Choose a restaurant for Lucerne’s Dine-Around Evening, selecting the setting and cuisine that suit you from the offered venues. Rather than a single group menu, the experience gives you a say in how to enjoy your included evening meal.

Lucerne’s waterside setting and walkable streets provide an inviting backdrop for dinner. This flexible format is distinctive for the choice it offers, letting you settle into a restaurant atmosphere that feels right for you.

• 6 Dinner (D)
• 18 Breakfast (B)
• 2 Lunch (L)

• Budapest: Enjoy a tour of the Liszt Music Academy with a student, followed by an enchanting recital. Producing incredible musical talent, the university was founded by piano virtuoso and composer Franz Liszt in 1875.
• Vienna: Be pampered with traditional coffee and cake. An experience like no other, this cosy cafe provides companionship, and promotes well-being and support for the community, in addition to crafting delicious treats.
• Tuscany: Be welcomed like an honoured guest at historic Fattoria di Bagnolo as a member of the noble Bartolini Baldelli family opens the doors to their Tuscan home. Discover a legacy stretching back nearly a thousand years, from Machiavelli’s era to today, as you explore the villa, vineyards and atmospheric cellars, up close and personal with those who call it home.
• Vatican City: Visit the Vatican Museums and witness the genius of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel.

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

Insight Vacations

Cruise Amsterdam’s tree-lined canals with your Travel Director, passing narrow gabled houses and grand waterside mansions built during the Dutch Golden Age. The waterways offer a close view of the historic centre and the merchant wealth that shaped it.

Meet your fellow travellers at a welcome reception and share dinner with wine at a local restaurant. The combination of canal scenery and conversation offers a warm introduction to the city.

Cruise the Rhine from Boppard to Sankt Goar through a valley of steep vineyards, riverside villages and hilltop castles. Look for the outlines of Rheinfels, Katz and Maus castles while enjoying a glass of local wine.

Pass the legendary Lorelei Rock, long associated with stories of a siren whose song lured sailors into danger. This castle-lined stretch reveals why the river became a defining landscape of German Romanticism.

Stand on Wurzburg’s statue-lined Alte Mainbrucke and look across the River Main towards the Marienberg Fortress. The bridge connects the old town with the hillside fortress and provides a memorable vantage point over the city.

Saints and historical figures line the crossing, while vineyards rise beyond the riverbanks. The scene brings together Wurzburg’s religious heritage, baroque character and longstanding wine-making tradition in one compact view.

Explore Rothenburg ob der Tauber’s medieval old town, where half-timbered buildings, cobbled lanes and fortified gates preserve the character of Germany’s Romantic Road. See the city walls, towers and gates that once protected this trading town.

Rothenburg’s remarkably intact streetscape makes its medieval past easy to picture. From its defensive walls to its closely packed houses, the town offers a distinctive encounter with the architecture of an earlier Germany.

Explore Prague Castle with a Local Expert, walking its courtyards and visiting St Vitus Cathedral. This included Insight Choice activity focuses on the hilltop complex that has served Czech rulers for centuries.

Inside the castle precinct, Gothic stonework and royal history reveal why the site remains central to Prague’s identity. Choose this experience if you would like a closer look at the city’s monumental architecture and the seat of Czech power.

Walk Prague’s Jewish Quarter with a Local Expert to learn how its community shaped the city’s history and traditions. Visit the Old-New Synagogue and the Jewish cemetery as part of this included Insight Choice alternative.

The synagogue is among Europe’s oldest active synagogues, while the cemetery’s densely layered gravestones testify to generations of Jewish life in Prague. Choose this experience for a focused exploration of the neighbourhood’s enduring cultural heritage.

Dine aboard a Danube cruise as Budapest’s illuminated riverfront comes into view. Watch the city’s grand buildings and bridges pass by while sharing an evening meal on the water.

The river divides historic Buda from Pest, and the banks form part of a UNESCO World Heritage landscape. After dark, their reflections lend substance to Budapest’s nickname, the Pearl of the Danube; the cruise lets you appreciate the city’s scale from its defining waterway.

Explore Budapest with a Local Expert, travelling along Andrássy Avenue towards Heroes’ Square and walking the lanes of Buda’s historic district. From Fisherman’s Bastion, take in broad views across the Danube.

Look towards Pest and the bridges linking the city’s two halves, including the Chain Bridge and Elizabeth Bridge. The contrast between Buda’s elevated old streets and Pest’s grand avenues gives this guided visit its distinctive perspective.

Tour Budapest’s Liszt Music Academy with a student and enjoy a live recital within this celebrated centre of musical training. A student’s perspective offers a personal introduction to the institution and its continuing creative life.

Founded in 1875 by composer and piano virtuoso Franz Liszt, the academy has played a major role in Hungary’s musical culture. Hearing music performed here connects that legacy with the artists studying and performing today.

Discover Vienna with a Local Expert on a tour of the Ringstrasse and a walk through the Innere Stadt. See the Hofburg, State Opera and Parliament, with Karlskirche among the city’s other notable sights.

The Ringstrasse replaced Vienna’s old fortifications with a grand civic boulevard during the Habsburg era. Walking the historic centre adds a closer view of the streets behind its monumental facades, bringing imperial Vienna down to a human scale.

Enjoy traditional coffee and cake in a cosy Vienna café, taking time to sit and mingle with locals. The visit offers a taste of the city beyond its palaces and formal boulevards.

Vienna’s coffeehouse tradition is rooted in conversation and unhurried time at the table. In this community-minded café, a simple slice of cake and a cup of coffee become an opportunity to experience that social custom at close quarters.

Travel by boat along Venice’s Giudecca Canal as your Travel Director introduces the city from the water. Pass palazzi dating from the 13th to 18th centuries and take in views towards the Doge’s Palace and St Mark’s Square.

Venice’s waterways have long served as its principal routes, making a boat an especially revealing place from which to understand the city. The changing waterfront shows how civic power and private wealth shaped its architecture.

Sip a cocktail beside Piazza San Marco while an ensemble performs nearby. Walk past the Doge’s Palace and Bridge of Sighs to a restaurant in Venice’s historic centre for dinner with wine.

Music, café tables and the square’s monumental architecture give the evening its unmistakably Venetian setting. The short walk also brings you close to landmarks associated with the city’s former republic before a shared meal amid its narrow streets.

Explore St Mark’s Square, seeing the Basilica, Clock Tower, Campanile and Doge’s Palace from outside. Visit a traditional Venetian glassblowing workshop to watch expert artisans shape molten glass into handcrafted objects.

The square was the ceremonial heart of the Venetian Republic, while glassmaking remains one of the lagoon’s most recognisable crafts. Watching the artisans at work reveals the heat, precision and inherited techniques behind finished Venetian glass.

Visit family-owned Fattoria di Bagnolo in the Chianti hills, welcomed by a member of the Bartolini Baldelli family. Explore the villa, vineyards and atmospheric cellars before tasting estate wines and olive oil.

Your hosts share a family story reaching back through centuries of Tuscan history, including the estate’s 19th-century revival as a summer residence. The wines and olive oil are rooted in the surrounding land, making this a personal encounter with local production.

Enter the Vatican Museums with a Local Expert to explore papal art collections, including classical sculpture and works by Raphael. In the Sistine Chapel, look up at Michelangelo’s ceiling frescoes, painted between 1508 and 1512.

Visit St Peter’s Basilica to see Michelangelo’s Pietà and the dome he designed. Access to the basilica or museums may be restricted on some departures; if museum tickets are unavailable, the visit substitutes the Capitoline Museums and includes time in St Peter’s Square.

Walk around the exterior of the Colosseum and hear about the construction, history and legends of ancient Rome’s great amphitheatre. See its tiers of arches up close and consider the immense scale of the building from street level.

Built for public spectacles under the Roman Empire, the Colosseum remains one of the clearest surviving symbols of imperial ambition. This experience focuses on its exterior; entry to the amphitheatre is not included in the described visit.

Meet chef Lorenzo at his family farm in Umbria for an entertaining demonstration of Italian pasta-making. Enjoy lunch accompanied by Orvieto Classico wine, a white wine associated with the nearby Orvieto area.

The farm setting places familiar Italian food in the hands of a local cook, showing the care behind a traditional dish rather than presenting only the finished plate. It is a convivial introduction to Umbria’s everyday food culture.

Explore Florence with a Local Expert, viewing the cathedral’s patterned marble exterior, its bell tower and the Baptistery’s Gates of Paradise. Visit Piazza della Signoria, the city’s historic political centre and an open-air setting for sculpture.

See the neighbourhood around Santa Croce and watch local craftspeople demonstrate gold and leatherwork. Together, Florence’s civic landmarks and living artisan skills reveal different sides of the city’s long creative tradition.

See Lucerne’s Lion Monument, carved into a limestone cliff in memory of Swiss Guards killed during the French Revolution. Stroll across the covered Chapel Bridge and see the baroque Jesuit Church.

These landmarks tell different stories of the city: remembrance, medieval river crossings and religious architecture. With Lake Lucerne and surrounding mountains close by, the compact old town offers a particularly scenic setting for exploring them on foot.

Ride an open-top cable car to Mount Stanserhorn and walk scenic summit pathways above the Lucerne region. On clear days, the views extend towards Alsace and Germany’s Black Forest.

Watch for marmots and other native wildlife, with the chance to hear a Swiss ranger discuss local plants and conservation. The cable car uses solar power, and this MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® visit supports the protection of life on land.

Discover Paris with a Local Expert on a panoramic tour taking in the Eiffel Tower, Champs-Élysées and Arc de Triomphe. See Place de la Concorde, the Louvre’s facades and landmarks along the Seine, including Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Grand avenues, river bridges and historic squares reveal different chapters of the capital. Place de la Concorde’s role during the French Revolution adds a sharper historical perspective to the city’s elegant public spaces.

Share a French-cuisine dinner with your travelling companions at a Paris restaurant. The featured dining experience is described as taking place at L’Alsace, an established restaurant on the Champs-Élysées.

Gathering around the table offers time to enjoy conversation as well as a meal in the French capital. It is an organised dining occasion rather than a standard hotel dinner, with the restaurant setting forming part of the experience.

Consider a river cruise through Prague for a view of the city’s bridges and historic skyline from the water. Travelling along the Vltava offers a different perspective on the buildings and riverbanks of the Golden City.

This is a suggested optional activity, not part of the included Prague sightseeing. It is at additional cost and bookable on tour; ask your Travel Director about availability, the route and what the cruise includes.

Join an optional private tour of Schonbrunn Palace and its formal gardens in Vienna. Explore the former Habsburg summer residence associated with Empress Maria Theresa and take in the scale of its planned grounds.

The palace offers a closer look at imperial domestic life than Vienna’s street-level sightseeing alone. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour; confirm the rooms, garden areas and entry arrangements available for your departure.

Cruise across the Venetian lagoon to Burano for a suggested meal of local specialities and wine. The island is known for its brightly painted houses and longstanding lace-making tradition, offering a different setting from Venice’s grand central squares.

Time on the lagoon is part of the appeal, opening up views across the water towards its smaller islands. This optional experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour, subject to availability.

Visit Pisa to see its Leaning Tower on a suggested excursion from Florence. The tower stands in the Piazza dei Miracoli beside the cathedral and baptistery, a striking group of buildings from Pisa’s medieval era.

The bell tower’s famous tilt makes its carefully detailed marble arcades all the more arresting. This excursion is at additional cost and bookable on tour; ask your Travel Director whether tower entry is offered, as the itinerary only suggests seeing it.

Ride through the countryside by horse-drawn carriage on a suggested outing from Lucerne, with an opportunity to meet local farmers. The slower pace offers time to take in the rural landscape beyond the lakeside town.

This activity provides a more personal glimpse of the region’s farming life alongside its celebrated mountain scenery. It is at additional cost and bookable on tour; your Travel Director can advise on availability and the arrangements for your departure.

Spend an evening at a Paris cabaret show, an optional way to experience the city’s performance and nightlife traditions. Ask about the productions available during your stay; no particular venue or show is specified in the itinerary.

Parisian cabaret draws on a long tradition of music, dance and theatrical spectacle. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour, subject to availability, with the venue and inclusions confirmed locally.

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