-Day 1 Start tour
Day 2 Bonjour Brussels
Meet your tour director and check into hotel
Details: Brussels tour director-led sightseeing
Chocolate and comics (home of Tin Tin creator Herge). Surrealism. French fries. The headquarters of the European Union. Art Nouveau. Brussels combines Hapsburg-era elegance with modern business and big-city bustle. See the city's historical heart on a walking tour led by your Tour Director. Start at the cobblestone Grand-Place, a central square lined with ornamental gables, medieval banners, and gilded façades. Look at the 15th-century Town Hall and the King's House, lining the Place. Then walk to the Manneken-Pis. Tired from so much strolling? Buy a bag of Belgian pralines for fortification.
Day 3 Brussels--Paris
Travel to Paris via Bruges
Bruges tour director-led sightseeing tourBurg Square, , Beguinage Church and Convent visit, Church of Our Lady
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.
Day 4 Paris
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 5 Paris
Dinner in Montmartre
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.)
Details: Montmartre tour director-led sightseeing
If you’re coming to Paris, you absolutely need to take a walk in Montmartre! This area will wake the artist in you up. Its narrow alleys, windmills, little details, and soul are some of the things that make Montmartre so unique. As you walk in Montmartre, you will quickly understand how it has inspired so many artists such as Picasso and Van Gogh. As you walk up the hill make sure to take in all that surrounds you, because in Montmartre you are likely to find surprises around every corner!
Day 6 Paris--Côte d'Azur
Travel to Nice on the TGV (one of Europe’s fastest train)
Details: Nice tour director-led sightseeing
The Côte d'Azur's largest city spills down the hillsides to pebble beaches that line the shore. Your Tour Director will show you around the narrow pedestrian streets and tiny squares of "Le Vieux Nice" (Old Town), which is sprinkled with old palaces and mansions. Stroll down the Promenade des Anglais, which runs parallel to the water. Backed by Nice's grand hotels, the Promenade was built in the 19th century for the British who flocked here en masse.
Details: Promenade des Anglais
Stroll The Promenade des Anglais, named for the English who paid for it, is a seven kilometer walkway along the seafront. Called "La Prom" by locals, it's the best place to people-watch.
Day 7 Côte d'Azur
Free time at the beach
Details: St. Paul de Vence and Chagall Museum excursion
Travel to the beautifully preserved medieval hill town of St. Paul de Vence. A visit to the Marc Chagall National Museum and stop by a confiserie are among the highlights of today!
Day 8 Côte d'Azur--Geneva
Travel to Geneva via Monaco
Details: Monaco tour director-led sightseeing tour
On the Mediterranean coast, five miles from the Italian border, lies the tiny, glittering independent state of Monaco. Ruled by the Grimaldi family since the 13th century, Monaco is the epitome of French Riviera glamour. Your Tour Director will lead you on this brief adventure. Charles III opened a casino in the 1850s to avert financial straits; needless to say, his plan worked--so well, in fact, that Monaco is a nearly tax-free state. Drop in on Prince Rainier (OK, see his house, the Palais du Prince).
Day 9 Geneva
Geneva tour director-led sightseeing Lausanne and Montreux excursion
Details: Jet d'Eau
View the Jet d’ Eau, Geneva’s trademark. This beautiful fountain throws water 460 feet into the air and is visible for miles. Continue to the Jardin Anglais, where we will view the world famous Flower Clock, which is made of carefully landscaped beds of flowers, and its keeps perfect time.
Details: St Pierre Cathedral visit
Visit the Cathedral de Saint-Pierre, where in 1536 the people of Geneva gathered in the cloister and voted to make the cathedral Protestant. With a philosophy of austerity, all of the altars, statues and ornamentation in the cathedral were destroyed, leaving only the pulpit and stained glass windows. Highlights of our visit will include Calvin’s Chair, and an Ascent of the North Tower, where will enjoy spectacular views of the city.
Details: Château de Chillon visit
Emerging grandly from Lake Geneva, the stately Château de Chillon is one of Switzerland’s most famous castles. The medieval fortress, an array of turrets, towers, and heavy stone walls, once served as the rather un-summery summer home of the Dukes of Savoy. In the 1800s it became a state prison, made famous in a poem by Byron. Today you can still see where the Romantic poet scratched his name in a column of the prison dungeon.
Tour Includes:
- Round-trip airfare
- 8 overnight stays 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
- 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.
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