Switzerland Tour 2018

Switzerland 2018 – another amazing fun road trip is shaping up nicely. This is a circuit tour that starts in Frankfurt, driving to Switzerland along the western border of Germany, then heading east along the southern half of Switzerland, and returning on the eastern border of Germany’s Black Forest with a stop at Stuttgart.  The club will book the hotels, 4 group dinners and provide a guidebook, maps and some tour swag.

Let’s begin with the itinerary for the club portion of the trip.

We’ve chosen these stops for a combination of length (each leg is about 2 hours driving, the longest 3 as the crow flies) as well as scenery and things to do.  As with our previous tours, we aim for average priced hotels in interesting tourist locations that include breakfast and especially parking for our cars (which can be a challenge in the small compact European towns and cities).

Also, the Frankfurt branch of the SIXT car rental company have assured us they can arrange 100% BMW’s for us (sorry no X vehicles – this is Europe).  Diesels, manual, 1, 2, 3 and 4 series are all possible – cabriolets would be more difficult.  We will collect the preferences of the participants and submit a booking order but each participant will be responsible for paying for their car.

All of our Tours are done on a non-profit basis. Our preliminary budget points to somewhere between CAD $5,800 to CAD $6,200 per car for the club portion with the usual caveat that there will be either a cash call or a refund depending on final costs. We tend to over estimate the exchange rate, as this is usually the largest fluctuation. We will firm up the budget by October. Remember, car rentals, flights and lunches and some suppers are on your own.

Speaking of commitment, just through word of mouth, we’ve already managed to attract quite a bit of interest and may already have enough participants for the tour to go ahead.  These types of trips work best with a moderate sized group so we plan to limit the number to between 10 and 15 cars.  We will ask for formal non-binding expressions of interest in July 2017.  We will also hold a presentation in early October when we should have most of the main items locked down and will need commitments by the end of October, 2017, with a 50% non-refundable deposit.  The balance will be due by May 31, 2018. We would remind that this is consistent with travel industry practise for cruises and tours and is necessary for the volunteer organizers to make and pre-pay commitments. It is up to the participant to arrange trip cancellation and medical insurance or to find a replacement for their seat.

Please contact Wallace Chow at wdchow@outlook.com for either additional information or to register.