Eastern Europe: Berlin, Kraków, Prague, Vienna and Budapest

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Berlin

   Berlin Brandenburg Airport to your hotel in Berlin-Mitte

   • Environ 45 min de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Berlin
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), about 25 km south-east of the centre. A driver meets you in arrivals and takes you to the hotel, about 45 minutes depending on traffic. Plan to land by about 4 pm so you are settled before the evening briefing; if you arrive early, leave your bags at the hotel and walk along the Spree to the Berliner Dom and Museum Island, a few minutes away. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group in the hotel for a short briefing on the fourteen days ahead: how the trains work, what the Auschwitz-Birkenau day involves, and which mornings start early and why. Then we walk together to a welcome dinner of Berlin and Brandenburg dishes in the centre. Tomorrow starts at a gentle pace, so tonight is for sleeping off the flight.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Free until the evening briefing

2. Jour 2 : Berlin: the Wall, Mitte and Nefertiti

   Bernauer Strasse to the Brandenburg Gate, Gendarmenmarkt and Museum Island

   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Berlin
   Détail du jour 2

   We start at the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse while the morning is quiet. Here a stretch of the wall survives with its death strip and watchtower, and the street where houses once stood on the border tells the story of escapes through windows and tunnels. A short ride on the U-Bahn takes us to the Brandenburg Gate and past the Reichstag to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, its grey concrete stelae rising and falling across a whole city block. We walk on to the Gendarmenmarkt, framed by Schinkel's Konzerthaus and the French and German churches, for a sit-down lunch nearby. After lunch we cross to Museum Island, a UNESCO site, for a timed entry to the Neues Museum and the painted bust of Nefertiti. The rest of the afternoon and the evening are yours: back to the hotel, or out to Kreuzberg or Prenzlauer Berg for dinner.

   Compris

   • Berlin Wall Memorial, Bernauer Strasse, with your guide
   • Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag from outside
   • Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
   • Gendarmenmarkt
   • Sit-down lunch in Mitte
   • Neues Museum on Museum Island, timed entry
   • Public transport tickets for the day

   Option plus facile : Skip the Neues Museum and return to the hotel after lunch; it is a few stops on the U-Bahn.

   Option plus active : Late afternoon, walk or cycle the East Side Gallery, the longest surviving stretch of the wall, along the Spree.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free

   Activité : About 8 km on foot with breaks, mostly level.

   

3. Jour 3 : Potsdam and Sanssouci, the Reichstag dome at dusk

   Berlin to Potsdam by our vehicle, back over the Glienicke Bridge

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Berlin
   Détail du jour 3

   Our own vehicle and driver take us out of Berlin after breakfast, about 40 minutes to Potsdam, where the Prussian kings built their summer palaces among lakes and parks now listed by UNESCO. We start at Sanssouci, the single-storey palace Frederick the Great built above a staircase of vineyard terraces, on a booked morning entry before the day groups arrive. Afterwards there is time to walk through the park to the Chinese House and the long façade of the New Palace, or to sit in the garden. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the Dutch Quarter, a few streets of red-brick gabled houses built for Dutch craftsmen in the 1730s. On the way back we cross the Glienicke Bridge, where East and West exchanged captured spies during the Cold War. You are back in Berlin by mid-afternoon with time to rest, and in the evening we go up into the glass dome of the Reichstag on a booked slot to watch the light go over the city.

   Compris

   • Sanssouci Palace, timed entry, and the park with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in the Dutch Quarter, Potsdam
   • The Glienicke Bridge
   • Reichstag dome on a booked evening slot

   Option plus facile : Stay with the vehicle at the palace gate and skip the walk to the New Palace; it is about 2 km through the park.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Berlin before the Reichstag dome

   Activité : The Reichstag dome needs each guest's full name and date of birth some days ahead; we ask for them when you book.

4. Jour 4 : By train to Kraków, lunch in Wrocław

   Berlin to Wrocław by train, then on to Kraków

   • En train
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Kraków
   Détail du jour 4

   This is a long travel day, done by train rather than road, and we break it in the middle. A reserved train leaves Berlin after breakfast and crosses the Oder into Poland, reaching Wrocław in about four hours. Your guide arranges the bags at the station, and we walk ten minutes into the old town for a sit-down lunch on the Market Square, one of the largest in Poland, around the Gothic Town Hall. Wrocław was the German city of Breslau until 1945, when its people were expelled and Poles displaced from Lviv moved in, and the guide tells that story as we walk past Salt Square and look for a few of the city's small bronze dwarfs. In the mid-afternoon we take the train on to Kraków, about three hours through Silesia, and a van takes us from Kraków Główny to the hotel near the Old Town. We arrive in the early evening; dinner is your choice, a few minutes' walk away.

   Compris

   • Reserved train from Berlin to Wrocław
   • Sit-down lunch on Wrocław's Market Square
   • Wrocław old town walk with your guide: the Market Square, the Town Hall and Salt Square
   • Reserved train from Wrocław to Kraków
   • Station to hotel transfers in Berlin and Kraków

   Option plus facile : Stay at the lunch table with a coffee while the others walk to Salt Square; it is a few minutes away.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Kraków

   Activité : About seven and a half hours on trains in two legs, with about 3 km on foot in Wrocław.

   

5. Jour 5 : Wieliczka, Kraków's Old Town and Wawel

   Kraków to the Wieliczka Salt Mine, then the Old Town and Wawel Hill

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Kraków
   Détail du jour 5

   A short drive of about half an hour south-east takes us to Wieliczka for an early English-language tour of the salt mine, worked from the 13th century until 1996 and among the first sites UNESCO listed, in 1978. The Tourist Route goes down a wooden staircase of about 380 steps and on through chambers and galleries to about 135 m below ground, where the air stays at about 14 to 16 C. Miners carved the Chapel of St Kinga from salt, chandeliers included. A lift brings us back up, and we are in Kraków for a sit-down lunch near the Main Market Square. In the afternoon a local guide leads us through the Florian Gate to the square and the Cloth Hall, into St Mary's Basilica for Veit Stoss's carved altarpiece and the trumpet call from the tower, and down Grodzka Street to Wawel Hill and the cathedral where Polish kings were crowned and buried. The evening is free.

   Compris

   • Wieliczka Salt Mine Tourist Route with a mine guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Kraków
   • Old Town walk with a local guide: the Florian Gate, the Main Market Square and the Cloth Hall
   • St Mary's Basilica and the Veit Stoss altarpiece
   • Wawel Cathedral

   Option plus facile : Skip the afternoon walk after lunch and rest at the hotel; the Old Town is on its doorstep.

   Option plus active : In the free evening, walk the Planty, the ring of gardens where the city walls stood, about 4 km round.

   Temps libre : Evening free

   Activité : About 3 km and 380 steps down in the mine, then about 5 km in the Old Town.

6. Jour 6 : Auschwitz-Birkenau

   Kraków to Oświęcim and back, then Kazimierz

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Kraków
   Détail du jour 6

   We leave Kraków at 8 am for the drive of about an hour and a quarter to Oświęcim. At the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum a certified Memorial educator guides the group, as the Museum requires for all groups. The visit takes about three and a half hours: first Auschwitz I, the former army barracks where the blocks now hold the evidence, then a shuttle of about 3 km to Birkenau, where most of the roughly 1.1 million people murdered here, the great majority of them Jews, were killed. Walking the railway ramp and the length of the camp gives a sense of its scale that no exhibition can. We drive back to Kraków for a quiet, late sit-down lunch in Kazimierz, the old Jewish town, at about 2 pm. Afterwards your guide walks anyone who wishes along Szeroka Street to the Remuh Synagogue and its old cemetery, about an hour. The rest of the day is deliberately left free, and your guide stays nearby for anyone who wants to talk it over.

   Compris

   • Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau with a certified Memorial educator, about 3.5 hours
   • Shuttle between Auschwitz I and Birkenau
   • Sit-down lunch in Kazimierz
   • Short Kazimierz walk with your guide: Szeroka Street and the Remuh Synagogue and cemetery

   Option plus facile : Birkenau is large and open: the educator can shorten the walk there, and the van can wait at the gate.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free

   Activité : About 6 km on foot at the two camps, much of it outdoors on gravel.

7. Jour 7 : By train to Prague

   Kraków to Prague by train, via Ostrava

   • En train
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Prague
   Détail du jour 7

   Today is the second long rail day. After breakfast a van takes us to Kraków Główny for a reserved train to Prague, about seven hours through Silesia, past Ostrava and across Moravia and Bohemia to Prague. It is longer than our four-hour limit for driving, but the road is no quicker, about six hours on motorways with border traffic, and on a train you can walk about, read and watch the countryside. Your guide orders a lunch from a Kraków deli for the group to eat on board, with sandwiches, pierogi and cake, and the restaurant car sells coffee. The timetable sets the exact route, direct or with one change in Ostrava or Bohumín, which we confirm when we book your seats. We reach Prague in the late afternoon, and a van takes us to the hotel near the Old Town. In the early evening your guide walks the group to the Old Town Square to see the astronomical clock strike the hour. Dinner is your choice.

   Compris

   • Reserved train from Kraków to Prague
   • Lunch on board, ordered from a Kraków deli
   • Station to hotel transfers in Kraków and Prague
   • Evening walk to the Old Town Square and the astronomical clock

   Temps libre : Evening free after the short walk

   Activité : About seven hours on the train, with a short walk in the evening.

8. Jour 8 : Prague: Charles Bridge early, the Castle and Josefov

   Charles Bridge to Malá Strana and Prague Castle, then the Old Town and the Jewish Quarter

   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Prague
   Détail du jour 8

   We walk onto Charles Bridge at about 8 am, when the statues and the view of the castle are shared with joggers rather than crowds. From Malá Strana we climb Nerudova street to Prague Castle and are at the door when the buildings open at 9 am. With a licensed local guide we see St Vitus Cathedral and its stained glass, the Old Royal Palace and the Vladislav Hall, St George's Basilica and the small houses of Golden Lane. Lunch is a sit-down meal of Czech dishes in Malá Strana. In the afternoon we cross back to the Old Town and walk into Josefov, the Jewish Quarter, for the synagogues and the Old Jewish Cemetery on the Jewish Museum ticket. The evening is free: a beer hall, a jazz cellar, or a quiet walk back over the bridge as the lamps come on.

   Compris

   • Charles Bridge before the crowds
   • Prague Castle with a licensed local guide: St Vitus Cathedral, the Old Royal Palace, St George's Basilica and Golden Lane
   • Sit-down lunch in Malá Strana
   • The Jewish Museum in Prague: the synagogues of Josefov and the Old Jewish Cemetery
   • Public transport tickets for the day

   Option plus facile : Take the tram up to the castle instead of walking up Nerudova, and skip Josefov for a rest at the hotel.

   Option plus active : In the free evening, climb the Petřín lookout tower, about 300 steps, for the view over the roofs.

   Temps libre : Evening free

   Activité : About 10 km on cobbles with a steady climb to the castle. The Jewish Museum closes on Saturdays and Jewish holidays, so departures are set to avoid them.

9. Jour 9 : Kutná Hora and a free afternoon

   Prague to Kutná Hora and back

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Prague
   Détail du jour 9

   Our own vehicle and driver take us east after breakfast, about an hour and a quarter to Kutná Hora, a silver-mining town that rivalled Prague in the Middle Ages and was listed by UNESCO in 1995. We start at the edge of town in Sedlec, at the ossuary under the Cemetery Church of All Saints, where the bones of tens of thousands of people were arranged into chandeliers and a coat of arms in the 1870s. Then we walk the old centre with your guide to the Cathedral of St Barbara, whose flying buttresses and tent-shaped roofs stand above the vineyards on the Vrchlice valley, and look in at the Italian Court, where the royal mint struck Prague groschen. Lunch is a sit-down meal of Czech dishes in the town. We are back in Prague by mid-afternoon, and the rest of the day is yours: a boat on the Vltava, the Petřín gardens or a beer hall in the evening.

   Compris

   • Sedlec Ossuary
   • Cathedral of St Barbara
   • Kutná Hora old town with your guide, and the Italian Court from the courtyard
   • Sit-down lunch in Kutná Hora

   Option plus facile : Stay in Prague for a free day; your guide suggests a slow plan, such as the Vyšehrad fortress or a boat on the Vltava.

   Option plus active : In the free afternoon, climb the Petřín lookout tower, about 300 steps, for the view over the roofs.

   Temps libre : Mid-afternoon and evening free

   Activité : About 5 km on foot, with a gentle climb from the town centre to St Barbara's.

10. Jour 10 : By train to Vienna

    Prague to Vienna by direct train, then the Ringstrasse to St Stephen's Cathedral

    • En train
    • Petit-déjeuner
    • Nuit : Vienna
    Détail du jour 10

    The morning is free in Prague. Sleep in, go back to a corner you liked, or walk up to the Letná park for the view of the bridges stepping down the Vltava. For lunch, your guide can pre-order a picnic from a Prague deli to eat on board, or you can eat in the train's restaurant car (both paid locally). Late in the morning we take a reserved direct train to Vienna, about four hours through the farmland of Bohemia and Moravia, past Brno and over the Austrian border. Your guide handles the bags and the transfer to the hotel. In the late afternoon we walk the inner city together: along part of the Ringstrasse, with its opera house and museums built in the 1860s and after, then into the old centre to St Stephen's Cathedral and its patterned tile roof. We finish in a traditional coffee house for a Melange and a slice of cake, on us. The evening is yours.

    Compris

    • Reserved direct train from Prague to Vienna
    • Station to hotel transfers in Prague and Vienna
    • Inner-city walk with your guide: the Ringstrasse, the Graben and St Stephen's Cathedral
    • Coffee and cake in a Viennese coffee house

    Temps libre : Morning free in Prague; evening free in Vienna

    Activité : About four hours on the train; the Vienna walk is about 3 km and level.

11. Jour 11 : Schönbrunn at opening, Bruegel in the afternoon

    Schönbrunn Palace, then the Hofburg and the Kunsthistorisches Museum

    • Petit-déjeuner
    • Nuit : Vienna
    Détail du jour 11

    We take the U-Bahn out to Schönbrunn to be at the palace when it opens, on a timed ticket for the Grand Tour of the Habsburg state rooms, where Maria Theresa held court and the young Mozart played. Then we climb through the gardens to the Gloriette for the view back over the palace and the city. Lunch is your choice, at the café near the Gloriette or back in town. In the afternoon we walk through the Hofburg courtyards and Heldenplatz with a licensed local guide, then cross to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, whose room of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder includes The Tower of Babel and Hunters in the Snow. You have the museum at your own pace until closing, or leave early for the cake counter in its domed café. The evening is free; a concert of Mozart or Strauss is an optional extra, with its price shown when you book.

    Compris

    • Schönbrunn Palace Grand Tour, timed entry at opening
    • Schönbrunn gardens and the Gloriette
    • The Hofburg courtyards and Heldenplatz (outside only) with a licensed local guide
    • Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Bruegel room
    • Public transport tickets for the day

    Activités en option

    • A classical concert in the evening (price shown at booking)

    Option plus facile : Skip the climb to the Gloriette and rest in the palace café before the afternoon.

    Temps libre : Lunch and evening free

    Activité : About 9 km on foot, with a steady climb to the Gloriette and two to three hours standing in the palace and the museum.

    

12. Jour 12 : By train to Budapest

    Vienna to Budapest by train, then the Danube embankment to the Chain Bridge

    • En train
    • Petit-déjeuner
    • Nuit : Budapest
    Détail du jour 12

    The morning is free in Vienna. You might see Klimt's The Kiss in the Upper Belvedere (an optional entry, opening at 9 am), browse the stalls of the Naschmarkt, or simply pack slowly. Around midday we take a reserved train to Budapest, about two hours and forty minutes across the flat country around Lake Neusiedl and into Hungary. After checking in, we walk the Pest side together in the late afternoon: St Stephen's Basilica, then down to the river and along the embankment to the Shoes on the Danube Bank, the memorial to Jews shot into the river in 1944 and 1945. We finish at Széchenyi Square as the light drops behind Castle Hill and the Chain Bridge, the first permanent bridge across the Danube in Budapest. Dinner is your choice; your guide points you to a few places on the Pest side.

    Compris

    • Reserved train from Vienna to Budapest
    • Station to hotel transfers in Vienna and Budapest
    • Late-afternoon walk with your guide: St Stephen's Basilica, the Shoes on the Danube Bank and the Chain Bridge

    Activités en option

    • The Upper Belvedere and Klimt's The Kiss in the free morning (price shown at booking)

    Temps libre : Morning free in Vienna; evening free in Budapest

    Activité : About 2 hours 40 minutes on the train; the Budapest walk is about 3 km and level.

    

13. Jour 13 : Parliament, Castle Hill and the baths

    The Hungarian Parliament, Castle Hill in Buda, then the Széchenyi Baths in City Park

    • En bateau
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
    • Nuit : Budapest
    Détail du jour 13

    We start with a booked guided tour of the Hungarian Parliament, finished in 1904, where the Holy Crown of Hungary sits under the central dome. Then we cross the river and go up to Castle Hill for Matthias Church, with its tiled roof, and the terraces of Fisherman's Bastion for the view back over the Parliament and the river. Lunch is your choice in the Castle District. The afternoon is free, and your ticket to the Széchenyi Baths is included: yellow neo-baroque buildings around steaming outdoor pools, open all year, where locals play chess in the water. Take a towel or rent one there. In the evening we meet for a farewell dinner of Hungarian dishes, then take a boat on the Danube for an hour as the Parliament, the bridges and the Royal Palace are lit up after dark.

    Compris

    • Hungarian Parliament guided tour, booked time
    • Castle Hill with your guide: Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion
    • Széchenyi Baths entry
    • Farewell dinner
    • Evening boat on the Danube
    • Public transport tickets for the day

    Option plus facile : Take the bus up to Castle Hill instead of the steps, and rest at the hotel instead of the baths.

    Option plus active : Walk up Gellért Hill in the free afternoon for the widest view of both banks.

    Temps libre : Lunch and afternoon free

    Activité : About 8 km on foot, with stairs or a bus up Castle Hill.

14. Jour 14 : Budapest and home

    Budapest to Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport

    • Environ 45 min de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    Détail du jour 14

    The last morning is yours. If it is not a Sunday, walk to the Great Market Hall at the end of Váci utca, its roof patterned with Zsolnay tiles, for paprika, salami and a lángos from the upper floor. Or take a slow coffee by the river and a last look at the Chain Bridge. Check out of the hotel by late morning; your bags are held if your flight is later in the day. Our driver takes you to Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (BUD), about 20 km from the centre and 30 to 45 minutes by road, at a time set by your flight. Your guide says goodbye at the hotel and checks that everyone's transfer is arranged before you go. If you want more time in Budapest, we can add hotel nights before or after the trip.

    Compris

    • Drop-off at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (BUD)

    Temps libre : Morning free

    Activité : Book a flight leaving after about 1 pm to have the morning in the city.

Faune et météo : May, June and September are the best balance of warm days and lighter crowds. July and August are hot in Vienna and Budapest and busy at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Wieliczka and Prague Castle, which is why we book early slots. April and October can be cool and wet, and Birkenau is exposed to the weather, so bring a waterproof. The salt mine stays at about 14 to 16 C all year.

• Berlin3 nuits
• Kraków3 nuits
• Prague3 nuits
• Vienna2 nuits
• Budapest2 nuits