Welcome to Scandinavia! Upon arrival to Copenhagen, Denmark’s beautiful capital city, a local guide will meet your group in the airport arrivals hall and immediately lead it on a panoramic city tour of Copenhagen. See the main sights of the Danish capital beginning with a drive down Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard, which runs past the Tivoli Gardens, a world famous amusement park. Cross the picturesque canal and drive past Christiansborg Palace, the seat of the Danish Parliament. Pass the beautiful, historic Stock Exchange and see Kongens Nytorv (King’s New Square) with its Royal Theater. Continue to Nyhavn, a street well known for the variety of its nightlife, and then see Amalienborg Palace, the Danish Royal Family’s winter residence.

Your tour will then take you to one of the most famous sights in Copenhagen: the Little Mermaid statue, located in Copenhagen’s lovely harbor. As part of the tour you will also see Rosenborg Castle, which was built in the Dutch-Renaissance style by the Danish King Christian IV as a summer residence. The tour will finish at your Copenhagen hotel, where your group can check in and then have the remainder of the afternoon to continue discovering this beautiful city. (Please note that should your group arrive before the hotel’s official check-in time, which is generally 3:00 pm, you are more than welcome to store your baggage with the hotel staff so that you can immediately head out and enjoy discovering Copenhagen.)

This evening there will be a group welcome dinner in the hotel’s restaurant.

Day 2:

After breakfast in the hotel, a local guide will meet your group in the lobby and accompany it to Tivoli Gardens, an iconic symbol of Denmark. (This historic park served as one of Walt Disney’s inspirations to create Disneyland.) Inside the park, the guide will show your group many of Tivoli Gardens’ best attractions. Afterwards, you and your fellow group members can continue exploring the park on your own and at your own pace. The remainder of the day is free, so please feel free to stay in Tivoli Gardens. Alternatively, consider visiting one of Copenhagen’s museums or check out the city’s fantastic shopping scene. Before your guide finishes showing your group around Tivoli Gardens, feel free to ask for suggestions of what to see and do during your free time in Copenhagen.

After breakfast and check-out, your group will board a private coach and travel south from Copenhagen to Denmark’s southern tip at Rodby. From there your group will cross with the ferry into Germany. When you arrive to Puttgarden, a local German coach driver will meet your group at the ferry terminal and drive it to the beautiful city of Lubeck, the formal capital of the Hanseatic League. Upon arriving to your hotel in Lubeck, your group will check in and then have some free time to begin looking around this extremely historic city, whose entire Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (And if you venture out to begin exploring the city’s large historical quarter, we suggest you seek out one Lubeck’s most well-loved delicacies: marzipan.)

Tonight your group members will dine together in Lubeck.

After breakfast and check-out, a local guide will lead your group on a fascinating tour of Lubeck.

Lubeck was the formal capital and “queen city” of the Hanseatic League, and its entire Old Quarter, which is located on an island in the Trave River, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Your tour this morning will feature the Old Town gates, the Town Hall, and the many beautiful churches including Marienkirche, the world’s tallest brick church. Other sights include the historic salt warehouses and the Medieval Hospital of the Holy Ghost.

Once the tour has finished, you and your fellow travelers will have some time to eat, buy souvenirs or continue exploring Lubeck. By mid-afternoon everyone will regroup and re-board the coach to travel to the historic city of Bremen.

Upon arrival to your hotel in Bremen, your group will check in and then enjoy an evening at leisure.

After breakfast and check-out, your group will set out on another exciting day of Hanseatic sightseeing! A local guide will meet your group in the lobby and show it historic Bremen’s best sightseeing attractions.

The 1,200-year-old city of Bremen, located on the Weser River, was a major trading port in the Hanseatic League and remains an important commercial and industrial city today. This morning will begin with a walking tour through Bremen’s Old Town. Walk along the moats of the former medieval city walls in Wallangen Park and through the bustling pedestrian zones. The highlight of your tour will undoubtedly be Market Square, dominated by the “Weser Renaissance” facade of the UNESCO-listed Town Hall and statute of Roland. Your tour continues along artistic Bottcherstrasse and the Schlachte riverside promenade, and at its conclusion you will again have free time to buy souvenirs or look around on your own. By mid-afternoon your group will regroup and board its coach to transfer to the nearby city of Luneburg.

Your group members will dine together this evening in Luneburg.

Day 6:

After breakfast in the hotel, a local guide will lead your group on a sightseeing tour of the historic city of Luneburg. Luneburg participated in the Hanseatic Diet starting in 1363 and remained in the League right through to the 17th century. The city’s several-hundred-year monopoly on salt production in the region linked the city with Lubeck, the chief Hanseatic city. The cityscape attests to the city’s earlier wealth and intensive trading during the Hanseatic boom.

Your walking tour of the Old Town includes the picturesque riverside quarter, the Town Hall (one of northern Germany’s largest and most beautiful medieval town halls) and “Am Sande” Square featuring some magnificent brick buildings. The tour continues with a visit to the German Salt Museum where your group will learn how a nondescript mineral became a vital building block of life and was nicknamed “white gold.”

At the conclusion of your tour of Luneburg, enjoy the rest of the day at leisure.

After breakfast in the hotel and check-out, your group will travel by private coach to the vibrant metropolis of Berlin, Germany’s capital. When you arrive in Berlin you will have time on your own to grab some lunch before reconvening for an afternoon tour of this fabulous city. Highlights include the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Potsdamer Platz, Checkpoint Charlie, Unter den Linden, and the Berlin Cathedral. The tour will finish back at the hotel, and after check-in you will have the remainder of the day to explore this energetic city on your own.

Day 8:

After breakfast in the hotel, your group will travel outside of Berlin by private coach to Potsdam, a baroque city surrounded by parks. You will have a guided tour of the most spectacular of them, Sanssouci Park. With its ornate palaces, manicured gardens and picturesque pavilions you will be amazed at the incredible detail around each corner or bend in the path.

Upon returning to Berlin, enjoy free time before reconvening with your fellow group members for a farewell group dinner at a local restaurant near your hotel.

Day 9:

After breakfast and checkout, your group will travel by private coach to the airport for its return flight to the USA or Canada.