States, and we went up in this cable car and it was snowing, and there was snow outside. But at the same time, the sun came out, and we were just sitting outside on the terrace in wintertime, in January, eating a beautiful fondue with these marvellous views over the mountains. And it was just a great day. And they were so happy because they said, hey, on our own, we would never have found this. We would never drive up this road. By public transportation, it’s not even accessible to go there. So huge advantage of the private tours again. Then after this lunch break or coffee break or whatever our guests would like to do, we usually take them the cable car down and we can go to the Lauterbrunnen Valley where the beautiful waterfalls are.

Catharina de Sa

After that, we can even make a stop still in Grindelwald if our guests would like, and then slowly we drive back. So that is like a 10, 11 hours tour, more or less, depending a little bit on the pace. As an alternative, instead of driving back the same road by the Brunig Pass, we can also make a stop in Bern that would be by the other side. So then you have a circle which you are making until you would be back in Zurich. But it’s completely off the grid. I would say these little places in the mountains and in the Bernese Oberland. I mean, it’s a super popular area. Everybody wants to go there, but we don’t want to take the guests to the stuffed places where everybody is. We want to do something different most of the time. So that is a day tour. We can also do some off the grid experiences. For example, there is this panoramic elevator at the Rhine Falls. If you would visit the Rhine Falls, you can go by this panoramic elevator down. What we have done once, it was a couple of honeymooners. They were on their trip on their honeymoon, and they wanted to do something very special. So we organised a romantic private dinner for two inside of this panoramic elevator. So you must imagine there was a table inside with two chairs. Nothing else fits inside. It’s a small elevator, but it is with windows everywhere. No glass. So they had a great view over the elevator, over the Rhine Falls, the guests inside, the waiter was managing them to come up again if they wanted some extra wine or some extra champagne. And then he pressed the button again for them to go half away, for they had their privacy and they really could enjoy the views over the Rhine Falls. So that is possible as well. An experience like it is, it doesn’t have to be always a full day. It can be also a half day experience or a dinner experience in a castle, for example. That things we can organise as well.

Carolyn Schönafinger

So let’s say someone is going to Switzerland for the first time and they’ve got particular interests. They really want to go to Jungfraujoch, but on the way back, they want to go to Giessbach Falls or they want to call into the Kambly factory and taste those famous Swiss biscuits. Is that something that you could organise?

Catharina de Sa

Absolutely. That is what we do on a daily basis. Actually, we always suggest to our guests, because as I said, our driver guides, they are licenced, so they know what they are doing. And then we always suggest to our guests, Hey, apart from the Jungfraujoch, which we have planned for today, are there any specific interests you have, anything else you like to do in the area? Or we come up with some suggestions or we change the route around because guests say, oh, no, I don’t feel I want to go to this specific mountain. I would like to prefer or I would prefer to do something different. So then we do that. And of course, it stops on the way, whether it’s or it’s this Aare Gorge or the Kambly factory or whatever is on route or on the way more or less. Of course, we can we can do that. And even I would say on the day itself, because And many times it also depends on the weather. If people just arrive to Switzerland, maybe you are jet lagged, maybe you want to do something really easy and you were very excited about doing a full day tour, but you feel like, oh, it’s maybe a little too much for me. Let’s go a little bit on a lower pace. Then we adapt. We always talk in the morning to our guests and say, Hey, this is what we have planned. But if you feel like you want to do something different, then we change it around. Not a problem. So we are very flexible.

Carolyn Schönafinger

And that’s great because that’s obviously, it’s something that you can’t do if you’re on an organised tour with 30, 40 other people. The bus just can’t stop because that’s not going to suit everyone. It’s wonderful to have that opportunity to be able to do that. I think one place that would probably be fairly popular for people to stop at is the Lungernsee view that you get from the Brunig Pass. It’s quite an iconic image, that of the beautiful turquoise water. Do many people request to stop off there?

Catharina de Sa

By request, a lot A lot of people don’t know, of course, about this place. Sometimes they’ve heard about it and they come up with the idea. But what we do when we drive by there, our driver guides always point out most beautiful places for pictures. And then every driving up, we already say to them, Hey, we are arriving to a beautiful viewpoint. Let’s stop here, take some pictures, and so on. So it’s basically something we always do when we are driving to the Bernese Oberland because it’s such an iconic place. And the same happens along that route, specifically in the area of Giessbach, Iseltwald, and so on. There are so many beautiful places near the lake, that lake, the Lake of Brienz, with a beautiful blue-green colour because the water is formed by the glacier, the Lake It’s formed by the glacier, so it has a specific colour. And that calls a lot of attention already when you are driving down the mountain bus, you see this beautiful colour. So I would like to stop here somewhere and take some pictures and so on. Then we basically always know where to go because it There are so many nice photos stops there on the way.

Catharina de Sa

So that’s something else. We can stop anywhere. Or sometimes our guests on the way see something and say, Hey, I would like to have a look at this. Can we make a stop here somewhere? Then we do that because it’s tailored. It’s what you say. We don’t have to accommodate 40 people who are on a bus. It’s just your guests or the guests and the driver guides, and they talk together and say, Hey, let’s make it the most beautiful tour for you and an unforgettable experience.

Carolyn Schönafinger

And that’s one thing that you can’t to do when you’re travelling by train also. The train is not going to stop to let you out because you can see a beautiful view coming up ahead.

Catharina de Sa

Exactly. That’s it.

Carolyn Schönafinger

You did mention before that you can arrange multi-day tours. I guess they include accommodate And do they include some meals? And what destinations can people visit on your tailor-made multi-day tours?

Catharina de Sa

So there are actually two ways of doing these multi-day tours. Some of our guests have booked already their accommodation and say, Hey, we’re going to stay three nights in Zurich, two nights in Lucerne. We’re going to be three nights in Interlaken, and then be flying out by Geneva. What can we do in between? Then we tailor that for them, of course, if they have already their accommodation. What we do between the cities then is not just a transfer, but we combine the transfer with a tour. So if our guests would go, for example, from Zurich until Lucerne, we combine the transfer with the tour along the way. So they don’t have really the feeling or you don’t We have the feeling that you’re just being transported, which is also a possibility, of course. If you would prefer only a transfer, we can do that as well. But most of the times our guests say, hey, we want to do a day tour starting in Zurich, do some sight seeing along the way. And then at the end of the day, we want to finish in Lucerne. Then we tailored it. So that’s one option. If guests have already booked their accommodation because some of the guests have points by several hotels and they need to book by a specific hotel group and so on, they get some reductions there.

Catharina de Sa

So that is totally fine. If they have done it already. The other possibility is that we take care of everything. So from the moment our guests land at Zurich Airport or Geneva Airport until they depart again and everything in between. So the meals, possible. Accommodations, The transportations, the tours, maybe a helicopter flight, even if our guests would like to do that. So all of that we can take care of it. Or maybe just one special dinner, a welcome dinner or a departure dinner, or maybe for the honeymoon, for the honeymoon day. For example, where the waterfalls are, the Rhine falls. That is possible as well. Some of our guests just request one special dinner, a thematic dinner, for example, then we can organise that. But a typical route, I would say eight days or 10 days would be starting in Zurich, maybe visiting the Lindt Home of Chocolate factory, afterwards covering Lucerne with one of the mountains in the area. So then we are talking about Mount Rigi or Stanserhorn or Pilatus or maybe Mount Titlis with the snow. Then afterwards, going to the Interlaken area, there are so many possibilities, the Bernese Oberland. Then we are again with these beautiful Alpine villages and the waterfalls and the lakes and some of the mountains, perhaps.

Catharina de Sa

Afterwards, continuing to the Montreux area, which is very famous for wine tastings, for example, Lavaux. And also the terraces of Lavaux are a part from UNESCO. So we can do a nice wine tasting there with views over the Lake of Geneva. And travellers can go either by car with a private driver guides, or they go on the train, the panoramic train until Montreux and we pick them up there. And many times we cover Gruyères as well. That is the cheese village where we can have a nice fondue, for example. And then some of our guests would like to do Geneva on a day trip. Others say, no, we don’t want to go to Geneva for Montreux. We prefer to go a little bit more to the south of the country, which is where Zermatt is located. It’s the famous iconic Matterhorn Mountain. So then we make a stop there. We overnight there. And afterwards, the guests go on the Glacier Express train, first class, second class or excellence class, or Excellence Class, which is the relatively new classification for the train where they have the lunch then included. Our driver guide drives all the way until Saint-Moritz and picks them up there.

Catharina de Sa

Then typically our guests spend the day at leisure in Saint-Moritz for shopping or just to relax a little a bit and enjoy the beautiful views there. And then from there, we pick up the guests again and we bring them back to Zurich via Chur, the oldest town in Switzerland or Heidiland, very famous, of course, or Appenzell because of the cheese again. And then on route, we visit one of these places and we bring the guests back to Zurich from where they would then depart. So that would be a typical itinerary covering the whole of Switzerland and all the possibilities we have. And then, of course, we can still tailor it. Okay. As I said, some people want Geneva, others don’t want Geneva. Some want. Others don’t want. Some say, hey, I want to cross by Bern. Let’s cross by Bern as well. Some want to include Basel because maybe they are art lovers. So they say, on one of the first days while they are still in Zurich, let’s do a day trip to Basel because we want to see the art museums. So there are so many possibilities still to tailor the itinerary.

Catharina de Sa

But these destinations are the main destinations, I would say, for a first timer in Switzerland and to visit the country. So then you have been really in all four language reasons. If we also escape a little bit to Ticino, which is the Italian-speaking part.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Well, there’s something for everyone, isn’t it?

Catharina de Sa

There is, definitely. And sometimes it’s hard to choose. So that’s where we try to help as well and say, Hey, for your first time, you should do this, and then you come back, and then the next time you do that.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Absolutely. So who do you think private tours are best suited to?

Catharina de Sa

I think types of travellers. First of all, guests who really want to everything on their own pace. They don’t want to sit in a bus or in a train and do what is just what they are told to do, what is in the regular itinerary. So the ones who really want to have a little bit more influence on what they are going to do. Secondly, I think the guests who have no idea where to start and who have no time to prepare their trip. I think those are the two categories of guests we We have, and that’s where we can help, of course. But I always ask, actually, when we tailor the trip, how many people you are? Do you have your travel dates? Do you want accommodation to be included? Okay, then we have the three pillars we need, actually, to tailor a tour. And then we do that for the guests. And then the result is, I think, 80 % of the time, 85, our guests are happy with the proposal and they want to book it.

Carolyn Schönafinger

So if any of our listeners are thinking, wow, this sounds absolutely fantastic, just what I need, and they’re ready to get in touch. How does the booking process takes place once they’ve contacted you?

Catharina de Sa

The guests usually send us an email or a WhatsApp. They get in touch with us. And then I try to figure out or We try to figure out a little bit what they want to do. I ask these questions like, as I said before, do you want accommodation? What are your travel dates? Do you have any specific places of interest? Are you travelling with children or not? That is important to know as well, to do some child friendly activities as well, if requested. Then we tailor a programme and we send a proposal to our guests. We can still finalise a little bit. We come up with the first proposal, say, okay, I would cover these areas and I would suggest this. We send the price and so on. And then we can still adjust. Our guests can say, Hey, that’s what I want, or they say, Okay, I love this very much, but I would like to also cover Basel, for example, as mentioned before, or it’s very nice, but we also want to do a train ride, or we want to go paragliding, or we would like to implement a helicopter flight, or something like that.

Catharina de Sa

Then we amend the proposal until the guests say, Yeah, this is exactly what we want to do. And then there is the booking process. So it’s really actually very easy when our guests say they would like to book it for a day tour. We only would require payment two days in advance, so 48 hours before, mostly by credit cards or by bank transfer. It depends on the customers. For a multi-day tour, we can then split the payment in three steps if the guests would prefer. We ask normally for a multi-day tour, a 20% prepayment because of securing the hotels. And then afterwards, the rest of the payment, we can agree on a payment date. And normally the full amount is then due about a week before travelling. And as I said, we can split the payment so we can do 20 %, 40, 40 or 20, 30, 50, whatever is better for our customers. And then we have it basically settled. And then the only thing what you have What we have to do is get into the plane and come to Zurich or Geneva, and then we will be waiting there in the arrivals hall or at the luggage claim to pick you up and give you a great time in Switzerland. So it’s actually very, very easy.

Carolyn Schönafinger

It is. It sounds very, very easy. Now, we should also mention that you have kindly offered a special bonus offer for Holidays to Switzerland listeners. Would you like to tell everyone about that?

Catharina de Sa

Yes, absolutely. I am very excited about the collaboration with Holidays to Switzerland. So yes, with Carolyn, we have offered this bonus for our travellers or for travellers who come to Switzerland. So whatever you would have to do or the only thing you would have to do when you get in touch with us via email or via WhatsApp is mention a code, and we have agreed on the code HTSWISS. So when you mention in the first correspondence, HTSWISS, then you will get a bonus. And there are two possibilities. So for For the one day tours, the single day tours from one to five days, actually, we have agreed on a free entry to one of the chocolate factories or something similar. So that would be in the Zurich area, the Lindt home of chocolate, or if you are more in the Western part of Switzerland, the Maison Cailler, for example. A free entrance for the travellers in value of 20 Swiss francs. So if you a one to five day tours, that would be the bonus you would get. And if you book a multi day tour for six days or more, you will receive a discount of one night in the hotel in a value of 240 Swiss francs per room.

Catharina de Sa

Those are the two possibilities, one to five days, a free entrance to the chocolate factories. Or if you say, hey, I don’t want to go to a chocolate factory, but I prefer to do a boat trip, for example, we offer that free of in charge in a value of 20 Swiss francs. And for more than six days, it will be a one night stay in the accommodation in the value of 240 Swiss francs per room. So that is the bonus we offer. And not only me, together with Carolyn, of course, We would be very happy to welcome the guests in Switzerland. Then don’t forget to mention this code. So HTSWISS is the code.

Carolyn Schönafinger

I’ll mention in the show notes for this episode all your contact details. The Swiss Epic Tours is looking forward to welcoming our listeners. As I said, I’ll include your WhatsApp number, your email address, and also your website so that the listeners can go on and have a look and just learn a bit more about some of itineraries and some of the destinations that they can visit.

Catharina de Sa

Perfect. That sounds fantastic. We look very much forward to welcome travellers. I’m very happy that this is possible again, of course. There is so much to offer in Switzerland. I’m very, very happy to welcome the guests on one of our private tours. Absolutely.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Thank you very much, Catharina, for sharing all that with us today. It was wonderful to learn all about your private tours and all the possibilities that are out there for our listeners.

Catharina de Sa

Thank you so much, Carolyn, for the invitation. It was fantastic talking to you and showing a little bit what we can do on the private tours here in Switzerland. Looking forward.

Carolyn Schönafinger

Thank you.

Catharina de Sa

Thank you very much.

Carolyn Schönafinger

As you can see, there are many reasons to book a private tour in Switzerland. Not only can your itinerary be tailor-made specifically for you, it can also be adapted on the run, giving you and your travelling group ultimate flexibility. Added to that, you’ll have a knowledgeable driver guide who take you door to door throughout your travels whilst you sit back and relax. There’s no need to focus on train timetables or road signs. Your focus can be entirely on the beautiful Swiss landscape outside your window. If this sounds like the perfect way for you to see Switzerland, get Be in touch with Catharina and have her design an itinerary tailor-made just for you. Don’t forget to mention the code HTSWISS, that’s H-T-S-W-I-S-S, when you contact her so you can take advantage I’ve this special bonus offer for Holidays to Switzerland podcast listeners. I’ll include all Catharina’s contact details in the show notes for this episode, which you can find at holidaystoswitzerland.com/episode59. Thanks again for joining me today. I look forward to sharing more Swiss travel ideas and inspiration with you next time. Tschüss.

Announcer

If you’d like more great resources to help you plan your dream trip to Switzerland, there are lots of ways to connect with us. Visit our website, holidaystoswitzerland.com, sign up for our monthly newsletter, or join our friendly, helpful community of past and future travellers in our Switzerland Travel Planning Group. You’ll also find the links to connect with us in the show notes for this episode. Show notes and the list of all previous episodes are available at holidaystoswitzerland.com/podcast. Don’t miss out on your fortnightly dose of Swiss Travel Inspo. Hit the subscribe button on your favourite podcast app so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed the show, please leave a rating. That’s all for this edition of the Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast. Thanks for joining us and happy travel planning.

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