26 globaltravelerusa.com MARCH 2019
tours
THE GREAT UNKNOWN
Explore the less familiar cities and sights of Europe. BY KRISTY ALPERT
IT WASN’T BY ACCIDENT I arrived early to the train platform that morning.
Rumors of the Swiss train system’s punctuality had not only piqued my
curiosity but also inspired my 15-minute-
earlier wake-up call. I took a seat near
my platform in the Zürich Main Station,
one of the busiest in the world, and
marveled endlessly as the iconic Swiss
Railway Clock took its 1.5-second pause
before it started its next minute rotation,
a design thought to “bring calm in the
last moment and easy punctual train
departure.”
Like many European travelers, I’ve
picnicked beneath the Eiffel Tower in
Paris, pröst-ed at Oktoberfest in Munich
and snapped a selfie at the Tower of
Pisa, and now the lesser-known destina-
tions and obscure experiences beckoned.
Armed with a Swiss Travel Pass from
Rail Europe — the pass gives holders
access to trains, buses and boats as well
as free entrance to 500-plus museums,
with suggested itineraries and tips for
getting off the beaten path — I boarded
the train on time and set off on a journey
to explore the cities I had never heard
of before and experience Europe’s less
famous foods, sights and smells.
In response to a recent travel report
from Intrepid Adventure Travel that
found 43.4 percent of travelers look to
get off the beaten track, many tour opera-
tors increase their offerings to include
tours of little-known sites throughout
Europe. Rail Europe makes it easy to hop
around to these undiscovered destina-
tions, but tour operators like Intrepid Travel also offer options such as hiking
tours through Andorra and rafting trips through Slovenia.
Best of the Alps, a cooperation among many Alpine destinations,
encourages travelers to get out and interact with locals throughout Germany,
Austria, Italy and Switzerland. Its website features a range of artists, ad-
venturous men and women, chefs and others who tell their stories and offer
inspiration for ideas on what to eat, drink and do while in town. Hear from
a wooden sledge maker about the 100-year-old history of these hybrid snow
bicycle/sleds before taking to the hills in his native Grindelwald for a test
drive through the snow, or learn why one of the country’s most celebrated
chefs now cooks for an exclusive crowd within a furniture store in Davos
before you book one of the few tables in the store.
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK:
Wine tasting at Cramele Recas
in Romania (above); on the train
to Montenegro along the most
historic and unchanged train
journey in Europe, from Belgrade
to Bar (left); and exploring the
Vintgar Gorge in Bled, Slovenia
(below)PHOTOS: © MARK ALPERT