Discover Eastern Europe: Prague, Vienna & Budapest

• Meet your fellow travelers and your Tour Director as you arrive at the airport.
• Join your Tour director on an intro walk to get to know some of the landmarks in the area around your accommodations, like the famous Chain Bridge.
• Head out for your Welcome Dinner cooking class and learn to make some authentic Czech food.

• Navigate some of the most important sections of Prague’s historic center—Old Town, New Town, and the Jewish Quarter—with a local guide who brings the city’s layered history to life, no map app required.
• Decode the Orloj, Prague’s Astronomical Clock, built in 1410 and the oldest still working in the world. Every hour, 12 mechanical apostles parade across its face in Old Town Square. It’s 600+ years old and still putting on a show.
• Learn why the fall of communism in 1989 earned the name the Velvet Revolution.
• Pick up some basic Czech words and phrases from your guide; it never hurts to know how to say “thank you” and “excuse my terrible Czech” as you explore the city.

John Lennon Wall: The John Lennon Wall started as a protest to Communist rule in the 80s and has since become a statement of peace, kindness, and tasteful selfies for over 30 years.

Petrín Park: Stroll through the park on the giant hill looming over the city and visit the Hunger Wall built during a famine in the 1300s. Then take the funicular train down to the historic Malá Strana neighborhood for some shopping on Mostecká Street.

• Board your bus in Prague and head toward Vienna with a stop in Krems, a quaint Austrian town in the Wachau Valley.
• Continue on and arrive in Vienna for your first of three glorious nights in the City of Music.
• Join your Tour Director for an intro walk to get to know the city.

• Marvel at the neo-Renaissance facade of the Vienna State Opera House, one of the world’s most prestigious opera venues.
• Stand before the neoclassical Parliament Building, flanked by the iconic Pallas Athena fountain and a reminder that Vienna has been a seat of power for centuries.
• See Hofburg Palace, the former winter residence of the Habsburg emperors, where over 600 years of imperial history is packed into one sprawling complex in the heart of the city.
• Stroll along the banks of the Danube, the river that has shaped Vienna’s story since its earliest days.

Schönbrunn Palace: An icon of Vienna, the Habsburg emperors’ 1,441-room summer residence is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its name means “beautiful spring,” and with huge Baroque gardens and gilded salons, it more than lives up to it.

St. Stephen’s Cathedral: Stephansdom, Vienna’s Gothic landmark since 1147, is where Mozart got married in 1782. Its 230,000 hand-laid mosaic roof tiles and 136-metre south tower make it impossible to miss (or forget).

Cafes: Sip a coffee in a fin-de-siècle cafe—Vienna’s UNESCO-recognized coffeehouse culture is as much an experience as any palace or museum. Pull up a marble-topped table, order a Melange, a Viennese version of a cappuccino, and stay as long as you like. Café Central and Café Landtmann are your must-visits.

Belvedere Palace: Wander the galleries of Belvedere Palace, a stunning Baroque museum, to see Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss up close. Painted in 1907 with real gold leaf, it’s been called the most romantic painting in the world.

Sachertorte cake: You cannot leave Vienna without trying its most famous dessert, the Sachertorte. A dense chocolate cake layered with apricot jam, invented at the Hotel Sacher in 1832. Order a slice with a Melange and consider it a cultural obligation.

• Board your coach from Vienna to Budapest, trading one grand European capital for another in just under three hours.
• Join your Tour Director for an orientation of the city, where Buda and Pest face each other across the Danube like old rivals who eventually fell in love. They’ll point out the Chain Bridge, Parliament, and Fisherman’s Bastion, the landmarks that make Budapest one of Europe’s most photogenic capitals.
• Spot iconic sights like the neo-Gothic Parliament building (one of the largest in the world), the hilltop Buda Castle, and the ornate St. Stephen’s Basilica, which took 54 years to build and was struck by a storm that collapsed its dome halfway through construction.
• Hunt down the tiny bronze sculptures of artist Mihály Kolodko, hidden in plain sight across the city, from a tiny Kermit the Frog near Parliament to a miniature Rubik’s Cube by the Danube (yes, Hungary invented it).

Chimney Cakes: Popular across all of Eastern Europe, these delicious and age-old treats are a Hungarian pastry specialty that’s a bit like American fried dough. Here they call them Kürtöskalács, so keep an eye out and a sweet tooth ready

Dohány Street Synagogue: Budapest is home to Europe’s largest Jewish synagogue. The ornate building represents a somber reminder of the Holocaust, as it stands at the border of the WWII-era Jewish Ghetto in the city.

Ruin bars: Once the sun goes down, Budapest’s Jewish Quarter comes alive. Head to one of the many buin Bars, old buildings converted into bars with graffiti-covered walls and kooky decor.