Bring Swissness to Your Visit in Old Town, Zurich

Summary: Our driver's name was Fredy and he was terrific. He picked us up at the Hotel Schwerhof in Zurich and drove us to Meiringen - roughly 90 minutes away - because my husband wanted to visit Reichenbach Falls. Fredy scouted the route and the falls the weekend before our trip - talk about being prepared! His efforts allowed him to advise us on the trail, overlooks for family photos, the Sherlock Holmes Museum, Aare Gorge, and a terrific tea shop with delicious meringue. Fredy kept the conversation going by educating us on the history of Switzerland and its geography. He was a patient, skilled and very careful driver. We would highly recommend Fredy and the trip.

Summary: Our first day in Zurich was spent with Thomas and was our favorite adventure! He has a wealth of knowledge, knows the area, and has connections to take us places we never would have known about otherwise. When we come back, he will be the one we call!

Summary: Thomas Boer is by far the best guide we have ever used. That is saying a lot because we are experienced world travelers. We have visited over 70 countries and have used many fine guides. Thomas is the best of the best. He is extremely well-educated, knowledgeable, and fluent in English (plus many other languages), and he goes above and beyond, providing the highest level of client service we have ever experienced. In addition, he has a great sense of humor. We spent three wonderful weeks with Thomas in Germany and Switzerland. Thomas went out of his way to research some off-the-beaten-path sights we wanted to see, including famous German and Swiss universities where renowned philosophers taught. He brought printouts with his research results to use as part of his guiding. Thomas also added many excursions that our American travel company did not have on the itinerary, including side trips to quaint Kolmar and to Strasbourg, seat of the European Parliament, both located across the border in France. Along the way, Thomas took it upon himself to make sure we were supplied with soft drinks and chocolates, even dropping them by our hotel. As an example of his extraordinary personal service, we were quite surprised on a scenic Snowball Express train ride to look out the window at an interim train stop and see Thomas waiting on the platform to give us sodas! We can't say enough good things about Thomas. You won't find a better guide anywhere.

Summary: I designed our ten-day Austria family vacation - which included my husband and our adult daughter - with a short, one-day turn-around visit to Zurich and contracted Thomas for the time we were picked-up at the airport in the morning to the point of drop-off into the evening. Not only was Thomas well-informed as he brought us to various points of interest, he was also patient with our questions and seemingly endless picture-taking, which he also gladly took some of us and even WITH us! I APPRECIATED that he was the type of private tour guide who went at OUR PACE based on whenever we found something particularly interesting, we stayed longer, whereas if something was marginally of interest to us, we talked about it briefly and then moved on. Thomas was also flexible to the degree that he was amenable to joining us for lunch that I pre-arranged with two friends who live in Zurich! There was a SPECIAL SERVICE that Thomas extended to us based on my request. Specifically, as a result of our extremely limited time in Zurich, I asked him to please pick up some snack items - both independent flavor profiles of savory and sweet - that are indigenous to and popular iin Zurich and to have them readily available in the vehicle when he picked us up at the airport. (Of course, I reimbursed him.) He had SUMPTUOUS choices for us, and they certainly enriched our tour day withi him! Thomas was professional AND personable, and we enjoyed the SUPERB customer service that he provided as our private tour guide AND as someone who is THE PERFECT "Ambassador" for Zurich, for his civic pride was evident! I am aware that he is also well-versed in knowledge of other international (non-U.S.) travel destinations such as Spain, Greece and others. Whenever Covid and the variants are under control and international travel can resume in a healthy way, I will check with Thomas to see if our travel destination is a part of his repertoire, for I would welcome the opportunity for him to be our private tour guide again!!!