Grand Continental Rebel

Rome is always Rome, no matter how many times you've been. Meet your Tour Leader and the rest of the group at the hotel, then head out this afternoon for a walk through the city. Take it all in: your tour is finally starting.

Dinner tonight is the first one together. The group's first shared table, first introductions, first look at who you'll be spending the next eleven days with. Let yourself breathe easy for the rest of the tour.

First class on Italy's high-speed rail to Florence, capital of Tuscany. A local guide walks you through the city on foot; past where Michelangelo worked, past the goldsmiths on the Ponte Vecchio, round a corner to the Duomo, then gives you time to keep exploring on your own. Drink it in.

The afternoon continues via Milan to Como, with a boat cruise on the lake as the light starts to fade.  At over 400 meters deep, it is one of Europe's deepest lakes. Dinner tonight is by the water and the twinkling lights around it, with a group that's starting to know each other's names.

Como is gradually left behind as your private coach makes its way to Tirano, with the lake still in view along the route. In Tirano, you have time to look around first. See the Palazzo Salis, or have lunch somewhere in the Old Town. 

Next, Switzerland calls. Take the Bernina Express on a UNESCO-listed route, and the highest rail crossing of its kind in Europe, past the Morteratsch Glacier and over the Ospizio Bernina pass at more than 2,000 metres. Then, down through the Brusio Circular Viaduct, the spiral of track you'll recognise if you've ever seen it on a documentary.

The Glacier Express today, sometimes called the slowest express train in the world. First class, panoramic windows, nowhere to be in a hurry.

The route takes in the Landwasser Viaduct, the Ruinaulta canyon, and the Oberalp Pass at just over 2,000 metres. Lunch is a multi-course, seasonal menu, served at your seat as it all goes by.

You arrive in Zermatt by evening to your first view of the Matterhorn at the head of the valley. The town is car-free: church bells, footsteps, the occasional electric carriage, and not much else. Your Tour Leader takes the group on an orientation walk before dinner, where you’ll have your first taste of Swiss cooking on this trip.

The Matterhorn Express takes you up towards Glacier Paradise this morning, continuing by the Matterhorn Glacier Ride to Europe’s highest mountain station at 3,883 metres. From the top, a 360-degree platform puts the Alps in view in every direction, snow-capped peaks stretching in every direction.

Below the surface is the Glacier Palace, a set of tunnels and ice sculptures carved 15 metres down into the glacier itself. Europe's highest mountain restaurant and cinema are up here too, so lunch happens with the Alps still outside the window. There's time to explore before you descend to Zermatt in the afternoon, with the rest of the evening free.

Today's a shift in scenery, from the Alps to Switzerland's French-speaking side. The Rhône Valley opens up on the way to Montreux, vineyards and villages giving way to Lake Geneva, with lunch served overlooking the water and the Alps still visible behind it.

The afternoon brings the GoldenPass Express, riding through wooden chalets and green pastures in the Simmental Valley. You reach Interlaken around golden hour, set between its two lakes with the Jungfrau on the horizon. The rest of the evening is yours to spend however you like.

A quiet morning in Interlaken before the day picks up. The World's Steepest Cable Car, which is its official name, climbs all the way to Schilthorn through Mürren, with a stop at Birg Station. Here, the Thrill Walk runs on glass-bottomed platforms and a crawl through a tunnel right along the cliff face, for anyone who wants it.

At the summit is the Walk of Fame, with props and memorabilia from On Her Majesty's Secret Service, filmed on this mountain in 1969. Lunch is served at the top, and the views do most of the talking. Descend at your own pace once you've had enough of the altitude.

Jungfraujoch today, Europe's highest railway station at 3,454 metres. The Eiger Express cable car makes the climb with the Eiger's north face filling the window for most of the way up, a rock wall close enough to feel the scale of it.

At the top is the Ice Palace, a series of tunnels cut directly into the glacier, along with panoramic terraces and lunch with the Aletsch Glacier spread out below you. You're back in Interlaken by evening, with time to walk the promenade, find somewhere for dinner, or just sit and let the day settle.

Switzerland to Paris this morning, with the Alps gradually giving way to French vineyards and open countryside along the route. The afternoon in Paris is yours to spend however you like: a museum, a walk along the river, or nothing planned at all.

Dinner tonight is aboard the Bustronome, a glass-roofed double-decker bus that takes you through the city while you enjoy a four-course menu. The Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower pass the window between plates, so the meal and the sightseeing happen at the same time, with no need to choose one over the other.

Versailles today. A guided tour takes you through the palace first, then out into the gardens, where fountains, sculptures and long avenues have been laid out the same way for centuries. It's worth slowing down here rather than rushing the rooms, since the grounds are as much the point as the building itself.

You're back in Paris by afternoon, with the rest of the day left open. Walk along the Seine, find a table somewhere, or just wander. However you spend a free evening in Paris, nobody's going to tell you it was the wrong choice.

Eurostar from Gare du Nord to St Pancras this morning and into London. A guided tour through the city fills the afternoon, taking in the parts of London that are easy to miss on your own, before a ride on the London Eye for the long view over the rooftops and the river.

Tonight is the group's last dinner together, three courses, and by now everyone at the table has a few stories worth telling twice. It's less a farewell dinner than a last chance to swap contact details before everyone scatters home in the morning.

One last breakfast, then it's goodbye, for now. Reflect on each experience: The Matterhorn coming into view at the head of the valley. Dinner on the Bustronome, watching the Eiffel Tower pass the window. Whoever you got along best with, and the version of them you know now compared to day one in Rome.

Twelve days is a strange amount of time. Long enough to turn strangers into a group, short enough that it never quite feels finished. Most Chasers find that's the part that's hardest to leave behind. Not the scenery – the people.