Ride through Tyrolean scenery by horse-drawn carriage, accompanied by a coachman as mountain and valley views unfold around you. The steady rhythm of the horses offers a quieter way to take in the landscape near Innsbruck.

Fresh Alpine air and a slower pace set this experience apart from a conventional scenic drive. It draws on a traditional form of local travel while giving you time to notice the shapes, colours and winter atmosphere of the surrounding countryside.

Taste Lebkuchen and traditional Gluhwein at Salzburg’s Christmas market, meeting a local stallholder amid the festive stands near the cathedral. Ginger-spiced baking and warm wine scented with cinnamon, clove and citrus offer a flavour of Austrian Advent.

Salzburg’s cathedral-square market draws on centuries of seasonal trading. With your Travel Director, learn how these recipes became part of the city’s winter celebrations. This included tasting is available for departures arriving before Christmas.

Enter Swarovski Crystal Worlds near Innsbruck and explore its Chambers of Wonder, where artists and designers use crystal in immersive installations, light displays and sculptural works. The attraction was conceived by multimedia artist André Heller to mark the Swarovski brand’s centenary.

The visit connects contemporary imagination with a tradition of Austrian crystal craftsmanship. Enjoy a special dinner at Swarovski Crystal Worlds, extending the experience beyond the exhibition spaces into an evening devoted to this distinctive Tyrolean creation.

• 4 Dinner (D)
• 8 Breakfast (B)

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

• “Guests are always amazed and intrigued by the vast amount of beautifully decorated sweet treats on offer in Germany during the festive period.”
• “Munich is the capital of beer, so taking guests into the famous Hofbräuhaus, at any time of year, gives them a small idea of what it’s like to attend Oktoberfest.”
• “It’s magical to see how a group of guests comes together over the course of our trip. I can always tell when that’s happening because suddenly the enthusiasm is palpable.”

• Salzburg: Visit the house where Mozart was born in 1756. Enjoy a pianoforte demonstration and examine letters, memorabilia, and musical instruments of the great composer, plus a fascinating collection of portraits.

Insight Vacations

Walk through Mainz’s Cathedral Quarter with your Travel Director, admiring the half-timbered houses and Baroque facades around the city’s imposing Dom Cathedral. Its red sandstone towers give the old town a distinctive silhouette.

Mainz has been an important settlement since Roman times. Its streets bring together centuries of Rhineland history in a compact historic centre, making this guided walk an introduction to the city beyond its festive displays.

Share a welcome dinner at a local restaurant in Mainz, enjoying food and wine in the company of your Travel Director and fellow travellers. The hosted meal offers a chance to meet the group in a relaxed setting.

Set in a city closely associated with the Rhine wine region, the evening brings a local sense of place to the beginning of the journey. Conversation, regional surroundings and a shared table make it more than a routine hotel dinner.

Explore Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a walled town above the Tauber River, where cobbled lanes lead towards the medieval market square and Town Hall. Half-timbered buildings and preserved fortifications create a vivid picture of an old Franconian town.

In the Christmas season, market stalls bring festive scents and colour to the historic streets. Rothenburg’s Reiterlesmarkt has roots stretching back centuries, giving its seasonal celebrations a setting shaped by longstanding local tradition.

Discover Munich with your Travel Director on an orientation that takes in the Victory Arch and university before reaching Marienplatz. Here, the Gothic Revival New Town Hall rises above the square, with its Glockenspiel a familiar emblem of the Bavarian capital.

The wider city centre brings together landmarks such as Odeonsplatz, the historic Hofbräuhaus and churches that reflect Munich’s royal and civic past. This guided introduction helps you recognise the layers behind its lively streets.

Join a Local Expert to uncover Munich’s lesser-known Advent traditions, stopping to taste seasonal treats while learning how the city celebrates the weeks before Christmas. The experience looks beyond familiar market imagery to customs that local communities are working to preserve.

Food and storytelling reveal how festive practices carry regional identity from one generation to the next. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® experience supports efforts to keep those cultural traditions visible within the living city.

Walk through Salzburg with a Local Expert, taking in the formal Mirabell Palace gardens and views towards Hohensalzburg Fortress. Across the Salzach River, explore Old Town lanes around Getreidegasse, Salzburg Cathedral and the Residenz Fountain.

Wrought-iron shop signs, church domes and fortress walls reflect the city’s long history as a prince-archbishopric. The guided walk brings its architecture and musical associations into focus within the compact historic centre.

Visit Mozart’s birthplace on Salzburg’s Getreidegasse, where the composer was born in 1756. Explore displays of letters, portraits, memorabilia and musical instruments that illuminate his family life and early development.

A musical interlude on his original pianoforte offers a rare connection to the sound world of Mozart’s era. Inside the family home, the objects and rooms give a more personal perspective on a figure whose music remains closely linked with Salzburg.

Discover Innsbruck’s Old Town with your Travel Director and see the Golden Roof, its gilded copper tiles overlooking a square framed by historic facades. Baroque and Gothic details give the streets character beneath the surrounding Tyrolean mountains.

In the Christmas season, browse stalls selling handmade decorations, biscuits, preserves and warming Gluhwein. The market’s lights and decorated tree bring festive life to a historic centre long shaped by its Alpine setting and Habsburg connections.

Stop in Vaduz, Liechtenstein’s small capital, and look up towards Vaduz Castle on the hillside above the town. The castle is the residence of the princely family, set against a backdrop of Alpine peaks.

This exterior view introduces the scale and character of one of Europe’s smallest countries: a modern principality with a long ruling tradition. The castle is not presented as an interior visit; its commanding position is the highlight of the stop.

Explore Lucerne with your Travel Director, seeing the covered wooden Chapel Bridge across the Reuss and learning the story of the Lion Monument. Carved into a rock face, the dying lion commemorates Swiss Guards killed during the French Revolution.

These two landmarks reveal different sides of Lucerne: the bridge’s connection to the medieval city and the monument’s quiet, sombre symbolism. Together they offer an introduction to the lakeside city’s history and atmosphere.

Ride a cable car up Mount Pilatus for broad views over the mountains surrounding Lucerne. At the summit, take in snow-capped Alpine peaks and the crisp mountain air from one of the region’s best-known viewpoints.

Pilatus rises dramatically above Lake Lucerne, making the ascent as compelling as the panorama at the top. The changing perspective reveals the contrast between lakeside Switzerland and its high mountain terrain; visibility and conditions shape the views on the day.

Visit the Rhine Falls near Schaffhausen and watch the river surge over a broad rocky ledge. Hear the roar of the water and feel the force of the spray at one of Switzerland’s most striking natural landmarks.

Recognised as Europe’s largest waterfall by volume, the falls can carry an immense flow, particularly when river levels are high. This stop gives you time to appreciate the scale and energy of the Rhine before it continues its course northwards.

Stroll through Heidelberg’s Old Town with your Travel Director, discovering a city set beside the River Neckar and watched over by its red sandstone castle. The historic streets and squares reveal the character of one of Germany’s celebrated university towns.

Heidelberg’s university dates from the 14th century, while the castle above the town bears traces of changing fortunes across later centuries. The guided orientation places its scholarly history and riverside setting in context; castle admission is not part of this experience.

Toast your travels over dinner and wine in Heidelberg, gathering with your fellow travellers for a hosted closing evening. The shared meal offers time to exchange impressions of the towns, markets and mountain landscapes visited across the journey.

Heidelberg’s historic setting gives the occasion a sense of place, while the company gives it its purpose. Unlike a routine dinner, this is a group celebration centred on conversation, a final toast and the connections made along the way.

Visit an Austrian chalet for dinner and drinks near Salzburg, with an opportunity to hear about life in the countryside. The chalet setting offers a different perspective from the city’s grand squares and Baroque streets.

Conversation about rural customs and everyday life gives the meal its distinctive character, connecting regional hospitality with the landscapes surrounding Salzburg. This is an optional experience at additional cost and is bookable on tour, subject to availability.

Cruise Lake Lucerne to see the city and its mountain surroundings from the water. The lake’s shoreline shifts between settlements, wooded slopes and steep Alpine scenery, offering a different view of central Switzerland.

Passenger boats have long connected communities around this winding lake, whose waterways are closely tied to Swiss history and travel. This optional cruise is at additional cost and bookable on tour, subject to availability; the route and views depend on the sailing offered.

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