Switzerland & France · 11 Days

The Alpine & Parisian Privé

Private family journey

Journey Design
← Journeys
Eleven days that open on a lake and close with the roofs down.
The Matterhorn above Zermatt in the first light
Day by Day02/03
  1. 01Departure

    Kuala Lumpur → Zurich → Lucerne

    • EveningMeet at Kuala Lumpur International. Your curator travels with the party from here and stays with it to the end.
    • Next middayArrive Zurich, with assistance through immigration. A twenty-minute train into the city.
    • AfternoonBahnhofstrasse on foot, then up the Lindenhügel for the old town from above. Train on to Lucerne.
    Where you stayAMERON Luzern Hotel Flora · lakeside, night 1 of 2
    Why the first afternoon is in Zurich and the first night is not

    Zurich is two hours of walking, not a night. Sleeping in Lucerne instead means the lake is outside the window on the first morning, and the second day starts from the boat rather than from a train.

  2. 02The open deck

    Lucerne · Stanserhorn · Lucerne

    • MorningA vintage paddle steamer across Lake Lucerne, then the century-old wooden funicular up from Stans.
    • MiddayThe CabriO — the double-deck open-top cable car to the 1,898-metre summit. Lunch in the revolving restaurant, and the upper deck with nothing overhead.
    • EveningBack into the old town for the Chapel Bridge after dark.
    Where you stayAMERON Luzern Hotel Flora · night 2 of 2
    Exclusive Highlight

    The CabriO is the only open-top cable car of its kind. The upper deck is the whole point — and it is why this is a full day rather than a stop on the way to somewhere else.

  3. 03The train

    Lucerne → Andermatt → Zermatt

    • MorningAn unhurried breakfast. The large luggage has already been sent ahead to Geneva by private forwarding — the party travels for the day with a camera and nothing else.
    • AfternoonThe Glacier Express, first class, in the panoramic dome. Arrive Zermatt in the early evening — a village where combustion engines are not permitted.
    • EveningA walk through the village under the autumn sky, then raclette.
    Where you stayZermama Hotel, Zermatt · Matterhorn double, night 1 of 2
    Why the luggage goes ahead

    Eight hours on the Glacier Express with suitcases is a different journey from eight hours without them. Forwarding the bags to Geneva costs one phone call and buys back the whole day.

  4. 04The mountain

    Zermatt · the Matterhorn

    • Early morningThe Gornergrat rack railway to 3,089 metres, and the north face straight ahead in the first light, before anyone else is up there.
    • AfternoonBack down to the village. Nothing scheduled — the pedestrian street, the shops, and Alpine hours.
    • EveningFondue, the whole party around one pot.
    Where you stayZermama Hotel · night 2 of 2
    Why the afternoon is empty

    The mountain is done by noon. Filling the rest of the day would only mean seeing a smaller mountain afterwards — so the afternoon is left alone, and the day ends around a table instead.

  5. 05The terraces

    Zermatt → Vevey → Geneva

    • MorningTrain to Vevey on Lake Geneva. Lunch at the lakeside restaurant Chaplin kept returning to.
    • AfternoonThe Train des Vignes through the Lavaux UNESCO terraces, and a tasting on the terrace of a private century-old estate that does not take groups.
    • EveningInto Geneva. A walk along the lake, and the Jet d’Eau at a hundred and forty metres.
    Where you stayNovotel Genève Centre · 1 night
    Exclusive Highlight

    The Lavaux estate is the part that cannot be booked online. It is a single table on a terrace above the lake, and it is the reason the Geneva leg exists at all.

  6. 06Crossing

    Geneva → Rennes

    • MiddayA short flight west into Brittany.
    • AfternoonThe private nine-seat minivan and French driver are waiting at the aircraft side. Straight to the hotel — a converted historic building with a spa.
    • EveningThe fifteenth-century half-timbered streets of old Rennes, and Breton seafood.
    Where you stayBalthazar Hôtel & Spa Rennes · MGallery · night 1 of 2
    Why Rennes and not straight to Paris

    Going Geneva to Paris directly would put Mont Saint-Michel on a four-hour round trip from the city, which is how most itineraries ruin it. Two nights in Rennes puts the abbey forty minutes away, before the coaches.

  7. 07The abbey and the oysters

    Rennes · Cancale · Mont Saint-Michel → Paris

    • MorningPrivate drive to Mont Saint-Michel, and the abbey before the day groups arrive.
    • MiddayCancale — the oyster capital. Bought at the wild market and eaten on the stone jetty facing the Atlantic, opened in front of you.
    • AfternoonThe drive on to Paris.
    • EveningThe second floor of the Eiffel Tower, in the pink-gold hour.
    Where you stayNovotel Paris Centre Gare Montparnasse · night 1 of 2
    Exclusive Highlight

    The oysters are not a stop on the way to Mont Saint-Michel. They are the reason the morning is early — the abbey is cleared by the time the market is worth standing in.

  8. 08Paris

    Paris · the full day

    • MorningMontmartre — Sacré-Cœur and the Place du Tertre.
    • AfternoonGaleries Lafayette, at your own pace.
    • Early eveningA Bateaux Parisiens dinner cruise from the foot of the tower, boarding as the banks begin to light.
    • NightTwo vintage 2CV convertibles waiting at the quay, roofs down, through the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Élysées light show.
    Where you stayNovotel Paris Centre Gare Montparnasse · night 2 of 2
    Exclusive Highlight · The finale

    The 2CVs are booked for after the cruise, not instead of it. The river gives you the city quietly; the open cars give it back loudly. In that order, the last night has a shape.

  9. 09Home

    Paris → Kuala Lumpur

    • MorningWake when you wake. An unhurried breakfast.
    • MiddayPrivate transfer to Charles de Gaulle, with the curator handling the tax refund.
    • Next dayLand in Kuala Lumpur.
    Why the last morning is not programmed

    Eleven days is long enough that the final morning should belong to the party, not to the itinerary. Nothing is scheduled, and nothing needs to be.

11Days
2Countries
4Exclusive Highlights
The Climax

Two open cars, roofs down, through the Arc de Triomphe — after the river has already had its turn.

The Designer's Note

Three decisions hold this itinerary together. The luggage is forwarded to Geneva so the Glacier Express day is a day and not a logistics exercise. Rennes is given two nights so Mont Saint-Michel is forty minutes away rather than a four-hour round trip from Paris. And the last night runs river first, open cars second — never the other way round.

Mont Saint-Michel across the bay
Closing Act
Eleven days, two countries, and a last morning left deliberately empty.

ZeL CuraTours operates in partnership with Boustead Travel Services Sdn Bhd, a licensed Malaysian travel agency · KPK/LN 10169

Next Step

Have a journey
in mind?

Tell us the dates, the people, and the feeling you're after. We'll take it from there.

Begin a Conversation