For our first visit to Switzerland in May 2025, we went with Authentic Europe for their “Switzerland in a Nutshell” self-guided tour. We have used its sister company in the past, Authentic Scandinavia, so we were already familiar with their reputation and knew we were in good hands.
“Switzerland in a Nutshell” is a five-day tour by rail, starting from Zürich, that features two cities: Lurcerne/Luzern and Interlaken, with tickets to Jungfraujoch, and optional activities, including Mt. Pilatus.
Our itinerary was clear, and our accommodations were in central locations, within walking distance to rail stations. We had point-to-point rail tickets with SBB, which allowed us flexibility to travel between locations and activities. As an aside, the Swiss rail system is very easy to navigate when using its app. Our accommodations also included city cards, which gave us access to local transportation and municipal attractions, such as discounts on museums.
This could just be a coincidence, but our hotel accommodations were always ready for us, even if we arrived an hour before the traditional check-in time.
We worked with Lisbeth W, who was knowledgeable and professional in all her correspondence. Authentic Europe has an emergency contact number, should you need to use it.
Overall: our short-but-sweet tour of Switzerland was perfect for what we needed. We were able to travel at our own pace, and see the things that interested us the most. There was never a concern of cancelled reservations or miscommunication.
