Switzerland Grand City Discovery Tour Package

Morning: Chapel Bridge, built in 1333 and the oldest covered wooden bridge in Europe, with the octagonal Water Tower set into it. Free, two minutes from the station, and emptiest before nine.

Then the other one: The Spreuer Bridge from 1408, a few hundred metres downriver. Its ceiling is a complete Dance of Death cycle painted in the 1600s, and because almost every visitor stops at the famous bridge you often have this one to yourself.

Midday: Weinmarkt and Hirschenplatz, where the house fronts are painted floor to roof, then the Lion Monument - cut into the rock in 1821 for the Swiss Guards who died at the Tuileries. Mark Twain called it the saddest piece of stone in the world.

Afternoon: The Musegg Wall, where four of the nine medieval towers are open to climb with no ticket. The Zyt tower holds the city's oldest clock, which is allowed to strike one minute before all the others.

Morning: An hour to Bern. One ticket covers the whole day's travel to Montreux and lets you break the journey here, so the Bern stop costs nothing extra. Bags go in a station locker.

Bern, about four hours: The whole old town has been UNESCO World Heritage since 1983, and it is built inside a loop of the Aare so the shape has not changed in 800 years. Six kilometres of covered arcades, the Zytglogge astronomical clock with its figures turning a few minutes before the hour, and the Bundeshaus terrace. All free.

Across the river: The Bear Park on the Aare bank and the Rose Garden above it, which is where the postcard view of Bern is actually taken from. Both free, both about fifteen minutes from the clock tower.

Late afternoon: Bern to Montreux, about an hour and forty minutes, and the language outside the window changes on the way. Three nights begin on Lake Geneva.

Morning: Chillon is four minutes from Montreux by local train, free on your guest card. It sits on its own rock in the lake, parts of it go back to the 11th century, and it is the most visited historic building in Switzerland. Entry is included.

Inside: The vaulted cellars under the water line are what Byron wrote about in 1816, and his name is still carved on a pillar down there. Allow two hours; the route runs through about forty rooms and the keep at the end has the lake on three sides.

Afternoon: The Montreux lakefront promenade back towards town, about forty minutes on the flat past the flower beds and the Freddie Mercury statue. The Dents du Midi sit across the water the whole way.

If you have energy: Vevey is ten minutes up the line and free on your card - a smaller lakefront, a market square and the Chaplin statue on the quay.

Morning: About an hour and ten minutes along the north shore of the lake to Geneva, vineyards most of the way. Rail included, no bags today.

The Jet d'Eau: 140 metres of water thrown out of the lake, visible from most of the city and free from every angle. The pier walk takes you underneath it, which is wetter than it looks from the shore.

Old Town: Place du Bourg-de-Four, the oldest square in Geneva and still a working one, then St Pierre Cathedral where Calvin preached. The cathedral itself is free; the tower climb is a few francs and is on the add-on list.

Afternoon: The Reformation Wall in the Parc des Bastions, and the flower clock in the Jardin Anglais. Both free. If the UN district interests you, the Broken Chair stands outside the Palais des Nations.

Morning: Check out, twenty-five minutes to Lausanne, bags into a station locker. One ticket covers Montreux to the airport with this stop built into it.

Lausanne: The 13th-century Gothic cathedral on the hill, free to enter, with the city falling away to the lake below it. A night watchman has called the hours from its tower since 1405 and still does, which you will not hear on a day visit but is worth knowing.

Down to Ouchy: The m2 metro drops 370 metres from the cathedral to the waterfront in seven minutes. Ouchy is the lakefront quarter, free to walk, and the Olympic Museum sits on it if you want to add it.

Afternoon: Lausanne to Geneva Airport, about fifty minutes, arriving directly under the terminal.