Small Italian Gems

You arrive at Zurich Airport on your included flight from London and board a direct intercity train for Chur. From your first-class seat, there are beautiful views as you speed alongside Lake Zurich and ever closer to big mountains.

Upon arrival, you will be met by your private guide who will escort you to your four-star hotel. Then, she will invite you on a privately guided two-hour city walk. As a local insider, they have an excellent idea of what to show you. But remember This your private guide, so feel free to mention anything you would like to experience on the walk.

The Bernina Express

Travelling at an average speed of 36 km/h, the Bernina is not a very fast Express train. But having to cross almost 200 bridges, curl around one spectacular spiraling viaduct, and negotiate some of the steepest gradients anywhere in the Alps, this is as fast as it can go. What it lacks in speed, the train more than makes up for in views. This may well be the finest scenic rail journey in all of the Alps, arguably surpassing even the famed Glacier Express.

You travel in a first-class panorama car, offering you great views as the train first crosses the iconic Landwasser Viaduct from mountainside to mountainside, and then ascends up the lofty Bernina Pass, travelling past the Morteratsch Glacier, before it descends to the warn and pretty valleys of Italy.

The train’s terminus is a tiny station in small Tirano. Yards away you will find an equally small station with your onwards regional train. Soon you will marvel at the sight of Lake Como, as the train speeds alongside it. In small and idyllic Varenna, a local driver awaits to take you to your hotel.

Lake Como has more famous towns and villages, but many locals will tell you that this is the finest and most charming of them all. Not least because Varenna is blessedly free of the crowds that descend on the neighbouring towns. The cobblestoned alleys climb from the lakeside promenade up the steep hill to the medieval piazza that is the town’s centre. A local ferry can get you to world-famous Bellagio in 15 beautiful minutes, but do not neglect to also explore the narrow trails above Varenna that leads to gorges, ruined castles and panoramas over the lake and mountains.

You travel alongside the shore of Lake Como before encountering the suburbs of Milan. You’ll change train at the huge central station, but fear not: A private Silver Tray guide awaits you and escorts you to the high-speed train for your onward journey.

This is one of the fastest and most modern high-speed trains in the world. You travel in Business Class, in a spacious leather seat with a generous recline. The staff will bid you welcome with a snack, and as a VIP-passenger you may order a meal to be served at your seat (for a fee). Upon arrival you will be met by your private guide who will escort you to your four-star hotel. Then, she will invite you on a privately guided two-hour city walk.

Looking very much as it did back in the 15^th century, Florence is one of Europe’s greatest art cities, packed with awe-inspiring masterpieces. Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Caravaggio. They are all here, in what was the most creative city in the world back in the day, the cradle of the Renaissance. You do not even have to venture into a museum to enjoy all of Florence’s beauty, because you are immersed in it: The historic centre is nothing but elegant palaces, candle-lit chapels, fresco-decorated churches, and marble basilicas, all crowded around achingly romantic squares.

Steeped in Renaissance art and architecture it may be, but Florence is also a living city with fine restaurants, cosy wine bars, and an active cultural scene with classical music and contemporary art.

When the sun sets, seemingly every romantic couple make their way to Piazzale Michelangelo, set above the south bank of the Arno and famous for its views over Florence. But leave the crowds behind and climb a little further up the hill to the beautiful Romanesque church of San Miniato. From her steps, the sunset over Florence is even more stunning, and also serenely peaceful.

 

The trip to Lucca is very fast and short on a humble local train. Upon arrival you will be met by your private guide who will escort you to your waiting chauffeured car and join you for the ride to your four-star hotel.

Then, she will invite you on a privately guided two-hour city walk of charming Lucca. As a local insider, they have an excellent idea of what to show you. But remember: This your private guide, so feel free to mention anything you would like to experience on the walk.

 

“Lovely” is the single best way to describe Lucca, a very small Tuscan town with a very big history. Founded by the Etruscans over two millennia ago, Lucca is an enchanting labyrinth of medieval architecture, cobbled alleys and charming piazzas. Unlike neighbouring Pisa, history mercifully left Lucca alone. To pass through the imposing city wall that still encircles the old town centre, is to step many centuries back in time. Lucca’s medieval heart still beats unperturbed by modern times, boasting so many religious buildings that it is known in Italy as the city with 100 churches.

Lucca is more than anything a hidden gem that should simply be savoured for its charm and beauty, accompanied by a bottle of local wine at one of the historic bars or restaurants. There is one unmissable highlight, though:  The Torre Guinigi. Lucca’s skyline is dominated by medieval towers, but this is the strangest and most fascinating of them all: Once you finally reach the flat summit high above the town, you’ll discover an enchanting roof garden with old oak trees. Even in Italy, it does not get any more romantic than this.

 

Few Tuscan hill-towns are connected by anything so modern as rail lines, making them out-of-reach on your average rail vacation. This not being your average rail vacation, Silver Tray gets you from one ancient Tuscan town to the next in seamless comfort on a one-hour ride in a chauffeured car.

Perched in splendid isolation on a steep hilltop, this is the town that history forgot: Once a booming middle age metropolis, faster trade routes to Rome bypassed the town, and rather than evolving over the coming centuries, it simply became a sleeping beauty.

Today, its buildings have remained almost unaltered since the 13^th century. The medieval centre is dominated by the slim, square towers that were both fortified homes and status symbols. Walking these cobblestoned streets, especially in the evening after the day-trippers have left town, is like being transported back to a long-lost world.

The day-trippers rush through San Gimignano in a few hours. Once they have left, you can savour the unique vibe of the town. Make sure to have dinner or drinks at one of the small restaurants perched right on the edge of the steep hilltop and take in the mesmerizing view of the Tuscan landscape far beyond.

 

ook at a map, and you’d deem going from San Gimignano to the Amalfi Coast by train impossible. It usually is. But we do it by taking you by chauffeured car through the Tuscan hills to Florence’s main station, where you step onboard one of the fastest and most modern high-speed trains in the world. You travel in Business Class, in a spacious leather seat with a generous recline. The staff will bid you welcome with a snack, and as a VIP passenger you may order a meal to be served at your seat (for a fee).

When you arrive at Naples, a private driver awaits for the 45-minute drive to your hotel on the Amalfi Coast.

There are few more beautiful or romantic spots in all of Europe than the Amalfi Coast.  Picturesque villages cling to the steep mountainsides above the Mediterranean Sea, hidden beaches are nestled in small coves amongst the rocks, lemon trees deliver the flavour to the refreshing glass of Limoncello you’ll enjoy together with the setting sun over the Mediterranean.

The Amalfi Coast has enchanted visitors since antiquity with its stunning scenery and fabled villages like Ravello, Amalfi and Positano. If you want to go all-in on La Dolce Vita, you can certainly do so at the many fine restaurants and other hotspots. But you can also leave the crowds behind and head for one of Europe’s most scenic hike, a long but technically easy balcony trail high above the sea with stunning views of the coast, the villages, and the island of Capri. You will discover that its exalted name, The Path of the Gods, is actually well-deserved.

 

A chauffeured car will take you directly from your hotel to Naples airport for your included flight back to London.