Oberammergau & the Rhine Valley

Meet at St Pancras International before joining the Eurostar service to Brussels and Cologne. From Cologne, transfer to Remagen where you check into your hotel for the next four nights. Found on the banks of the majestic Rhine, Remagen is a beautiful town with an extraordinary Church known as the Apollinariskirche. It is also the site of a famous bridge, whose capture is thought to have shortened WWII by a considerable amount, and which is now a Peace Museum.

• Dinner

Today visit the nearby town of St Goar for a spectacular cruise on the serene Rhine River. Coiling through the mountains and foothills, this superb river offers some glorious panoramas of castles and forests as you glide across the waters.

One particular highlight on this section of the river is the impressive Lorelei Rock. Rising out of the waters, this geological monument has been the inspiration for countless myths and legends throughout the years, from tales of dwarves living under the rocks, to a siren who lures sailors to their deaths. The terminus of your cruise is the charming Rüdesheim, with its marvellous halftimbered houses and its venerable castles.

• Breakfast, Dinner

You visit Altenahr today. Found at the heart of a small valley in Rhineland-Palatinate, Altenahr is an ancient village, dating back to the ninth century with winding streets and classic Rhineland architecture.

Here, you enjoy a delightful horse-and-carriage ride through the dramatic countryside of foreboding forests and shimmering streams on to Mayschoss. This region is famous for its impressive wine heritage, evident through the miles of vineyards which line the hills, ripe with grapes and other produce. You stop off on your way to sample some of these exceptional local wines.

• Breakfast, Dinner

Your excursion today takes you down the river to the town of Königswinter where you take a ride on Germany's oldest rack railway, the panoramic Drachenfelsbahn. Opened over a hundred years ago in 1883, this railway is a feat of engineering, granting astonishing views of the mountains below it. On your route up through the forests, we travel in beautifully designed green carriages, harking back to the halcyon days of German rail travel.

Its destination is the summit of the striking Drachenfels or 'Dragon's Rock', a hill topped by the remains of a ruined castle, built in the twelfth century.

• Breakfast, Dinner

Travel to Oberammergau today by rail. There are few villages in Germany which can claim to be as charming as Oberammergau. Famous for its Passion Play, its skiing and its astonishingly beautiful and ornate wood carvings, this is a town which remains quintessentially German, nestled as it is within a valley and made up of traditional German houses.

On arrival, check into your hotel in or around the Ammergau region by late afternoon after which you have time to explore your surroundings before dinner this evening.

• Breakfast, Dinner

Experience the highlight of your tour today as you take to your seats for Oberammergau's famous Passion Play, a liturgical play with a 500 year history, shown once every ten years. Based on the story of Jesus Christ's Passion, this production is world-famous for good reason, with over 2,000 residents taking part and attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors with each iteration.

From your seats under the covers of the outdoor theatre, take in the super costumes, ornate props and passionate performances. The play has two halves of three hours with a two hour break in between, giving you time over the course of the play to explore a little of the spellbinding village, decked out as it is in its Passion Play regalia.

After the performance, enjoy a final dinner at the hotel.

• Breakfast, Dinner

Bidding a fond farewell to Oberammergau, travel to Stuttgart today, where you overnight, before continuing on Day 8 to Paris and then on to London via the Eurostar. On arrival, your tour concludes.

• Day 7 - Breakfast, Dinner
• Day 8 - Breakfast