Choose your preferred restaurant in Lucerne for an included Dine-Around evening. Select the ambience and cuisine that appeal to you, making the meal a more personal way to experience the city.

Lucerne’s dining scene brings together Swiss traditions and contemporary tastes in a compact lakeside setting. Rather than a single group venue, the choice of restaurants gives you room to shape the evening around your own preferences.

Cruise the Rhine from Boppard to Sankt Goar, passing vineyard-covered hillsides, riverside villages and the silhouettes of Rheinfels, Katz and Maus castles. Enjoy a glass of local wine as the valley’s steep slopes unfold around you.

Look out for the legendary Lorelei Rock, long associated with tales of a siren whose song distracted passing boatmen. This stretch of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley is celebrated for its close-set castles and centuries-old wine-growing landscape.

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

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

• 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 cozy cafe provides companionship, and promotes well-being and support for the community, in addition to crafting delicious treats.
• Tuscany: Be welcomed like an honored 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.

Insight Vacations

Cruise Amsterdam’s tree-lined canals for a waterside view of the Old City and its 17th-century Golden Age mansions. Their gabled facades recall the merchants who made the city a centre of global trade.

Meet your Travel Director and fellow travellers over dinner with wine at a local restaurant. The shared meal offers a welcoming introduction to the city and the people travelling with you.

Stand on Wurzburg’s statue-lined Alte Mainbrucke and look across the River Main towards the Marienberg Fortress. The bridge offers a distinctive view of the city’s historic skyline and the vineyards rising beyond it.

The fortress served for centuries as a residence of Wurzburg’s prince-bishops. Together, the river crossing and hilltop stronghold reveal the city’s long connection to Franconian history and wine-making.

Explore Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a remarkably preserved medieval town on Germany’s Romantic Road. Walk among its old-town walls, towers and gates, with timber-framed buildings and narrow lanes creating a vivid sense of its past.

Rothenburg’s fortified centre retains the street pattern and architecture that made it a prosperous imperial town. Its compact layout lets you appreciate how walls, gateways and public squares once shaped daily life.

Choose to explore Prague Castle with a Local Expert, walking its courtyards and visiting St Vitus Cathedral. This is one of two included Insight Choice experiences in Prague; travellers select this visit or the Jewish Quarter exploration.

The castle complex has been a seat of Czech power for more than a thousand years. Within it, the cathedral’s Gothic architecture and stained glass express the city’s religious and royal heritage.

Choose to walk Prague’s Jewish Quarter with a Local Expert, hearing how its community shaped the city’s history. Visit the Old-New Synagogue and historic Jewish cemetery while learning about local traditions and stories.

The Old-New Synagogue is among Europe’s oldest active synagogues, while the cemetery’s closely packed headstones speak to generations of Jewish life. This is one of two included Insight Choice experiences; travellers select it or the Prague Castle visit.

Dine aboard a cruise on the Danube as Budapest’s riverfront lights come into view. See the illuminated banks of Buda and Pest, whose historic setting forms part of the city’s UNESCO World Heritage inscription.

The river divides the Hungarian capital while its bridges draw the two sides together. From the water, Budapest’s night-time skyline offers a memorable perspective on the city known as the Pearl of the Danube.

See Andrássy Avenue and Heroes’ Square before joining a Local Expert to walk the lanes of Buda’s Old Town. At Fisherman’s Bastion, take in broad views across the Danube towards Pest.

The river panorama reveals the Chain Bridge and Elizabeth Bridge linking the capital’s two halves. Buda’s hilltop setting and historic streets provide a contrast to the grand boulevards on the opposite bank.

Tour Budapest’s Liszt Music Academy with a student for an insider’s introduction to this centre of musical training. Hear a live recital that brings its performing tradition into the present.

Founded in 1875 by composer and piano virtuoso Franz Liszt, the academy has helped nurture generations of musicians. Learning about it from a student connects that legacy with the work taking place there today.

Tour Vienna’s Ringstrasse and historic centre with a Local Expert. See the Hofburg, State Opera and Parliament along the grand boulevard, then walk through the Innere Stadt, the city’s first district.

Built where the old city walls once stood, the Ringstrasse became a showcase for imperial-era architecture. The quieter streets of the historic core offer another perspective on Vienna’s Habsburg past and civic life.

Sit down for traditional coffee and cake in a cosy Viennese café. Take time to enjoy the local ritual of lingering over a drink and conversation rather than treating it as a quick refreshment stop.

Vienna’s coffeehouse culture has long provided a setting for social exchange. This café also fosters companionship and community support, giving the experience a personal connection to the people who gather there.

Arrive in Venice by private boat and experience a city whose waterways serve as its streets. Sip a cocktail near Piazza San Marco while musicians play, with the square’s historic architecture close at hand.

Stroll past the Doge’s Palace and Bridge of Sighs en route to a Venetian dinner with wine in the historic centre. The combination of water, music and a meal in the city offers an atmospheric introduction to Venetian life.

Travel by boat along the Giudecca Canal as your Travel Director introduces Venice from the water. Pass historic palazzi and take in views towards the Doge’s Palace and St Mark’s Square.

At the square, see the exterior of St Mark’s Basilica, the Clock Tower and Campanile. These landmarks reflect the wealth and influence of the former Venetian Republic, whose grand public spaces were designed to impress visitors arriving by sea.

Visit a traditional Venetian glassblowing workshop and watch artisans shape molten glass into delicate handcrafted pieces. See how heat, breath and precise movements transform the material before it cools.

Venetian glassmaking has been cultivated for centuries, particularly on the island of Murano. The demonstration introduces skills preserved by specialist craftspeople and shows the care behind an art form closely identified with the city.

Visit family-owned Fattoria di Bagnolo in the Chianti hills, where a member of the Bartolini Baldelli family welcomes you to the estate. Explore its villa, atmospheric cellars and vineyards, then taste estate wines with locally pressed olive oil.

Hear how the property’s story reaches from Machiavelli’s era to its revival as a marquis’s summer residence in 1852. The family’s account gives a personal dimension to Tuscany’s long traditions of land stewardship, wine and olive oil production.

Explore the Vatican Museums with a Local Expert using fast-track entry, viewing works collected by the popes before entering the Sistine Chapel. Look up at Michelangelo’s ceiling frescoes, painted between 1508 and 1512.

Continue to St Peter’s Basilica to admire Michelangelo’s Pietà and the vast church interior. Access to the basilica or museums may be restricted on some departures; if museum tickets are unavailable, the included visit instead explores Rome’s Capitoline Museums.

Walk around the exterior of the Colosseum and hear about the construction, history and legends of Rome’s most recognisable ancient amphitheatre. Its tiers and surviving arches convey the scale of public spectacles held here.

Built in the first century CE, the Colosseum was the largest amphitheatre of the Roman world. This is an exterior visit, offering time to appreciate its architecture and place in imperial Rome without suggesting entry inside.

Meet chef Lorenzo at his family farm in Umbria for an entertaining demonstration of Italian pasta-making. Enjoy a freshly prepared lunch accompanied by Orvieto Classico wine.

The farm setting connects the meal to the region’s agricultural traditions, while the demonstration reveals the hands-on techniques behind a familiar Italian dish. Orvieto Classico, a white wine from the area around Orvieto, adds a distinctly local flavour.

Explore Florence with a Local Expert, viewing the marble-clad cathedral, bell tower and baptistery with Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise. Visit Piazza della Signoria, the city’s political heart and an open-air setting for Renaissance sculpture.

See the historic Santa Croce neighbourhood and watch local craftspeople demonstrate gold and leatherwork. The combination of monumental art and living workshop skills shows how craftsmanship remains part of Florence’s identity.

Visit Lucerne’s Lion Monument, carved into a limestone cliff, and walk across the covered Chapel Bridge. See the baroque Jesuit Church near the river as you take in the city’s historic centre.

The Lion Monument commemorates Swiss Guards who died defending Louis XVI during the French Revolution. Chapel Bridge’s timber structure, riverside setting and nearby old-town buildings give Lucerne a character closely tied to its lake and waterways.

Ride the solar-powered, open-top cable car to Mount Stanserhorn for wide views over the Swiss Alps. Walk the summit’s scenic pathways, watching for marmots and other native wildlife.

On a clear day, the panorama can reach towards Alsace and Germany’s Black Forest. There may also be a chance to hear a Swiss ranger discuss local flora and conservation; this MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® visit supports efforts linked to protecting life on land.

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

Views towards Notre-Dame Cathedral add another chapter to the city’s architectural story. At Place de la Concorde, hear how a grand square became a site of executions during the French Revolution.

Share a dinner of French cuisine in Paris with your travelling companions. The tour’s dining highlight identifies the restaurant as L’Alsace, offering a convivial setting for a meal together.

Dining as a group gives you the chance to exchange stories over the table while experiencing a familiar part of Parisian social life. It is an organised evening meal, rather than an independently arranged restaurant visit.

Consider a river cruise through the heart of Prague for views of the city from the water. This optional experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour, subject to availability.

A cruise offers a different vantage point on Prague’s bridges and historic riverfront. It suits travellers who want to spend more time taking in the city’s setting beyond their chosen included Insight Choice visit.

Join an optional private tour of Schonbrunn Palace and its formal gardens, associated with Empress Maria Theresa and the Habsburg court. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour, subject to availability.

The palace was a principal imperial summer residence. Its grand rooms and carefully planned gardens offer a closer look at the ceremony and domestic life of the dynasty that shaped Vienna for centuries.

Take an optional lagoon cruise to Burano and enjoy a meal of local specialities with wine. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour, subject to availability.

Beyond central Venice, Burano is known for brightly coloured houses, fishing traditions and lace-making heritage. The journey across the lagoon reveals a quieter island setting and a different side of Venetian life.

Consider an optional visit to Pisa to see the famous Leaning Tower in the Piazza dei Miracoli. This excursion is at additional cost and bookable on tour, subject to availability.

The tower is the cathedral’s freestanding bell tower, renowned for the tilt that developed during its construction. Its setting beside the cathedral and baptistery makes the square one of Tuscany’s best-known ensembles of medieval architecture.

Venture into the countryside near Lucerne by horse-drawn carriage and meet local farmers. This optional experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour, subject to availability.

The unhurried ride offers a closer view of rural life beyond Lucerne’s streets and lakeside landmarks. Conversation with farmers adds a human connection to the working landscape and its longstanding agricultural traditions.

Spend an evening at a Paris cabaret show if you would like to experience the city’s stage-entertainment tradition. This optional outing is at additional cost and bookable on tour, subject to availability.

Cabaret has been part of Parisian nightlife since the late 19th century, blending music, dance and theatrical spectacle. It offers a lively contrast to daytime sightseeing and a distinct way to enjoy the city after dark.

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