Lake Como, St Moritz & the Bernina ExpressEscorted Tour, Italy & Switzerland

Savour lakes and mountains and take one of the world’s great railway journeys to Switzerland’s most celebrated holiday hideaway.

Spend a week on the shores of Lake Como, the most picturesque of the Italian lakes. Enjoy its elegant villas and glorious gardens – which have inspired artists and writers for generations – and combine rest and relaxation with some wonderful excursions, including a journey on the spectacularly scenic Bernina Express to chic St Moritz, famous refuge of the well-heeled, and opportunities to discover stylish Milan and idyllic Lugano.

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS

Discover Bellagio, "Italy's most beautiful town"

Enjoy a cruise on Lake Como

Ride the Bernina Express to St Moritz

Entry to the gardens of a lakeside villa

Enjoy a week on the shores of Italy’s most romantic lake

WHAT’S INCLUDED

Seven nights' bed and breakfast or half-board accommodation in your chosen Lake Como Hotel

Two boat trips on Lake Como

A ride on the Bernina Express

Entrance to the gardens of Villa del Balbianello

Return flights to Milan

Comfortable coach travel and transfers throughout

Fully escorted by a friendly, experienced tour manager, with specialist local guides where applicable

ITINERARY

Day One – Fly from the UK to Italy

Fly to Milan and transfer to Lake Como and your chosen hotel. Settle into your surroundings and enjoy your first dinner.

Day Two – Included visit to Bellagio

Today introduces you to Como’s most sparkling jewel, stunning Bellagio. Idyllically set on the peninsula that divide the lake’s two southern limbs, Bellagio is often described as the most beautiful town in Italy. Join your tour manager for the ferry crossing, then step ashore to discover this exquisite place, with its elegant villas and glorious gardens looking out over the lake and backed by wooded hills.

After a short walking tour, you'll be free to enjoy Bellagio and its wondrous surroundings. Stroll along the lakefront promenade, take a seat in a café, or enjoy a delicious gelato before taking the ferry back across the lake in your own time.

Day Three – Included Lake Como cruise

Another relaxed day sees you take to the lake again to enjoy more of Como’s idyllic shoreline. Board a lake cruiser to sail past yet more elegant villas and their stunning gardens, and past some of the lake's highly favoured settlements. The day will include a visit to the gardens of Villa Balbianello, after which you'll be free to sit back and relax, enjoying the joys of cruising back to port under hopefully sunny skies on what is sure to be a memorable day.

Day Four – Optional Milan city tour

Today you're free to relax in the hotel and its surroundings, or to join our optional excursion to the great city of Milan. One of Europe’s most exciting cities, Milan is not merely a centre of worldwide fashion; it is also home to some of the best collections of art and architecture in the world. The Sforzesco Castle, the famous shopping Galleria, La Scala – one of the world’s greatest opera houses – and the great cathedral, Il Duomo, one of its largest Gothic churches, are among the breath-taking sights brought to life on your guided tour. Afterwards you can head to the shops, visit a gallery or museum, or simply take a seat in a pavement café to watch the Milanese world go by.

Day Five – Included Bernina Express train journey to St Moritz

Our last included excursion take you to St Moritz, the world-famous resort set high in Switzerland’s Upper Engadine Valley. Board the Bernina Express to travel from the Lombardy town of Tirano through Switzerland’s Italian-speaking southeast corner – across viaducts (including the famous spiral at Brusio) and over the 2,253-metre-high Bernina Pass – to St Moritz. The journey to this exclusive mountain town features some of the most stunning scenery found anywhere in this Alpine region.

Enjoy window-shopping in this playground paradise, or perhaps take a stroll into the beautiful countryside beyond the town, before returning to Como and your hotel by coach.

Day Six – Optional day trip to Lugano

Another free day brings opportunities to explore your surroundings or join today’s optional excursion to Lugano, one of Switzerland’s most stylish resorts, delightfully set on the shore of the little lake of the same name. Around the lake, pretty Swiss villages nestle amid luxuriant vegetation, and the shoreline is dotted with villas and summer homes. After a short sightseeing tour, explore under your own steam, or ride the funicular up Monte Bre for a breath-taking panoramic view of the lake and the nearby Alps, before returning to Como.

Day Seven – Optional Bergamo tour

Join today’s optional excursion, which journeys to the twin city of Bergamo, built between the Lombardy Plain and the Alps. Here, modern Bassa, the Lower City with its neoclassical features, is watched over by idyllic, walled Alta, the Upper City. The city's stunning 14th-century citadel, ancient Piazza Vecchia (Old Square) with its beautiful Pallazo della Ragione, 15th-century bell tower, cathedral and elaborate Santa Maria Maggiore church are all breath-takingly glorious examples of Italian architecture. The city also boasts some carefully preserved Venetian walls, and a stroll along a section of these is a must for the energetic. Bergamo is also famed for its food, and boasts a host of reasonably priced cafes and osterie in which you can enjoy a delicious snack.

Day Eight – Fly back to the UK

Bid "arrivederci" to your hosts, and transfer back to the airport to catch your flight home at the end of a wonderful stay in a beautiful corner of the world.

Lake Como, St Moritz & the Bernina Express is located in Escorted Tour, Italy & Switzerland. Accommodation rating is the operators own rating and may not be the official rating. Hotel details correct at 02/09/2024