13 days/12 nights Eastern Europe tour

Day 1 Berlin

Arrival at the airport and transfer to hotel

Day 2   Berlin

Guided tour of Berlin for city sightseeing. Start at the Berlin Wall, an open-air gallery which used to mark the boundary of East and West Berlin for 28 years. Other monuments related to the cold war include Checkpoint Charlie and the Brandenburg Gate. View The Reichstag, the seat of the German parliament after reconstruction. Continue to view the 210-foot high Victory Column in the vast Tiergarter Park. Experience the "new" Berlin as we see the futuristic buildings of Sony Centre, which houses the Filmhaus with the Filmmuseum, 2 cinemas, an IMAX theatre as well as restaurants, in a light-flooded arena with a tented roof.

Day 3    Berlin-Poznan (300km/3h30min)-Warsaw (300km/4h)

Make your way to Poznan, Poland`s second most important commercial centre after Warsaw. Enjoy an orientation tour of the Old Town before continuing  to Warsaw, the capital of Poland.Arrival and overnight.

Day 4    Warsaw

Begin a guided tour of Warsaw which includes the Grand Theatre & Opera House, Jablonowski Palace, Tomb of Unknown Soldier, Saski Park, Umscagplatz, monument of Heroes of Ghetto, Town Hall and monumental architectures from the communist period. Visit the Lazienki Royal Park with the Palace on the Water before walk around the Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site painstakingly rebuilt from starch after World War II. Visit "new" Warsaw which includes the New Town, Krasinski Palace, Palace of Justice and the Monument of Warsaw Uprising.

Day 5    Warsaw-Czestochowa (250km/3h)-Krakow (200km/2h)

Head southwards to Czestochowa. Next to Rome, Fatima in Portugal and Lourdes in France, the Jasna Gora Monastery, towering over the city of Czestochowa, is one of the most vivid and important pilgrimage sites of the entire Christendom. View the famous Black Madonna and be guided around the monastery premises by a resident Pauline monk. Continue our journey to Krakow which is listed by the United Nations as one of the world`s most significant histories sites.

Day 6   Krakow

Visit the 14^th century St Mary`s Church, home to an unmatched Gothic altarpiece and where the golden trumpet sounds the Krakow Signal hourly. Discover exquisite souvenirs at the world`s oldest shopping complex, the Cloth Hall. Stroll through the courtyard of the Jagiellonian University before walking up Wawel Hill where one of the most striking royal residences stands. Enjoy the afternoon at leisure. Why not consider visiting the ancient salt mine in Wieliczka, said to be ‘as remarkable as the Pyramids and more useful’.

Day 7    Krakow-Auschwitz (100km/1h)-Prague (500km/5h)

Proceed to Oswiecim where the Nazis established their largest concentration camps, The Auschwitz Concentration Camp for visit. Thereafter, drive to Prague, the largest and the capital city of Czech Republic located in Central Bohemia.

Day 8    Prague

Visit the 1,000 year-old Hradcany Castle, the former residence of Bohemia kings on Castle Hill. Within its walls, stands the enormous St Vitus Cathedral with its gilded chapel studded with semi-precious stones. Walk down the Golden Lane and cross the famous Charles Bridge as you walk towards the Old Town Square. Admire the Astronomical Clock, once the envy of all Europe, one of the sides of the Old Town Hall. Afterwards, mix with the locals in Wenceslaus Square, or shop for souvenirs. In the evening, why not join an optional visit to a convivial ‘bier Keller’, a traditional Czech restaurant with music?

Day 9    Prague-Cesky Krumlov (200km/2h30min)

Drive through Bohemia countryside’s to Cesky Krumlov, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Southwest of the Czech Republic. The walking tour starts at the landmark of the region, the Castle which dominates the town centre and looms over red-tile roofs, stone bridges and labyrinth cobbled streets. Picture perfect houses with distinctly odd outlines crowd the hills and the banks of the Vltava River that snakes through the heart of the city.

Day 10    Cesky Krumlov-Bratislava (300km/4h)-Budapest (200km/2h)

Cross the border into Slovakia. Travel towards the foothills of the Little Carpathians and the capital city of Bratislava. Admire a variety of architectural styles and cheeky bronze statues on our orientation tour. Take a leisure drive to the capital of Hungary, Budapest, often called the ‘Paris of the East’. Enjoy a night of lively gypsy music & dances at a local Folklore show.

Day 11   Budapest

Embark on a guided tour of Buda. From the neo-Romanesque conical towers of the Fisherman`s Bastion, enjoy a perfect panorama of the beautiful Parliament Building, which dominates Pest`s flat skyline. Marvel at the superb murals in the 13^th century St Matthias Church before we stroll to view the Royal Palace. Cross the Danube into Pest via one of the many bridges, with the Chain and Elisabeth being the 2 most regal bridges. Stop for photos at the Millennium Monument in Heroes` Square, erected to commemorate the 1000^th anniversary of Magyer settlement. Drive out to the great Hungarian Plains dotted with fields of red paprika and thatched inns. This is where we will find authentic Hungarian Cowboys known of their rowess on horse backs. Not to be missed performances are the famous ‘Puszta fiver’ as well as the ‘Puszta lookout tower’.

Day 12   Budapest-Danube Valley-Vienna (250km/2h30min)

Experience the nostalgia of travelling through the picturesque Danube Valley where you can stop to see the great Danube River Bend. Travel through the enchanting Austrian countryside, passing old village, sleep vineyards and castle ruins to arrive at the capital of Austria & music, Vienna. Our guided tour starts with a visit to the magnificent Schonbrunn Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most important cultural monuments of Austria. Be duly impressed with the State Apartments which include the Maria Theresa`s sitting rooms, bedroom and the parlor in which young Mozart conduced his first public performance. The interior is an indulgence of frescoed ceilings, crystal chandeliers, huge mirrors and gilded ornaments. Drive along the Ring Boulevard, which is 4km long and circles the city centre. Located along the Ring Boulevard are the Hofburg, Austrian Parliament, State Opera House, and Museum of Fine Arts, the first public observatory Urania and Vienna University among others. Visit St Stephen’s Cathedral built in 1147AD. For a long time, it was uncontested as the highest building in Europe measuring almost 137m in height.

Day 13   Departure Vienna

Transfer to the airport..