Price per person in a double room
The offer is valid from 3rd January until 23rd December 2024. From 06.05.-17.11.2024 including boat trip and cogwheel railway from Alpnachstad, the rest of the year you reach mount Pilatus with the gondola from Kriens.
Arrival (individual)
The journey through time begins with check-in at Hotel La Couronne in Solothurn, Switzerland's most beautiful baroque city. Experience Solothurn's party mile, which can rival any beach promenade in its coolness. Find out what Napoleon's visit and the number 11 are all about - and indulge in a welcome aperitif at the "Bar à Vin" and an exquisite 4-course menu at Hotel La Couronne.
Start the day with our rich breakfast buffet before picking up your e-rental car at 10.00 am for a spectacular day tour. Your journey takes you along the picturesque Lake Biel and the Chasseral Nature Park to St. Imier, where you will visit the renowned watch manufacturer Longines. Immerse yourself in the fascinating history of the Swiss watch industry and discover the masterpieces of precise craftsmanship.
Your journey through time continues with a trip to La Chaux-de-Fonds, the heart of Swiss watchmaking. Here you will visit the watch museum and learn more about the evolution of this fine mechanics that has made Switzerland famous worldwide. Le Locle, just 10 km further on, is also a contemporary witness to watchmaking. These two towns, closely linked to the watchmaking industry, have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list for their exemplary representation of the industrial age of urbanisation. They represent a unique urban planning closely linked to the development of the watchmaking industry in the 19th century.
Your next destination is the Creux du Van, also known as the "Grand Canyon of Switzerland". This majestic natural formation is an impressive witness to time and provides insights into geological history - the structure of the Jurassic folds. The limestone layers were formed about 140 million years ago from sedimentary deposits in the sea of the Jurassic period. The last stage of the day takes you down to Lake Neuchâtel and always along the lakeshore - past Grandson Castle (perhaps you would like to visit the imposing Gothic castle from the 13th and 14th centuries?) to Yverdon les Bains.
Welcome to the Hotel La Prairie in Yverdon-les-Bains. While your rental car is being collected, celebrate the evening with an exquisite 4-course Gala Dîner Vaudois, prepared by our renowned Gault Millau kitchen team. Savour the refined flavours as you revisit the exciting day.
After breakfast, take the train to Bern - we'll take care of your luggage so you can travel weightlessly. What would a journey through time in Switzerland be without a visit to the «Zytgloggeturm» (clock tower)?! If you not only want to marvel at the elaborate clock, but also learn more, take a guided tour of the tower's interior. Bern's old town has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site for 4 decades. It was built around 1200 surrounded by the Aare river and fascinates with its imposing sandstone buildings, small alleys and six-kilometre-long arcades. The Bernese Historical Museum is a cultural repository for the history of Bern and the world.
The collection objects come from many historical eras - and show different perspectives on social development.
Your luggage is already waiting for you at the Boutique-Hotel Belle Epoque - in the middle of the old town under the arcades, halfway to «Bärengraben» - Bern’s famous bear park. Check in and enjoy a "Berner Plättli" (afternoon snack with cold cuts, cheese and bread) with a good glass of white wine.
Today you have the evening at your leisure. We have – as Bern has so much to offer - not reserved dinner for you. If you wish, the Belle Epoque team will be happy to reserve a table for you, for example in the city's oldest restaurant, the "Della Casa", which is as popular as a meeting place for interesting people from politics, commerce and industry as it is for students and old Bernese citizens.
After breakfast, your journey through time on the insider's tip among Switzerland's railway lines takes you on the BLS Regio Express Bern-Emmental - Entlebuch - Lucerne in approx. 90 minutes through the rustic land of Emmental cheese with its defiant farmhouses with low-hanging roofs amidst lush green hilly countryside towards Lucerne. In the Entlebuch you cross the first UNESCO biosphere reserve. Fascinating moorland landscapes and a diverse animal and plant world tell nature stories. Once again, we have taken care of your luggage, because: it's worth getting off along the way - for example in Trubschachen to explore the «Kambly Erlebniswelt» - which takes visitors with all their senses into the secrets of the art of pastry making.
After arriving in Lucerne, we recommend a short walk through the city. Another factotum of our journey through time: The world-famous Chapel Bridge, the covered wooden bridge built over the Reuss around 1260, connects the "new town" with Lucerne's old town.
However, Lucerne is not yet your destination for today. The highlight of your journey through time is still to come. If you travel between June and October*, one of Lake Lucerne's historic paddle steamers (the oldest of the fleet, the «DS Unterwalden», was allowed to present its engine at the 1899 World's Fair in Paris before it was installed) will take you to Alpnachstad. Here you board the steepest cogwheel railway in the world - the 4168m-long railway line from the lakeside to Pilatus Kulm was opened in 1889 and has held this record unbeaten ever since with a 48% gradient.
At the Hotel Pilatus Kulm, the historic pioneering achievement from 1890 with modern comfort, your luggage awaits you - and probably the most beautiful panoramic view you have ever seen in a hotel. After 17.30h - the departure of the last gondola and the last cable car - the mountain is yours. Then enjoy the breathtaking panoramic view of the Alps and the Lake Lucerne basin over an aperitif. Afterwards you will be spoiled with a 4-course fare-well dinner. Important for you to know: Nowhere do the stars shine more intensely and the sunrises are more spectacular than on Pilatus Kulm.
After breakfast at the hotel and the return journey "to the here and now" by cable car and gondolas to Kriens-Lucerne, the "official part" of your time travel through Switzerland ends.
* The steepest cogwheel railway in the world only runs in Summer - June to November. The trip is also a pleasure in Winter - but the journey up Mount Pilatus in Winter will be via Kriens - Fräkmüntegg by gondola and cable car.
| Prices per person | Double room | Single room |
| With 1st class train journey / Half-fare travelcard | CHF 1‘695.00 | CHF 2‘190.00 |
| With 2nd class train journey Half-fare travelcard | CHF 1‘610.00 | CHF 2'099.00 |
| With GA | CHF 1‘440.00 | CHF 1‘940.00 |
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The Private Selection Hotel Service AG is part of the guarantee fund of the Swiss tourism sector and ensures the repayment of your deposit paid in connection with the booking of a package as well as your return journey. For further details kindly ask Private Selection Hotels or on www.garantiefonds.ch.
