Stand by for a wonderful fly-cruise holiday delivering five weeks of European exploration, with river cruising aboard four quality CroisiEurope river-cruise ships in France, Spain, Portugal and along the Danube from Germany to Hungary. Plentiful city stays accompany the cruising, including four nights in Budapest.
Named ‘A Tale Of Four Grand European Rivers 2015’ the latest holiday from Worldwide Cruise Centres (worldwidecruisecentres.com.au) is selling now for travel in European summertime next year. The holiday features a river cruise in France (along the Seine), a Danube river cruise from Germany’s Passau to romantic Budapest in Hungary, a river cruise in Portugal (along the Duoro) and a fourth river cruise in Spain (along the Guadalquivir and the Guadiana).
The total holiday lasts 37 nights and is priced from A$12,789 twin share per person.
‘A Tale Of Four Grand European Rivers 2015’ includes flights from Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide or Perth to Paris and back from Barcelona on award-winning, full-service airline Emirates. The holiday captures the summery perfection of cruising past some of Europe’s most delightful scenery and visiting some of its most memorable towns and cities.
As well as the cruises, highlights include:
• A night’s hotel accommodation in Paris;
• A first-class rail journey from Paris to Passau in Germany’s picturesque Lower Bavaria region;
• A night’s stay in Passau, located at the confluence of three rivers, the Danube, Ilz and Inn;
• A four-night stay in a four-star hotel in Budapest;
• A three-night hotel stay in Portugal’s Porto, one of the oldest cities in Europe;
• A flight from Porto to the Spanish city of Seville;
• A three-night hotel stay in Seville, Spain’s City of Light;
• A two-night hotel stay in central Barcelona in a three-star hotel.
• Note: All of those hotel stays come with daily breakfast.
‘A Tale Of Four Grand European Rivers 2015’ departs on 22 July 2015.
After casting off Australian winter and jetting to Paris, spend a night at the Grand des Gobelins Hotel, steps from the lively Latin Quarter. Explore the French capital before sailing on a four-night CroisiEurope ‘Valley of the Seine’ cruise aboard MS France. Settle into your cabin and sip a welcome cocktail as you admire Paris by night, gliding past the Eiffel Tower, the Grand Palais, the Orangerie, the Louvre and Notre-Dame cathedral in Ile de la Cité.
The first day of the four-night cruise is particularly rich in new sights and sounds but there are other delights to come as you explore the fishing port of Honfleur and enjoy an optional guided walking tour of the old city of Rouen by night.
The cruise is on a full-board basis, so all meals are included. Even better, unlimited French wine (red and white), beer, fruit juice and mineral water are covered in the cruise price, plus tea or coffee after each meal. Welcome cocktails and a gala dinner are a feature of this four-star river cruise and the other three cruises to come on this holiday.
At the end of the Seine cruise, a first-class train trip takes you to Passau in Germany, where you’ll arrive in the evening and book into your hotel. Next day is free to explore the town, maybe visit the Italian Baroque-style St Stephen’s Cathedral before boarding MS Vivaldi in the late afternoon.
Highlights of MS Vivaldi’s five-night ‘Beautiful Blue Danube’ cruise include Melk, with its great Benedictine Abbey and chapels ornamented with beaten gold; the lively wine village of Durnstein; incomparable Vienna, city of Mozart and Freud; Esztergom (former capital of Hungary), and the ‘Pearl of the Danube’, Budapest.
Four nights in a four-star Budapest hotel give plenty of time to explore the Hungarian capital, a fusion of the twin cities of Buda and Pest, with winding cobblestone streets, palaces, Turkish baths and castles.
Jet now to Porto in Portugal for three nights at the Holiday Inn Porto Gaia Hotel, Porto, before a seven-night ‘From Porto to Spain’ river cruise aboard MS Infante Don Henrique through the Douro Valley, with fabulous surroundings at every turn as you visit Regua, Dalva, Terron, Ferradosa and Pinhao. Consider an optional excursion to UNESCO World Heritage-listed Salamanca, a town of dazzling Romanesque, Arab and Christian architectural treasures.
A short flight now from Porto to Seville, gracious capital of Spanish Andalusia. Three nights in the Casa Romana Hotel Seville precede a seven-night round-trip river cruise to Andalusia aboard MS Belle de Cadix.
Flying from Seville to Barcelona after your fourth cruise, transfer to a three-star centrally located hotel for a two-night stay, including daily breakfast. A recent poll of Lonely Planet readers voted Barcelona “World’s Best Summer City”. You’ll be here in summer with time to stroll, relax and sip a superb sherry (it was invented in Cadiz) on the Ramblas, the promenade linking the centre of Barcelona with the sea.
To find your local Worldwide Cruise Centres agent go to:
www.worldwidecruisecentres.com.au
SOURCE: Worldwide Cruise Centres