Highlights of Eastern Europe

Itinerary

• Day 1: Overnight Flight

  Board your overnight flight to Berlin, the capital of Germany and a paradise for foodies, drinkers, and everyone in between. As the wheels touch down, get ready to soak it all in…

• Day 2: Arrive in Berlin + Welcome Dinner

  Welcome to Germany aka Deutschland aka the place where it’s perfectly acceptable to drink out of a boot. After meeting your fellow travelers, enjoy a Tour Director-led sightseeing tour to get better acquainted with the area.

  In the evening, enjoy a Welcome Dinner of local cuisine and drinks with fellow travelers at an authentic local spot. Afterwards, you’re free to take the party elsewhere!

  Today's highlights:

  • Meet an EF representative at the airport.
  • Transfer to your accommodations and check in.
  • Receive the latest schedule from your Tour Director.
  • Meet the other travelers as they arrive.
  • Become one with Berlin during a Tour Director-led city walk.
  • Check out the Pergamon Museum and the Hackescher Market.
• Day 3: Sightseeing Tour of Berlin

  Explore Berlin’s most iconic sites with a local guide, by way of bus and your own two feet. This is a city steeped in history, art, and boasts a culture as diverse as its citizens. See the sights, try the local version of sausage, and find a good bar to wash it all down.

  Today's highlights:

  • Walk Kurfürstendamm, the main boulevard, lined with high-end shops, bars, and theaters.
  • Visit the Rathaus Schöneberg town hall, where John F. Kennedy made his inspiring, “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech in 1963.
  • Stand beneath Brandenburg Gate, a symbol of European unity and peace.
• Day 4: Free Day in Berlin + Optional Graffiti Workshop

  Nine times bigger than Paris and with more bridges than Venice, Berlin is a city you could easily get lost in—and be glad you did. The capital of Germany is celebrated for a vibrant nightlife scene with parties known to go not just all night, but all weekend long. Have some fun with a free day in this thrilling metropolis!

  Free time suggestions

  Museum Island: Discover five unique, and internationally significant, museums wedged between the River Spree and Kupfergraben. Make your way through the archaeological collections and art galleries in this area of concentrated history.
  Story of Berlin: Explore the staggering 800+ years of Berlin’s history at this centrally located museum. With 20 individually themed rooms, you’ll see exhibits on the two world wars and the Cold War before heading into the original fallout shelter hidden beneath the city’s streets.

  Graffiti Workshop at the Berlin Wall (extra cost)

  Breathe some color into your life with an art class unlike any other—at the Berlin Wall. Learn graffiti basics from a pro and spray paint the Wall itself. By the end of today, you’ll basically be the Berlin Banksy.
  
  Why wait? Save money by booking this optional excursion before your trip departs.

• Day 5: Travel to Prague via Dresden

  En route to Prague, make a pit stop in Dresden, a city entirely destroyed by bombs during WWII before being built back up. You’ll have time for lunch and to explore the cool restaurants, cafes, and architecture. Then get ready to cheers the Czechs, as they are the #1 beer drinkers in the world.

  Today's highlights:

  • Hit the road on your way to the ornate castles and long history of the Czech Republic.
  • Stretch your legs during a stop in Dresden, and make sure to check out the gorgeous riverside architecture.
  • Arrive in the storybook city of Prague and try your best to keep your jaw off the ground.
  • Familiarize yourself with the area around your lodgings during a walk with your Tour Director.
• Day 6: Explore Prague

  Rise and shine, time to get that goulash. Put on your most cobblestone-ready shoes, get all the “Czech” puns out of your system, and experience classic Prague sightseeing today with a local guide—an expert who really knows their old buildings from their very old buildings.

  Today's highlights:

  • Get stoked and stay stoked—a very easy thing to do in Prague—as you follow a local guide around the city’s greatest hits.
  • Ask to see the Crown Jewels at Prague Castle, the ancient centerpiece that hogs the whole city skyline (not mad though, it’s beautiful).
  • Cross the Vlatava River via King Charles IV’s famous Charles Bridge—don’t worry, there’s still time for you to become an emperor and have your own namesake bridge, too.
  • Tour St. Vitus Cathedral—a church so old, that if you had one beer for every year since construction began on it, you would have 676 beers, but please do not actually attempt to drink 676 beers.
  • Take a stroll and Czech out more of the city yourself (Sorry, couldn’t help just one).
• Day 7: Free Day in Prague

  If you wake up this morning asking yourself “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?” it’s probably because 1) “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a great song, 2) you’re in Bohemia, a region of the Czech Republic, and 3) Prague has you feeling some type of way. You’re free today to get to know the city better, maybe take it out for dinner and dancing, or ask it some deep questions about life—whatever floats your boat.

  Free time suggestions

  John Lennon Wall: The John Lennon Wall has been a statement of peace, kindness, and tasteful selfies for over 30 years. What started as a protest to Communist rule in the 1980s, has become a colorful conglomerate of pacifist sentiments that you’re welcome to add to yourself. Hmm, Rolling Stones fans, I don’t see a Mick Jagger Wall anywhere, do you?
  Petrín Park: Take a stroll through Prague’s Petrín Park (you can’t miss it, it’s the giant hill looming over the city), visit the Hunger Wall built during a famine in the 1300s in exchange for food, then take the Petrín funicular train down the hill into the historic Malá Strana neighborhood for some shopping on Mostecká Street.

• Day 8: Travel to Krakow via Wieliczka Salt Mines

  En route to Krakow, Poland, stop for a guided sightseeing tour of the Wieliczka Salt Mines. Described as “an underground metropolis”, this centuries-old monument is a result of generations upon generations of work, and is integral to the history and culture of Poland. More than a simple mine, the underground caverns host a series of corridors, statues, an underground lake and even an entire chapel adorned with chandeliers and vaulted ceilings.

• Day 9: Sightseeing Tour of Krakow

  See the best parts of Krakow today with a local guide. Reach the top of Wawel Hill, perched high above the Vistula River. Visit Wawel Cathedral, where Pope John Paul II once served as archbishop. Stroll through Glowny Square, passing beautiful Sukiennice Cloth Hall and the Jagiellonian University. If you have some free time, learn how World War II impacted this city at Schindler’s Factory of the famous “Schindler's List,” which is now a museum.

• Day 10: Free Day in Krakow + Optional Auschwitz Excursion

  Enjoy a free day in Krakow to do as you please.

  Auschwitz Concentration Camp (extra cost)

  Take a day trip to Auschwitz, the most infamous Nazi concentration camp in Europe. Then continue to nearby Birkenau concentration camp and get an up-close look at one of the darkest spots on the world's history.
  
  This excursion is pre-book only; if your trip is less than twenty-one days away, please call 800-766-2645 to purchase.

• Day 11: Travel to Vienna

  Marvel at the European landscape as you drive along a canvas of castles, farmlands, villages and mountains on your way to Austria. Next stop: Vienna!

• Day 12: Sightseeing Tour of Vienna

  Ahh, Vienna, the home of Classical creators and world-class classiness. This Austrian city is full of grand operas, grandiose architecture, and gardens so pristine, you'll wonder how its visitors are so well-behaved. Today, you'll get to know Vienna in-depth with a local guide.

  Today's highlights:

  • Meet your local guide for a sightseeing tour of Vienna
  • Visit the lavish palaces, parks and parliament buildings
  • Learn about the major and minor figures who struck a personal chord with this city
• Day 13: Free Day in Vienna + Day Trip to Slovakia

  Enjoy a free day in Vienna to people-watch in a café like Freud, stuff your face with Sacher Torte (AKA a local variation on decadent chocolate cake), explore Prater Park, or simply do as you please.

  Castles & Capitals: Slovakia Day Trip (extra cost)

  Cross another country off your list with a quick ride over to Bratislava—Slovakia’s fairytale capital city. Explore the 1,100-year-old ruins of Devín Castle, then it’s off to the Old Town for some serious Hansel & Gretel vibes.
  
  Why wait? Save money by booking this optional excursion before your trip departs.

• Day 14: Travel to Budapest

  Follow the Danube as you continue on towards Budapest, a city separated into two sections, Buda and Pest. Once you arrive, take a quick walk around with your Tour Director, then you’re on your own to chow down on a hearty Hungarian meal.

• Day 15: Sightseeing Tour of Budapest + Optional Thermal Baths & Spa Visit

  See Budapest’s highlights and major landmarks, including Pest on the west bank of the river. Learn about the stormy history of this independent nation on your stop at Heroes’ Square. Cross the Danube and arrive in Buda, where you will climb the imposing Castle Hill. Since its completion in 1265, Buda Castle has witnessed several invasions and reconstructions. Later, you’ll visit the medieval Matthias Church, located in the heart of the Castle District.

  Thermal Bath & Spa Visit (extra cost)

  Ease blissfully into Europe’s largest medicinal baths housed in one of the city's most ornate buildings. Enjoy the spa facilities, saunas, steam rooms, and 18 indoor and outdoor baths fed by hot springs. Plus, there’s beer.
  
  Why wait? Save money by booking this optional excursion before your trip departs.

• Day 16: Free Day in Budapest + Farewell Dinner

  On your last day in Eastern Europe, take some time to reminisce on all the goulash you ate, friendly people you met, and amazing castles, churches, and museums you saw. The day is yours to see Budapest however you please—from the ruin pubs to the baths and anything in between.

  Farewell Dinner
  Share some last laughs (and maybe shed a few tears) at an included farewell dinner with the group.

  Free time suggestions

  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.

• Day 17: Fly Home

  Viszlát, barátaim!
  Translation: Goodbye, friends. Your next destination awaits—home. Before you head to the airport, enjoy your last few moments together. Take one more group photo. Grab that final drink. (Fine, maybe a couple of drinks.) But this isn’t goodbye. It’s “See you later.” The only question is, where?

  –OR–

  EXTEND YOUR TRIP 2 WAYS

  1. Double the fun
  A lot of our trips line up back to back! Give us a call—we can help you add another and save big while you're at it.

  2. Go ahead or stay behind
  Extending your trip is easy! During checkout, you'll have the option to fly to (or from) the gateway of your choice for an additional fee. We'll adjust your flights accordingly, but you'll be responsible to take care of your transportation, hotels, and other logistics outside of tour.

  Note: Depending on your desired gateways, additional fees may apply.