UCERNE, SWITZERLAND — The buses start arriving early. As many as 200 a day. The excited occupants — all Chinese — rush off into Schwanenplatz, this city’s main square, and dash towards the entrance of Bucherer, the legendary watchmaker that first opened its doors in 1888.

ANDERMATT, SWITZERLAND — From my seat aboard the Glacier Express, I feel like I’m looking at an endless series of Giovanni Segantini paintings.

Zürich - Out of the shadows of a darkened Old Town street walks a man wearing a black cape and tricorne. His face is gaunt, his skin a ghostly white. In one hand he carries a lamp. In the other, a long staff with a spear and axe affixed at the top.

ANDERMATT, SWITZERLAND - Anticipation builds as the scenic Glacier Express train I boarded earlier in the day in St. Moritz begins its long, slow decent from the stunning Oberalp Pass into the Urseren Valley where lovely Andermatt and my next Swiss Deluxe Hotel, The Chedi Andermatt, is located.

ZURICH - I walk out of Zurich’s bustling main rail station and ask the police officer standing on the corner of the city’s busy shopping street, Bahnhofstrasse, for directions to the landmark Hotel Widder.

INTERLAKEN, SWITZERLAND - I’m told people come to this picturesque mountain community nestled in the bosom of an enchanting Alpine valley seeking solace on what’s known as “wellness weekends.”

ST. MORITZ, SWITZERLAND - The driver with the heavy Italian accent who picks me up at the train station in The Carlton Hotel's shiny new Bentley, tells me he’s been working at the hotel just three months — “because we are only open three months of the year.”

GENEVA - This may be the most important city in the world – a city that tells the rest of us how to live. Geneva, which boasts 4,000 years of history, is always in the news.

GENEVA - Friends and I played a game during our visit to this Alpine beauty, checking our Japanese- made watches to see if the trains would arrive at the time posted on the station clock. Without fail, each pulled into the charming stations with the mountain views right on time.

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND - If they gave out medals to cities based on beauty, then surely Lausanne, nestled on the shores of lovely Lake Geneva and at the base of the majestic Jura Mountains, would win gold.