On your arrival in Germany you meet your Travel Director, who will introduce the streets and squares that shape Munich. The route leads you towards Marienplatz, where the Town Hall rises above the square, with the Glockenspiel set high in its facade. Around you, the Christkindlmarkt brings Christmas into full color, with music in the air and warm lights glowing across the market. Later, you join your Travel Director and fellow guests for a dinner with wine.
You decide how the day unfolds. You might join a Local Specialist for a food walking tour through the city center, following the scent of baked pretzels, roasted meats and sweet market treats. Or you can visit the Residenz, moving through its museum and Treasury where polished rooms, detailed craftsmanship and centuries of royal life lay in front of you. Later, you may choose today’s Optional Experience to explore the royal palaces of the Bavarian Alps, where ornate façades and palace towers stand against the mountain landscape.
Your journey continues past Lake Chiemsee, often called the Bavarian Sea, on your way to Salzburg. Your Local Specialist guides you through the baroque Old Town to Getreidegasse and the house where Mozart was born. Inside, you can hear the bright, delicate notes of Mozart’s original pianoforte fill the room during a rare musical performance. Afterwards, you may choose to explore the city’s Christmas markets, browsing handcrafted decorations and festive treats before continuing to Swarovski Crystal World.
The clip of hooves against Innsbruck's streets fills the morning as your horse-drawn carriage ride weaves through the Old Town. Later, the buzz of the Christmas Market gathers below the Golden Roof, framed by medieval façades. Here, the square draws everything close: the glow from the stalls, the sound of market voices and the gilded tiles catching the light above you.
On your return to Germany, you pass through the Arlberg tunnel, Austria’s longest road tunnel, before arriving at Lindau. On this small island town, old streets carry you down to the harbor, where lake air, moored boats and stone quays give Lindau its easy waterside rhythm. Continuing along the shoreline, you may catch sight of snow-dusted peaks across the water, with mist sometimes softening the far shore.
In Freiburg, a lively university city, Christmas is woven through the old quarter’s streets. From the medieval Münster, cobbles lead you past timbered stalls, where warm lights and Black Forest treats bring the market to life.
You travel through the Black Forest before crossing the Rhine into Alsace, with the blue-gray ridges of the Vosges Mountains stretching across the distance in one of France and Germany’s great borderlands. In Strasbourg, the City at the Crossroads, Alsace’s layered identity sits in the details: half-timbered façades, steep roofs and old streets shaped by both French and German traditions. At France’s oldest Christmas market, you can stroll past shopfronts and the warm fragrance of a gingerbread bakery'. Later, you return to Germany for dinner at a local restaurant, with regional specialties and wine.
Your journey continues south to Zurich, where a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience brings you closer to the city and the people shaping it. At the Old Town Christmas Markets, you can walk between festive stalls as the aromas of raclette and spiced wine drift through the streets. Later, gather with your fellow travelers for dinner with wine at a restaurant with its own microbrewery, where conversation and clinking glasses bring your Yuletide journey to a fitting close.
Say farewell to Switzerland and the people you’ve shared the journey with. Your final hotel is located at the airport, just a short walk from the terminal.
