France & Germany

France & Germany
Take in the brooding Notre Dame Cathedral gargoyles, cross the rustic French countryside to visit the magnificent Strasbourg Cathedral and cross into Germany to explore the well preserved medieval Old Town in Rothenburg.
RECENT TOUR DIARIES:
April 2, 2024 - April 9, 2024
March 16, 2024 - March 23, 2024
June 2, 2023 - June 9, 2023
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Day 1 Overnight flight to France (Paris)
Day 2 Bonjour Paris
Meet your tour director and check into hotel
Paris city walk
Île de la Cité, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Île St. Louis, Latin Quarter
Louvre visit
Dinner in Latin Quarter
Details: Paris city walk
This city was made for walking. Stroll grand boulevards with sweeping views of the city, pristine parks with trees planted in perfect rows, and narrow streets crowded with vendors selling flowers, pastries and cheese. Then head to the Île de la Cité, a small island in the Seine, to see Notre Dame Cathedral. Please note Notre Dame Cathedral is currently closed due to fire damage.
Details: Notre-Dame Cathedral
View the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Work began in 1163 on a spot that had been a holy shrine since Roman times. Over the centuries, the cathedral has been the scene of some of France's most momentous occasions, including the coronation of Napoleon.
Details: Louvre visit
The world's largest art museum, the Louvre is housed in a Medieval fortress-turned-castle so grand it's worth a tour itself. You walk through the 71-foot glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei and added in 1989, and step into another world--one with carved ceilings, deep-set windows, and so many architectural details you could spend a week just admiring the rooms. The Mona Lisa is here, as well as the Venus de Milo and Winged Victory (the headless statue, circa 200 BC, discovered at Samothrace). The Louvre has seven different departments of paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures and antiquities. Don't miss the Egyptian collection, complete with creepy sarcophagi, or the collection of Greek ceramics, one of the largest in the world. (Please note the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays.)
Day 3 Paris
Paris guided sightseeing tour
Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Élysées, Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides, Opera House
Optional  Versailles guided excursion (pre-book only)  $100
State Apartments, Hall of Mirrors, Gardens of Versailles
Seine River cruise
Details: Paris guided sightseeing tour
What's that huge white arch at the end of the Champs-Élysées? The Arc de Triomphe, commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 after his victory at Austerlitz. Your licensed local guide will elaborate on this, and other Parisian landmarks. See some of the most famous sites, including the ornate 19th-century Opera, the Presidential residence and the Place de la Concorde, where in the center you’ll find the Obelisk of Luxor, a gift from Egypt in 1836. Spot chic locals (and tons of tourists) strolling the Champs-Élysées. Look up at the iron girders of the Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 World's Fair to commemorate the centenary of the French Revolution. See Les Invalides (a refuge for war wounded) and the École Militaire (Napoleon's alma mater).
Details: Seine River cruise
See the city from the water on an hour-long cruise along the River Seine. The Seine cuts right through Paris, dividing the city in half. See the Eiffel tower rising up on the Left Bank, the walls of the Louvre on the Right Bank. A guide will point out other monuments and architectural marvels as you pass, many of which are illuminated by clear white light at night.
Day 4 Paris--Strasbourg
Travel to Strasbourg via TGV
Strasbourg guided sightseeing tour
Details: Strasbourg guided sightseeing tour
Guten Tag and bonjour. The capital of Alsace-Lorraine, Strasbourg embodies the best of the German and French cultures once battling to control the area. Join a local licensed guide for a walking tour of Petite France, Strasbourg’s medieval quarter. The magnificently Gothic Notre Dame cathedral is the city’s spiritual center, while in the adjoining square the elaborately carved Maison Kammerzell, once a wealthy merchant’s house, gives evidence of Strasbourg’s healthy economic history.
Details: Strasbourg Cathedral guided visit
Although construction began in the 11th century, this cathedral was completed in 1439. This sandstone structure is a combination of Romanesque (the choir) and Gothic (the nave) architecture.
Day 5 Strasbourg
Colmar & the Maginot Line excursion
Four à Chaux visit
Details: Colmar & the Maginot Line excursion
Explore a portion of the immense Maginot Line, a system of fortifications extending along France’s eastern borders. Designed with the slow-moving trench warfare of World War I in mind, the fortifications could not repel the bombs and tanks of the German army during World War II and therefore ultimately failed to protect France from invasion. Your Tour Director will show you the inner workings of the largest fort, Hackenberg, whose underground vaults included hospitals, trains for moving ammunition and soldiers, kitchens, barracks, and more. Then continue on to Colmar, a well-preserved 16th-century trading town where flowered bridges, half-timbered houses, and picturesque canals will make thoughts of war seem very far away.
Day 6 Strasbourg--Heidelberg
Travel to Heidelberg
Heidelberg tour director-led sightseeing
Details: Heidelberg tour director-led sightseeing
Surrounded by mountains, forests, and the Neckar River, Heidelberg showcases a quintessential German landscape. Join your Tour Director as you drive through this granddaddy of all college towns, with its scores of bars, cafés, and shops. Get a beautiful view Germany’s oldest university —founded in 1386—from the Marktplatz, Heidelberg’s main square. Head up to Heidelberg Castle, which is still a little wobbly from its partial destruction during the Thirty Years’ War, a 17th-century attack by the French, and a major lightening hit in 1764. The castle’s courtyard is home to the largest wine barrel in world, the Great Vat, which holds about 50,000 gallons of wine (possibly another contributing factor to the castle’s romantically off-balance appearance).
Details: Heidelberg Castle and wine barrel visit
Head up to Heidelberg Castle, which is still a little wobbly from its partial destruction during the Thirty Years’ War, a 17th-century attack by the French, and a major lightening hit in 1764. The castle is considered to be one of the most important Renaissance structures north of the Alps, and the castle’s courtyard is home to the largest wine barrel in world!
Details: Market Square
Visit the town's historical Marktplatz, the Market Square.
Day 7 Heidelberg
Rothenburg excursion
Marktplatz, Rathaus, Fountain of Saint George
Details: Rothenburg excursion
Christmas reigns all year round in Rothenburg, a jewel of a town on Germany’s picturesque Romantic Road. Beyond the year-round Christmas markets, the town boasts one of the most intact medieval city walls in Europe and a fairly unique clock. During the Thirty Years’ War, a former Rothenburg mayor was offered the chance to save the city by chugging close to a gallon of wine; he succeeded (and then slept for three days straight), and his accomplishment is reenacted seven times daily by mechanical figures on the clock in the Marktplatz -- adding a new twist to the concept of “cuckoo clock.” The enormous Gothic St. Jacob’s Church watches over the exploits from across the square.
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Day 8 End tour
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    Day 8 Start Rhineland cruise extension
    Transfer via Cologne to Rhineland
    Cologne Cathedral visit
    Details: Transfer via Cologne to Rhineland
    Towering over the train station, the Kolner Dom took seven centuries (300 years worth of interruptions) to finish, only to be scarred by 14 bombings during World War II. Catch your breath after a climb up the 509 stairs to the South Tower for a great view of the Rhine. Nine bells are housed in the Glockenstube, and in one corner, weighing in at 24 tons, is the Petriglocke, the world’s heaviest working bell.
    Details: Cologne Cathedral visit
    Visit Kölner Dom, the most famous Gothic structure in Germany. In addition to its grandiose size; the cathedral also features the Shrine of the Three Kings, a huge Romanesque reliquary said to hold relics of the Three Kings, and the Altar of the Magi, the work of Stephan Lochner. Take the opportunity to Ascend to the Viewing Platform for wonderful views of Cologne.
    Day 9 Rhineland cruise
    Rhine cruise from Koblenz to Rudesheim
    Disembark and overnight in the Rhineland
    Details: Rhine cruise from Koblenz to Rudesheim
    Cruise for several hours along the Rhine. Sightsee from the Deck.
    Day 10 End tour
    Tour Includes:
    • Round-trip airfare
    • 6 overnight stays (8 with extension) in hotels with private bathrooms
    • Full European breakfast daily
    • Dinner daily
    • Full-time services of a professional tour director
    • Guided sightseeing tours and city walks as per itinerary
    • Visits to select attractions as per itinerary
    • Rhineland cruise on extension
    • Tour Diary™
    • Local Guide and Local Bus Driver tips; see note regarding other important tips
    • Note: On arrival day only dinner is provided; on departure day, only breakfast is provided
    • Note: Tour cost does not include airline-imposed baggage fees, or fees for any required passport or visa. Optional excursions, optional pre-paid Tour Director and multi-day bus driver tipping, among other individual and group customizations will be listed as separate line items in the total trip cost, if included.

    We are better able to assist you with a quote for your selected departure date and city over the phone. Please call 1.888.378.8845 to price this tour with your requested options.

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    4164.00 total fee
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