Italy, Austria & Germany

Your 24-hour Tour Director will meet you at the airport and remain with your group until your final airport departure. You’ll also have a private coach and driver while touring .

Take a walk past Rome's most beautiful and unusual Baroque fountains. At the foot of the Spanish Steps, elegant cafes surround the central fountain. The water pressure here was so low that the artist had to sink the fountain into the ground to get any water going through it, so he went ahead and designed the fountain to look like a sinking ship. There's no shortage of water pressure at the nearby Trevi Fountain, a Baroque extravagance designed by master sculptor Bernini.

View the Trevi Fountain, where it is traditional to toss a coin into the fountain to ensure a safe return to the Eternal City.

We will spend some time in the Piazza Navona area. Built on the foundations of Domitian's Circus, this magnificent square was designed by Borromini in 17th century. It is full of life and is highlighted by one of Rome's most spectacular fountains, the Four Rivers designed by Bernini. The square is often filled with local artists. The surrounding neighborhood is also one of the best places in Rome to get a tasty tartufo or gelato ice cream

Gods and gladiators, glory and gore. Ancient Rome lives on in its spectacular monuments, flavoring the frenetic present with tastes of the past. Don a space-age Whisper headset to get the inside scoop on the most spectacular, the Colosseum, a grisly battle arena that seated more than 45,000. An enormous retractable roof awning system kept spectators cool on sunny days. The nearby Forum provides a glimpse into everyday ancient life, with markets, meeting places, and temples all combined into one vast space. Move into Christian Rome at St. Peter’s Basilica, the triumphal Renaissance church flanked by rows of columns radiating outward like welcoming arms. Within the church Michelangelo’s masterpieces are on display, the “Pietà” in the main church and the recently restored ceiling frescoes and “Last Judgment” in the Sistine Chapel. Continue your trek through time at Piazza Venezia, site of the enormous monument to Victor Emmanuel II, Italy’s first king, and of the Palazzo Venezia, where Mussolini set up his headquarters and from whose porch his mother was said to eavesdrop on citizens below. (The Sistine Chapel is closed on most religious holidays and Sundays, except for the last Sunday in each month).

Tour the ruins and excavations of the Roman Forum, which features the remains of magnificent temples, basilicas, and triumphal arches that once formed the heart of the Empire.

Pope Gregory IX laid the first stone of the Lower Basilica the day after the canonization of St Francis, on July 17, 1228. Two years later the saint's body, that had been resting in the church of San Giorgio (the future church of St Claire's) was brought here in secret for fear of looting by tomb raiders and buried in the unfinished church. No date has been recorded concerning the start of works on the Upper Basilica, but it must have been after the abdication from the order of Brother Elia in 1239, who had hitherto directed the works on the Romanesque Lower Basilica. Both churches were consecrated by Pope Innocent IV in 1253.

One of the finest collections of Renaissance sculpture in Italy, the Bargello contains works by all of Florence’s heavy hitters: Michelangelo, Donatello, Ghiberti, Brunelleschi. See Michelangelo’s early Bacchus (tipsily swaying after a bit too much celebrating), Donatello’s bronze and marble Davids and revolutionary St. George, and Ghiberti and Brunelleschi’s entries for the competition to design the city’s baptistery doors. (Ghiberti won, which freed Brunelleschi to design the famous dome of Florence’s cathedral.)

Founded in 1563, the Accademia was the first school in Europe established to teach drawing, painting, and sculpting. Michelangelo's David (the biblical hero who slayed Goliath) is the most famous work on display.

One of the world’s greatest collections of painting, the Uffizi started out as Florence’s administrative offices -- uffizi literally means “offices,” testifying to a supremely uncreative naming effort on the part of Florentine city officials. The artwork itself, however, is stupendous, from Gothic altarpieces encrusted in gold leaf to the brooding Baroque masterpieces of Caravaggio. The highlight may be the room devoted to Botticelli, which The Birth of Venus and Primavera dominate, but da Vinci’s sketches and Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo (or Holy Family) run a close second.

Alpine views are around every corner and ski slopes are just a funicular ride from the center of historic Innsbruck. A medieval old town is home to imperial palaces, world-class galleries, and Zaha Hadid's avant-garde designs. Sophisticated, good-looking, and affluent, the Tyrolean capital walks a fine tightrope between the urban and the outdoors, as well as the historic and cutting edge, and pulls it off beautifully.

Explore Wartburg Castle to see the Lutherstube, the room where Luther lived and worked; the Neue Kemenate, which today houses an impressive art collection; and the Singing Hall, allegedly the scene of the famous minstrels’ contest in Wagner’s opera Tannhäuser.

Visit Schlosskirche (Castle Church), where Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses in 1517. The church contains the tombs of Luther, Melanchthon and Frederick the Wise.