Day 1
You should arrive at the airport for your flight to Munich from where you will be taken to your hotel, the centrally located four-star Maritim for two nights with dinner. This is a major international standard property with the rooms beautifully appointed, an excellent bar with live music three times weekly and a large rooftop pool (indoor) with splendid views across the city’s skyline. Dinner is in the hotel’s excellent restaurant.

Day 2
Soaked in tradition, Munich is perhaps most famous for its beer festival, the legendary Oktoberfest, during which we avoid the city because of the crowds. However, at any time, the city proffers a host of typically convivial beer gardens, which so epitomise the jolly outlook on life and general optimism so evident here. It is also a cultural paradise with an amazing choice of art galleries, museums, churches catering for every taste plus historic architecture at almost every turn. During your guided tour, you will
see how Munich has grown to become one of Europe’s most important cultural centres. As you tour the old town’s maze of cobbled medievalstreets and take in the great civic and religious buildings your guide will bring to life the past centuries, the rise of Munich as a stronghold of Catholicism, the construction and history of the great edifices including the majestic simplicity of the Frauenkirche cathedral with its famous onion-shaped domes, the classic Gothic Rathaus (City Hall) and the Residenz - a palace of seven courtyards once home to the Kings of Bavaria. Your tour also highlights the best of modern Munich, its galleries, museums and the delightful open spaces such as the English Garden and this afternoon you can explore this vibrant city as you wish.

Day 3
Today we take the scenic drive north along the Romantic Road, through delightful rolling hills and winding wooded valleys, towards the deep valley of the River Main. The Romantic Road’s name derives from its poetic journey through history, evoking the period when its medieval towns held ultimate sway and Teutonic chivalry reigned supreme. Baroque churches and hilltop castles unveil before you as we wind towards the undoubted jewel of spectacular Rothenburg, meeting the 16th century head on! It simply could not be more idyllic, crowning a hill overlooking the meandering river below, nestling securely behind perfectly preserved medieval walls.

At the peak of its power, this Protestant town suffered greatly during the Thirty Years’ War subsequently remaining too impoverished to expand beyond its walls in the ensuing centuries.
This ensured its almost perfect survival creating today’s present gem: narrow, cobbled streets lined with tall gabled, half-timbered houses with staircase turrets and oriel windows lead to St Jakob’s Church and the fine medieval Town Hall at its heart. Built high on a hill, the views over the meandering river below are astonishing and such is the atmosphere, it would not surprise you to meet a knight on horseback or a court jester around the very next corner! You really have a genuine glimpse of the past before continuing along the Romantic Road to Wurzburg and your hotel for two nights with dinner at the centrally located, excellent four-star Hotel Maritim, situated on the banks of the River Main. After dinner, why not take stroll along the river into the atmospheric old town.

Day 4
Straddling the River Main surrounded by vine-clad hills, Wurzburg’s origins stretch back to Celtic times. During the 18th century it was a seat of the Prince Bishops who created the truly magnificent Residenz, one of Europe’s finest Baroque palaces, constructed to outshine Vienna, Versailles and other great courts of the day which in artistic terms they certainly succeeded.There is a huge amount to admire here and during our morning tour, your guide brings the history and architecture of this splendid building to life. You start with the incredible staircase, said to be the world’s most beautiful – with its glorious frescoes plus the marvellously intricate decoration of the Imperial Hall. Progressing further you can admire one room completely covered in gold leaf, and another having 600 mirrors. Fine-art adorns the beautifully woodpanelled walls and there are extensive views over the elegant gardens outside. One of the most unusual rooms has the most incredible acoustics you will probably ever experience. Walk across the room and your footsteps echo with increasing resonance and on reaching the centre, the noise reverberates seemingly forever in a series of surreal crescendos! The calculations involved to create this effect 300 years ago are quite startling.

It is easy to imagine why Napoleon is said to have called this stunning building the “nicest parsonage in Europe”. Wurzburg lies at the heart of the Franconian vineyards – one of the few German red wine producing regions: light, fruity and extremely palatable- they are a real find! Therefore this afternoon you can either stay in Wurzburg and explore as you wish or take the short trip to visit a vineyard for an explanation of wine-making and of course a sample of the finished product. We then return to the hotel.

Day 5
This morning we drive though the scenic Steigerwald Natural Park to remarkable Bamberg, quite simply one of the most beautiful small towns in Europe, staggeringly so, but easily on a par with Prague! A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the masterpiece you see today began its artistic journey during the 11th century when the Emperor Heinrich II planned a capital as grand as Rome. Although it never became so large Bamberg suggests a spaciousness belying its size. Pride of place goes to its outstanding gothic cathedral but this is but one example of the city’s shining beauty and wealth of architecture, from Romanesque to Baroque, it is like a text book. Not only is it historic, it is stunningly beautiful too with a network of shining canals and a fascinating tangle of lanes lined with merchants’ houses culminating in its picturesque main square and its traditional daily market. You must visit the town hall, covered with the huge colourful frescoes so typical of central Europe, almost hovering on wooden piles whilst below the river flows swiftly on. Add the 11th century former Episcopal palace plus a host of other things to see and Bamberg really is a gem. We have a walking tour of this superb baroque townscape whose reflections dance on the river, lending an extra special ambience to the whole gorgeous scene. You may though just wander where your feet take you or perhaps sample one of the local beers, noted as some of Germany’s finest.

We leave late afternoon, driving through picturesque countryside to Regensburg staying two nights with dinner at the four-star Hotel Münchner Hof, a fine example of the family hotels so typical of Germany and a wonderfully sympathetic conversion of a 600 year-old building. Located in the heart of the oldtown just two minutes from the cathedral - wooden beamed, spotlessly clean, traditional antique furniture throughout but with thoroughly modern fittings and very well-managed with pride and efficiency.

Day 6
Regensburg today is a beautiful and fascinating place but was once a Roman garrison town on the empire’s northern border guarding the river Danube from the ‘barbarians’ beyond. You can still see remains of their remarkable civilisation in the Porta Praetoria gate and stunning river bridge, amazingly still in use after 2,000 years! Most of the city dates from the 13th and 14th centuries with the skyline dominated by numerous stone towers built by rich merchants, keen to show off their wealth by out-building each other.

Your tour will feature the stunning Altes Rathaus, the old town hall with its great Gothic hall and a stunning 15th century Gothic Cathedral displaying some excellent stained glass and fine sculpture and where the present Pope was Bishop until his installation. All these stand cheek by jowl with religious buildings from the Gothic to the Baroque plus the Roman remains. This afternoon take a leisurely wander amongst the delightful twisting streets and alleys of the old town and see for yourself why Regensburg earned its sobriquet as Germany’s best preserved medieval city. Or just stand on the ancient bridge and watch the passing river traffic, much as the famous 12th century Regensburger, astronomer Johannes Kepler must have once done all those years ago.

For the finest view, cross the Danube and look back at the amazing waterfront before returning to the hotel for your final dinner with like-minded individuals musing over the delights of the last few days and the memories of an encounter with a romantic and historic corner of Europe remaining faithful to its great heritage, amidst the pace of modern life.

Day 7
After breakfast, at the appropriate time, you will take the journey to the airport for your return flight.

The centrally located four-star Maritim for two nights with dinner. This is a major international standard property with the rooms beautifully appointed, an excellent bar with live music three times weekly and a large rooftop pool (indoor) with splendid views across the city’s skyline. Dinner is in the hotel’s excellent restaurant.

Two nights with dinner at the centrally located, excellent four-star Hotel Maritim, situated on the banks of the River Main

Two nights with dinner at the four-star Hotel Münchner Hof, a fine example of the family hotels so typical of Germany and a wonderfully sympathetic conversion of a 600 year-old building. Located in the heart of the oldtown just two minutes from the cathedral - wooden beamed, spotlessly clean, traditional antique furniture throughout but with thoroughly modern fittings and very well-managed with pride and efficiency.