• 4 Dinner (D)
• 11 Breakfast (B)
• 1 Lunch (L)

• Weimar: Delve into Weimar’s rich cultural history by joining a Local Expert for an exploration of the city. Discover how literary luminaries such as Goethe and Schiller profoundly impacted German literature and culture.
• Black Forest: Discover the art of cuckoo-clock making at a charming workshop in the Black Forest. Meet a local artisan and watch as they demonstrate the precision and skill behind this iconic regional craft. As you take in the details, enjoy a slice of Black Forest cake with tea, a local speciality.
• Fussen: Walk through the picturesque streets of the Old Town and explore the Museum of Fussen in the former Benedictine monastery of St. Mang with a Local Expert.

Choose a restaurant within Rothenburg’s Old Town walls from a hand-picked selection recommended for the tour. The dine-around format lets you select an atmosphere and menu that appeal to you, with options ranging from Franconian specialities to international cooking.

Dining inside the medieval centre brings the town’s gabled buildings and cobbled lanes into the evening experience. Your Travel Director’s local knowledge helps make the choice more personal than a standard group meal.

Join your travel companions for a Bavarian evening in Munich. This optional hosted outing offers a sociable way to spend time together and experience the region’s convivial atmosphere beyond the day’s sightseeing.

Bavaria’s gatherings are closely associated with shared tables and a strong sense of local identity. The itinerary does not specify the venue, menu or entertainment for this evening. It is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Insight Vacations

Meet your Travel Director and fellow travellers over dinner at a local restaurant in central Berlin. It is a hosted introduction to the people sharing your journey, rather than an evening of dining on your own.

Berlin’s restaurant scene reflects the city’s many neighbourhoods and international influences. Sharing a table here offers a welcoming first taste of the capital’s contemporary character.

Explore Berlin with a Local Expert, travelling along the Kurfurstendamm and pausing at the ruined spire of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. See the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, State Opera and Museum Island as you trace the capital’s imperial and contemporary landmarks.

The church stands as a reminder of wartime destruction, while the Brandenburg Gate symbolises German reunification. Together, the sights reveal how division and renewal have shaped the city.

Walk through Dresden with a Local Expert to see the Frauenkirche, the vast Procession of the Princes mural, the cathedral, Semper Opera House and Zwinger Palace. The tour also introduces the traditional German Christmas pyramids associated with the region.

Much of Dresden’s historic centre was devastated during the Second World War. The reconstructed Frauenkirche makes the city’s story of destruction and painstaking restoration especially visible amid its baroque streets.

Explore Weimar with a Local Expert and discover the city associated with writers Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. Hear how their work helped shape German literature and cultural life while taking in the streets of this influential Thuringian city.

Weimar’s reputation reaches far beyond its size: it was also the birthplace of the Bauhaus school. This guided introduction focuses on the people and ideas behind its enduring cultural significance.

Walk Rothenburg’s cobbled streets with a Local Expert, passing high-gabled houses and the market square’s Renaissance town hall. Explore the gates, towers and historic walls that give this Romantic Road town its distinctive enclosed silhouette.

A walk along the city walls offers broad views across the rooftops and surrounding countryside. Rothenburg’s preserved medieval street plan makes its past unusually tangible without needing to imagine where the old town once stood.

Discover Frankfurt’s landmarks with a Local Expert, including the gabled Romer, Frankfurt Cathedral, St Paul’s Church and the European Central Bank. Complete the visit by tasting local Apfelwein, the tart apple wine closely associated with the city.

The cathedral recalls Frankfurt’s role in Holy Roman imperial coronations, while St Paul’s Church is linked to the German parliament of 1848. Historic civic buildings and modern finance sit remarkably close together here.

Get to know Mainz on an orientation led by your Travel Director. This introduction places the city’s streets and landmarks in the context of its long history at the meeting of the Rhine and Main rivers.

Founded as a Roman settlement, Mainz later became an important ecclesiastical centre and the home city of Johannes Gutenberg. The orientation provides a sense of the setting behind the city’s celebrated printing heritage.

Visit the Gutenberg Museum with a guide in Mainz, the city where Johannes Gutenberg developed his groundbreaking printing methods. Explore a museum devoted to the history of books, printing and the spread of the written word.

Gutenberg’s work with movable type in the 15th century transformed how texts could be reproduced and shared across Europe. The visit connects that far-reaching change to the city in which he lived and worked.

Cruise the Rhine past steep vineyards, half-timbered villages and castles rising above the riverbanks. From the water, take in the close succession of settlements and fortifications that defines this celebrated stretch of the Rhineland.

The Upper Middle Rhine Valley is recognised by UNESCO for its cultural landscape. Its castles and terraced slopes reflect centuries of river trade, winemaking and competition for control of this vital European route.

Walk among Bacharach’s vineyards with a Local Expert for a closer look at the steep slopes above the Middle Rhine. Hear about the wine region while taking in views across the river valley and its hillside vines.

Vineyard terraces are a defining feature of this UNESCO-listed cultural landscape. Seeing them on foot reveals the demanding terrain behind local wine production and the long relationship between the Rhine’s towns, growers and river.

Taste seasonal Middle Rhine cooking and local wines at Stuber’s in Bacharach. This farm-to-table lunch features regional ingredients sourced from farmers and artisans, served with views across the vineyard-lined river valley.

Rooted in the Slow Food philosophy, the meal gives local produce and fair, sustainable sourcing a place at the table. The accompanying wine tasting connects the flavours on your plate with the steep vineyards visible outside.

Explore Heidelberg’s cobbled Old Town with a Local Expert, seeing the historic university buildings and the Gothic Church of the Holy Spirit. From the 18th-century Old Bridge, look across the Neckar towards the red sandstone castle above the city.

Founded in 1386, Heidelberg University is Germany’s oldest. The castle, once a residence of the Electors of the Palatinate, remains a commanding backdrop to the baroque streets below.

Watch a local artisan demonstrate cuckoo-clock making at a Black Forest workshop. Look closely at the precision and handcraft behind a regional tradition, and enjoy a slice of Black Forest cake with tea.

The area’s clockmaking heritage stretches back centuries, with carved designs becoming closely identified with the region. Seeing the work up close offers more insight than a shop display, while the cake brings another distinctly local tradition to the visit.

Visit Neuschwanstein Castle with a local historian, walking through its richly decorated rooms and taking in views of the Bavarian Alps. Built for King Ludwig II, the castle pairs medieval-inspired turrets with lavish 19th-century interiors.

Its theatrical design reflects Ludwig’s fascination with legend and romantic art, rather than the needs of a fortress. The castle has become an enduring model for the fairy-tale palace. Entry is subject to availability.

Walk through Fussen’s Old Town with a Local Expert and explore the Museum of Fussen, housed in the former Benedictine monastery of St Mang. The visit pairs the town’s picturesque streets with a historic building that has been part of local life for centuries.

Fussen lies near the Bavarian Alps and has a long heritage of instrument making. Its monastery setting offers a quieter perspective on the region beyond its better-known royal castles.

Meet artisan Marion in her Oberammergau workshop and learn about the woodcarving skills she developed through the village’s carving school. This hosted visit gives you a personal introduction to a craft still practised in the Bavarian Alps.

Oberammergau is renowned for its woodcarvers as well as its Passion Play tradition. Visiting a working artisan directly supports the local community and helps sustain a distinctive part of its cultural heritage.

Visit Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site with a Local Expert to learn about the camp’s history and commemorate those imprisoned there. The experience is a sober opportunity for reflection at a preserved place of remembrance.

Dachau opened in 1933 and became a model for the Nazi concentration camp system. Guided-tour guests must be at least 14; younger guests may visit independently with an accompanying adult. The tour includes confronting historical information and images.

Discover central Munich with your Travel Director, seeing the Feldherrnhalle on Odeonsplatz, the former Wittelsbach palace, the Hofbräuhaus, St Peter’s Church and Marienplatz. This orientation brings Bavaria’s capital into focus through its public squares and familiar landmarks.

The sights span royal Munich, the city’s church heritage and its beer-hall culture. Marienplatz remains the centre of civic life, with the New Town Hall and its Glockenspiel overlooking the square.

Choose a culinary walking tour in central Munich as one of two included Insight Choice experiences. Explore the city on foot through the lens of its food culture, with a Local Expert providing context for the Bavarian capital.

Munich’s markets, beer traditions and regional dishes are closely tied to its everyday life. This choice offers a food-focused way to understand the city. Travellers select this experience or the Residenz visit, rather than both.

Choose to visit the Munich Residenz, including its museum and Treasury, as one of two included Insight Choice experiences. Explore the former royal palace of the Wittelsbach rulers and see collections that reflect centuries of Bavarian court life.

The Residenz grew from a medieval stronghold into an extensive palace complex, with rooms shaped by successive rulers and changing artistic tastes. Travellers select this palace visit or the culinary walking tour, rather than both.

Dine on Bavarian specialities in a traditional Munich beer hall and experience its lively communal atmosphere. Long tables, conversation and regional cooking make the setting a distinctive part of the meal.

Beer halls have long served as gathering places in Munich, bringing residents and visitors together over food and drink. This included dining experience offers a taste of that social tradition rather than an ordinary hotel dinner.

Explore medieval Nuremberg on a guided visit offered as an alternative to independent time in Rothenburg. Discover a Franconian city known for its historic centre, craft traditions and imposing Imperial Castle.

Nuremberg was an important city of the Holy Roman Empire, and its restored old town still conveys that legacy. This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour; ask your Travel Director for the visit’s details.

Tour Nymphenburg Palace with a guide and visit BMW Welt on this optional Munich outing. The pairing brings together the city’s former royal world and its modern reputation for automotive design.

Nymphenburg was a summer residence of Bavaria’s Wittelsbach rulers, set amid extensive palace grounds. BMW Welt presents a contrasting face of Munich through contemporary architecture and vehicles. This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

• Top-rated dining, from farm-to-table to local restaurants
• 4 & 5-star stays
• Business class coach with extended leg room