Reformation Tour
In the footprints of Jean Calvin

Arrival at Zurich Airport, International Terminal.

Transfer to your tour hotel. Meet your guides for a briefing of the tour followed by dinner.

Overnight in Zurich.

Today start learning about the Reformation in Switzerland. The leading person in the Zurich Area was Ulrich Zwingli. Enter the cathedral where he preached & pass the church with the famous Chagall Windows.

Let us take you to Switzerland oldest chocolate company before you enjoy free time for shopping or stroll by the lake. Later leave for the Black Forest, where we spend the night in a hotel amidst the forest. (Zur Info: Wörter alt 160, Wörter neu 39)

Enjoy a shopping opportunity for hand crafted Cockoo Clocks, Christmas ornaments, etc and visit the famous cathedral of Freiburg. Have a late lunch and unique wine tastinging amidst the hills of a vineyard by the Rhine.
Overnight near Strasbourg.

We will walk in Calvin’s steps today by starting in front of the famous Cathedral. This is where the Protestant Reformation started, when Matthew Zell started preaching Luther’s ideas as from 1521. The Cathedral was Protestant from 1529 to 1681.

About the reformation – Jean Calvin left his base Geneva for Strasbourg in 1538, when Martin Bucer asked him to take charge of the small community of French-speaking Protestants; he was then 39 years old. The three years spent in this town were probabaly the happiest of his life: a happy marriage, productive activity and practical training in the pastoral ministry. 1541 he was called back to Geneva, where he stayed for good and became known worldwide. We will visit several places where he lived and worked. The afternoon is meant for your own activities. Overnight in or near Strasbourg.

Let us take you across the Swiss border and show you a true jewel – the city of Luzern, most probably the most beautiful city of Switzerland, situated by a river and a lake and surrounded by mountains.

Volker will show you the famous Lion Monument and take you to the famous Jesuit Church with beautiful ceiling frescoes. The leading prefect of the Jesuits will welcome our group. We will have a prayer together with his community. And tonight you will be taken to a unique yodeling show, you will never forget.
You will enjoy a typical Swiss Dinner including the famous cheese fondue and enjoy a Swiss Folklore and Yodeling Show on stage of the restaurant.

Overnight in Luzern.

today is meant to be a leisure day. If you want a unique Alpine experience, come with us on top of Pilatus Mountain. We have planned this as an optional excursion.To go up we take a very special train: commissioned in 1889, a gradient of up to 48 percent, about 30 minutes travel time. That is the steepest cogwheel railway in the world in figures.

Foot by foot it scales the way to the peak, passing alpine meadows and striking rock formations. To go down we glide in gondolas over farms and villages. A mountain experiences at ist best! Please book this at the welcome dinner first night in Zurich. The afternoon is free for your own activities – take a cruise on Lake Luzern or go shopping or enjoy the lake front.

Overnight in Luzern.

An hour drive will take us to Bern, political capital of Switzerland and home of the Bern Cathedral, important part of the Swiss Reformation. Hear the story of the years Albert Einstein lived here and admire Berns Clocktower from the 13 century and still in operation.

In the afternoon we arrive in the famous Lauterbrunnen Valley – villages and pastures between steep mountains from which dozens of waterfalls are gushing down. We will take you to a unique place – 10 glacier waterfalls within a mountain transport 10.000 liters of water per second from the melting glaciers above. Indoor waterfalls – unique.
In late afternoon we end a day rich with mountain impressions in the little town of Grindelwald. Our hotel is situated at the foot of the famous Eiger Mountain.

Overnight in Grindelwald.

We want you to relax for a day in the breathtaking mountain scenery. Enjoy a day at leisure in Grindelwald. For those who want some action, we offer you as an optional tour to go on top of the famous mountain „Jungfrau“ – 13.640 feet high.

Overnight in Grindelwald.

From Grindelwald to Lake Geneva. Around noon we reach the area of Gruyere – dairy country. In the village of Gruyere we stop for lunch, which for sure includes some cheese.

Later on to Geneva – partly by coach and partly by Belle Epoque Paddle Wheel Steamer.

Let us show you the city of Jean Calvin – we see the mighty cathedral with the famous „Calvin Chair“ a high-backed wooden chair which was used by none other than John Calvin, the city’s Protestant preacher who led Geneva’s religious reformation from this very spot. We will tell you more about this firebrand who was instrumental in shaping the course of his city’s history and is considered a great man by some, and a tyrannical religious zealot by others.

We will also come across the Scottish Reformer John Knox today who stayed in Geneva several times. He preached in the Calvin Auditory in the 1550s – a chapel right next to the cathedral – which played an important role in the Swiss Reformation and today your Pastor will preach here. Today’s highlight is the visit of the „Reformation Wall“.

We will have an American pastor with his own congregation in Geneva to guide and lecture. Before going back to our hotel we will stop at the European Headquarters of the United Nations and also the International Red Cross.

Tonight at our hotel we celebrate having had a great time in Germany, France and Switzerland.

Transfer to Geneva Airport. Your flights home will arrive in the U.S. the same day.

End of the Tour.