John Calvin (July 10, 1509 – May 27, 1564) was a French Protestant Theologian during the Protestant Reformation and was a central developer of the system of Christian theology called Calvinism or Reformed theology. In Geneva, his ministry both attracted other Protestant refugees and over time made that city a major force in the spread of Reformed theology. He is renowned for his teachings and writings, in particular for his Institutes of the Christian Religion.

Day # 1 May 9

Inbound to Europe
Group is in flight from Florida to Zurich Switzerland
Start Custom Euro Tours’ Services

Day # 2 May 10 -  Arrival in Zurich & Transfer to Basel     (D)

Group arrives in Zurich’s international Airport. Clear Immigration and Customs and meet your Custom Euro Tour’s Tour Director in the arrival’s hall. Board coach and transfer to your hotel in Basel.

As most transatlantic flights to Zurich arrive in the morning it may not be possible to check into your hotel before 3:00pm.

Luggage will be deposited in the hotel baggage room. Group will then be taken on a short orientation walk around the area of your hotel and given free time for an independent lunch.

Mid afternoon check into your hotel for 1 night
Dinner in hotel or a nearby local restaurant.

                                    Hotel in Basel TBA

Day # 3 May 11 Basel Sightseeing                                  (B, D)
Breakfast in the hotel
A morning city tour of Basel. Basel is definitely a combination of the old and the new. It is divided (as are many European cities) into the modern cosmopolitan district and the Alt Stadt (old city).

Basel is Switzerland's third most populous city 165,529 inhabitants stretching across the immediate cantonal and national boundaries made Basel Switzerland's second-largest urban area.

Located in north-west Switzerland on the river Rhine, Basel functions as a major industrial centre for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. The city borders both Germany and France. The Basel region, culturally extending into German Baden and French Alsace, reflects the heritage of its three states in the modern Latin name: "Regio TriRhena". It has the oldest university of the Swiss Confederation 1460.

Basel became Protestant in 1528. It was in Basel that John Calvin first sought refuge from persecution in this city. His famous Institutes of the Christian Religion (Christianae Religionis Institutio) were published in Latin, in Basel in 1536.

Free time for an independent lunch. After lunch we will drive to the spectacular Rhine falls before continuing on to Zurich.

The Rhine Falls, are the largest Falls in Europe, and offer a spectacular showpiece to visitors. With an average flow of 25’000 cubic ft / sec the water cascades down the cataracts, which are 450 ft wide and 75 ft high.

Our tour will arrive in Zurich and check into your hotel by late afternoon for 1 night.

Dinner in hotel or a nearby local restaurant.

Day # 4 May 12 Zurich City Tour and Transfer to Lucerne   (B, D)
Breakfast in the hotel
Morning city tour of Zurich

It was in Zurich where the Reformed branch of the Reformation got its start under Zwingli’s leadership beginning in 1520. Today we will see his monument, the church where he was pastor (the Grossmunster), and the Guild Hall and Museum in which we will find artifacts and works of art associated with the Reformation.

Free time for an independent lunch, before transferring to Lucerne.

Lucerne is situated on the banks of the Vierwaldstatter See (Lake Lucerne) with the population of 57,000 the tourist city of Lucerne is said to be one of Switzerland's most charming medieval cities.
After lunch, sit back and enjoy a cruise on Lake Lucerne. Beautiful crystal clear alpine waters reflect the majestic snowcapped peaks of the Swiss Alps.
Late afternoon check into your hotel for 2 nights.

Dinner in hotel or a nearby local restaurant.

                                      Hotel in Lucerne TBA

Day # 5 May 13 Lucerne                                                      (B)

Breakfast in the hotel.

Enjoy a brief walking tour of historic Lucerne you can view many interesting sites offered by the Old Town. Kapellebrucke, the covered bridge and the nearby octagonal water towers are among the most popular tourist places to see on tours to Switzerland. Walk across the bridge to look at the paintings of Lucerne's history on the ceiling. You can visit the Jesuitenkirche; one of the oldest baroque churches in Switzerland situated near the southern end of the bridge. Other main attractions of the tourist city of Lucerne include the Rittersche Palast, an Italian Renaissance villa that has now become the seat of government for the canton. On the opposite side of the Reuss River are the Weinmarkt, Hirschenplatz and Kornmarkt, three squares surrounded by buildings with painted facades.

Afternoon free at leisure for shopping and personal sightseeing.

Optional tour: Mount Pilatus: Price TBA

To make the most of your tour to Switzerland you can take a trip via cable car or cog wheel railway from Kriens to Mount Pilatus, a huge mountain adjacent to Lucerne, for lunch and a panoramic view of the Swiss Alps.

Independent dinner on your own

Day # 6 May 14 Lucerne – Interlaken - Bern                       (B, D)

Breakfast in the hotel.

Leaving Lucerne after breakfast we travel to Brienz, home to many wood carvers. Free time will be allowed to explore the woodcarving shops before we continue on to Interlaken.

Independent lunch in Interlaken

Interlaken is a Bernese Oberland resort beautifully situated between two lakes and beneath the towering Jungfrau Mountain and glacier vistas and is located at 1880 feet above sea level. The original importance of the town was as the site of a convent of the Augustinian Canons; the convent was built in 1130 and lasted until 1528. In the past, printing, textiles, and to a smaller extent watchmaking were also of importance, but today tourism is the most significant source of income. Interlaken is one of the oldest tourist resorts in Switzerland, and it remains one of the most popular.

Mid afternoon our journey will take us along the south shore of Thunersee (Lake Thun) passing Thun and Spiez before driving north to Bern, arriving late afternoon, where we first vist the famous Bern Bear Pits before we check into your hotel for the next 2 nights.

Dinner in hotel or a nearby local restaurant.

                                       Hotel in Bern TBA

Day # 7 May 15 Bern                                                              (B)

Breakfast in the hotel.

Walking tour of the Old City with our local step-on guide.

Of all Swiss cities, Bern (Berne in French) is perhaps the most immediately charming. Crammed onto a steep-sided peninsula in a crook of the fast-flowing River Aare, its quiet, cobbled lanes, lined with sandstone arcaded buildings straddling the pavement, have changed barely at all in over five hundred years but for the adornment of modern shop signs and the odd car or tram rattling past. The hills all around, and the steep banks of the river, are still liberally wooded. Views, both of the Old Town’s clustered roofs and of the majestic Alps on the horizon, are breathtaking. Coming from Zürich or Geneva, it’s hard to remember that Bern – once voted Europe’s most floral city – is the nation’s capital, home of the Swiss parliament and wielder of final federal authority.

For all its political status, Bern is a tiny city of barely 130,000 people and retains a small town’s easy approach to life. The attraction of the place is its ambience; traffic is kept out of the Old Town and you could spend days just wandering the streets and alleys and café-hopping. The perfectly preserved medieval street plan, with its arcades, street fountains and doughty towers persuaded UNESCO to deem Bern a World Heritage Site, placing it in the company of such legendary sites as Florence, Petra and the Taj Mahal.

Became protestant in 1528. the Berne Disputation was attended by Martin Bucer who had a great influence on John Calvin. A public disputation was held in 1528 between Catholics and Reformers, in which one of the participants was Martin Bucer, leader of the Reformed preachers at Strasbourg. The outcome of the Bern Disputation was the adoption by the city of the Reformed religion.

Afternoon free at leisure for shopping and personal sightseeing.

Independent dinner on your own

Day # 8 May 16 Bern – Neuchatel - Lausanne - Geneva         (B, D)

Breakfast in the hotel.

Departing Bern, we continue our tour south to arrive in Lausanne lying within the French speaking part of Switzerland known as Canton Vaud.

En-route to Lausanne our tour will take us through Neuchatel. William Farel established himself in Geneva in 1532, where he remained as minister, drawing Calvin to the city, but breaking with him over the Eucharist. He was banished from Geneva in 1538, in part for his rigorous positions, and retired to Neuchâtel, where he died.

After a brief visit to Neuchatel we arrive in Lausanne and take a short sightseeing tour with a local step-on guide.

From medieval times, Lausanne has stood at the Swiss cultural avant-garde. Back then, the Cathedral crowned the city the most influential of the region; it still sits resplendent on an Old Town hill, the country’s most impressive Gothic monument. After the Reformation, students flocked to Lausanne’s pioneering university, and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, restless Romantics sought and found inspiration in the setting and the life of Lausanne.

Few Reformers have been as much maligned as Theodore Beza, Calvin's successor in Geneva. By means of the influence of Peter Viret, Beza was appointed professor of Greek at the University of Lausanne.

After an independent lunch our tour will depart mid afternoon for Geneva.

Driving along the upper ridge of placid Lake Leman (Lake Geneva). There will be stops along the way to take in this extraordinarily beautiful site. Finally we will come to the south end of this magnificent lake and encounter the city known to Protestants as the "Town of Calvin" – Geneva, and check into our hotel for the next 3 nights.

Dinner in hotel or a nearby local restaurant.

                                        Hotel in Geneva TBA

Day # 9 May 17 Geneva                                                            (B)

Breakfast in the hotel.

Today, after breakfast we will begin a full day guided tour of Geneva with our local step-on guide. We begin sightseeing at St. Peter's Cathedral, where John Calvin taught the doctrine that made him famous throughout the Protestant faith. Other Reformation sites of interest include Calvin's Academy, the Reformation Monument and the Reformation Museum. We'll also take a walk by the Flower Clock and Gardens.

We will take a short break for an independent lunch before continuing with the city tour.

City tour will finish at the hotel by late afternoon.

Independent dinner on your own

Day # 10 May 18 Geneva                                                      (B, D)

Breakfast in the hotel.

Morning boat excursion on Lake Geneva.

Remainder of the day free at leisure for last minute shopping and personal sightseeing.

Farewell Dinner in hotel or a nearby local restaurant.

Day # 11 May 19
Transfer from Hotel to Geneva international Airport              (B)

Breakfast in the hotel.

Group transfer to Geneva’s International Airport and check in for the return flight to the USA

                         B = Breakfast L = Lunch D = Dinner

What is included:

• Meet and greet at Zurich Airport

• All land transportation by modern touring motor coach (Land portion only)

• All road tolls and applicable taxes

• 9 Nights in 1st class tourist 3***star category hotels

• 9 buffet breakfasts

• 6 Dinners (3 Courses) as per the itinerary

• All excursions as specified in the Itinerary

• All city guided tours with English speaking local guide

• All entrance fees as specified in the itinerary

• Tour coach driver’s room & board throughout

• Luggage handling at hotels (1 piece per person)

What is not included:

• All items of a personal nature i.e. Telephone calls, laundry, pay TV. Hotel mini-bars in room.

• All meals not specified in the itinerary.

• All entrances to museums, art galleries, etc. not specified in the itinerary

• Any beverages not included with group dinners or lunches

• All private excursions not specified in the itinerary

• Any public transport, Taxi, local bus, rail or flights not specified in the itinerary

• Gratuities to local guides ($1 per person)

• Gratuities to local drivers and transport operators. ($2 per person per day)

• Gratuities to Tour Manager ($4 per person)

• Round trip airfare from USA to Europe

Payment

All the above-mentioned services at the following rates: (Land Package only)

Min 20-29 paying pax = $2630.00 pp in twb/dbl
Single room Supplement $650.00 pp

Custom Euro Tours require a minimum of 20 paying passengers to operate this tour.

To secure reservations for this tour we will require a non-refundable deposit of $500.00 per person by January 31, 2009.

Full & Final payment should reach us no later than March 9, 2009

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