Your Adventure

1 Depart Australia

• Board your flight Begin your journey to Paris, France.

2 Paris

• Meet your tour director and check into hotel
• Paris city walk Île de la Cité, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Île St. Louis, Latin Quarter
  This city was made for walking. Stroll grand boulevards with sweeping views of the city, pristine parks with trees planted in perfect rows, and narrow streets crowded with vendors selling flowers, pastries and cheese. Then head to the Île de la Cité, a small island in the Seine, to see Notre Dame Cathedral. Please note Notre Dame Cathedral is currently closed due to fire damage.
• Louvre Museum visit The world's largest art museum, the Louvre is housed in a Medieval fortress-turned-castle so grand it's worth a tour itself. You walk through the 71-foot glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei and added in 1989, and step into another world--one with carved ceilings, deep-set windows, and so many architectural details you could spend a week just admiring the rooms. The Mona Lisa is here, as well as the Venus de Milo and Winged Victory (the headless statue, circa 200 BC, discovered at Samothrace). The Louvre has seven different departments of paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures and antiquities. Don't miss the Egyptian collection, complete with creepy sarcophagi, or the collection of Greek ceramics, one of the largest in the world. (Please note the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays.)
• Dinner in Latin Quarter

3 Paris

• Paris guided sightseeing tour Arc de Triomphe, Champs Élysées, Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides, Opera House
  What's that huge white arch at the end of the Champs-Élysées? The Arc de Triomphe, commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 after his victory at Austerlitz. Your licensed local guide will elaborate on this, and other Parisian landmarks. See some of the most famous sites, including the ornate 19th-century Opera, the Presidential residence and the Place de la Concorde, where in the center you’ll find the Obelisk of Luxor, a gift from Egypt in 1836. Spot chic locals (and tons of tourists) strolling the Champs-Élysées. Look up at the iron girders of the Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 World's Fair to commemorate the centenary of the French Revolution. See Les Invalides (a refuge for war wounded) and the École Militaire (Napoleon's alma mater).
• Versailles guided excursion State Apartments, Hall of Mirrors, Gardens of Versailles
  The ultimate palace, Versailles was built by Louis XIII, and housed the royal family and its groveling court from 1682, when Louis XIV the Sun King moved in, to the French Revolution. Everything in Versailles is worth a look, from the 250-foot-long Hall of Mirrors, with themed salons- "war" and "peace" -on either side, to Marie Antoinette's faux country hamlet. When being a queen became too much to bear, she would pretend to be a commoner, tending her sheep and wearing peasant clothes. (Please note Versailles is closed on Mondays).
• Seine River Cruise See the city from the water on an hour-long cruise along the River Seine. The Seine cuts right through Paris, dividing the city in half. See the Eiffel tower rising up on the Left Bank, the walls of the Louvre on the Right Bank. A guide will point out other monuments and architectural marvels as you pass, many of which are illuminated by clear white light at night.

4 Paris - Lucerne

• Travel to Basel on the TGV (one of Europe’s fastest trains)
• Basel tour director-led city walk Basel Minster, Market Square, Middle Bridge
  Visit the enchanting and historical town of Basel.
• Travel to Lucerne Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and a focal point of the region. Due to its location on the shore of Lake Lucerne, within sight of Mount Pilatus and Rigi in the Swiss Alps, Lucerne is traditionally considered first and foremost as a tourist destination.

6 Lucerne - Innsbruck

• Travel to Innsbruck via Liechtenstein
• Innsbruck city walk Golden Roof, Triumphbogen, Olympic site
  Take a walk through a backdrop of towering snow-capped mountains that transform this down-to-earth cobble stoned city into a world class ski resort. Venture through Old Town (Altstadt) and pass clusters of identical rustic white stuccoed homes trimmed in brown that blend into the environment. Come face to façade with the glittering Little Golden Roof, sheltering the balcony where Maximilian I Habsburg and his love Bianca promised to stay together forever. Look closer and count 2,657 squares of shiny copper shingles. Discover Triumphbogen, the arch commemorating many Habsburg marriage matches made in political heaven. Head for the hills on a visit to the steep ski jump on hill Bergisel, the site of the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympic Games. Imagine what it would be like to soar over it as you bask in Alpine grandeur.

7 Innsbruck - Munich

• Hohenschwangau excursion Hohenschwangau Castle visit, Neuschwanstein Castle and Queen Mary's Bridge photo stop
  Travel to the picturesque Bavarian village of Hohenschwangau which is located between two famous castles: Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. Visit Hohenschwangau Castle, the childhood residence of King Ludwig II, and enjoy a hike up towards Neuschwanstein Castle for breathtaking views of the castle and the surrounding Bavarian Alps.
• Travel to Munich
• Bavarian bratwurst dinner Enjoy Bavarian- or Berlin-style sausage with traditional sides, made from veal and pork back bacon (Bavarian-style), or fried pork (Berlin style).

8 Munich

• Munich guided sightseeing tour Marienplatz, Frauenkirche, Residenz, BMW Welt showroom visit, 1972 Olympia Park
  Join a professional licensed tour guide for a whirlwind look at Munich. Founded in the 12th century by Henry the Lion, Munich now roars with the hustle and bustle of modern German life. As you pass by Marienplatz (named after the square’s gilded Virgin Mary and Child statue), mechanical knights joust and coopers dance to the folk-music chimes of the Neues Rathaus’s Glockenspiel. The twin onion-bulb towers of the Frauenkirche Cathedral frame this whimsical display, while the scents, sounds and colors of the nearby food market attempt to draw your attention elsewhere. Resist temptation and continue on to Olympiapark, a new suburb built for the 1972 Olympic Games. Pass by several museums, such as the BMW Museum, Alte Pinakothek (home to Munich’s most precious art collections), and the Deutsches Museum of science and technology.
• Dachau Concentration Camp & Memorial visit A grim glimpse into the past, Dachau was the first of Nazi Germany’s camps and a model for the 3,000 work and concentration camps to come. A chilling memorial to the 206,000 prisoners who were interned in the camp from 1933 to 1945, the museum examines pre-1930 anti-Semitism, the rise of the Nazi party, and the documented lives of prisoners.

9 Depart Munich (or begin tour extension)

• Board your flight/start tour extension to Berlin & Salzburg
• Guided excursion to Salzburg Visit the hills that are still very much alive with music. Surrounded by towering snow-capped Alpine mountains, Salzburg was fashioned in Baroque style architecture by three Bishop Princes back in the late 16th century. Discover all kinds of medieval spires, domes, belfries and turrets atop city buildings and houses of worship. Visit Mozart’s birthplace in Old Town. Relive scenes from The Sound of Music at the yellow castle the infamous von Trapp family called home. You’ll also visit the salt mines. The area near Salzburg is one of the oldest centers of salt production in the world. You’ll journey back to the time when salt was still considered “white gold”.
• Mozart’s birthplace visit Feel the rhythm of Salzburg’s Old Town Square as you enter the unassuming yellow domicile at Getreidegasse 9. This is the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. View an impressive collection of the young composer’s first instruments and immerse yourself in the captivating saga of this prodigy’s early life.

10 Munich - Berlin

• Travel to Berlin by train
• Berlin guided sightseeing tour Checkpoint Charlie, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate
  Join a professional, licensed tour guide as you discover one of the most historical cities in Germany. Although nothing remains of the mortar and cement-block barrier between East and West Berlin, the Berlin Wall (built in 1961; destroyed in 1989) is still a main “site” in Berlin. View the well-known Brandenburg Gate, once a main gate hidden behind a 10-foot barrier and now known for celebratory dancing on its flat top during the reunification. Travel to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, the most famous border crossing point. Checkpoint Charlie, once a wooden guard hut, was the most (in)famous border-crossing point between East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989. All that remains of the checkpoint itself is a skeletal watchtower and a memorial of attempted escapees. Follow your guide as they lead you through the museum’s accounts of the most ingenious of these escape attempts— even a few by hot air balloon.
• Topography of Terror visit The Topography of Terror in Berlin is a museum and historical site that chronicles the crimes of the Nazi regime, particularly those committed by the Gestapo, SS, and Reich Security Main Office. It offers exhibitions, educational programs, and includes historical remnants like a section of the Berlin Wall to provide a thorough understanding of this period.

11 Potsdam

• Jewish Museum visit Located on the line that once separated East and West Germany, this stirring museum was built in the shape of a warped Star of David and focuses on the realities of Jewish life in Germany, from ancient times up to the horrors of the Holocaust.
• Guided excursion to Potsdam Seen as Germany’s “Little Hollywood” from 1921 through WWII, Potsdam was the dazzling city of Frederick the Great, with countless marble fountains, exotic pavilions and Baroque castles (mostly built in the name of Frederick and Prussia’s power). Drive on to Sanssouci Palace, Fredrick the Great's most opulent palace. See the windmill and walk around the palace grounds where Fredrick and his dogs are now buried and see the great fountain and vineyards.

12 Depart Germany