Paris & Switzerland Christmas Tour – 7 Nights / 8 Days

Your Europe holiday begins in the sky. As the plane drops through the clouds over northern France, the landscape below turns into a patchwork of winter fields, small villages clustered around church spires and, in the distance, the grey sprawl of Paris with the Seine curling through it. You land at Paris Charles de Gaulle, one of the busiest airports in Europe, on Christmas Eve, and the excitement of the next eight days starts the moment you step off the aircraft.

Once you've collected your bags and walked out into the arrivals hall, you'll see your tour manager waiting for the group. This is the moment the holiday truly begins, because from here on you don't have to think about anything practical. Coaches, hotel check-ins, tickets, timings, meals and directions are all taken care of. Your tour manager travels with you every single day, knows the routes and the restaurants, and is there to answer every question, from "Where can I buy a SIM card?" to "Which side of the Eiffel Tower has the best view?" For many families, especially those travelling with children or parents, this is the reason they choose a group tour: everyone gets to enjoy Europe, and nobody has to be the one holding the map.

The drive from the airport into the city takes you past the outskirts of Paris and gradually into the city itself. Watch the buildings change as you get closer. The plain suburbs give way to the classic Paris you've seen in films: cream-coloured stone apartment blocks six or seven storeys high, wrought-iron balconies on every floor, grey zinc rooftops, and pavement cafés with rattan chairs facing the street. This uniform, elegant look comes from the 19th century, when Baron Haussmann rebuilt much of Paris with wide boulevards and matching buildings, and it's the reason the city feels so harmonious wherever you look.

Paris in December is a city dressed for celebration. Strings of white lights hang across the streets, shop windows are filled with elaborate Christmas displays, and the great department stores on Boulevard Haussmann, Galeries Lafayette and Printemps, are famous for their festive windows, with crowds of families stopping to admire them. Bakeries display their bûches de Noël, the traditional log-shaped Christmas cakes, and chocolate shops are piled high with festive boxes. Even from the coach window, you'll feel the mood of a city getting ready for the most important night of its year.

For the French, Christmas Eve is the heart of the holiday. Families gather for the réveillon, a long, slow dinner that can last late into the night, and many go to midnight mass in the city's churches. The streets become quieter as the evening goes on, shops close a little earlier than usual, and a peaceful, glowing calm settles over Paris. Arriving on this particular evening, you see a side of the city that most visitors never experience: not the busy, rushing capital, but Paris at home, celebrating with its families.

At the hotel, your tour manager helps the group with check-in, and you'll have time to rest and freshen up after the long flight. Take it easy this afternoon. A good rest tonight means you'll be fresh for tomorrow, which is one of the most memorable days of the whole tour. If you have energy left, stretch your legs with a short walk near the hotel, or simply unpack, call home to say you've arrived safely, and enjoy the feeling of being in Europe at Christmas.

In the evening the whole group comes together for the Christmas Eve gala dinner, the first big celebration of your holiday. Just as Parisian families sit down to their own réveillon, you sit down to yours: a festive table, a special menu with Jain, vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, and a room full of people dressed up for the occasion. It's also your chance to meet the people you'll be travelling with for the next week. Many lasting friendships on our tours begin at this first dinner, as families from different cities discover they share the same excitement about the Eiffel Tower, Disneyland and the snow in Switzerland. Your tour manager will run through the plan for the coming days, explain how the coach and the daily timings work, and share a few practical tips about Paris: how to keep your belongings safe in crowded places, how to say a polite "Bonjour" when you walk into a shop, and what to wear tomorrow, which will be a long day of walking and sightseeing.

After dinner, head back to the hotel and get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow is Christmas Day in Paris, with the Eiffel Tower, the Palace of Versailles and a cruise along the Seine as the lights of the city come on.

Included today: group arrival transfer from Paris CDG (for flights landing 8 am–2 pm), Christmas Eve gala dinner.

Good to know: hotel check-in is usually mid-afternoon. Paris is around 2–5°C in late December, so keep a warm jacket, scarf and gloves in your hand luggage for the walk from the airport to the coach. Some attractions close or change their hours over Christmas, so the order of sightseeing may be switched between days; you still see everything in the itinerary.

Christmas in Paris is something every family should experience once, and today you see the city at its most beautiful. After breakfast you meet your local guide, a Parisian who knows every story behind every building, and the coach sets off through streets that look like the inside of a Christmas card: lights strung between the trees, decorated shop fronts and the soft grey winter sky over the rooftops.

Your city tour begins at Place Vendôme, a perfect octagon of elegant 17th-century buildings that today house the world's most famous jewellers. The tall column in the middle was cast from the bronze of cannons captured by Napoleon's army at the Battle of Austerlitz. A short drive brings you to the Opéra Garnier, the grand opera house finished in 1875, its golden statues and green copper dome so lavish that it inspired the setting of The Phantom of the Opera. Along the river you pass the Musée d'Orsay, a former railway station now home to the world's greatest collection of Impressionist paintings, with its two huge station clocks still facing the Seine.

Then comes Place de la Concorde, the largest square in Paris. It's hard to imagine today, with its fountains and traffic, but during the French Revolution this is where the guillotine stood and where King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette lost their heads. At its centre stands a 3,000-year-old Egyptian obelisk from the temple of Luxor, its tip covered in gold. From here the Champs-Élysées runs straight up the hill for almost two kilometres, its trees wrapped in lights for the festive season, to the Arc de Triomphe, built to honour Napoleon's victories. Beneath the arch lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from the First World War, where a flame has burned every evening since 1923.

You cross the River Seine on Pont Alexandre III, the most ornate bridge in Paris, with gilded winged horses on tall columns and lamps that look like they've come out of a fairy tale. It was named after the Russian Tsar as a symbol of friendship between France and Russia. On the far bank rises the golden dome of Les Invalides, built by Louis XIV as a hospital for old soldiers and now the resting place of Napoleon himself.

Then it's time for the moment everyone has been waiting for. The Eiffel Tower was built by Gustave Eiffel's company for the 1889 World's Fair and was meant to stand for only twenty years. Parisians at first called it an eyesore; today it's the most loved monument in the world. You ride the lifts up through the iron lattice, the city falling away beneath you, all the way to the top level at 276 metres. From here the whole of Paris is laid out like a map: the Seine curving through the city with its bridges, the white domes of Sacré-Cœur on the hill of Montmartre, the Arc de Triomphe at the centre of its star of avenues, and the rooftops stretching all the way to the horizon. Take your time, find your landmarks, and take the photo you'll frame when you get home.

In the afternoon you drive about 19 km to the Palace of Versailles, the most magnificent royal palace in Europe. Louis XIV, the Sun King, turned his father's hunting lodge into this enormous palace in the 17th century and moved the whole French court here. As you walk through the State Apartments, every room seems richer than the last: painted ceilings, gold leaf, silk walls and crystal chandeliers. The highlight is the Hall of Mirrors, a gallery 73 metres long lined with 357 mirrors facing tall windows onto the gardens. In 1919 the treaty that ended the First World War was signed in this very room. Standing here, it's easy to imagine kings, queens and courtiers in silk gowns and powdered wigs gliding across the polished floor.

As the early winter evening falls, you return to Paris for a Seine river cruise, the perfect end to the day. The boat glides beneath the old stone bridges, past the Louvre, once a royal palace and now the world's most visited museum, and around the Ile de la Cité, where the twin towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral rise above the water, restored and reopened after the fire of 2019. As darkness settles, the city lights come on one by one, reflecting in the river, and then, on the hour, the Eiffel Tower bursts into thousands of sparkling lights. It's a moment that makes the whole boat go quiet, and one you'll remember long after the holiday.

Dinner tonight is at an Indian restaurant, where the group shares stories and photographs of the day over a warm meal.

Included today: guided Paris city tour, Eiffel Tower top level, guided Versailles Palace tour, Seine river cruise, breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Good to know: because of Christmas, some places may be closed on certain days (the Palace of Versailles, for example, is closed on 25 December), so activities may be switched between days. Your tour manager will confirm the order on arrival, and you still see everything included. Access to the Eiffel Tower top level depends on its operating status; if it's closed, the group visits the 2nd level instead. Expect a lot of walking today, so wear comfortable shoes.

Today belongs to the child in everyone. After an early breakfast the coach takes you about 35 km east of Paris to Disneyland® Paris, the most visited theme park resort in Europe, and for the next several hours there is no timetable, no sightseeing list and nothing to do except have fun.

Disneyland® Paris opened in 1992, and it's the only Disney resort in Europe. It has two parks side by side, and with your ticket you choose where to spend your day. Most families start in Disneyland® Park, the classic one. You walk in under the railway station and straight onto Main Street, U.S.A., a street of painted Victorian shop fronts, horse-drawn trams and old-fashioned lamp posts, designed to look like a small American town at the start of the 20th century. At the far end, rising above everything, stands Sleeping Beauty Castle, pink and blue with golden spires, the image you've seen on a hundred postcards. It's different from every other Disney castle in the world: walk inside and you'll find stained-glass windows telling the story of Sleeping Beauty, and below it, in a dark cave, a huge animatronic dragon that breathes smoke and rumbles in its sleep. Children love finding it.

In the Christmas season the whole park is transformed. A giant decorated Christmas tree stands on Main Street, garlands and lights hang from every building, festive music plays through the streets, and the castle is dressed for the holidays. The Disney characters come out in their winter costumes, and the Christmas parade winds through the park with floats, dancers and Mickey, Minnie and their friends waving from the top. If you're travelling with children, this is the moment they'll talk about for months.

The park is divided into themed lands, each a different world. In Fantasyland, the gentlest part of the park and the best for younger children, you'll find classic rides like Peter Pan's Flight, where your little ship sails over the twinkling streets of night-time London, and "it's a small world", a boat ride past hundreds of singing dolls from every country. In Adventureland, Pirates of the Caribbean takes you through pirate battles and treasure caves by boat, and you can climb through the tree house of the Swiss Family Robinson. In Frontierland, the Big Thunder Mountain railroad races around a red rock mountain in the middle of a lake, one of the park's most popular rides for teenagers and adults. And in Discoveryland, inspired by the futuristic dreams of Jules Verne, Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain launches you into the dark at high speed.

If your family prefers the movies, the second park, Walt Disney Studios® Park, is the place to go. Here you step behind the scenes of film-making, with stunt shows, movie-set attractions and rides inspired by Disney and Pixar films and Marvel heroes. Many families split up for part of the day, with the thrill-seekers heading for the big rides and grandparents enjoying the shows and parades, and meet up again for photographs in front of the castle.

A few tips to make the most of your day: start with the rides your family wants most, because queues are shortest in the morning; check the park map for parade and show times as soon as you arrive; and keep an eye on the weather, because December can be cold, and a warm hat and gloves make the queues much more comfortable. There are plenty of shops along Main Street for Mickey ears, toys and Christmas decorations to take home, and cafés for a hot chocolate when you need to warm up. Your packed lunch, provided by the tour, means you don't have to spend time or money searching for food at midday.

As the afternoon light fades, the lights of the park come on, and the castle glows against the darkening sky. When the coach collects the group to drive back to the hotel, you'll see tired, happy faces all around: children asleep on their parents' shoulders, and adults who have just discovered that they still love roller coasters. Dinner is waiting back in Paris, and tonight everyone will have a favourite ride to argue about.

Don't forget to take photos of the whole family together. Some of the best spots are the Christmas tree in Town Square, the bandstand in front of the castle, and the bridge into Fantasyland, where the castle rises right behind you. Ask a Cast Member, as Disney calls its staff, to take the picture: they're happy to help, and it means the person behind the camera finally appears in the album too. Between rides, notice the small details that make Disney special: the music changes as you walk from one land to the next, the litter bins are themed to match each area, and even the drain covers on Main Street are decorated. Nothing here is accidental. Walt Disney believed a park should feel like stepping into a story, and more than thirty years after it opened, Disneyland® Paris still does exactly that.

Included today: full-day Disneyland® Paris tickets, coach transfer, breakfast, packed lunch, dinner.

Good to know: you choose one park for the day with your ticket. Wear comfortable shoes and warm layers, and keep your phone charged for photos and the park app.

Today you leave Paris behind and travel from France into Switzerland, and the journey itself is one of the quiet pleasures of the tour. After breakfast you check out and settle into the coach for the drive south-east. The open farmland around Paris gradually gives way to rolling hills, then to the vineyards and stone villages of Burgundy, one of the most famous wine regions in the world, its slopes bare and silvery in winter. Later the road climbs towards the Jura mountains, the landscape turns greener and wilder, the first snow appears on the higher ground, and the air outside grows noticeably colder and clearer. Your tour manager keeps the journey easy with comfortable breaks along the way, and a packed lunch means you don't lose time searching for food.

By the time you cross into Switzerland, you can feel the change. Everything seems a little neater: the houses with their steep roofs, the tidy fields, the clean little towns. Then the road descends towards a vast lake, and Geneva appears along its shore.

Geneva is one of the most international cities on earth. It's small, with only around 200,000 people, but it's home to the European headquarters of the United Nations, the International Red Cross, which was founded here, the World Health Organization and dozens of other international organisations. Diplomats from almost every country in the world live and work here, and you'll hear French, English and many other languages in its streets. It's also the birthplace of Swiss luxury watchmaking: some of the most famous and expensive watch brands in the world began in Geneva's workshops, and the elegant shops along the lakefront still display them like jewels.

Your orientation tour begins at the water's edge, with Lake Geneva stretching away towards the French Alps. The lake is one of the largest in Western Europe, shaped like a crescent moon and shared by Switzerland and France. On clear winter days you can see the snowy mountains rising beyond the far shore, and on the best days, the white summit of Mont Blanc itself.

Rising out of the lake is the symbol of the city, the Jet d'Eau, a giant fountain that shoots water about 140 metres into the air, higher than a forty-storey building. It began life in the 19th century as a simple safety valve for the city's water system, releasing excess pressure, but people loved it so much that it was turned into a permanent fountain. On a sunny day the spray catches the light and creates a rainbow over the water, and the white plume can be seen from all over the city and even from aircraft landing at Geneva airport.

You then drive past the United Nations, where the flags of the member nations line the avenue in front of the Palais des Nations, the grand building where world leaders meet to discuss peace, human rights and disarmament. In the square in front stands the Broken Chair, a giant wooden sculpture with one leg snapped off, a powerful reminder of the victims of landmines. It's one of the most photographed spots in Geneva.

Near the lake, in the English Garden, you'll find the famous Flower Clock, a working clock whose face is made of thousands of plants and flowers, arranged in new designs each season. It's a tribute to Geneva's watchmaking tradition, and its second hand, at around two and a half metres long, is said to be one of the longest in the world. In winter the planting changes with the season, and the clock still keeps perfect Swiss time.

If there's a little free time, take a stroll along the lakefront promenade, watch the swans gliding past the boats in the harbour, and look out for chocolate shops selling Swiss chocolate in beautiful festive boxes. It's a calm, gentle afternoon after the excitement of Paris, and a lovely introduction to Switzerland.

In the evening you check in to your hotel in Geneva for the night and sit down to dinner with the group. Tomorrow is the day many travellers have been waiting for since they first booked: the journey to Jungfraujoch, the Top of Europe.

Geneva has an old town too, climbing up the hill above the lake, with cobbled lanes, fountains and antique shops around St. Pierre Cathedral. In the 16th century the Protestant reformer John Calvin preached here, and Geneva became known across Europe as the "Protestant Rome". In the park below the old city walls stands the Reformation Wall, a long stone monument with giant statues of Calvin and his fellow reformers. You may also notice chocolate pots filled with marzipan vegetables in the shop windows. They come from the Escalade, Geneva's favourite festival, held every December to celebrate the night in 1602 when the city beat off a surprise attack. Legend says a local woman poured a pot of boiling soup over the attackers, and today children smash chocolate pots in her honour.

Included today: coach Paris–Geneva, Geneva orientation tour with the Jet d'Eau, the United Nations and the Flower Clock, breakfast, packed lunch, dinner.

Good to know: the drive from Paris to Geneva takes most of the day, with comfortable breaks. The Jet d'Eau is sometimes switched off in winter for maintenance or in strong winds and freezing weather.

Switzerland in December is a winter wonderland, and today is the day most travellers remember above all others. After an early breakfast you leave Geneva and drive east into the Bernese Oberland, the high mountain heart of Switzerland. As the coach climbs, the lake country gives way to deep valleys, wooden chalets with their roofs heavy with snow, frozen waterfalls hanging from the cliffs and, ahead of you, a wall of white peaks that seems to grow taller with every bend in the road.

Your destination is the Grindelwald Terminal, the modern base station at the foot of the mountains. From here you board the Eiger Express, one of the most advanced cable cars in the world, opened in 2020. Its cabins rise smoothly and silently above the snowy slopes, and through the glass you look straight across at the north face of the Eiger, a sheer wall of dark rock and ice nearly 1,800 metres high, famous among climbers as one of the most dangerous faces in the Alps. In about 15 minutes you reach Eigergletscher station, already more than 2,300 metres above sea level.

Here you change to the Jungfrau Railway, and this is where the journey becomes extraordinary. More than a hundred years ago, Swiss engineers had a dream of building a railway to the top of the mountains. It took them sixteen years, from 1896 to 1912, to dig a tunnel more than seven kilometres long through the solid rock of the Eiger and the Mönch, and the cogwheel train still follows their route today. The train climbs steadily inside the mountain, and you arrive at Jungfraujoch, Europe's highest railway station at 3,454 metres above sea level. Look at the signs on the platform: "Top of Europe". It's no exaggeration.

Step out of the station and the first thing you notice is the air: cold, thin and astonishingly clean. Walk slowly at first, because at this height your body needs a few minutes to adjust. Then the wonders begin. In the Ice Palace, a network of tunnels and halls carved deep inside the glacier, the walls, floor and ceiling are made of blue-white ice, and ice sculptures of eagles, bears and penguins glow in the soft light. The temperature inside stays below freezing all year round, and the ice under your feet has been there for centuries.

Then a fast lift takes you up to the Sphinx Observatory, a scientific research station perched on a rocky peak at 3,571 metres, and out onto its viewing terrace. The view takes your breath away. Below you stretches the Aletsch Glacier, the longest glacier in the Alps at more than 20 kilometres, a vast river of ice flowing between the peaks towards the south. The whole area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On a clear day you can see far beyond Switzerland, to the Vosges in France and the Black Forest in Germany, and all around you rise the famous summits of the Jungfrau, the Mönch and dozens of other snowy giants.

Out on the Plateau, you can step onto the snow itself. Children throw snowballs, families take the photograph of the trip with the Swiss flag fluttering behind them, and many people simply stand still and take it all in. Don't miss the chance to visit the Lindt chocolate shop at the top, often called the highest chocolate shop in Europe, where you can buy chocolate as a souvenir from the Top of Europe.

Lunch is served as part of the day, and afterwards you begin the journey back down, the views just as dramatic on the way.

In the afternoon you visit Interlaken, a charming resort town whose name means "between the lakes": it sits on a strip of land between two turquoise lakes, Lake Thun and Lake Brienz. Its main street, the Höheweg, is lined with grand old hotels, watch shops and chocolate shops, and from the big open meadow in the centre of town you get a perfect view of the snowy Jungfrau rising above the rooftops. In winter, look up and you may spot paragliders floating down from the mountains. Take some free time to shop or enjoy a hot chocolate before continuing to your hotel in Central Switzerland.

Tonight at dinner, everyone will be scrolling through their photos from the top of the mountains, and for many, this will remain the best day of their whole holiday.

Included today: coach Geneva–Grindelwald, Eiger Express gondola, Jungfrau Railway, Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe with the Ice Palace and Sphinx terrace, Interlaken, breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Good to know: it can be well below freezing at the top, so wear warm layers, gloves, a hat and sunglasses (the snow glare is strong). Walk slowly at altitude, and tell your tour manager if anyone in your family has heart or breathing problems.

If yesterday was about the grandeur of the Alps, today is about playing in them. After breakfast the coach takes you to Engelberg, a pretty mountain village whose name means "angel mountain". It grew up around a Benedictine monastery founded almost 900 years ago, and its white walls still stand at the centre of the valley, framed by snowy peaks. Above the village towers Mt. Titlis, at over 3,200 metres the highest summit in Central Switzerland, its glacier glittering white against the sky.

The journey to the top is an adventure in itself, made in stages. First a gondola lifts you over pine forests heavy with snow to Trübsee, a mountain lake that lies frozen and white in December. Then a larger cable car carries you higher to the station at Stand. And finally you board the star of the show: the Rotair, the world's first revolving cable car. As it glides up over the glacier, the floor of the cabin slowly turns a full circle, so that wherever you're standing, you see everything: the crevasses of the glacier below, the jagged peaks all around, and the valley falling away far beneath you. Children press their noses to the glass, and even the grown-ups go quiet.

You step out at the summit station at 3,020 metres, into a world of snow. For many Indian travellers this is a special place: Mt. Titlis has been a favourite since Bollywood fell in love with Switzerland, and you'll see why the moment you walk out onto the snow. Make snow angels, throw snowballs, and take photographs with the glacier behind you.

Then, if you're brave, walk the Titlis Cliff Walk, Europe's highest suspension bridge. It's about 100 metres long, hung along the rock face more than 3,000 metres above sea level, with a drop of around 500 metres beneath your feet. The bridge sways gently in the wind as you walk, and the view down the valley is spectacular. Hold the rail, take it slowly, and you'll come back with the bravest photo of your holiday.

Inside the mountain, the Glacier Cave takes you on a walk through a tunnel cut into the ice of the Titlis glacier itself, its walls glowing blue and white, cold and silent. And when you need to warm up, the summit restaurant and shops are waiting with hot drinks, Swiss chocolate and watches.

In the afternoon you come back down the mountain and drive to Lucerne, which many people consider the most beautiful town in Switzerland. Lucerne sits at the end of a long, winding lake surrounded by mountains, and its old town looks like something from a storybook, with painted houses, church towers and cobbled squares.

Your first stop is the Lion Monument, a huge dying lion carved into a cliff face in 1821. It honours the Swiss Guards who died in Paris in 1792 defending the French king during the Revolution. The American writer Mark Twain called it "the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world", and standing in front of it, by the quiet pond in a small park, it's easy to see why.

Then you walk to the Chapel Bridge, the symbol of Lucerne. Built in the 14th century, it's one of the oldest covered wooden bridges in Europe, crossing the River Reuss at an angle beside its octagonal stone Water Tower. Look up as you walk across: under the roof hang painted panels from the 17th century, telling stories from Lucerne's history. In winter, with swans on the dark water and snow on the mountains behind, it's one of the most romantic sights in Switzerland.

You'll have free time to explore the old town and its shops. Lucerne is a wonderful place to buy Swiss souvenirs: watches in every price range, genuine Swiss army knives, cuckoo clocks, and chocolate in festive gift boxes for everyone back home.

The day ends on the water, with a calm Lucerne lake cruise. The boat glides out across Lake Lucerne, its surface still and silver in the winter light, with mountains rising straight out of the water on every side and little villages scattered along the shore. As the light fades and the lights of the town come on behind you, it's a peaceful, beautiful close to a day of snow and adventure.

You return to your hotel in Central Switzerland for dinner with the group.

If you're curious about Swiss food, this is a good day to learn about fondue. The idea is simple: cheese, usually Gruyère and Vacherin, is melted in a pot over a small flame, and everyone dips cubes of bread into it on long forks. Mountain families made it in winter from the cheese and bread they had stored. In the 1930s the Swiss cheese makers' union promoted it as the national dish, and it's been a symbol of Switzerland ever since. Tradition says that if you drop your bread in the pot, you owe the table a round of drinks or a song.

Included today: Mt. Titlis with the Rotair revolving cable car and Cliff Walk, Lucerne orientation tour with the Lion Monument and Chapel Bridge, Lake Lucerne cruise, breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Good to know: dress warmly for the summit. Some summit attractions can close at short notice in bad weather.

Your last full day in Switzerland brings three very different experiences: a medieval capital, the most powerful waterfall in Europe, and a palace of chocolate. After breakfast the coach takes you through the rolling Swiss countryside to Bern, the capital of Switzerland.

Bern surprises almost everyone. Many visitors expect the capital to be Zurich or Geneva, but this small, unhurried city has been the seat of the Swiss government since 1848, and it has kept its old town almost exactly as it was centuries ago. The whole old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It sits on a narrow rocky peninsula wrapped in a loop of the River Aare, whose water is a startling shade of turquoise, even in winter.

Legend says the city was founded in 1191 by a duke who promised to name it after the first animal he caught on a hunt. It was a bear, and bears have been the symbol of Bern ever since. You'll see them everywhere: on flags, fountains, shop signs and chocolates, and real brown bears still live in the Bear Park on the riverbank below the old town.

As you walk through the old town, the first thing you notice are the arcades. Covered stone walkways run along both sides of the main streets, about six kilometres of them in all, so locals can shop in comfort even in rain and snow. Above them rise sandstone houses with flower boxes and painted shutters, and down the middle of the streets stand eleven colourful Renaissance fountains, each topped with a painted figure: a knight, a piper, a bear in armour, and one strange giant eating small children, which nobody can fully explain.

The heart of the old town is the Zytglogge, Bern's famous clock tower. It once was a city gate, then a prison, and since the 1500s it has carried an astronomical clock that shows not just the time but the zodiac and the phases of the moon. A few minutes before each hour, a little show begins: a rooster crows, bears parade in a circle, and a golden figure strikes the bell. Just around the corner is the house where a young patent clerk named Albert Einstein lived in 1905, the year he developed his theory of relativity. You'll also see the Federal Palace, the grand domed parliament building where Switzerland's government meets, overlooking the river and the Alps beyond.

From Bern you drive north to Schaffhausen, close to the German border, to see the Rhine Falls, Europe's most powerful waterfall. You'll hear them before you see them: a deep, constant roar. Then the falls appear, about 150 metres wide and 23 metres high, the whole River Rhine crashing over the rocks in a wall of white foam and spray. They were formed around 15,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. In the middle of the falls stands a lone rock that has stood against the water for thousands of years, and high above on the cliff sits Laufen Castle, a medieval castle looking down over the spectacle. From the viewing platforms you can get close enough to feel the cold spray on your face and the ground tremble beneath your feet.

The last stop of the day is the sweetest. The Lindt Home of Chocolate, on the shores of Lake Zurich, is a modern museum dedicated to Switzerland's most delicious tradition. Lindt's story goes back to 1845, and in 1879 Rodolphe Lindt invented the process called conching, which gives Swiss chocolate its famously smooth, melting texture. As you walk in, you're greeted by the world's largest chocolate fountain, over nine metres tall, with around 1,500 litres of liquid chocolate flowing down from a giant whisk into a huge chocolate bowl. The interactive exhibition takes you from the cocoa farms of the tropics to the Swiss chocolate makers, and along the way there are tastings, so you can try the chocolate as you learn. The visit ends in the world's largest Lindt shop, the perfect place to buy chocolate gifts for everyone at home.

Tonight is your last evening in Europe. At dinner with the group, there'll be laughter, shared photographs and probably a little sadness that the holiday is almost over. Pack your chocolates carefully.

Look down as well as up in Bern. Along the old town streets you'll see wooden or metal cellar doors set into the pavement in front of many houses. Open the doors and steps lead down to shops, bars and small theatres hidden in the old vaulted cellars below. The people of Bern also love their traditions. Every year on the fourth Monday in November, the city holds the Zibelemärit, an onion market, when the old town fills with stalls selling braided strings of onions, onion tarts and onion soup, and children throw confetti. You've just missed it, but you may still spot onion braids hanging in a shop window.

Included today: Bern orientation tour, Rhine Falls, Lindt Home of Chocolate, breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Good to know: the boat ride at the Rhine Falls usually pauses over Christmas and New Year, so on this departure you see the falls from the viewing platforms. Keep chocolates in your hand luggage or a cool place in your suitcase.

It is the last day of the year, and the last morning of your holiday. Wake up slowly if you can. Open the curtains one more time and take in the view: grey-blue winter light, the outline of hills, perhaps a dusting of fresh snow on the rooftops or a mist lying low over the fields. Swiss mornings in December are quiet. The cows are indoors for winter, the roads are calm, and the only sounds may be church bells somewhere in the distance and the soft crunch of footsteps on frosted pavements.

Breakfast today feels different from the other mornings. The bread rolls, the creamy Swiss yoghurt, the butter and honey, the strong coffee and the hot chocolate are the same, but the conversation around the table has changed. Instead of asking what's next, people are asking each other about their favourite moments. Was it the first sight of the Eiffel Tower glowing on Christmas Eve? The Disney fireworks? Standing in the snow at the Top of Europe? The cable car turning slowly above the glaciers on Mt. Titlis? Or simply a cup of hot chocolate in a Lucerne café while the snow fell outside? Everyone will have a different answer, and that's what makes it fun.

Before you check out, take a few minutes to pack thoughtfully. Over the last week your suitcase has probably gained some weight: Swiss chocolate from the Lindt shop, a cuckoo clock or a Swiss Army knife from Lucerne, Christmas decorations from a Paris market, perhaps a Disney souvenir for a child at home. Pack anything fragile in the middle of your suitcase, wrapped in soft clothes. Keep chocolates away from the heaters in your room, and remember that a Swiss Army knife must go in your checked baggage, never in your hand luggage.

Then it is time for the final drive. The coach takes you towards Zurich, Switzerland's largest city and its business capital, on the northern tip of Lake Zurich. Zurich is a city of banks and watchmakers, but also of old church towers, cobbled lanes and elegant lakeside promenades. If you have a window seat, look out for the twin towers of the Grossmünster, the city's most famous church, and the long, glittering stretch of the lake with the snow-covered Alps rising faintly on the far horizon on a clear day. It's a fitting last view of a country that has spent the past few days showing you its mountains, lakes and towns at their most beautiful.

This is a good moment to say goodbye to your tour manager and coach driver, who have looked after the group since Paris. They have handled the early starts, the long drives, the snowy roads and every question along the way. A word of thanks means a lot to them. It's also the time to swap phone numbers with the friends you've made on the tour. Many families who travel together on these Christmas departures stay in touch long after they get home.

Zurich Airport is one of the most pleasant airports in Europe: modern, clean, calm and easy to find your way around. Check-in and security are efficient, and once you are through there is time to wander. The shops are full of Swiss specialities, from chocolate and cheese to watches and pocket knives, so if you forgot to buy a last gift, this is your chance. Pick up a final hot chocolate, find a seat by the large windows and watch the planes taking off against the backdrop of the hills.

Then comes the special part of today. It's 31 December, New Year's Eve. While Zurich prepares for its fireworks over the lake and India gets ready to welcome the new year (India is four and a half hours ahead of Switzerland), you'll be on your way home. Depending on your flight, you may well cross midnight somewhere in the air, toasting 2027 above the clouds with your family, or land just in time to celebrate with friends at home. Either way, you'll be carrying something special into the new year: memories of Christmas Eve in Paris, snow on the Alps, the sparkle of Disneyland, and a week spent together with the people you love.

As the plane climbs and Switzerland shrinks beneath you, look out at the mountains one last time. You'll be home soon, but the stories, the photographs and the chocolate will last long after the suitcases are unpacked. Happy New Year!

If you still have a gap in your gift list, look for two traditional Swiss biscuits at the airport shops. Basler Läckerli, from Basel, are spiced honey biscuits with almonds and candied peel, made for centuries. Zurich's own speciality is the Tirggel, a thin, hard honey biscuit with a picture pressed into it from a wooden mould. Both keep well and travel easily, which makes them perfect for carrying home.

Included today: breakfast, group departure transfer to Zurich airport (arriving by about 11 am).

Good to know: we recommend booking a flight that leaves Zurich after 2:30 pm. The group transfer leaves the hotel at a fixed time. Put a Swiss Army knife and any liquids over 100 ml in your checked baggage.