Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast - Plan Your Swiss Vacation

7 Unforgettable Small Group Day Tours from Zurich You Won’t Want to Skip

Carolyn Schönafinger - Switzerland Vacation Planning Expert Episode 189

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If you’re planning a trip to Switzerland and want to make the most of your limited time in Zurich without feeling overwhelmed with logistics, a small group tour could be your answer.

In this episode, I’m joined by Catharina De Sa from Swiss Epic Tours to learn more about their guided small group day tours from Zurich. 

We chat through the full range of Zurich day trips they offer, including memorable journeys to Mt Titlis (with a private lakeside fondue experience!), the spectacular Rhine Falls and a visit to the Lindt Home of Chocolate. 

You’ll hear all about the charming villages of Appenzell, scenic day trips to Liechtenstein from Zurich, historic Bern and postcard-perfect Gruyeres, as well as adventures into the Black Forest, just over the German border.

For lovers of nature and classic Swiss landscapes, we cover tours through the Bernese Oberland region, as well as panoramic rides up Mt. Rigi, one of the most beloved peaks for locals and visitors alike.

If you’re looking for guided day tours from Zurich that are intimate, hassle-free and fun, this episode is for you. Plus, don’t miss our exclusive listener discount code for Swiss Epic Tours.

Happy travels,
Carolyn


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Carolyn Schönafinger: If you're planning to spend a day or two in Zurich and would love some ideas for exploring the city and beyond, today's episode is for you. I'm joined by Katerina Dassard from Swiss Epic Tours to learn about their small group day tours from Zurich to some of Switzerland's most popular and stunning destinations. Welcome to the Holidays to Switzerland podcast. I'm Carolyn Schönafinger, your Switzerland destination expert and the founder of holidaystoswitzerland.com. Each week, together with my expert guests, I introduce you to the Switzerland that I know and love and share inspiration and practical tips to help you plan your dream Swiss vacation. Before we dive in, a quick thank you to our podcast sponsors, Switzerland Tourism and Eco Rails. If you're planning a trip to Switzerland, you'll know just how much there is to consider. With so many incredible places to visit, figuring out your itinerary, booking accommodation, and choosing the right rail pass can quickly start to feel overwhelming. So that's where Eco Rails comes in. Their small group rail tours are carefully curated so that everything is taken care of for you. From the moment you arrive at the airport, your accommodation, transport, daily breakfasts and dinners, scenic excursions, and a knowledgeable local English-speaking guide are all included, so you can simply relax and enjoy the journey.

Carolyn Schönafinger: If travelling through Switzerland with a small group tour sounds like your ideal way to explore, you'll find more details via the link in the show notes. Along with an exclusive 5% discount code. Now, let's get into this week's episode. Hello, Katarina. Thank you very much for coming onto the podcast again. I'm looking forward to chatting to you today. Could you please introduce yourself and tell our listeners a bit about your company, and what you offer?

Catharina De Sa: Yes, absolutely. Well, good morning to you, Carolyn, and to all of the listeners to the podcast. I'm really happy to be back and to give you some information about our new product today. But first of Hello, my name is Catherine. I'm the owner and general manager of Swiss Epic Tours. And what we generally do is we organise private and tailor-made experiences in Switzerland. So we basically take care of the A to Z for the guests once they arrive in Switzerland. That can be either Zurich or it can be Geneva, or it can be any other airport in Switzerland, or maybe even by train from Milano, for example. And then we help with private tours. So we have our own vehicles, we have our own guides, our own driver guides. We can help with accommodations as well. We help with chocolate tastings, wine tastings, cheese tastings. We take the guests to the mountains. We go lake swimming. We do barbecues. We do Alpine playgrounds. Anything clients would like to do, to do while they are in Switzerland, we take care of them. And our aim is really that the guests are on holidays, so they do not have to worry about anything.

Catharina De Sa: We will take care of all the operational things and logistics so the clients can really just enjoy and have an amazing time with their families.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yes, it's all very, very simple when that's all handed over to, to you and your team. Okay, so today we're going to talk about a new offering that you've, you've just started for the 2026 season, and that is your guided small group day tours from Zurich. So firstly, what made you decide to start offering these kind of trips as well?

Catharina De Sa: Yeah, so actually, um, we started this in April and I must say it's running really well. We got more and more requests from travel agents, agencies, partners we have here in Switzerland as well, and also direct customers who wanted to have a bespoke experience, but maybe not completely private. And that for most of the guests was a pricing issue because if you book a completely private tailored tour, of course, there is a certain price tag for that. And we have a lot of customers who want to do something bespoke and maybe not travel with a big group to go up a mountain, for example, something more intimate. So they were looking for an in-between solution. And then we said, well, there is a big, like, request for this kind of tours and we can offer it because we have our own fleets, we have our own guides, we have the Sprinters, for example, so we can take these guests on a tour. On a shared tour with other customers, but not too many. So the maximum group size on our small group tours is 12 passengers. So that still gives a private feeling, but it's not as expensive, let's say, as the completely private tours would be.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay. So yes, there's definitely, as you say, a market there for people who want that more intimate experience, but, but don't want to actually pay the premium price for an, for a, uh, a private tour just for them. So when a guest books on one of your guided small group day tours, what, what can they expect?

Catharina De Sa: Yeah, so they normally reach out to us either via email or then later also via the link you will, uh, publish on the podcast, for example, or they book directly via our website. And then there it starts. Um, what we need to know from the customers is where they will be staying in Zurich. So which accommodation they have. Booked and how many passengers there are. So are they just adults or do they have children as well and what their ages are? And then in the morning, um, these tours start at 9 o'clock and we pick up the guests directly at the hotel. And then we go on the tour. Um, they have a private vehicle. So if it's only 6 passengers, then it's usually, um, a Mercedes V-Class or a little bigger Sprinter for 8 passengers, for example. If there are 12, of course, we have the bigger Sprinters for more comfort with a driver and a guide. And we go on the tour, um, and the driver guide will explain the places which we visit, the historical information if it's a history tour, and he will take the guests as well, um, on the experiences itself.

Catharina De Sa: So if we go to the mountains, the driver guide will go up with the guests to the mountain. If we're doing a barbecue or a fondue experience somewhere, the driver guide is gonna stay with the guests. So it's not that we just drop them off and leave them alone. We still give this accompanying intimate experience to the guests also on the small group tour. So that's basically the same concept as what we have for our private tours. Yeah. And then during the day, of course, you know, the driver guide engages with the guests. We take lots of pictures. We make it really a memorable experience. And at the end of the day, we drop off the guests back at the hotel. So the duration of these tours is usually between 9 and 10 hours. Depends a little bit on which direction we go.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Mm. Okay. So maybe we can talk a bit about the different tours that you offer. Um, and yeah, some of the highlights of those different tours, because I know that they go to some very popular places in Switzerland.

Catharina De Sa: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's start with the first one. So we have divided these tours, um, per day of the week. So each day of the week has a specific tour that departs on that day. And we can actually start with my favourite, which is the, uh, Titlis and private fondue tour on Sundays. So we depart. We start from Zurich and first we will visit Mount Titlis. So we go up the mountain with the cable car. Mount Titlis also has the Rotor cable car that turns around 360 degrees until you reach the top. And there we can see the glacier, we can go sledging, there is the snow tubing, and we can go into the ice cave. There is a beautiful suspension bridge to take amazing pictures. And if you dare to cross the bridge because it's quite high, it's really a cool experience. So that's what we first do. And then we take the cable car down and we go to the Lake Lucerne area where we have a private property directly at the lake and where we set up a private fondue for the guests. It's really amazing. It's, uh, you know, the, the guests can make the fondue themselves.

Catharina De Sa: If they have never done that before, they will learn how to do it. And we have then, you know, the, the fondue is the melted cheese dish where you dip in with bread or with potatoes, or we can even, uh, provide onion, for example. We usually have some fruits as well. And if we know in advance, for example, that there are children coming along and they maybe do not want to try the cheese, then we will certainly organise something for them as well. So that's information we gathered before. And then we are in that area, um, having the fondue and it's, it's a, it's a private property. So even if it's very warm, for example, let's say it's 30 degrees and we're coming from the snow and then we're going down for the fondue experience. It's possible as well to swim there. So we can go lake swimming. We have water bikes there. We can do stand-up paddling there as well during the lunch experience, you know? So that's really nice. It's a real private, private area where the guests can really be, yeah, at ease and have an amazing time. And after that, in the late afternoon, we will then bring back the guests to the hotel.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Hmm.

Catharina De Sa: So that's the Sunday experience. It's really a combination of, you know, snow all year long, even in summer, and then afterwards coming down. Down to this beautiful lake area with the views and the typical Swiss, like, let's say, fondue, fondue experience.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah. Sounds fantastic.

Catharina De Sa: It's really nice. It works well. Actually, this tour is, is, is, uh, is one of my favourites, uh, because of the area and because of the activities we can do there. And it's an amazing thing, um, to experience really the local, local, uh, thing while you are in Switzerland. You know what the locals like to do as well. Um, then on Monday, we have a tour which combines Zurich city. So that's a little bit more historical information, highlights in Zurich, together with the Rhine Falls, the biggest waterfalls in Europe. They are about 45 minutes away from Zurich, so this is not too much driving. Afterwards, we visit Lindt, home of chocolate. There the guests can try some chocolate. They learn the history about chocolate making, the history from Lindt. And of course, they can take some amazing chocolates home as well after the experience. So this is a 9-hour tour, not too much driving. I would say this is a very good experience as well for children because the maximum amount of time we spend in the vehicle is 1 hour to go, 1 hour to return. So that's perfect. With many stops along the route.

Catharina De Sa: So it's a very good combination of, yeah, water and chocolate is always a good idea, I think.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yes, absolutely. You can't visit Switzerland without, uh, eating lots of chocolate.

Catharina De Sa: Definitely. Definitely. Then on Tuesday, we have, uh, the small group tour to Appenzell and Liechtenstein that is in the eastern area of Switzerland. So direction Austria. And this is also the area which I think most of the audience will know because of Heidi, you know, the girl from the mountains in Switzerland. So we will visit that area, the green hills. Appenzell is famous for cheese. It's a little village actually with beautifully decorated houses as well. And we do a cheese tasting there. And we will cross the border. We will go to the Principality Liechtenstein, which is an add-on, a nice experience. You know, you can get your passport stamped if you would like to. And we will visit by the outside the castle because the castle is not possible to visit inside because the prince is still living there. But we can see the outside area, organise a nice lunch along the way. And then after that, we will come back to Zurich. Zurich. This is also like 9 to 10 hours tour, depends a little bit on how much time we take in the village for the guided tour. And then on Wednesday, we visit our capital, which is Bern, about an hour and a half away from Zurich.

Catharina De Sa: And we combine Bern with the mediaeval village Gruyères. Gruyères is like half an hour further away from Bern. So in total, this is a little bit more driving. Um, but it is an amazing tour because it covers our capital city. So we will tell you the history about Bern. We will go to the parliament. Parliament building, for example. Bern is also, the old part of town is on the UNESCO list, so it's really beautiful, beautiful sights. We have the river there as well, and in summer, which is now the case, the bears, we can see them, the animals. So that's amazing also for children actually. And after that, we will go on to Gruyères where the guests can have a nice lunch. We can visit the Maison de Gruyères, that is a cheese place. You can visit the castle as well. And of course the old village, the old part of the, of the, of the village, which is really amazing. So we do a little village tour as well. And after that, we give the guests some time for souvenir shopping and then we come back to Zurich.

Carolyn Schönafinger: And I bet there's, um, they're very, the guests would be very keen to take photos in Gruyères. It's such a beautiful little village. Um, yeah, it's, it's quite famous all over the internet, isn't it?

Catharina De Sa: Yeah, it is. It is. And it's really amazing. I remember some time ago we had here, um, a honeymoon, uh, couple. Well, actually he was gonna propose to her there and we were like in charge kind of in the operational side as well. So we had organised champagne and we had organised flowers and everything, and obviously she didn't know anything about it. And then all out of a sudden he proposed to her with the ring and everything, and our driver guide was there and he knew the moment. So he took amazing pictures, which they now have, of course. And yeah, that was such a beautiful experience and it's an amazing setting. For this kind of, you know, things as well.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, definitely.

Catharina De Sa: But it's a beautiful place. Yeah, definitely a place that people should visit.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Absolutely. Great. Okay. So after the free time in Gruyères, is that when you head, head back to Zurich?

Catharina De Sa: Yeah. After the free time in Gruyères, we go back to Zurich.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah.

Catharina De Sa: So this is a little more driving. This is a total, the tour itself is about 10 hours and the driving time from that is about like 4 hours more or less, but it is split up. So it's not gonna be 2 hours in a row. That will never be the case. We always stop along the road. And because we visit Bern first, that is amazing. You know, the people can get off, stretch their legs, visit the town of Bern, and afterwards we go on to Gruyères. So it's a very good combination.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Fantastic. Okay. So, um, what's the destination for your Thursday tour? Yeah.

Catharina De Sa: So Thursday we will cross the border and we're not going to the east, but we're going to the north. We will visit Germany. Now you must know that Germany is located only 45 minutes away from Zurich. So it's a perfect, perfect opportunity. Like if you are in Switzerland and you wanna see something of southern Germany, Black Forest, you know, mystical area, it's not far away. And in the Black Forest, uh, we will obviously, obviously, um, visit the Titisee area. That is a beautiful lake. The area is very famous for the cuckoo clocks. So we have many guests who actually buy a cuckoo clock there. You know, they know that also maybe from their grandparents, maybe somebody had it at home and they would like to buy something like that. That's possible there. They have a very famous and very good ham as well, which can be bought there. And obviously not to forget the famous Black Forest cake. You know, that is the chocolate cake. Well, partly chocolate with the cherry on top. That's amazing. And we will definitely try that during this tour as well. Apart from this, a little bit deeper into the Black Forest, we will visit the Triberg Waterfalls as well.

Catharina De Sa: They are the biggest ones in Germany. And so that's an amazing combination on a warm summer day. It's perfect to dive a little bit into the forest to cool down a little bit and see all the history of this place and where the cuckoo clocks actually come from. That's definitely an answer you will have. After doing this tour.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay. Well, that's, uh, that's definitely a reason to, uh, to join the Black Forest tour. I would say if the cake alone isn't enough.

Catharina De Sa: Exactly. Exactly. Yes, that's it.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah.

Catharina De Sa: Then on the Friday, we dive into the Bernese Oberland. That is actually the area, that's the Swiss Alps. Let's say it like that. So this is the area with the gorges, with the little villages. With the lakes, with the mountains. It's the area that everybody thinks of when you think of Switzerland, right? You have that image of the lake surrounded by the mountains, snow peaks, but in the village it's sunny, it's beautiful, you know. You have these chalets with the flowers. That's this area. So if that's something you would like to see and visit, you should definitely go on this tour. And apart from, um, all these beautiful sites where we stop along the road and we take a lot of pictures, you know, and we give some free time as well for souvenir shopping. We go up one of the mountains, not the very, very high mountains, but a little bit more off-the-grid mountains where they have an amazing little restaurant where the guests can try some typical Swiss meal. And that can be a fondue, or that can be a typical like pasta from Switzerland with some cheese on top, or they can try sausages.

Catharina De Sa: Many times when the weather is nice, the restaurant itself, they do some grill experience, some barbecue experience outside. So you can just try the local sausages. Is there having a beer, having a wine, just having an amazing time. It's a very little beautiful cable car. They actually say it is, um, there is space there for 4 people or 1 cow. So imagine the size. It's really small. We're going up there. We're arriving directly to the viewpoint. And from the top there, we have view over, um, the 3 most famous mountains in the Swiss Alps area, which are Jungfrau, Eiger, and Mönch. We can see them from the top with the snow, uh, the snow peaks, and then just being there, having an amazing time, walking to the viewpoints. It's just an amazing experience. And that in combination with the gorges and the waterfalls and the lakes and, uh, yeah, the, the, the, the Swiss Alp panorama the whole day, I would say, makes it a postcard picture tour, which is definitely not to be missed while you are in Switzerland.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, that's definitely the complete Swiss nature experience, isn't it?

Catharina De Sa: Absolutely. Yes, absolutely. And then on the Saturday, so the last tour for these small group tours, we stay a little closer to Zurich. We have a combination here of Lucerne, the town, and Mount Rigi. And Mount Rigi is one of the mountains where many of the Swiss locals like to go for hiking experiences, for example, also for a picnic at the top. They have a restaurant as well, obviously, but we can do some more local experience there as well. So the idea is that we depart from Zurich and we drive about 45 minutes and then we take the cogwheel train up the mountain. The cogwheel train is about an hour ride, a little bit less. When we reach the top of the mountain, the guests will have some free time to take pictures, to walk to the viewpoint. We can see the Lake of the Four Cantons from there, or Lake Lucerne, let's call it like that, if the weather is good. And then we can either take the cogwheel trail, the cogwheel train down all the way to Vitznau from where it departs. Or if the group says, no, we wanna hike, we wanna have a little bit of the local experience, we can do that as well.

Catharina De Sa: It's a panoramic hike, so it is not too, uh, difficult to do. Everybody can actually do it. It's about 45 minutes, but all the time with panoramic views. So all the time with views over the lake, which is really amazing. That takes us halfway up the mountain. And from there we will then take the train down to Vitznau where we board the boat to Lucerne. So from the mountain we go on the boat. We go all the way to Lucerne, which is about 45 minutes. And then in Lucerne itself, we do a short guided walking tour. We visit the Lion Monument. We visit the famous bridge. We visit the water tower outside, the church. And then in the old town, the guests will have some free time as well for either relaxing by the lake or maybe some shopping or maybe having, um, an afternoon drink, something like that. Or maybe they want to go watch shopping, for example, which is also very well possible in Lucerne. And after that, we will bring the guests back again to their hotel in Zurich. This is about 9 hours, 9.5 hours, more or less, this tour.

Catharina De Sa: Yeah. So I think with the programme we designed from Zurich, we have basically all the areas nearby covered. Some go a little more far away, some stay really in the area and focus more on the experience than on, you know, the driving. We always try to stop as many times as needed along the way so the guests can get off and take pictures, stretch their legs, go to the restroom, for example. So we really kind of take it easy because the guests are on holidays, right? So we are not putting any pressure. We try to make it as bespoke and as personalised as possible for all of the guests.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, that's fantastic. Because often if people were travelling on a, on a big group tour, obviously that's not so easy to do that. You've gotta stick with the schedule because otherwise Exactly. You know, people get left behind or you're waiting too long if you're stopping. So having the opportunity to do that with a small group is really good.

Catharina De Sa: Yeah, exactly.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah.

Catharina De Sa: And it, it, it works very well. You know, there was a demand for this and we decided to respond to that. And we have seen that, yeah, that guests really like to book this kind of tour. 12 people is amazing, you know, and who knows, many times it happens after being on a tour with people you don't know and it's still kind of intimate, you discover friends for life. You know?

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, very true. Very true. Okay. So you mentioned earlier that these tours started in April this year. Will they be operating all year round or are they only possible during the summer season?

Catharina De Sa: Yeah. So we have, for these small group tours, we have decided to operate them now from the beginning of April until the end of October. That's definitely the season where we can operate all of these tours because everything is open. The cable cars are running, you know, the waterfalls can be visited. There is not too much snow and ice on the road or in several activities. So that will definitely work for the winter. We have to see a little bit how it will go now during the season. We might extend if we see, oh, there is really, you know, this is really working well, then we will definitely extend some of them and most probably also develop some of these tours for the wintertime. Because in the wintertime, for example, in this private property area after Mount Titlis, in summer we can very well do a fondue there in the garden that is perfect. In the winter with -5 or -10 degrees, that's a little bit of a different story, but we have also done-for-you private tours this winter season. We have set up an igloo, for example, where we had this fondue experience or a barbecue experience and things like that.

Catharina De Sa: We can, we will do it again in winter season and we may very well develop this as well for the small group tour. So that's still kind of, we're still working on that, but I can imagine that we will extend and then we will definitely let you know if that happens.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, fantastic. We will include your website link in the show notes for this episode, but I'm sure people can jump on if they're travelling in winter, they can jump on and have a look and see what's, what's operating. So who would you say that these small group day tours are best suited to?

Catharina De Sa: Yeah, so I think actually from what we have seen in the booking so far and also the requests we received for this. Um, I think it's actually suitable for anyone who would like to do a tour, of course, in Switzerland, but still with an intimate feeling and a reasonable price. So not the complete elevated luxury high-end experience, which we also do, but that's something else. But for those, let's say, families, for example, also solo travellers, you know, if you are travelling alone, a private tour may be really, really elevated in price and you say, okay, but I still want to do this. So you just sign up for the small group tour and you have a lower cost. The same with families. I can imagine for a family, let's say 2 adults, 2 children, for example, it's maybe not so easy to book the private tours and then they go on the small group tours and they have the intimate experience for a very good price. We have also had couples travelling on these tours, groups of friends. Um, we have had a family of 6 who books the full week tour. So for those who say, I wanna travel, on an intimate, more bespoke base, but not pay the full price for a private tour, this is the perfect solution.

Catharina De Sa: The perfect in-between solution.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah. And I guess too, um, it's also a great option for people who are perhaps flying into Zurich, um, and they've got, maybe got some other arrangements starting in, in a couple of days' time. So it's a great way for them to, if, you know, if they did that Zurich City Tour, for instance, that gives them a good understanding of the city or it also gives them the option to do a day trip to places that they may not be visiting later on in their vacation.

Catharina De Sa: Yeah, exactly. Now that you're mentioning this, for example, there are a lot of guests who go on a river cruise starting or ending in Basel, which is not so far away from here, an hour more or less. And then usually they fly in or out via Zurich. And the guests like to arrive a day or two before because, you know, what if something happens with the flight, then I maybe lose my boat connection or something like that. So the guests are here early and they have a little bit of time, like 1 or 2 days, as you mentioned. And that's a perfect opportunity to, or possibility to go on one of these tours, small group tours, and either visit Zurich or maybe go to the Swiss Alps. Oh, I only have 1 day in Switzerland, but I want to see the maximum. One of these tours is perfect because it's a relaxed pace. You do not have to worry about anything. You don't have to study where to go, what to do, what not to do, where to park, where to take a train whatsoever. We will take you there. But you still see a lot.

Catharina De Sa: So after a tour like this, you can really say, hey, I have really, I got a good picture of Switzerland. I got some information. I got the best views. We got an amazing time together. So yeah, definitely. If you have a short time in Switzerland and you want to do something, then this is a real good tour to sign up for.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, definitely. Okay. So if one of our listeners loves the sound of these small group tours, but they perhaps prefer a tour that's a bit more customised, or maybe they can't travel on the day of the week that that tour, um, that they're interested in operates. Can you still help them out?

Catharina De Sa: Absolutely. With pleasure, because then we have our private tour option. So we can operate all of these tours on any day of the week if it's on a private basis. So let's say there are guests interested in Titlis and the full new experience, but they are not here on Sunday. Then we can still do this on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday if we book it as a private tour. That's not a problem at all. We can also do a combination. Sometimes we have guests saying, hey, I want to go to the Swiss Alps, but I also want to see Lucerne. Well, Lucerne is on the way, so we can make a stop in Lucerne and afterwards go to the— dive into the Swiss Alps in the Interlaken area. So we can customize everything. We can make it bespoke. We can tailor anything. The guests just have to reach out to us by email, or maybe they WhatsApp us, or they call us. It doesn't matter. We talk through what they have in their head, or maybe they don't have any ideas and they leave it all up to us. Happy to design the tour as well.

Catharina De Sa: And then we can, um, tailor a tour based on the interests and, and, and needs and wishes of the guests in terms of duration, in terms of places where we go. Um, are the guests mobile? You know, can they walk or do they have mobility issues, are there children travelling, shall we take them to an alpine playground, you know, we can do many different things. As long as it's private, we can basically do everything.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah. Okay. Well, that's great. That's excellent news. We've partnered with Swiss Epic Tours for a number of years now. And as you have previously, you have generously extended a discount offer to our listeners for these small group tours. So could you tell everyone about that, please, and how they go about getting that discount?

Catharina De Sa: Yes, absolutely. With pleasure. Yes. Um, so anybody who listens to the podcast, um, and has been in contact with Caroline or later on with us here directly in Switzerland, we offer a discount of 5% on any kind of tour we offer. So that can be the private tours, can be the tailored tours, but also we extend this offer for the small group tours, which we are discussing mainly today. So it's a 5% discount and we have, together with Caroline, we have developed a code which is HTSWISS. So holidays to Swiss, HTSWISS. This code needs to be mentioned in any WhatsApp correspondence or in the email if you reach out to us by email, or if you book directly on the website, it's possible as well to add the code there directly. We have developed that as well. So just write the discount code and you get automatically the 5% discount, um, on the tour. So this is for the private tours and as well for the small group tours. We just need to know it. Just mention it one time and we will know it. And then we will apply this 5% on whatever the guests would like to book.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Fantastic. Thank you. That's a great incentive for our listeners to, uh, to go and book one of your tours. So before we finish up, Why should our listeners choose Swiss Epic Tours for their small group day tour from Zurich?

Catharina De Sa: Yeah, I think Swiss Epic Tours is in the meantime well known for the real private and customised and personalised feeling on the tours. So if you book something with Swiss Epic Tours, an experience, a tour, it will never be We know who you are, you know, and that's what we like. We connect with our guests and many times the feedback we receive from our travellers after the tours is, hey, we have a friend now in Switzerland, or it felt like travelling with family, or it felt like travelling with a group of friends, you know? And that's what we love because we love to show Switzerland, but we love to connect with our guests. So for these small group tours, this feeling is still there. It's the customised feeling. It's the private feeling for a good price, for a reasonable price. And that's why I think these group tours with Swiss Epic Tours would be an amazing possibility for the guests who would like to, to visit Switzerland on one of the small group tours.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, absolutely. All right. So I'll put all the links, um, for your website and these tours and, and all the information about the discount code in the show notes for this episode. But can you please tell our listeners where they can get more info about you?

Catharina De Sa: Yes, absolutely. So we have our website. Um, our website is www.swissepictours.com. The guests may also reach out to us via WhatsApp. We are basically 24/7 available. They may call us anytime. They may send a message by the chat on our website. So there is various channels how the guests can reach us, and then we will respond and we will check what the guests would like to do, whether it's a group tour, whether it's a tailored tour. Tour, the group tours can also be booked as mentioned directly on the website. So it's just going there, looking for the small group tours, applying the code, very important. Don't forget, you get your 5% discount and then we will receive the booking and we will reach out to you to finalise everything. And where, which hotel the guests will be staying, where we will pick you up and we will confirm everything then so the guests can be assured that everything is in place. There is all these ways of communication.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yep. So you've made it very easy for people to get in touch, which is wonderful.

Catharina De Sa: We are here and we are ready when you are. So just reach out to us and we will take care of the rest.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Excellent. Okay. Well, thank you so much for telling us about those tours today. I'm sure, yeah, you've piqued the interest of our listeners and that there's probably already got a couple of different tours in mind that they're, they really like the sound of. So I hope you, uh, You hear from lots of people who are ready to, to book their experience with you.

Catharina De Sa: That sounds amazing, Caroline, and thank you so much once again for our great partnership and for the invitation as well, and for this wonderful chat here on the podcast. And yeah, we look forward to welcoming many guests, uh, in Switzerland and giving them an amazing and amazing time with memories that will last forever.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Thank you so much. Mountains, lakes, historic towns, charming villages, chocolate and cheese. The very best of Switzerland is ready to be discovered on a small group day tour with Swiss Epic Tours. Which of the tours appeals most to you? Links to all of the tours mentioned today and the exclusive Holidays to Switzerland discount code can be found in the show notes for this episode. Don't forget to mention the code when contacting Swiss Epic Tours or add it to the promo code box when you're booking online so you can save 5%. You'll find the show notes at holidaystoswitzerland.com, episode 189. Thanks so much for joining me today. I'll be back again next week with more Swiss travel tips and inspiration. Until then, Tschüss!