Ultimate Alps & Finale

Thirteen nights across Austria, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland, guided, the operator’s flagship and the widest spread of Alpine passes it rides.

Adding Switzerland is what makes this the flagship. The Eastern Alps have the Dolomites and the Slovenian passes; the Western Alps and the Swiss cantons have the Furka, the Grimsel, the Susten and the Gotthard, and riding both halves in one tour is a different proposition from riding either alone.

The route builds on the Eastern Alps format and extends west, so the Austrian valleys, the Dolomites and the Soca are covered before the tour moves on to the bigger Swiss passes, where the roads are wider, the altitudes higher and the engineering more spectacular. Switzerland is also where the Alpine pass as a piece of design reaches its peak: the Furka and the Grimsel face each other across a single valley, with a glacier between them, and the two can be ridden in a morning. Premium Alpine hotels are used throughout rather than the standard ones, with a support vehicle following.

The support vehicle, the premium hotels and the guiding are all included, and the holiday is UK Package Travel protected; the full inclusions were not itemised on the operator’s page and are worth confirming at booking. The price shown is the operator’s headline starting figure rather than a rate specific to this tour, which the page did not itemise, so the real cost needs establishing directly. Late June to early September is the window, since the Swiss high passes open later and close earlier than the Austrian ones. Fourteen days covering both ends of the Alps is as complete an Alpine tour as this database holds.