• 8 Dinner (D)
• 25 Breakfast (B)

• Vatican City: Visit the Vatican Museums and witness the genius of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel.

Travel to Lake Bled and cross its glacial waters aboard a traditional wooden pletna boat. Glide towards the small island at the centre of the lake, surrounded by wooded shores and Alpine scenery.

Pletna boats are a longstanding part of Bled’s local character, traditionally rowed by skilled boatmen. The crossing offers an intimate perspective on one of Slovenia’s best-known landscapes. This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Choose a private tour of Schonbrunn Palace and its formal gardens in Vienna. Explore the former Habsburg summer residence associated with Empress Maria Theresa and see its grand setting firsthand.

Schonbrunn’s rooms and ordered gardens express the scale and ceremony of imperial court life. The visit adds depth to Vienna’s Habsburg story beyond the city centre. This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Choose to step inside the Prince’s Palace and explore its State Apartments as your included Monaco Insight Choice activity. Admire Italian Renaissance frescoes and ceremonial rooms within the residence of Monaco’s ruling Grimaldi family.

Standing above the old town, the palace began as a medieval fortress before successive rulers reshaped it into a princely home. This choice focuses on the principality’s dynastic history and the art used to express its status.

Choose to visit Monaco’s Oceanographic Museum as your included alternative to the Prince’s Palace. Explore aquariums showcasing Mediterranean and tropical marine life, alongside displays examining ocean science and research in polar environments.

Founded by Prince Albert I in 1910, the museum reflects his commitment to marine exploration. Perched above the Mediterranean, it connects the living worlds in its aquariums with the wider scientific effort to understand and protect the seas.

Choose to visit Vienna’s Capuchin Crypt as one of two included Insight Choice activities. Explore the burial place of generations of the Habsburg dynasty beneath the Capuchin Church.

The crypt offers a quieter encounter with the family whose rule shaped Austria and much of Central Europe. Its tombs and memorials trace changing styles of commemoration, adding a personal dimension to the imperial history visible elsewhere across Vienna.

Choose to visit a traditional Viennese coffeehouse for coffee and Sachertorte as your included alternative to the Capuchin Crypt. Settle into a setting where lingering over a drink is part of the experience.

Vienna’s coffeehouses have long served as places for conversation, reading and intellectual exchange. Sampling the city’s well-known chocolate cake offers a flavour of that enduring social tradition, not simply a pause for refreshments.

Choose from a selection of restaurants for an included Dine-Around evening in Lucerne. Select the setting and cuisine that suit you, making dinner a more personal encounter with the city.

Whether you favour an intimate dining room or a livelier atmosphere, the choice offers a chance to experience Lucerne beyond its best-known landmarks. The evening’s distinctive feature is the freedom to shape your own restaurant experience within the organised tour.

Cruise Amsterdam’s UNESCO-listed canals over a special dinner with fellow travellers. Pass beneath bridges and alongside merchant houses as lights begin to illuminate their distinctive gables.

Much of the canal district took shape during the Dutch Golden Age, when trade brought wealth to the city and waterways organised its expansion. Dining on board pairs that architectural history with a memorable view of Amsterdam from the water.

• Hand sanitizer is freely available on board for you to use throughout the day.

Insight Vacations

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

Discover Paris on a guided city orientation taking in the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame Cathedral and Louvre facades. Follow the Seine past its bridges and see the broad avenues that give the French capital its distinctive shape.

At Place de la Concorde, see the Egyptian obelisk before travelling along the Champs-Élysées towards the Arc de Triomphe. Your Travel Director brings the landmarks and their stories into focus; this is a sightseeing experience rather than entry to the monuments.

Gather with your Travel Director and fellow travellers for a welcome dinner at a local Paris restaurant. Sharing a table in the heart of the city offers a relaxed introduction to French dining and the people travelling with you.

Parisian restaurant culture prizes conversation as much as the meal itself. Settle in over dinner and enjoy the lively rhythm of an evening in Paris, away from the formality of a sightseeing schedule.

Visit the Château de Chenonceau, whose graceful galleries span the River Cher in France’s Loire Valley. Explore a château celebrated for its elegant Renaissance design and its remarkable setting above the water.

Known as the Ladies’ Château, Chenonceau was shaped by influential women including Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de’ Medici. Its architecture and gardens express the wealth and artistic ambition of the French Renaissance in a landscape recognised for its historic châteaux.

Explore Bordeaux with a Local Specialist on a guided walking tour. See the pale facades lining the quays, the Grand Théâtre and the refined streets of the Triangle d’Or.

At the vast Esplanade des Quinconces, learn how Bordeaux’s riverfront and 18th-century planning reflect its history as a trading port. Much of the city is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, making its streets an unusually coherent portrait of the Enlightenment-era city.

Walk through San Sebastián’s Old Quarter with a Local Expert, exploring the compact streets around Plaza de la Constitución. Discover the neighbourhood where historic buildings, local shops and pintxos bars sit close to the city’s celebrated bay.

The plaza once served as a bullring; numbers on its balconies recall seats hired for spectators. The walk offers an introduction to Basque city life and the lively public spaces that remain central to San Sebastián’s identity.

Taste your way through San Sebastián’s Old Town on a progressive pintxos dinner. Move between local bars in small groups, selecting snack-sized dishes from the counter and dining in the convivial Basque fashion.

Pintxos range from simple bites to inventive combinations, each bar offering its own specialities. You may also choose to try Txakoli, the lightly sparkling Basque wine. This is a participatory introduction to a food tradition woven into the city’s social life.

Explore Plaza del Castillo in Pamplona, the historic capital of Navarre, and step inside Café Iruña. Its tiled floors, mirrors and dark wood preserve the atmosphere of a grand early-20th-century café.

Ernest Hemingway frequented Pamplona and helped bring international attention to its San Fermín festival through his writing. This visit reveals a quieter side of the city: its central square as a gathering place for conversation, coffee and everyday life.

Explore Barcelona with a Local Expert, viewing the Gothic Quarter and cathedral before travelling along La Rambla and Passeig de Gràcia. Look for the expressive facades that make this avenue a showcase of Catalan Modernisme.

Continue through the orderly grid of the Eixample to see Gaudí’s Sagrada Família from outside. The contrast between medieval streets, 19th-century urban planning and Gaudí’s sculptural architecture reveals how Barcelona has repeatedly reinvented itself.

Stroll along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, with views across the curved shoreline of the Bay of Angels. Enjoy the sea air and the broad waterfront avenue that has become one of the Côte d’Azur’s defining sights.

Named for the English visitors who helped establish the promenade in the 19th century, it recalls Nice’s long history as a Mediterranean resort. The walk offers a direct feel for its seafront setting and cosmopolitan atmosphere.

Drive along part of Monaco’s Grand Prix circuit, where Formula 1 races have threaded through the principality’s streets since 1929. Explore the old town with your Travel Director and see the Prince’s Palace and yacht-filled harbour.

The circuit’s tight bends contrast with the compact historic quarter high above the waterfront. Together, the route and walk show two sides of Monaco: its enduring royal heritage and the modern spectacle associated with its harbour.

Savour a farm-to-table dinner in Nice featuring seasonal ingredients sourced from the region. The meal offers a chance to discover flavours associated with the Côte d’Azur and local nicoise specialities.

Nice’s cuisine draws on its Mediterranean setting and its links with nearby Provencal and Italian food traditions. Rather than a standard restaurant stop, this hosted dinner puts regional produce and the Riviera’s distinctive culinary character at the centre of the experience.

Visit Pisa’s Square of Miracles with a Local Expert to see the Leaning Tower, cathedral and baptistery. Take in the striking ensemble of pale marble buildings set against the square’s open lawns.

The cathedral complex reflects the wealth and ambition of medieval Pisa, once a powerful maritime republic. Your visit focuses on viewing the monuments and hearing their stories, including the tower’s long-standing association with Galileo; entry or a climb is not specified.

Walk through Florence with a Local Expert to view its marble-clad cathedral, bell tower and baptistery. See the replicas of Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise before exploring Piazza della Signoria, the city’s political heart.

Outside Palazzo Vecchio, admire the sculptures that make the square an open-air gallery, including Neptune and a replica of David. The walk places Florence’s public art within the civic life and creative energy of the Renaissance; cathedral entry is not specified.

Discover Rome with your Travel Director on an orientation through the Eternal City. See how ancient remains, medieval buildings, Renaissance palaces and Baroque churches share the same streets and public spaces.

Rome’s layered cityscape reflects centuries as an imperial capital, a centre of Christianity and a home to influential artists and architects. This introduction helps you recognise those overlapping histories in the buildings around you, without implying entry to a particular monument.

Explore Vatican City with a Local Expert, visiting the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel to see treasures collected by successive popes and Michelangelo’s celebrated ceiling frescoes.

When access permits, step inside St. Peter’s Basilica to view Michelangelo’s Pietà and Bernini’s papal altar. Access to the museums or basilica can be restricted on some departures; the visit may instead include St. Peter’s Square and, if museum tickets are unavailable, Rome’s Capitoline Museums.

Enjoy cocktails at sunset in Venice while an ensemble of musicians provides a live soundtrack. The experience brings travellers together in the city as the light softens over its waterways and historic buildings.

Venice has long drawn visitors for its distinctive marriage of architecture, water and music. This hosted gathering, paired with dinner at a local restaurant, makes an occasion of an evening in the city rather than treating it as a routine meal stop.

Visit a traditional Venetian glassblowing workshop and watch skilled artisans shape molten glass into delicate objects. See the precision, heat and practiced movements behind a craft that remains closely associated with Venice.

Glassmaking flourished here over centuries, particularly on the island of Murano, where specialist techniques were passed between generations. The workshop offers a close look at living craft heritage and the expertise required to preserve it.

Cruise through Venice by private boat towards St. Mark’s Square, seeing the city from the water as generations of arrivals have done. Look out for historic palazzi and the waterside setting of the Doge’s Palace.

At the square, admire the exterior of St. Mark’s Basilica, an emblem of the wealth once held by the Venetian Republic. The journey makes Venice’s canals part of the sightseeing itself; entry to the basilica or palace is not specified.

Explore Slovenia’s capital with a Local Expert, walking among the squares and riverbanks of central Ljubljana. See Prešeren Square and the Triple Bridge, alongside the Baroque Franciscan Church.

The bridges and riverside spaces reflect the influence of architect Jože Plecnik, whose work helped shape the modern city. With Ljubljana Castle overlooking the compact centre, the walk reveals a capital where civic landmarks and lively public spaces sit within easy reach of one another.

Explore Maribor with your Travel Director and take in the mix of historic and newer architecture in Slovenia’s second-largest city. Set beside the Drava River, Maribor offers a different perspective on the country beyond its capital.

Its long history includes a centuries-old university tradition and strong ties to the surrounding wine-growing region. The guided walk offers time to notice how older streets and contemporary city life meet in this riverside centre.

See Vienna’s grand Ringstrasse on a city tour, passing the Hofburg Imperial Residence, State Opera and Parliament. Walk through the Innere Stadt with a Local Expert to explore the historic core beyond the boulevard.

Built along the line of the former city walls, the Ringstrasse became a stage for the Habsburg capital’s monumental architecture. The tour connects Vienna’s imperial ambitions with the streets, squares and civic buildings still used today.

Explore Salzburg with a Local Expert, visiting the formal Mirabell Gardens and crossing Residence Square. See the cathedral, the fortress above the city and Mozart’s birthplace on bustling Getreidegasse.

Mirabell’s fountains and statues appeared in The Sound of Music, while Salzburg’s Baroque streets speak to its history as a prince-archbishopric. The tour brings together the city’s musical associations, architectural heritage and mountain-framed setting.

Stroll through Innsbruck’s Old Town with your Travel Director, seeing the Golden Roof and Imperial Palace against a dramatic Alpine backdrop. Notice the mix of Gothic and Baroque details along its historic streets.

The Golden Roof was commissioned by Emperor Maximilian I and remains a symbol of Innsbruck’s imperial past. This walk shows how the city’s position among the mountains has shaped both its setting and its role as a Tyrolean centre.

Spend time in Vaduz, Liechtenstein’s compact capital, and admire Vaduz Castle from below. The hilltop residence of the princely family overlooks the town and the mountain scenery beyond.

The castle remains a private residence rather than a visitor attraction. Seeing it in its setting offers a clear introduction to the principality’s continuing monarchy and its close relationship with the Alpine landscape; interior access is not part of the visit.

Visit Lucerne’s Lion Monument, carved into a rock face to honour Swiss Guards killed during the French Revolution. Explore the lakeside city and see its covered Chapel Bridge and Jesuit Church.

The mournful lion is one of Switzerland’s most affecting memorials, while the wooden bridge and Baroque church reflect other chapters of Lucerne’s history. Together, these landmarks reveal more than the city’s mountain-and-lake setting.

Ride a solar-powered, open-top cable car to Mount Stanserhorn for wide views across the Swiss Alps. Walk the summit’s scenic paths, breathe in the mountain air and watch for marmots and other native wildlife.

On a clear day, views can reach towards Alsace and Germany’s Black Forest. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® experience also offers the chance to hear a Swiss ranger’s conservation talk about local plants and animals, connecting the panorama with efforts to care for its habitat.

Cruise the Rhine between Boppard and Sankt Goar, sipping local wine as terraced vineyards, riverside villages and stone castles pass by. Look out for the Lorelei Rock on this storied stretch of river.

For centuries, the Rhine has been a route for trade and a source of legend, poetry and painting. The river-level view reveals why its steep slopes and closely spaced castles have made this valley one of Europe’s most recognisable landscapes.

Experience a Paris cabaret show featuring live music, elaborate costumes and dinner at one of the city’s celebrated venues. This evening excursion offers a lively contrast to daytime sightseeing.

Cabaret has been part of Parisian nightlife since the late 19th century, combining performance, spectacle and sociable dining. This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour; the particular venue is not specified.

Travel from Bordeaux to a Bordelais château for a cellar tour and wine tasting. Explore the vineyards of the region before visiting the historic village of Saint-Émilion and its church carved into limestone.

Winegrowing has shaped this landscape for centuries, while Saint-Émilion’s medieval streets and monolithic church help explain its UNESCO recognition. This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Explore the French Basque coast with a Local Specialist, visiting Biarritz and Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Discover Biarritz’s history as a fashionable seaside resort and see the church where Louis XIV married Maria Theresa of Spain in 1660.

The two towns reveal different coastal characters, from Biarritz’s grand hotels and spa heritage to Saint-Jean-de-Luz’s historic streets. This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Visit Pompeii, the Roman town buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Explore its archaeological remains and consider what its preserved streets and buildings reveal about daily life in the ancient world.

The eruption brought tragedy, but it also left an unusually detailed record of a Roman community. This excursion is offered as an Optional Experience at additional cost, bookable on tour; its precise route and inclusions are not specified.

Take an excursion to the Eagle’s Nest in the mountains near Salzburg. Its elevated location offers far-reaching Alpine views alongside a sobering connection to 20th-century history.

Built during the Nazi era on the Kehlstein mountain, the site calls for reflection as well as an appreciation of its dramatic setting. This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour; access and the precise visit arrangements are not detailed.