Vistas of Germany
9 DAYS
Berlin 2 • Hamburg 2 • Munich 3
Basic Inclusions
Accommodations
Accommodations in centrally-located three-star or four-star hotels. Rooming on a triple basis. Double rooms: $50 per night, per person.
Meals
All breakfasts. All dinners.
Transportation
Round-trip transportation on scheduled airline. All public transportation tickets included where applicable.
Guide
Services of a specially-trained passports Tour Director throughout. All tips are included in the Program Cost. Whisper headsets included.
Travel Protection
Passports provides and pays for a Post Departure Travel Protection Plan that includes coverage for Trip Interruption, Trip Delay, Medical Expense and Evacuation and more.
Tour Summary
Itinerary Includes
Unlimited public transportation
Days 1-2: Arrival Berlin
Arrival transfer
Day 3: Berlin
Half-day city sightseeing: Local Guide
Visit to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum
Day 4: Berlin - Hamburg
Tour director-led walking tour in Lübeck
Day 5: Hamburg
Half-day city sightseeing: 'Pearl of the City Center Loop' boat ride on Hamburg's Outer Alster Lake
Day 6: Hamburg - Munich
Departure transfer, ICE train Hamburg-Munich, Arrival transfer
Day 7: Munich
Half-day city sightseeing in Munich: Local Guide, Visit to the Nymphenburg Palace and Gardens
Excursion to Dachau: Visit to the Dachau Memorial Concentration Camp
Day 8: Munich
Excursion to Neuschwanstein: Guided tour at Neuschwanstein Castle
Day 9: Departure
Departure transfer
UNPARALLELED STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE
Detailed Itinerary
Days 1-2: Arrival
A dream comes true as your wide-bodied jet thunders off the airstrip, Europe-bound. Time for a meal, a movie and a nap. Then it gets light again, first off the left-hand side of the airplane, then everywhere. It's morning and your destination is Berlin, Germany!
You're about to discover a city that has risen from the scars of World War II and the Cold War to reclaim its former splendor as the capital of a reunited Germany. Potsdam Square, long a desolate sector of East Berlin, is once again its most vibrant district.
Overnight: Berlin
Day 3: Berlin City Sightseeing, Checkpoint Charlie Museum
"Ich bin ein Berliner!" On a guided tour of the city, you'll understand why John F. Kennedy made this claim on behalf of all world citizens. See Rathaus Schöneberg, where 1,500,000 West Berliners flocked to hear this speech in 1963, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the imposing Soviet War Memorial, Kurfürstendamm, the historic Unter den Linden, now checkered once again (under its trees) with Western-style sidewalk cafés, and what's left of the Berlin Wall.
A half-day local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of Berlin, will accompany your group.
Delve into the city's gripping history at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. As the best-known crossing point between East and West Berlin, Checkpoint Charlie became a symbol of the East/West split of both Berlin and Germany, and, for East Germans who wanted to escape, a gate to the West.
The remainder of the day is free to plan as you wish.
Make your way to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, built near the Brandenburg Gate. Inaugurated in May 2005, this is the first monument commissioned by the reunited Germany. It commemorates the Shoah, the extermination of six million Jews from all over Europe, which was planned in this very city, little more than a half century ago. The design of the monument, by New York architect Peter Eiseman, is very striking: a stark field of 2,711 plain concrete blocks of varying heights that reflect ever changing light and shadow. An underground Information Center lit by natural light provides historical documentation.
Overnight: Berlin
Day 4: Lubeck, Hamburg
Today you'll travel to Lübeck, the picture-perfect jewel of the Baltic Sea. In the 14th century, at the height of its power as the capital of the Hanseatic League, Lübeck was a prosperous commercial center open notably to the influence of the Dutch.
Explore the Old Town with your courier. Admire the magnificent Gothic brick architecture of Lübeck's Town Hall as well as St. Mary's Church, which dates back to 1250, and the Holstentor, a fortified gate with twin towers.
Board your coach for the drive to Hamburg, a vibrant city which has grown around one of Europe's largest ports. It has also entered Beatles lore as one of the places where the legendary group made a name for itself.
You may want to climb the Baroque tower of St. Michael's Church for a magnificent view of the city.
Overnight: Hamburg
Day 5: Hamburg City Sightseeing
Today you'll discover the charms of this great port: the elegant thoroughfare of Jungfernstieg and the Altstadt, crowned by the tall church towers that punctuate the city skyline.
Discover the Hanseatic League city of Hamburg appropriately, aboard a steamer plying the waters of the
The remainder of the day is free to plan as you wish.
You can explore the fashionable pedestrian shopping districts in the city center or browse among the masterpieces of the Museum of Fine Arts.
Overnight: Hamburg
Day 6: Train to Munich
Quick as a flash, the German high-speed ICE train transports you from the Baltic Sea to the Bavarian Alps. Destination Munich, the capital of Bavaria and Germany's favorite city.
You'll be struck by your first impression of Munich and its landmarks, which have been beautifully restored to their pre-war conditions.
Overnight: Munich
Day 7: Munich City Sightseeing, Excursion to Dachau
A sightseeing tour in München takes you around the impressive Theresienwiese, site of the famous annual Oktoberfest. In the center of the city discover the grand set-piece boulevards of the Ludwigstrasse and Maximilianstrasse with their Neoclassical palaces, and the monumental Feldherrnhalle where, in 1923, Hitler failed in his attempt at the coup d'état known as the Munich Putsch. See the student area of Schwabing, Königsplatz, the Residenz, the Frauenkirche, whose 300-foot-high onion-domed towers symbolize the Munich skyline, and the historic Marienplatz. The tour ends with a performance of the red-coated mannequins in the Town Hall Glockenspiel.
A half-day local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of Munich, will accompany your group.
Visit Nymphenburg Palace, once the summer residence of the Bavarian sovereigns. See rooms decorated in their original Baroque style from the 17th century, as well as Rococo and Neoclassical decor. The gardens were landscaped in the 18th century by an employee of André Le Nôtre, who designed the gardens of Versailles.
Set out for a town located a mere twelve miles from Munich.
Enter KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau, the Nazi concentration camp, which has been preserved as a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.
The town of Dachau itself, paradoxically, has long been renowned for the beauty of its scenery and the gaiety of its summer festival.
Overnight: Munich
Day 8: Excursion to Neuschwanstein
Today's excursion takes you along a scenic route into fantasyland.
Enter the dream castle built by Bavaria's "mad" King Ludwig II. About Neuschwanstein, the model for Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty's castle, it is said that Ludwig employed a stage set designer rather than an architect. The result is pure theatrical fantasy, stimulated by the King's fancy for Wagnerian music: from artificial grottoes to ornate rooms to dazzling views of the Alps from the belvedere.
Overnight: Munich
Day 9: Departure
Memories of clean cities and fast, sleek automobiles all blur together as you bid auf Wiedersehen to Germany at Munich's airport. Your suitcase filled with memorabilia, arrive home later today, eager to share your discoveries with family and friends.
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Berlin City Sightseeing
Luebeck, Germany
Hamburg City Sightseeing
Munich City Sightseeing
Excursion to Neuschwanstein
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