Singles Travel Company -

Journey through Austria & Switzerland

August 9-21, 2008

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Early sign-ups are a must for this wonderful summer vacation where you can leisurely explore two of Europe’s most beautiful countries!

Join us for a spectacular summer vacation in the two beautiful countries of Austria and Switzerland! Enjoy the picturesque mountains, the snow-capped peaks and alpine scenery as well as the green valleys of the countryside while you explore the many wonderful sights that you can only find in this region of Europe!

Your vacation starts with 3 nights in fascinating Vienna….see the Hofburg Palace, take time to visit Schonbrunn Palace; then it’s on to Melk and Salzburg after a morning cruise on the Danube. Continue on to Innsbruck and then stay in St. Moritz-home to the rich and famous!

At Chur board the first-class panoramic coach of the world-renowned Glacier Express Train; enjoy lunch as you admire thundering waterfalls, impressive peaks, glacial ice fields, and tiny villages as you pass through the Valais, a region known for its great mountain resorts and excellent wines.

Zermatt, Lake Geneva, Berne, and Lucerne bring us to the end of this wonderful vacation!

The trip includes a professional guide, 18 meals-including a welcome and farewell dinner, lots of included sightseeing and other singles to enjoy it with!

Come join us on this trip fabulous trip!

Maybe take our European Rhine River cruise prior to this trip for a fantastic vacation!

Price Includes all of the following……

· 11 nights accommodations in superior hotels,

o Twin bedded rooms with private shower or bath.

o Hotel taxes, service charges,

o Tip for baggage handling on arrival: all local taxes

· All transfers and transportation by motorcoach as per itinerary

· Total 18 meals

o 11 buffet breakfasts (BB)

o 1 lunch (L) on the Glacier Express train

o 6 three-course dinners (D) including

§ a welcome dinner in Vienna

§ a farewell dinner in Lucerne

· Free roommate matching if requested

· Guided sightseeing with professional English speaking guide

o Vienna: Welcome dinner; guided sightseeing, visit St. Stephen’s Catherdral

o Danube Cruise: Morning cruise on this famous river

o Melk: Picture stop at the abbey

o Salzburg: Guided sightseeing,visit Mirabell Gardens and St. Peter’s Churchyard

o Innsbruck: Orientation including Golden Roof

o Chur-Zermatt: Glacier Express Train (first-class)

o Chillon: Guided visit of the castle

o Berne: Guided sightseeing tour including the Bear Pit

o Interlaken: Lunch stop

o Lucerne: Orientation walking tour including the Lion Monument and Chapel Bridge; farewell dinner

Itinerary

Austria

Day 1, Sat. Aug 9 Leave the U.S.

Board your overnight transatlantic flight from your hometown to Vienna, Austria.

Day 2, Sun. Aug 10 Arrival in Vienna, Austria

Time to rest or start exploring this beautiful Viennese capital. At 6 p.m. meet your Tour Director and traveling companions for a special welcome dinner at your hotel. (D)

Day 3, Mon. Aug 11 Vienna

Meet your local guide and start your sightseeing with vistas of Prater Park with its giant Ferris Wheel, and the United Nations City on the banks of the Danube River. Then drive along Ring Boulevard, pass the State Opera House, the Jewish quarter, and stop at the Hofburg Palace, the winter residence of the Austrian Imperial family. You’ll marvel at the impressive courtyards and famous Heldenplatz and visit awesome St. Stephen’s Cathedral.

Your afternoon is at leisure. You may want to participate in optional excursions to either the popular Schönbrunn Palace or the wine village of Grinzing which are available. (BB)

Day 4, Tues. Aug 12 At Leisure in Vienna

Today you’ll have a full day to explore Vienna independently. Why not visit the imposing Hofburg Palace to see the precious Habsburg dynasty treasures? If you are interested in great paintings, do not miss the museum of Fine Arts, with works by Jan Van Eyck, Rubens, Rembrandt, Raphael, and more. Later, you may want to join an optional excursion. (BB)

Day 5, Wed. Aug 13 Vienna, Melk - Salzburg

This morning enjoy a leisurely Danube Cruise. Afterwards, follow the Danube Valley to historic Melk for pictures of the Melk Abbey. No landscape is more typically Austrian than the Salzkamergut Lakeland.

Next enjoy a picture stop at the Parish Church in Mondsee, which was used for the wedding scenes in The Sound of Music, then continue to wonderful Salzburg. (BB,D)

Day 6, Thurs. Aug 14 Salzburg

A pleasant stroll with a local guide takes you through the historic center of Salzburg, where you can admire the exquisite Mirabell Gardens, the Great Festival Hall, St. Peter’s Churchyard, the monumental Domplatz and take pictures of Mozart’s birthplace in the charming Getreidegasse.

Your afternoon is at leisure with optional possibilities to be offered or explore on your own with new friends from the group. (BB)

Day 7, Fri. Aug 15 Salzburg – Innsbruck – St. Moritz, Switzerland

This morning includes a visit to Innsbruck in the Tyrolean Mountains. Enjoy a pleasant walk through its quaint medieval lanes to Emperor Maximilian’s Golden Roof.

Next, enter the Swiss Engadine, considered by many as the most beautiful mountain area in the world, with its deep-blue lakes, airy larch forests that turn golden in the fall, mountain peaks exceeding 12,000 feet, and quaint villages with massive white stone houses in the characteristic Grisons style.

The rest of the day is at leisure in ritzy St. Moritz. (BB,D)

Day 8, Sat. Aug 16 St. Moritz – Chur – Zermatt

After breakfast we’ll drive through exhilarating Alpine scenery and then at Chur we’ll board the first-class panoramic coach of the world-renowned Glacier Express Train. While enjoying lunch onboard, admire thundering waterfalls, impressive peaks, glacial ice fields, and tiny villages as you pass through the Valais, a region known for its great mountain resorts and excellent wines.

This afternoon you are in Zermatt, a picturesque cluster of rustic chalets beneath the majestic Matterhorn. (BB,L, D)

Day 9, Sun. Aug 17 At Leisure in Zermatt

You’ll have an entire day today at leisure to breathe the fresh mountain air and to catch up on your postcards. A suggestion: maybe take a ride on Europe’s highest rack-railway to 10,272-foot Gornergrat for a breathtaking panoramic view of the Alps! (BB)

Day 10, Mon. Aug 18 Zermatt – Berne

Today we’ll board the Mountain Train to Täsch and motor through the vineyards and apricot groves of the lower Rhône Valley to the shores of Lake Geneva. Here enjoy a highlight visit to Chillon Castle, the 12th-century water fortress immortalized by the poet Lord Byron.

In the evening we arrive into Berne. (BB,D)

Berne, Switzerland

Day 11, Tues. Aug 19 Berne–Interlaken–Lucerne

Our sightseeing with a local guide starts at the popular Bear Pit and then focuses on the monumental Federal Palace and the beautifully preserved medieval Old Town. Witness the hourly parade of painted figures at the Clock Tower and take your pictures of ornate, flower adorned fountains.

We’ll have a leisurely lunch break in Interlaken, beautifully situated beneath the towering Jungfrau. We then head over Brünig Pass to picture-book Lucerne.

You may wish to sign up for a folklore party with yodeling and alphorn blowing for a first-hand impression of Alpine merrymaking. (BB)

Day 12, Wed. Aug 20 Lucerne

On your walking tour this morning, admire Thorwaldsen’s Lion Monument and ornate patrician houses of the walled Old Town, then cross the famous covered Chapel Bridge to the Jesuit church.

Afterwards, shop for watches and choose from our optional activities: climb a mountain by cable car or take a cruise on the Fjord-like lake.

Tonight we have a farewell dinner to celebrate the success of our Swiss vacation. (BB,D)

Day 13, Thurs. Aug 21 Lucerne – Zurich Airport

There will be a morning transfer to Zurich Airport in time for homebound flights leaving no earlier than 10 a.m. (BB)

Extra nights are available in Zurich, not Lucerne.

Our Hotels– Superior and First Class

VIENNA De France (SF), SALZBURG Best Western Stieglbräu (F), ST. MORITZ Monopol (F) or Laudinella (F), ZERMATT Pollux (F), BERNE Allegro (SF), LUCERNE Grand Hotel Europe (F)

(F=First Class, SF=Superior First Class)

Itinerary

Available: Download Itinerary Now (PDF)
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Price

$2319.00 land only, per person, based on double occupancy.

$ 357.00 single supplement –add to above price (very, very limited availability)

Airfare is additional. You need to fly into Vienna, Austria and out of Zurich, Switzerland.

If you are continuing on to this trip from our Rhine River Cruise you’ll need to fly from Basel at the end of the River Cruise to Vienna after your cruise. Call for more details and see our Rhine River Cruise listed before this trip on the homepage of our website.

Airport transfers are $20 each way ($40 roundtrip) day of the tours dates only. To qualify, you must arrive into the Vienna airport between 6am-3pm and depart from Zurich airport between 10am and 3pm. We will need your flight information no less than 6 weeks prior to the departure date to confirm transfers.

$119.00 +$30 Travel/Trip Cancellation insurance is highly recommended. Get Travel Protection Plus for

an additional $30. This additional benefit allows you to cancel your vacation up to 24 hours (or the prior business day, whichever is farther out) before your scheduled departure for any reason not covered by the travel protection plans provisions. With this Protection Plus policy you will be reimbursed for the cancellation penalties with travel vouchers

to be used within a year with the tour operator. You must purchase it with your deposit if you want a waiver for pre-

existing conditions and Travel Protection Plus. Insurance is not refundable. Your air is not covered under this policy.

Price does not include: items of a personal nature, passports or visas, any phone calls, tips and gratuities to drive and guides as well as local guides, and meals not mentioned in itinerary.

A valid passport is required for U.S. travelers and should be valid up to 6 months after the trip. Non-U.S. citizens must check with their local consulates for any needed passports or visas for travel..

This is a Special Trip Offering: This trip is in response to a lot of our singles asking us to do a few great trips open to everyone, not just singles. However, we are sending Singles Travel Representatives on most of the “not just singles” trips this year as we expect a lot of singles to sign up for them. Come join us!

Fine Print –Austria and Switzerland August 9-21, 2008

Your payment for a reservation on this trip constitutes consent and acknowledgement of all the provisions in this Fine Print listed below and in the Singles Travel Company General Terms and Conditions. Please make sure you read both of these important pieces of information and call us with any questions.

Payments: A non-refundable deposit of $200.00 is due with your reservation and your insurance is due also if you want to purchase it. Full and final payments are due 70 days prior to departure date. Credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express) and /or checks (payable to Travel Advisors) are accepted.

Cancellation Fees and Refunds:

All cancellations must be in writing. Regardless of when you cancel there will be a charge from Singles Travel Company of $50. Also insurance is non-refundable.

Cancellation Fees as follows:

From deposit to 91 days prior to commencement of services Full refund minus insurance & $50 service fee

90-57 days prior to commencement of services Loss of deposit and insurance & $50 service fee

56-29 days prior to commencement of services 50% of total price & insurance & $50 service fee

28-15 days prior to commencement of services 75% of total price & insurance & $50 service fee

Within 14 days of departure 100% of total price & insurance & $50 service fee

No refunds on unused portions of the tour. A fee of $30 per transaction may be charged for any alteration or revision made to a reservation. Cancellation fees also apply to additional accommodations reserved prior to and after the tour booked with the tour operator of the trip. After airline tickets are issued, airline cancellations are per the airline’s policy/ and or the tour operator if purchased through the tour operator. Per our tour operator, hotels are always subject to change.

** Travel Insurance is highly recommended**

Download full Terms and Conditions (PDF)

A Division of Travel Advisors of Los Gatos
56 North Santa Cruz Ave.
Los Gatos, CA 95030

Toll Free: 888.286.8687
Local: (408) 354-6531
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