London, the Netherlands and Imperial Europe

ITINERARY

DAY 01 LONDON

Arrival in London, reception and transfer. Day at leisure to explore the iconic sights of the British capital. Flight arrival time permitting, you will meet your escorted guide at the hotel reception in the late afternoon. Dinner. If you wish, you can take an optional excursion with a local guide, London by Night, in which you will have a first contact with London’s nightlife, passing through the most representative areas: the Thames, Piccadilly, Soho, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the City, the financial city, etc.

DAY 02 LONDON

Panoramic sightseeing tour with local guide. Tour by bus to see the main items of this fascinating city. South Kensington and Knightsbridge, where we will find the Royal Albert Hall, Prince Albert’s memorial, and two spectacular museums: the Natural Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, very close to the famous Harrods department store, all of this in the surroundings of the true lung of the city, Hyde Park. We continue our tour through Chelsea with its exclusive shopping, Belgravia, the embassy district and the cinematic Mayfair, Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar, renowned squares. At 10 Downing Street and Westminster we can take pictures of the Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and the famous Big Ben, to finish at Buckingham Palace. Rest of the day at leisure to continue exploring the city and if you wish you can take an interesting optional excursion where you will take a walk along the Thames, leaving some of the most important monuments of the city in its path and also go up (entrance included) to the London Eye, the great Ferris wheel 135 meters high, which is located on the banks of the Thames and which has become the biggest tourist attraction in the United Kingdom. 

DAY 03 LONDON

Breakfast. Free day to continue enjoying London, visiting its shopping areas and museums or, if you wish, you can take a very interesting optional excursion to two of the most emblematic places of British tradition. We will leave London with our local guide, who will accompany us throughout the tour, and we will head to Oxford, known as the “City of Dreaming Spires” and home to one of the most famous universities in the world, which dates back to the 13th century and has seen the likes of Bill Clinton, J R Tolkien, Lewis Carroll and Richard Burton. We will visit one of its famous Colleges (entrance included) and we will also have free time to do some shopping or enjoy a few moments of rest, having a coffee in one of the terraces of the city. This optional excursion will continue to Windsor, where we will discover a special town with lively medieval streets full of shops, pubs and period houses surrounding the Central Square, where we can admire the majestic exterior of Windsor Castle. 

DAY 04 LONDON – WITCHES

Breakfast. Departure to Folkestone for a 35 minutes crossing under the English Channel in the “Shuttle” to go to Belgium, where we will make a tour of the region of Flanders. Lunch and free time to enjoy the charm of its houses and canals, the Lake of Love, the Beaterio, the Grote Markt Square, the Basilica of the Holy Blood, where the relic of the Blood of Jesus Christ is kept, etc. or optional panoramic visit with a local guide, including a boat trip on the canals (depending on the season of operation of the boat, which will be replaced by a visit to a brewery). Eventually the crossing from the UK to the continent can be made by ferry from Dover to Calais. Accommodation. 

DAY 05 BRUGES – BRUSSELS – THE HAGUE – AMSTERDAM

Breakfast. Departure to Brussels. Sightseeing tour with local guide: the Grand Place with the King’s House, the Guild House and the Town Hall, St Michael’s Cathedral, the Manenken-Pis, the Sablon, the Palace of Justice, the Atomium, etc. Continuation to The Hague, the city of palaces and avenues, embassies and ministries, the seat of the government of the Netherlands, the Academy of International Law, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, the International Court, and residence of the Dutch royal family. Free time and continuation to Amsterdam. If you wish, you will have the possibility to take an optional unforgettable boat trip, discovering the city from its canals, visiting among other places the famous Red Light District, the Princes’ Canal, where we will see the West Church and the Anne Frank House, the Lords’ Canal, the Amstel River with the famous Delgado Bridge and the Stopera, etc. Overnight stay. 

DAY 06 AMSTERDAM

Breakfast. Panoramic tour with local guide: Mint Tower, Rokin, the floating flower market, Dam Square, the Royal Palace, the National Monument, the Berlage Stock Exchange, the Central Station, St. Nicholas Church, the Jewish Quarter, etc. We will also visit a diamond cutting factory, where we will be shown the whole process from the extraction of the rough crystal to its conversion into brilliance. Rest of the day at leisure or if you wish you can take an optional excursion that will immerse us in the traditional Holland, visiting its fishing villages, where we will see the perfect harmony between the different cultural and religious communities in the Netherlands. Marken, a fishing village with a long Protestant tradition that was originally an island and is nowadays connected to the mainland by a dike, and Volendam, a Catholic village, where you will be able to do some interesting shopping and taste the fish dishes that are characteristic of the region. Both still preserve their wooden houses and some of their inhabitants wear the traditional costume of the country. Overnight stay. 

DAY 07 AMSTERDAM – BOAT TRIP ON THE RHINE – COLOGNE – FRANKFURT

Breakfast and departure to Cologne, a Roman foundation, with its beautiful Gothic Cathedral which, at 156 m. high, was the tallest building in the world until the end of the 19th century and was practically the only thing left standing after the bombings of the Second World War. In the afternoon we will take a pleasant boat trip on the Rhine while contemplating towns, vineyards, and castles characteristic of the Rhineland region, where we are. Disembarkation and continuation to Frankfurt, Germany’s financial capital, which for two centuries was the coronation place of the Holy Roman Emperors. Free time to visit the Römerberg, or old town center, with its15th-century patrician houses. Overnight stay. 

DAY 08 FRANKFURT – NUREMBERG – PRAGUE

Breakfast and departure to Nuremberg, which perfectly preserves its medieval atmosphere and which is linked to the history of the 20th century as a result of the famous trial for the crimes of World War II. Free time or an optional panoramic tour with local guide of the old town outside the Imperial Castle, the districts of St. Sebald and St. Lawrence, the Hauptmarkt (Main Market Square) with the “Schöner Brunner” (Beautiful Fountain) and the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), the Hospital of the Holy Spirit, etc. Continuation to Prague. Free time or optional evening stroll through the old town Dinner and overnight. 

DAY 09 PRAGUE

Panoramic tour with local guide: the Jewish Quarter, Old Town Square with the Town Hall, the Churches of St. Nicholas and St. Mary of Týn, Charles Bridge, Wenceslas Square, etc. and the rest of the day at leisure to visit the Jewish Quarter visiting some of its synagogues, such as the Spanish or Staronová, considered to be the oldest in Europe, etc. (Lunch included in the MEALS PACKAGE and T. I.). If you wish, to get a complete idea of the city, you can take an optional visit of the so-called Holy Prague: Prague Castle with St. Vitus Cathedral and the Old Royal Palace, the place where the spark of the 30 Years’ War ignited after the defenestration of the nobles; the Golden Alley, etc. Overnight stay. 

DAY 10 PRAGUE

Breakfast. Free day or optional excursion to Karlovy Vary, a spa town, which acquired great importance during the 19th century when it became a meeting point for the high society in search of thermal treatments and a resting place for great artists, such as Strauss or Beethoven, among others. We will take a walk with the local guide through the city, to admire among other places the beautiful colonnades built around the river Teplá so that visitors could take walks and drink the thermal water while being protected from the inclemency of the weather. Free time until the time of return to Prague. Overnight stay. 

DAY 11 PRAGUE – BRATISLAVA – BUDAPEST

Breakfast. We will leave Prague, crossing Bohemia and Moravia, two of the historical regions of the Czech Republic, until we reach Slovakia, where we will visit its capital, Bratislava, which was also the capital of Hungary for a period of time, when that country was occupied by the Ottoman Empire. Free time to get to know this wonderful city, bathed by the Danube, and to explore its historic center, where we will see its charming traditional statues, as well as its wealth of monuments, its lively squares and narrow streets, with St. Michael’s Gate, St. Martin’s Cathedral, the Blue Church, the Primate’s Palace, the Town Hall, etc. Continuation to Budapest, capital of Hungary, a city considered as one of the most beautiful in Europe, crossed by the Danube, which separates Buda and Pest, nowadays connected by marvelous bridges such as the Chain Bridge or the Elizabeth Bridge, in honor of the Empress Sisi. Dinner and overnight. 

DAY 12 BUDAPEST

Panoramic tour with local guide: Heroes’ Square and its wonderful sculptural ensemble, the Municipal Park, the Andrassy Avenue considered as the most beautiful in Budapest full of palaces and mansions, the Chain, Elizabeth and Margaret Bridges, the Buda Quarter with its picturesque streets and neo-baroque buildings, the exterior of the Matthias Church, the Fisherman’s Bastion with magnificent views of the Parliament, Pest and the Danube, etc. Free time or if you wish you can take an optional visit of “Historic Budapest”, admiring the interior of the Parliament, one of the most emblematic buildings of the city, and, in addition, during this visit we will also visit the Opera House, in neo-renaissance style and financed by the Emperor Franz Joseph is considered one of the most elegant opera houses in the world. If you wish, you can take an optional excursion combining a pleasant boat trip on the Danube with a Goulash Party, where you will taste the famous Hungarian gastronomy and wines, while enjoying a lively show of typical music and dances. Overnight stay. 

DAY 13 BUDAPEST – VIENNA

Breakfast. Morning at leisure to continue discovering this city, strolling through its shopping areas or visiting one of its thermal spas. If you wish, you can take an optional excursion to visit the Great Synagogue, one of the most emblematic buildings in the city, being the largest in Europe and the second largest in the world, followed by a tour of the Jewish quarter, where we will visit the traditional Klauzál market, where we will taste a typical Hungarian refreshing drink. Departure through the Pannonian Plain to Vienna. On arrival we will pass by the UN headquarters and cross the Danube before heading back to the hotel. Dinner and overnight.

DAY 14 VIENNA

Breakfast. Panoramic city tour with local guide, where we will visit the monumental Ringstrasse, an avenue more than 5 kilometers long where some of the most significant buildings of Vienna are located and which represents the maximum expression of the historicist style: the Parliament, the Opera House, the Votive Church, the Museums of Art History and Natural History, the Town Hall, the Stock Exchange, etc. We will also stroll through the pedestrian heart of the city grouped around St. Stephen’s Cathedral, where we will stop for a free visit and we will also see among other places the courtyards of the Hofburg Imperial Palace, the Kartner Strasse and the Graben with the Plague Column, etc. Rest of the day at leisure or, if you wish, an optional visit of the Opera House inaugurated in 1869 with Mozart’s D. Giovanni and Schönbrunn Palace, summer residence of the imperial family, where Maria-Theresa, Franz-Joseph and Sisi lived, and which was the setting for the Treaty of Vienna and the meeting between Kennedy and Khrushchev in the middle of the Cold War. In the evening, if you wish, you can optionally attend a Viennese concert where, among other pieces of the European musical tradition, the most representative waltzes will be performed. Overnight stay. 

DAY 15 VIENNA

Breakfast and transfer to the airport for your departure flight. End of our services.