Pearls

Make your boyhood dreams come true as an apprentice fireman on the legendary Brienz–Rothorn mountain railway! Besides learning all about the line and the vintage 1892 locomotives, you can take a look inside the steam engine, be present when the brakes are tested and help stoke the furnace on the way up to the top. Plus you return home with a personalized fireman’s certificate.

A bit of Ticino to take home with you! At the Gottardo dairy in Airolo, guests can use the wonderful milk produced by cows in the San Gottardo region to make their own cheese. An experienced cheese maker tells them what to do and after each freshly made cheese has aged sufficiently to produce a fine mature cheese, it is sent back home to the one who made it as a reminder of an unforgettable holiday in Ticino.

Not everyone has a garden, but everyone can have an apple tree – by sponsoring a tree in the apple-growing village of Altnau, for example, or by planting a new one, in which case you can choose the variety and location yourself. Every sponsored tree has a sign with the name of the sponsor, who naturally gets to harvest the apples as well, either whole or in the form of freshly pressed apple juice.

He has held the title of World Champion Chef, is a rapper of recipes and a cult cook with unbeatable street cred. The talk is of Ivo Adam, who at his Restaurant Seven in Ascona indulges guests by doing everything just a little bit differently from his more traditional counterparts. All the more inspiring, therefore, are the gastronomic weekends to be had at the Villa Adam, where Ivo himself wows guests with special culinary combinations and astonishing reinventions of taste.

A visit to Augusta Raurica, the famous Roman settlement on the Rhine, promises more than just a fascinating insight into one of the most interesting chapters of human history; it's sure to be lots of fun too!

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Visitors to the bell foundry in Berger in Bärau can now cast their own bells. The first job is to decorate the sand moulds, after which guests are taken on a tour of the foundry while the metal is being heated up to 1100 degrees. Once it is molten, the bells are cast and just a short time later can be admired as unique works of craftsmanship.

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The past is alive and well in Basel’s old paper mill. Here in the mill’s medieval-style workshops, paper is still made using traditional methods. The history of writing is brought back to life by the machines for casting and setting lead type, while the historical printing presses in the museum's own printing shop show how books used to be produced. Visitors are welcome to make their own coloured paper in the museum’s interactive studio.

The Teufelhof is more than just a restaurant. It is also a cultural institution and a mainstay of Basel’s culinary scene. This is thanks not least to Michael Baader, the chef de cuisine who over the years has delighted many a fastidious palate in his first-floor Bel Etage gourmet restaurant. Guests who attend his wonderfully indulgent cooking classes are afforded a glimpse behind the scenes of this famous restaurant and can even learn a trick or two with which to wow guests at their own dinner parties.

Those who sign up for a tour of Basel with Emma Munzinger get to see the city from a completely different perspective. An old school maidservant, Munzinger takes guests with her to her new workplace in the home of one of Basel’s most illustrious families. There, allowed to peek behind doors that are normally shut, visitors can learn all about the history of Basel’s “Daigs” – as the upper crust is called in Basel dialect – as well as picking up many a juicy piece of gossip.

Geum is said to have a number of miraculous properties – at least on the Bettmeralp, where its powers are ascribed to St. Benedict. Whether it is a sore eye or an aching tooth, catarrh or diarrhoea, St. Benedict’s herb, as it is called here, acts as a restorative for both heart and mind. Guests can accompany herbalist Lisa Engler on her expeditions in search of this extraordinary plant and learn more about its properties from her.