Europe Tour – Mini Highlights, 5 Countries in 6 Nights / 7 Days

Your week in Europe begins in Paris, the city that has inspired lovers, artists and dreamers for centuries. As your plane descends towards Charles de Gaulle Airport, look out of the window at the patchwork of golden wheat fields and green woods around the city, and then, if you're lucky, a first glimpse of Paris itself: the long grey ribbon of the Seine, the domes and spires, and the unmistakable silhouette of the Eiffel Tower rising above the rooftops.

After you collect your bags, walk out into the arrivals hall, where your professional tour manager is waiting to welcome you. From this moment on, everything is arranged: the coach, the hotels, the tickets and the meals. All you need to do is enjoy a week that will take you through five countries.

The drive into the city is your first taste of Paris. Notice the elegant cream-coloured apartment buildings, six or seven storeys high, with black wrought-iron balconies and grey zinc rooftops; the tree-lined boulevards; the flower-filled window boxes; and the café terraces where Parisians sit side by side facing the street, coffee in hand, watching the world go by. Paris is famous for haute couture, its great museums, its beautiful monuments and its cabarets, but its real charm is in the everyday rhythm of its streets: the bakery queues in the morning, the market stalls piled with fruit and cheese, and the long, relaxed lunches.

Summer is a wonderful time to be in Paris. The days are long, with the sun setting after half past nine in June and July, and the whole city seems to live outdoors. Parisians picnic along the banks of the Seine and in the parks, with baguettes, cheese and fruit spread out on the grass. In July and August, parts of the riverbank are turned into a summer beach, called Paris Plages, with sand, deckchairs, parasols and palm trees. On 21 June, the longest day of the year, the whole city celebrates the Fête de la Musique, when musicians of every kind, from rock bands to classical quartets, play for free on street corners, squares and parks until late into the night. On 14 July, Bastille Day, France's national day, a great military parade marches down the Champs-Élysées, and fireworks light up the sky around the Eiffel Tower. And at the end of July, the Tour de France, the world's most famous cycle race, traditionally finishes on the Champs-Élysées. Whenever you come in summer, there's something happening.

Once you reach your hotel and check in, take time to rest after the journey. If you have the energy, take a gentle walk around your neighbourhood. Stop at a boulangerie, a traditional bakery, for a warm croissant or a pain au chocolat, or at a pâtisserie, whose windows display rows of colourful macarons, glossy fruit tarts and cream-filled éclairs, each one a small work of art. The French take their food seriously, and even the simplest baguette is made with care: in 2022, UNESCO added the craft of the French baguette to its list of the world's intangible cultural heritage.

A few practical tips will help you settle in. France uses the euro, and cards are accepted almost everywhere. Always greet shopkeepers and waiters with a polite "Bonjour" when you enter, and "Merci, au revoir" when you leave; the French consider this essential courtesy, and it makes a big difference to the welcome you receive. Keep an eye on your bags and phones in crowded places, as pickpockets work the busiest tourist areas. And drink plenty of water, as summer days in Paris can be hot.

In the evening, the group gathers for dinner, a chance to meet your fellow travellers and to hear your tour manager outline the week ahead. Then it's back to the hotel for a good night's sleep. Tomorrow, Paris awaits: the Eiffel Tower, the Seine, Versailles and the great monuments of the city.

Paris is divided into twenty districts, called arrondissements, which spiral outwards from the centre like the shell of a snail, starting with the 1st around the Louvre. Parisians often describe where they live simply by its number. The Seine splits the city into the Right Bank, north of the river, with its grand boulevards, department stores and the Champs-Élysées, and the Left Bank, south of the river, the traditional home of students, writers and artists. On the hill of Montmartre in the north, painters like Picasso, Renoir and Van Gogh once lived and worked, and artists still set up their easels in its little square today. Paris even has its own "Little India" around La Chapelle, in the north of the city, where shops sell saris, spices, sweets and Bollywood films, and restaurants serve dosas and biryani. It's a reminder that even far from home, a taste of India is never far away.

Included today: arrival transfer, dinner (other meals depending on your flight timings).

Good to know: hotel check-in is usually mid-afternoon. Summer days in Paris are usually 22–30°C, sometimes hotter, so pack light clothes, sunglasses and a hat, plus a light jacket for cooler evenings.

Today you see the very best of Paris: the city from the Eiffel Tower, from the river and from the windows of a royal palace. After breakfast, the coach takes you to the Champ de Mars, the long green park at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, and there it is, rising 330 metres above you.

The Eiffel Tower is the symbol not only of Paris but of all of France. Built by the engineer Gustave Eiffel for the World's Fair of 1889, it was meant to stand for just twenty years, and many people hated it at first. Today it's one of the most visited monuments on earth, and it's hard to imagine Paris without it. Up close, it's an astonishing piece of engineering: some 18,000 iron parts held together by millions of rivets, all assembled in just over two years. The lift carries you up through the latticework to the second level, about 115 metres above the ground. From here, all of Paris spreads out around you like a map: the Seine curving through the city, the golden dome of Les Invalides, the white domes of Sacré-Cœur on Montmartre, and the Arc de Triomphe with avenues radiating out from it like the points of a star. Walk all the way round, find each landmark, and take your time with your photographs.

Then you step aboard a boat for a cruise on the Seine. The river is the heart of Paris, and from the water you see the city as it was built to be seen: grand facades rising from the stone embankments, and bridges of every style passing overhead, from the ornate Pont Alexandre III, with its golden statues, to the old Pont Neuf, which, despite its name meaning "new bridge", is the oldest standing bridge in the city. You glide past the Louvre, once a royal palace and now the world's most visited museum, the Musée d'Orsay in its old railway station, and the Île de la Cité, the island where Paris began, crowned by the twin towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral, beautifully restored after the fire of 2019 and reopened in December 2024. On a summer's day, the riverbanks are full of people picnicking, reading and sunbathing, and street musicians play on the bridges. It's one of the most romantic experiences in Europe.

After lunch, the coach drives about 20 kilometres west to the Palace of Versailles. Louis XIV, the Sun King, transformed his father's hunting lodge into the most magnificent palace in Europe and moved the whole French court here, so that he could keep his nobles close and under his control. Today the palace belongs to the French Republic and is one of the most visited monuments in the world. Your visit takes you through the royal apartments, richly decorated with marble, gold leaf, silk and painted ceilings, to the dazzling Hall of Mirrors, where 357 mirrors face tall windows overlooking the gardens. It was here that the treaty ending the First World War was signed in 1919.

In summer, the gardens of Versailles are at their most beautiful. Designed by the great gardener André Le Nôtre, they stretch to the horizon, with perfectly clipped hedges, flowerbeds laid out in intricate patterns, statues of gods and goddesses, and the long Grand Canal shimmering in the sun. On many summer weekends, the fountains are switched on to the sound of baroque music, just as they were for the king, and the effect is magical.

On the way back into the city, a brief orientation tour shows you some of Paris's most famous landmarks: the elegant Place Vendôme with its jewellers, the golden Opéra Garnier, Place de la Concorde with its ancient Egyptian obelisk, the Champs-Élysées, one of the world's most famous avenues, the Arc de Triomphe, built to honour Napoleon's armies, and Les Invalides, where Napoleon is buried. In the evening you return to your hotel for dinner, with the lights of Paris coming on all around.

If you're out after dark, look up at the Eiffel Tower on the hour. For five minutes, around 20,000 light bulbs sparkle across the whole tower like glittering diamonds, a sight that delights everyone who sees it. Near the very top, Gustave Eiffel even kept a small private apartment, where he once entertained the inventor Thomas Edison; today, wax figures of the two men sit there in conversation. And at Versailles, beyond the formal gardens, lies a surprise: Queen Marie Antoinette had a little make-believe village built for herself, with thatched cottages, a mill, a dairy and a farm, where she could escape the strict rules of court life and pretend, for a while, to live a simple country life.

Included today: Eiffel Tower 2nd level, Seine cruise, Palace of Versailles visit, Paris orientation tour, breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Good to know: expect a lot of walking today, so wear comfortable shoes. Queues at the Eiffel Tower and Versailles can be long in summer, and bags are security-checked. The order of visits may change depending on ticket slots.

Today you leave France and travel north to Belgium and the Netherlands. After breakfast, you check out of your hotel in Paris and the coach heads north on the motorway through the green, rolling countryside of Picardy and northern France. In summer, the fields are golden with wheat and bright with red poppies along the roadside. This peaceful farmland was the scene of some of the fiercest battles of the First World War, and you may notice small war cemeteries and memorials along the way. More than a million Indian soldiers served in that war, and many of them fought in northern France and Flanders, far from home, more than a century ago.

After about three and a half hours, you cross the border into Belgium, the second country of your tour, and arrive in Brussels. Brussels is the capital of Belgium and home to the main institutions of the European Union, so it's often called the capital of Europe. It's a city of two languages, French and Dutch, and you'll see both on every street sign. It's also a city that loves good food: Belgian chocolate, Belgian waffles, Belgian fries and hundreds of Belgian beers are famous around the world.

Your first stop is the Grand Place, often called one of the most beautiful squares in Europe. As you step into the square through one of the narrow lanes that lead to it, the view takes your breath away. On every side rise tall, elaborately decorated guild houses, built by the city's medieval trade guilds, the brewers, bakers, tailors and boatmen, each one covered in carved stone, statues and gleaming gold leaf. On one side stands the Gothic Town Hall, built in the 15th century, with its lacy stone spire soaring nearly a hundred metres into the sky, topped by a golden statue of St. Michael, the city's patron saint, slaying a dragon. Opposite rises the King's House, which now holds the City Museum. In summer, the square is full of life, with café terraces, flower sellers, musicians and visitors from every corner of the world. Every July, the Ommegang, a grand historical pageant, fills the square with hundreds of performers in medieval costume, recreating a royal procession from the 16th century.

A short walk away, on a street corner, you'll find Brussels's most famous and smallest resident: the Manneken Pis, a little bronze statue of a boy relieving himself into a fountain. He's only about 55 centimetres tall, which surprises many visitors, but he has been the cheeky symbol of the city for nearly 400 years. Legends about him abound: one says he saved the city from a fire, another that he was the lost son of a nobleman. He has a wardrobe of more than a thousand costumes, given to him by visiting dignitaries and organisations from around the world, and on special days he's dressed up in one of them, sometimes accompanied by a brass band.

While you're in Brussels, treat yourself to a Belgian waffle, warm and crisp, dusted with sugar or topped with strawberries and cream, or a paper cone of Belgian fries, which the Belgians insist were invented here, not in France, and eat with mayonnaise. The chocolate shops around the Grand Place are like jewellery stores, with rows of pralines and truffles displayed behind glass; the praline, a chocolate shell with a soft filling, was invented in Brussels in 1912. A small box makes a perfect gift.

Brussels is also the home of the comic strip. Hergé, the creator of Tintin, was born here, and as you drive through the city, look out for giant comic-strip murals painted on the sides of buildings, featuring characters from famous Belgian comics.

After lunch, the coach continues north into the Netherlands, your third country. As you cross the border, the landscape becomes even flatter, with wide skies, long straight canals, green fields full of grazing cows, and, here and there, a windmill. About a quarter of the Netherlands lies below sea level, protected by dykes, and the Dutch have been winning land from the sea for centuries. By evening, you reach your hotel in the Netherlands, where dinner is waiting.

Belgium is a small country with a big list of contributions to the world. Besides chocolate, waffles and comics, it gave the world the saxophone, invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in the 1840s, and Brussels lace, so fine that it once decorated the collars of kings and queens. In the Netherlands, too, you'll quickly notice a few things: the Dutch are among the tallest people in the world, and they cycle everywhere, whatever the weather.

Included today: coach Paris to Brussels and on to the Netherlands, visit to the Grand Place and Manneken Pis, breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Good to know: today has long coach journeys, so keep water, snacks and a neck pillow handy. The Grand Place and the area around the Manneken Pis are often crowded, so keep a close eye on your bags.

Today you discover the Netherlands at its most colourful. After breakfast, you check out of your hotel, and the visit depends on when you travel.

If your tour runs until 10 May, you visit the Keukenhof Gardens near the town of Lisse, one of the most beautiful spring gardens in the world. Every autumn, gardeners plant around seven million flower bulbs by hand across 32 hectares of parkland, and from late March to early May, they burst into bloom in a breathtaking display. As you walk through the gardens, you're surrounded by rivers of colour: tulips in every shade imaginable, red, yellow, orange, pink, purple, white and even almost black, alongside daffodils, hyacinths, crocuses and lilies. The air is filled with the sweet scent of hyacinths. Paths wind past lakes, fountains, windmills and sculptures, and pavilions are filled with extraordinary flower arrangements and rare varieties of tulips and orchids. Keukenhof opened as a flower park in 1950, and it's one of the most photographed places in the Netherlands.

The tulip isn't actually native to the Netherlands: it came originally from Central Asia and the Ottoman Empire, and arrived in Holland in the late 16th century. The Dutch fell so deeply in love with it that in the 1630s, during what became known as tulip mania, a single rare bulb could sell for more than the price of a house, until the market suddenly crashed in 1637. Today the Netherlands is the world's biggest producer of tulip bulbs, and as you drive through the countryside around Lisse in spring, you'll see the bulb fields stretching to the horizon in bands of brilliant colour, like a giant striped carpet.

If your tour runs from 11 May, when the tulip season is over, you visit Madurodam instead, in The Hague, the seat of the Dutch government. Madurodam is a miniature park where the Netherlands' most famous landmarks are recreated at a scale of 1 to 25. You'll feel like a giant as you walk among perfect models of palaces and parliament buildings, Amsterdam's canals lined with tall, narrow houses, windmills turning in the breeze, tulip fields, cheese markets, the giant port of Rotterdam with ships sailing in and out, and Schiphol airport with planes taxiing along the runway. Many of the models move at the press of a button, making it great fun for children and grown-ups alike. The park was opened in 1952 in memory of George Maduro, a young Dutch law student from Curaçao who fought in the resistance during the Second World War and died in a concentration camp; his parents funded the park in his honour.

If time allows, you may also see Amsterdam, the Dutch capital, with its ring of 17th-century canals, tall gabled houses, arched bridges and houseboats, and its famous bicycles, more numerous than the people. The best way to see it is from the water, gliding along the canals on a cruise boat.

In the afternoon you drive east into Germany, your fourth country. The flat Dutch landscape gives way to gentle hills and forests as you join the famous German autobahn, and the drive takes you along the Rhine valley region towards Frankfurt. Germany is the largest economy in Europe and a country of great cities, castles, forests and rivers. By evening you reach your hotel in the Frankfurt area, where dinner is waiting.

The Netherlands is a country shaped by its battle with water. Its name means "the low lands", and much of the country has been reclaimed from the sea and from lakes over the centuries, by building dykes and pumping the water out, first with windmills and later with pumping stations. One of the most famous dykes, the Afsluitdijk, completed in 1932, runs for 32 kilometres across the sea in the north of the country, turning a salty inland sea into a freshwater lake. The Dutch like to say: "God created the world, but the Dutch created the Netherlands."

The Dutch also love their bicycles: there are more bicycles in the country than people, and you'll see everyone from schoolchildren to business people in suits pedalling along the dedicated cycle paths. Look out, too, for Dutch treats: stroopwafels, two thin, crisp waffles joined with sweet caramel syrup; Gouda and Edam cheeses in their bright wax coats; and the famous blue-and-white Delft pottery, made in the town of Delft near The Hague since the 17th century, when Dutch potters began imitating the precious porcelain brought back from China by Dutch traders. A small Delft blue tile or a little windmill makes a lovely souvenir.

Included today: Keukenhof Gardens entry (until 10 May) or Madurodam entry (from 11 May), coach to the Frankfurt area, breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Good to know: Keukenhof is open only in spring, and the flowers depend on the weather that year; in an early or late spring, the peak bloom may come earlier or later. Spring days in the Netherlands can be cool and windy, so bring a light jacket.

Today you travel through the heart of southern Germany into Switzerland. After breakfast, you check out of your hotel and drive south along the edge of the Odenwald hills to Heidelberg, about an hour from Frankfurt.

Heidelberg is one of Germany's most romantic towns, set where the River Neckar flows out of a wooded valley onto the Rhine plain. It's home to Germany's oldest university, founded in 1386, and its old town, the Altstadt, spreads along the river beneath the hill crowned by Heidelberg Castle, whose red sandstone ruins have inspired poets and painters for centuries. In summer, the castle ruins glow warm red against the green of the forest, and pleasure boats cruise along the Neckar below.

You explore the Altstadt, a maze of narrow cobblestoned streets lined with old and modern houses, shops, bakeries and student pubs, stretching along the river. At its heart is the Market Square, with a fountain and colourful baroque houses, and the Church of the Holy Spirit, Heidelberg's great landmark, as fascinating as a medieval cathedral, with its tall tower rising above the rooftops. For centuries the church even had market stalls built between its buttresses, a tradition you can still see today. Walk down to the Old Bridge, with its twin-towered gate, and look back at the old town and the castle on the hill: it's the classic Heidelberg view.

Then you drive south into the Black Forest, the Schwarzwald, a region of rolling mountains covered in dense evergreen forests of fir and spruce, which look almost black from a distance, hence the name. In summer, the forest is cool and green, the meadows between the woods are bright with wildflowers, and the charming villages are full of traditional farmhouses with huge, sweeping roofs that come down almost to the ground and balconies overflowing with red geraniums. This is the landscape of fairy tales; the Brothers Grimm collected many of their stories in the forests of Germany. It's also the home of the famous Black Forest cake, made with chocolate sponge, cream and cherries.

In a Black Forest village, you see a demonstration of how the region's most famous craft, the cuckoo clock, is made. For nearly 300 years, Black Forest families have carved clocks by hand, and the cuckoo clock, with its little bird popping out to call the hour and its carvings of leaves, deer and hunters, has become a symbol of the region. You'll learn how the clocks work, with their pine-cone weights and tiny bellows that make the cuckoo's call, and you'll have time to browse the shop, where hundreds of clocks tick and cuckoo all around you.

In the afternoon you cross the border into Switzerland, your fifth country, and stop at the Rhine Falls, the largest waterfall in Europe. The falls are about 150 metres wide and 23 metres high, and in summer, when the snow melts high in the Alps, the river is at its fullest, and an enormous volume of water crashes over the rocks in a thundering wall of white foam and spray. Stand on the viewing platforms and feel the cool mist on your face and the roar in your ears; on sunny days, rainbows dance in the spray. Above the falls, the medieval Laufen Castle looks down from the cliff.

Then you continue to your hotel in Central Switzerland for two nights, where dinner is waiting. As you drive, look out for your first views of the Swiss lakes and mountains.

The region you drive through today, Baden-Württemberg in south-west Germany, is one of the most prosperous in Europe. It's the home of the motor car: Karl Benz built the world's first practical motor car in Mannheim, close to Heidelberg, in 1885, and Mercedes-Benz and Porsche are still based in the nearby city of Stuttgart. The Black Forest is also the source of the River Danube, which begins as a small spring in the town of Donaueschingen and flows for nearly 2,900 kilometres across Europe to the Black Sea. Near the town of Triberg, a series of waterfalls tumbles down a wooded gorge, among the highest waterfalls in Germany. And the region is famous for its traditional costumes: in some villages, women wore the Bollenhut, a straw hat decorated with large red or black woollen pompoms, which has become a symbol of the Black Forest.

The Rhine Falls have inspired visitors for centuries. The great German poet Goethe came to see them and wrote about their overwhelming power, and painters from across Europe tried to capture them on canvas. In summer, boats run on the basin below the falls, and if you look closely, you'll see a small boat carrying visitors right up to the great rock in the middle of the cascade, where a staircase leads to the top.

Included today: Heidelberg old town visit, Black Forest with cuckoo clock demonstration, Rhine Falls, breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Good to know: Heidelberg's cobbled streets can be uneven, so wear comfortable shoes. Switzerland uses the Swiss franc, but cards are widely accepted.

Today you're in the heart of Switzerland, and the day is yours to shape. You can take it easy and explore at your own pace, or join the optional excursion to Jungfraujoch, the Top of Europe, one of the most famous mountain journeys in the world. Later in the day, the group visits Lucerne together.

If you choose the Jungfraujoch excursion, it will probably be the highlight of your trip. The coach takes you into the Bernese Oberland, a region of high peaks, deep green valleys, waterfalls and glacier lakes, to the Grindelwald Terminal. Here you board the Eiger Express, a modern gondola that whisks you up the mountainside to the Eigergletscher station in just 15 minutes, past the dark, sheer north face of the Eiger, one of the most famous mountain walls in the world. Then a cogwheel train carries you through a tunnel inside the mountain to Jungfraujoch, at 3,454 metres the highest railway station in Europe, a world of eternal ice and snow, even in the middle of summer. Walk through the Ice Palace, where artists have carved sculptures from glacier ice, and step out onto the Sphinx observation deck for a breathtaking view of the Aletsch Glacier, the longest glacier in the Alps, flowing away between the white peaks. Step onto the snow, throw a snowball, and take photos with the Swiss flag against the mountains. On the way back, you pass through Interlaken, a pretty resort town between two turquoise lakes, Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, with grand old hotels and views of the snow-capped Jungfrau.

If you prefer a relaxed day, there's plenty to enjoy at your own pace. Switzerland in summer is a paradise for strolling: lakeside promenades, flower-filled villages, green meadows where cows graze with bells around their necks, and mountain views wherever you look. You could take a boat on one of the lakes, ride a cable car or mountain railway to a nearby summit such as Mt. Pilatus or Mt. Rigi on your own, or simply sit at a café by the water with a hot chocolate and a slice of Swiss cake. Your tour manager will be happy to give you ideas.

In the afternoon, everyone comes together for an orientation tour of Lucerne, widely regarded as one of Switzerland's most enchanting cities. Lucerne lies on the shore of Lake Lucerne, where the River Reuss flows out, surrounded by mountains. You'll visit the Lion Monument, a great dying lion carved into a sandstone cliff to honour the Swiss Guards who died defending the French king in Paris in 1792; the American writer Mark Twain called it the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world. Then you walk across the Kapellbrücke, the Chapel Bridge, a covered wooden bridge from the 14th century with flower boxes along its sides and old triangular paintings under its roof, beside the stone Water Tower standing in the river. It's the symbol of Lucerne and one of the most photographed sights in Switzerland. There's free time to shop for Swiss watches, Swiss Army knives, chocolates and souvenirs in the old town's charming streets, with their painted houses.

In the evening you return to your hotel for dinner, your last night in Europe.

Lucerne has much more to offer if you have free time. On the lakeshore, the Swiss Museum of Transport, the most visited museum in Switzerland, displays everything from old steam trains and cable cars to aeroplanes and spacecraft, and it's a favourite with children. On the lake itself, a fleet of historic paddle steamers, some more than a hundred years old, sails between the lakeside villages in summer, their white paddle wheels churning the blue water. You may also notice how often the Swiss flag appears, on buildings, boats and souvenirs: a white cross on a red square. The emblem of the Red Cross, the humanitarian organisation founded in Geneva in 1863, is the Swiss flag with its colours reversed, a tribute to the country where it was born.

If your tour falls on 1 August, you'll experience Swiss National Day, when towns and villages are decorated with flags and lanterns, bonfires are lit on mountaintops across the country, and fireworks burst over the lakes. Lake Lucerne is especially meaningful on this day, because, according to tradition, it was in a meadow on its shores, called the Rütli, that representatives of three mountain communities swore an oath of alliance in 1291, the founding of Switzerland. Whatever the date, the sight of the lake and mountains in the long summer evening light will stay with you.

Included today: Lucerne orientation tour with the Lion Monument and Chapel Bridge, breakfast, dinner.

Good to know: the Jungfraujoch excursion is optional and costs extra; book it with us in advance, as places are limited in summer. Lunch is not included today. If you go to Jungfraujoch, take a warm jacket, sunglasses and sunscreen: it's cold at the top, even in July.

Your week in Europe comes to an end today. Before the bustle of checking out begins, take a quiet moment over breakfast and look out at the Swiss morning: the green hills, the mountains and perhaps a lake glittering in the early sun. In summer, the sun rises before six o'clock, and the light on the hills is soft and golden.

It's been a remarkable week. You began in Paris, stood on the Eiffel Tower, glided along the Seine past Notre-Dame and the Louvre, and walked through the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. You stood in the golden Grand Place of Brussels and met the little Manneken Pis. You saw the Netherlands at its most colourful, whether among the tulips of Keukenhof or the miniature world of Madurodam. You walked through Heidelberg's old town, watched cuckoo clocks being made in the Black Forest, felt the spray of the Rhine Falls, and explored Lucerne's Chapel Bridge, and perhaps stood in the snow at the Top of Europe. That's five countries, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland, in seven days.

Now it's time to pack. You may have collected French perfume or macarons, Belgian chocolates, Dutch tulip bulbs, a cuckoo clock, a Swiss watch or a Swiss Army knife. Wrap anything fragile carefully in clothes and place it in the middle of your suitcase. Keep chocolates away from heat. Remember that Swiss Army knives and liquids over 100 ml must go in your checked baggage, not your hand luggage, and keep your passport, tickets, medicines and a light jacket with you. If you're carrying tulip bulbs, check the import rules for plants and seeds before you fly. If you made a large purchase and received a tax-free form, keep it with your receipt and goods, as it may need to be stamped at the airport before you check in.

After breakfast, you check out and the coach takes you to Zurich Airport. The drive passes through the green, gently rolling Swiss Plateau, with neat farms, orchards, woods and villages with church towers, and perhaps a red Swiss train gliding past right on time. Switzerland is famous for its punctuality, cleanliness and order, and after two days here, you'll understand why.

This is the moment to say goodbye to your tour manager, who has looked after you across five countries, and to the friends you've made on the tour. Exchange phone numbers and promise to share your photographs; you'll have plenty of Eiffel Tower selfies and Swiss mountain views to compare.

At the airport, there's time for a last coffee or hot chocolate and some final shopping: Zurich Airport has plenty of shops selling Swiss chocolate, watches and souvenirs. Then it's time to board your flight home. As the plane climbs, look out of the window for one last glimpse of the Alps glittering on the horizon. You've had just a week, but you've seen some of the very best of Europe, and you'll probably find yourself already planning your next trip.

As you pass through the stations and streets of Switzerland, look out for the famous Swiss railway clock, with its plain white face, black hands and a red second hand shaped like a railway signal paddle. Designed in the 1940s for the Swiss railways, it's so admired that it has become a design classic, and the second hand has a special trick: it sweeps around in about 58 seconds, then pauses briefly at the top until it receives a signal from the master clock, so that every station clock in the country is perfectly synchronised. It's a perfect symbol of Swiss precision.

Zurich, where your flight departs, is Switzerland's largest city and its financial centre, and it's also a city of science: Albert Einstein studied and later taught at its famous university, ETH Zurich. In summer, the people of Zurich swim in the clean waters of the lake and the River Limmat right in the middle of the city, at traditional bathing places that have been popular for more than a century.

And as you buy your last bar of Swiss chocolate, here's a little of its story. Milk chocolate was invented in Switzerland in 1875 by Daniel Peter, who had the idea of mixing chocolate with the condensed milk made by his neighbour, Henri Nestlé. A few years later, Rodolphe Lindt discovered how to make chocolate smooth and melting. Today the Swiss eat more chocolate per person than almost anyone else in the world.

If this week has given you a taste for Europe, there's so much more to discover: the canals of Venice and the ruins of Rome, the castles of the Rhine, the lakes of Austria, or a slower journey through Switzerland on one of its famous panoramic trains, like the Glacier Express. This short trip may be the start of many more.

Included today: breakfast, departure transfer to Zurich Airport.

Good to know: book a flight that leaves at least 3 hours after the transfer reaches the airport; we'll confirm the transfer time when you book.