Additional Included Highlights

• You will be escorted by one of our fine Travelling Concierges, handpicked to serve as your expert guide, consummate organiser, and friend overseas.
• Personal radio headsets give you the freedom to wander during visits to famous highlights, without missing any of your Local Expert's fascinating commentary, available on departures with 15 or more guests.
• At every hotel, you'll be treated to seamless baggage handling, with prompt delivery inside your room.
• Hotel and restaurant tips are included - you'll never have to worry about how much to give, nor search for foreign currency. We also include all taxes and porterage charges at hotels.
• Stay connected with friends and family with our complimentary coach and hotel Wi-Fi (where available).
• Complimentary, airport transfers are included on start and end dates and when additional accommodation has been booked through Luxury Gold. Guests will be transferred with fellow Luxury Gold Travellers that arrive on the same flight. Complimentary, private train station transfers are included when train travel is included within the itinerary. Transfers to train stations or alternate hotels, in the same start or end city of the itinerary, may be requested but are not guaranteed.

Choice Highlights

• Choose between two carefully selected activities
• Prague: Continue the exploration of Prague on a guided walk through the Jewish Quarter with your Local Expert. This historical complex has a torrid history but is also the best preserved collection of Jewish monuments in Europe and home to six beautiful synagogues.
• Prague: Relax in one of the oldest houses of the city and sample craft beers paired with Czech savoury specialities.
• Choose between two carefully selected activities
• Vienna: Visit the Imperial Treasury in the Hofburg Palace with a Local Expert and learn about Vienna's regal history. See the invaluable riches including the crown of Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne.
• Vienna: Head to the Baroque palaces of Belvedere, housing priceless art like Gustav Klimt's The Kiss.
• Choose between two carefully selected activities
• Szentendre: Take a trip outside Budapest to the storybook town of Szentendre. Travel past the Roman remains of Aquincum before spending time in the riverside town with enchanting, brightly coloured houses, quaint churches, galleries and lovely squares.
• Budapest: Take a plunge into Hungarian bath culture at one of the traditional spas and mingle with the locals as you soak up the healing properties of the mineral rich thermal waters.
• Choose between two carefully selected activities
• Kraków: Explore Nowa Huta, the steel district of Krakow while you learn about life behind the Iron Curtain just a few decades ago. See a vintage Trabant, an East German car widely used in the Communist era.
• Kraków: Let a knowledgeable Local Expert take you through the poignant history of Kraków. Pass through the city’s former Jewish Quarter and visit Wawel Cathedral, the site that has crowned almost every Polish king and queen throughout history.
• Choose between two carefully selected activities
• Warsaw: Explore Warsaw with your engaging Local Expert. Visit the bronze Chopin monument, a tribute the 19th century composer, in the Royal Baths Park, then pass by the Heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto monument, while hearing about the historic uprising. Explore the reconstructed, colourful Old Town, the home to the Royal Castle.
• Warsaw: Join a Local Expert for the discovery of the progressive city and learn about where the traditionalist Poland is headed in the 21st century.

Well-being

• : Your Well-Being Director takes a proactive approach to your welfare ensuring all well-being regulations are met. On tours fewer than 15 guests, your Traveling Concierge will act as your Well-Being Director.
• : Our customized luxury coaches are sanitized before the start of your tour and are maintained to very high standards. Physical distancing measures have been implemented on our customized luxury coaches.
• : Experience enhanced hygiene protocols to align with the latest guidance following COVID-19. All Travelling Concierge's, Well-Being Directors and Drivers have completed training in enhanced well-being and hygiene protocols.
• : We only work with establishments we are confident will consistently adhere to our high well-being standards, which include hotels, restaurants and sight-seeing venues.
• : Hand sanitizer is freely available on board for you to use throughout the day.

Exceptional Dining

• Prague: Open your trip in style with a Welcome Dinner at Prague’s Bastion Restaurant. Enjoy a carefully selected vintage to accompany the unforgettable views of the bohemian city and an exceptional gastronomic experience from a team of first class chefs.
• Prague: Relax in one of the oldest houses of the city and sample craft beers paired with Czech savoury specialities.
• Budapest: Dine on traditional Hungarian delicacies at elegant Gundel, one of Budapest's most renowned restaurants for over a hundred years. Enjoy dinner in the iconic dining room where former American presidents and popes have eaten.
• Budapest: Savour a selection of Hungarian delicacies at the First Strudel House in Pest, with dough-stretching artisans turning out paper thin pastries for dessert. Take some of the delicious pastries away to enjoy later, if you wish.
• Budapest: Delight your tastebuds with Michelin-star dining at Borkonyha Winekitchen. Chef Ákos Sárközi creates skillfully executed, eye catching dishes that combine French bistro style and contemporary Hungarian influence in an atmosphere of indulgence.
• Kraków: Eat local in Krakow on a Your Choice Evening. Take your pick from a specially selected shortlist of local restaurants where you can enjoy a meal from one of their authentic menus to immerse you further into the flavour of the country.
• Warsaw: Say farewell to the elegant grandeur of Warsaw with a final Celebration Dinner at a handpicked local restaurant. Exchange memories and discoveries from your journey with new friends as you enjoy a fine selection of traditional dishes and quality wines.
• Dining Summary: 12 Breakfast (B), 7 Dinner with Wine (DW), and 1 Lunch (L)

Journey Highlights

• Prague: Immerse yourself in the architecture and atmosphere of Prague Castle as a Local Expert relays fascinating details from its thousand-year history. Accompany them into St Vitus Cathedral where colourful stained-glass windows pour filtered light into its many chapels.
• Prague: Marvel at the intricate detail of Prague’s famous Astronomical Clock and its hourly procession of moving parts, which have delighted witnesses for over six hundred years. Watch as the clock’s parade of apostles mark time on the Old Town Hall.
• Prague: Continue the exploration of Prague on a guided walk through the Jewish Quarter with your Local Expert. This historical complex has a torrid history but is also the best preserved collection of Jewish monuments in Europe and home to six beautiful synagogues.
• Cesky Krumlov: Step through the cobbled streets of Český Krumlov and feel the history around you. Let your Local Expert regale you with tales of this most important European site as you discover the 13th century castle at the heart of the town.
• Melk District: Stroll around the baroque masterpiece that is Melk Abbey as a guide talks you through its fascinating history. See the 16,000-volume collection in the main library and gaze up at the Paul Troger fresco on the hall ceiling.
• Vienna: Discover historic Vienna as your Travelling Concierge shows you the Baroque streetscapes and imperial palaces of Austria’s national capital. Find the locations of the city’s most notable landmarks to ready yourself fully for further explorations.
• Vienna: Take your front-row seat in a historic Viennese concert hall and let the timeless music of Johann Strauss and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart fill the room as you sip on sparkling wine and experience an unforgettable Austrian evening.
• Vienna: Visit the Imperial Treasury in the Hofburg Palace with a Local Expert and learn about Vienna's regal history. See the invaluable riches including the crown of Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne.
• Vienna: Head to the Baroque palaces of Belvedere, housing priceless art like Gustav Klimt's The Kiss.
• Bratislava: Join your passionate Local Expert for a walk around the Slovakian capital’s Old Town, and see the restored Baroque-period Bratislava Castle that stands over the city, with its striking red turrets.
• Budapest: Embark on a private evening cruise along the majestic Danube and sip freshly poured sparkling wine. Witness the most breathtaking architectural vista as grand buildings from both sides of the city are lit up in the night.
• Budapest: Visit the stunning neo-Gothic Parliament Building with your Local Expert and see the Holy Crown of Hungary. Inaugurated for the millennial celebrations of Hungarian statehood in 1896, it is still the largest building in the country.
• Budapest: With a Local Expert, visit Matthias Church, originally built in the 11th century, where two Kings of Hungary were crowned.
• Budapest: During sightseeing with your Local Expert, you will be chauffeured along elegant boulevards to see the Hungarian State Opera House, one of the most beautiful neo-Renaissance buildings in Europe, where composer Gustav Mahler was once director.
• Budapest: See Budapest’s Liberty Statue presiding over the city on Gellért Hill and the Citadel in its shadow. Erected 96 years apart, the proud structures represent two sides of Budapest's history - one to suppress Hungarian independence and one to celebrate it.
• Szentendre: Take a trip outside Budapest to the storybook town of Szentendre. Travel past the Roman remains of Aquincum before spending time in the riverside town with enchanting, brightly coloured houses, quaint churches, galleries and lovely squares.
• Budapest: Take a plunge into Hungarian bath culture at one of the traditional spas and mingle with the locals as you soak up the healing properties of the mineral rich thermal waters.
• Oravsky Podzamok: Take a moment on your journey to Kraków to enjoy the breathtaking sight of Oravský Hrad. Look up to the striking Renaissance and neo-gothic castle which dominates the scenery like an eagle’s nest on its rocky perch.
• Kraków: Join you Travelling Concierge for an orientation of Kraków. Pass through the city’s former Jewish Quarter and see locations from the epic seven-time Oscar-winning movie, Schindler’s List.
• Kraków: Explore Nowa Huta, the steel district of Krakow while you learn about life behind the Iron Curtain just a few decades ago. See a vintage Trabant, an East German car widely used in the Communist era.
• Kraków: Let a knowledgeable Local Expert take you through the poignant history of Kraków. Pass through the city’s former Jewish Quarter and visit Wawel Cathedral, the site that has crowned almost every Polish king and queen throughout history.
• Auschwitz: Pay your respects at the Auschwitz memorial and walk beneath the infamous gateway to the museums housed in the former prison blocks. Learn about the role this concentration camp played during World War II and understand the impact on postwar Europe.
• Częstochowa: Witness an unveiling of the revered Black Madonna in the Chapel of Our Lady at the Paulite Monastery of Jasna Góra. The painting, which some attribute to St Luke the Evangelist, sits protected within this beautiful site of pilgrimage.
• Warsaw: Attend a private piano recital to begin your evening with a flourish. Hear an accomplished player relay the expressive grace of Poland’s most famous composer and virtuoso, Frédéric François Chopin, in the stylish surroundings of Warsaw.
• Warsaw: Explore Warsaw with your engaging Local Expert. Visit the bronze Chopin monument, a tribute the 19th century composer, in the Royal Baths Park, then pass by the Heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto monument, while hearing about the historic uprising. Explore the reconstructed, colourful Old Town, the home to the Royal Castle.
• Warsaw: Join a Local Expert for the discovery of the progressive city and learn about where the traditionalist Poland is headed in the 21st century.

Chairman's Collection

• Schloss Artstetten: If you are travelling on a Chairman's Collection departure, on Day 4 you will be privileged to a private reception with Princess Anita von Hohenberg, a descendant of the famous Habsburgs, at Artstetten Castle. This incredible experience will replace visiting Melk Abbey.

VIP Experiences

• Vienna: Indulge your senses without the crowds during a special VIP after-hours visit to the magnificent Schönbrunn Palace. With a Local Expert, stand beneath frescoed ceilings, crystal chandeliers and gilded Rococo frames, where Mozart performed as a six-year-old prodigy.