18 Days Central Europe Grand Tour

About the destination: Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria. It is a beautiful romantic city and famous for its coffee culture and cafes, classical music and concert halls, historical buildings, horse-drawn carriages, and its charming streets. There is a rich cultural diversity in Vienna, and its location at the very heart of Europe makes it also an excellent starting point for travelling around Europe. Vienna an impressing city to visit, the city is dominated by the Ringstrasse, a four kilometer long boulevard which encircles the center of the city. The city is filled with modern conveniences and attractions but blanketed as well with reminders of a great historical and cultural heritage. Excellent museums, palaces, gardens, architectural triumphs, remnants of ancient inhabitants, statuary, and grand cafes blend with trendy shops, excellent restaurants, accessible musical venues, modern museums and sculpture, and upscale hotels to make Vienna a very attractive. The extensive pedestrianized streets of the old city are a delight, lined by beautiful old buildings, populated by the young and old, filled with local shops, boutiques and cafes, and with the unexpected around every turn. The center city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Vienna is history and music, poetry and culture, modernism and tradition, nostalgia and grandeur.

About the destination: Prague is the capital city and largest city of the Czech Republic. It is located on the Vltava River in central bohemia. Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. For those interested in art, history, classical music, and architecture, Prague is a must see. Beautiful buildings and architecture can be seen around every corner. The River Vltava runs through the middle of Prague. Many bridges span the river but it’s the Charles Bridge, which is pedestrianized that visitors are drawn to for its combination of Gothic construction and Baroque Statues. Here there are street vendors selling all sorts of things, and in the distance on the hill is the Castle, considered the historic nexus of the city. The Old Town Square is one of two main squares in Prague and where some of the main attractions of the city are located such as the Old Town Hall Tower, the Astronomical Clock, the Church of Our Lady before Tyn and St. Nicholas Church. Since 1992, the historic center of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Prague's city center is a museum of 900 years' of architecture, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, 19th-century revivals of all of them, and Art Nouveau remain amazingly undisturbed by the 20th century. Prague is truly an architectural delight.

About the destination: Budapest is known as one of Europe’s most stunning cities. It may be thanks to its impressive surroundings, the Danube River that divides the city, the Buda hills to the west and the Great Plain to the east or due to its varied and beautiful architecture: Renaissance, Byzantine, Neo-Classical, and Art-Nouveau buildings coexist in perfect harmony. Its extensive World Heritage Site includes: the banks of the Danube, Buda Castle Quarter, Andrassy Avenue, Hero’s Square, and the Millennium Underground Railway. To top that, the city has 80 geothermal springs, the world’s largest water cave system where visitors can indulge in a relaxing bath. Budapest became a single city in 1873, occupying both banks of the river Danube, to the west there is Buda and Pest lays at the east. Both sides of the city have very different personalities. Buda is the quiet section of the city. Walking around Buda, travelers will be able to inspect the Castle Quarter and explore the narrow cobbled streets that lead to the Fishermen’s bastion with its fairytale towers, which represent the 7 tribes that existed in the city in the 9th century. This decorative fortification is located atop the Buda Castel Hill and offers the best panoramic view in Budapest. The eastern side, Pest, is where all the action takes place. This section of the city has a fin-de-siècle feel to it and nearly every building has some interesting or unusual detail. Visitors will be invited to take long strolls on its wide boulevards filled with all sorts of shops or enjoy a well-deserved coffee in its grand coffee houses. Pest is home to the parliament building and the Dohari street synagogue, the largest synagogue in Europe. The scars of WWII are still present in the city, bullet holes and shrapnel scorings left over from the Second World War and the 1956 Uprising are still visible in some of the facades, painful reminders of this grey period of history. There are several tributes honoring the Hungarian Jews that lost their lives, as the poignant Shoes on the Danube memorial or the Raoul Wallenberg Holocaust Memorial Park. This side of the river is also considered the cultural heart of the city with numerous art galleries and with more opera, concerts and ballet performances than there are days of the week. The capital’s best restaurants are found in Pest too, and it’s here the nightlife wrestles with until the early hours as well. For a unique drink try a Ruin Pub, Budapest’s network of bars in disused buildings that include former tenement houses, factory buildings and community centres. Budapest has combined all its influences and overcome its complex history to shape its own character, and sure it did it right.

About the destination: Halfway between East and West, North and South of Europe, Bratislava is in a crossroad, bordering Austria and Hungary. It is a beautiful old city, lovely and warm, and its tranquility contrasts with the busy and active life of the present inhabitants. Surrounded by a pastoral landscape of vineyards and historic castles, occupying both banks of the River Danube, Bratislava gives a sense of time travelling. Bratislava has a delightful medieval quarter, Stare Mesto, with small and narrow streets, a castle on top of a hill near the Danube and many castles and ancient churches to explore. The old town consists of two squares, Hlavne namestie , Main Square and Hviezdoslav Square, named after the famous Slovak poet. Communist buildings that stretch endlessly along the river speak of the country’s pre-incorporation into the European Union in 2004. Since then the city has rose in fame for cultural tourism as well as becoming a thriving business centre. Visitors to Bratislava will find an ever-increasing choice of plush accommodation and a plethora of chic bars and restaurants, as well as the chance to visit its great offer of museums, galleries and modern art spaces. And when you’ve had your fill of exploring the city itself, it’s easy to escape from the hustle and bustle to walk, cycle or picnic in the forested hills that surround it – or to discover some of the many vineyards and castles of the surrounding region.

Über das Reiseziel: Salzburg, die Geburtsstadt von Mozart, liegt an der Grenze zwischen Österreich und Deutschland. Der Fluss Salzach trennt die Altstadt von der Neustadt Salzburgs. Die Altstadt ist beeindruckend und kompakt. Sie zentriert sich um den breiten Residenzplatz und ist größtenteils eine Fußgängerzone. Die relativ neue Stadt zentriert sich um den Mirabellplatz und den Markartplatz. Salzburgs beeindruckende Hügel erheben sich direkt aus der Altstadt. Die auffälligste Festung auf einem Hügel ist die Hohensalzburg, die im Laufe der Jahrhunderte auf einem alten keltischen und römischen Standort erbaut wurde und heute die größte vollständig erhaltene mittelalterliche Burg in Europa ist. Für eine andere Art von Pracht besuchen Sie das Schloss Mirabell und seine Gärten, die direkt neben dem Fluss Salzach und der Universität Mozarteum für Musik und Kunst liegen. Das Schloss wurde von einem Erzbischof für seine geliebte Mätresse erbaut. Sie können durch extravagante Rosen- und Blumengärten wandern und die steinernen Zwerge im Zwerglgarten bestaunen. Um mehr über Mozart und sein Leben zu erfahren, besuchen Sie sein Geburtshaus, Mozarts Geburtshaus. Die Straße selbst ist einen Blick wert, die Zunftzeichen und bemalten Wanddekorationen sind weitgehend so, wie sie zur Zeit von Mozarts Geburt waren. Das Haus zeigt Bilder, Briefe und Bühnenbilder für die verschiedenen Opern, die Mozart geschrieben hat. Geschützt von bewaldeten Bergen ist Salzburg eine Stadt der Verzauberung, deren Stimme in einigen der erhabensten Musik der Welt zum Ausdruck kommt, komponiert von ihrem Lieblingssohn Mozart. Das Zeitalter, das das unvergleichliche musikalische Genie Mozarts hervorbrachte, baute auch die schönen Schlösser und Kirchen Salzburgs und brachte eine Liebe zur Musik hervor, die bis heute in Salzburgs zahlreichen Konzertreihen und dem jährlichen Sommerfestival weiterlebt.

Über das Reiseziel: München an der Isar im Süden Bayerns ist berühmt für seine erstklassigen Museen, schönen Parks, das jährliche Oktoberfest und die Architektur. Die schönen öffentlichen Gebäude und Denkmäler zeugen von den kaiserlichen Bestrebungen der Familie Wittelsbach, die vom 12. bis 20. Jahrhundert Herrscher Bayerns waren. Obwohl es während des Zweiten Weltkriegs durch Bombenangriffe der Alliierten schwer beschädigt wurde, wurden viele seiner historischen Gebäude wieder aufgebaut und das Stadtzentrum erscheint größtenteils wie im späten 19. Jahrhundert, einschließlich der größten Kirche, der Frauenkirche und des berühmten Neuen Rathauses ). Eine seltsame Mischung aus stolzem Traditionalismus und avantgardistischer Kultur wird Sie interessiert und aktiv halten, und die Stadt mit ihren vielen Studenten und der irdischen bayerischen Lebensfreude bleibt bis in alle Stunden wach.