German Castles and Countryside

Would you like to find out more about Frankfurt, its pretty old town, bustling markets, cafes and traditional apple wine taverns? With our wonderful guide you'll quickly find your way around and discover the diversity of things to do while staying in the city. There's time to visit Frankfurt's historic old town with its Gothic cathedral, where Holy Roman Emperors were elected and crowned, view the old market square (Roemerberg) with its beautiful Alte Nikolai church, get up close to the Bull and the Bear at the stock exchange and take in the modern skyscrapers of Frankfurt too.

Walk along the Freßgass' to the Old Opera House and visit the Jewish Holocaust memorial. You'll also have time to roam around the local farmers markets where you can drink a glass of wine or highly prized apple juice whilst you browse the stalls. It's a great opportunity to try local foods such as 'Handkäse mit Musik', 'Frankfurter grüne Soße' and snack on traditional, freshly grilled German sausages. And of course, we can add themes you would like to add, from galleries to shopping.

After breakfast, your driver will pick you up, and you'll cruise through the beautiful landscape of the Rheingau and Mosel regions. Your first stop is the famous castle, Johannisberg, in the valley of Rheingau. This region is famous for white wines, which have been produced here since 1720. Your guide will take you to the vineyards to explain the symbiosis between soil, climate and grape.

Afterwards, you can taste the result with a small wine tasting. After your private lunch, your driver will follow the Rhein River up to Koblenz, and you can stop to visit the old part of the city and see the famous German corner where the Rhein River and the Mosel River join. Here, you can also view the monument of the famous emperor Wilhelm I.

Your last stop will be the Maria Laach Abbey, a beautiful Benedictine abbey built in the 11th-12th centuries. You can visit this monastery as well as the famous market garden. In the late afternoon, your driver will cross the Mosel River and drop you at the Old Mill Höreth, so you can unwind in your cosy room, before enjoying dinner.

This combined old town and castle tour, with a private guide, brings history to life. With a tour through the winding alleys of the old town, you can get to know the many different faces of Heidelberg – the dreamy squares, the oldest university in Germany, the Heiliggeistkirche (Church of the Holy Spirit) and the Jewish Quarter, and then it's up to the castle with the funicular railway. During the tour around the inner courtyard and the castle garden you can discover the electoral residence ruins and visit the famous giant barrel.

Your next stop is the Carl Bosch Museum, and it was here that Gerda Tschira opened a private museum in 1998 to give visitors of all ages an insight into the life and work of the Nobel Prize winner. This museum is located in the former garage house of the Villa Bosch, where Carl Bosch lived. The garage house served as an apartment for Bosch's chauffeurs and, of course, as a garage for his Horch and Maybach automobiles.

Since 2003, changing special exhibitions can travel to the mobile exhibition room "Museum Auf Achse". Changing special exhibitions in Germany and beyond are shown in the glass pavilion. With the opening of the architecturally extraordinary neighbouring building "Museum am Ginkgo", there has been the opportunity to show special exhibitions in Heidelberg since 2007. The house owes its name to two old ginkgo trees on the property. The house's dedicated team offers extensive programmes for all age groups, shows and conceives special exhibitions, conducts research in depots and archives, and maintains a reference library on Carl Bosch.

Your guide will also be happy to amend the tour to your interests.

Over the next few days, you'll spend time exploring some of what Bavaria has to offer. Visit the beautiful old Bavarian Imperial City of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, one of the most popular stops on the country's Romantic Road tourist route. You'll find it sitting pretty on the banks of the River Tauber, looking like something straight out of the 16th century. In fact, the picturesque villages and medieval towns of this region are the epitome of authenticity. Surround yourself in picture-book beauty and discover a land rich in cultural customs and history, and also get a taste for modern day-to-day Bavarian life.

With your private guide, you'll see and discover the historic Old Town with its romantic alleyways and picturesque squares. This tour offers an overview of the various aspects and epochs of the history of the charming town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

You'll pass by the most important and beautiful historic buildings in the city, and find out what life was like during the medieval period. Your guide will conclude the tour by taking you to the Gothic St. James' Church, which, besides other art treasures, also houses the fascinating Holy Blood of Christ altarpiece by the great Wuerzburg wood-carver, Tilman Riemenschneider.

Today, you'll enjoy the beautiful area while trekking up some of the surrounding mountains. A professional guide will show you the most picturesque spots and trails around Tegernsee.

If you're lucky, you'll see some red deer coming out of the forest in the afternoon to graze. You'll then set sail around the lake with a professional skipper. You can try your hand at sailing or just sit back and take in the sublime scenery of Tegernsee Valley.

Enjoy your breakfast of a typical sausage 'weißwurst' at the Victualien market and stroll around all the stands with vegetables, cheese and flowers - a real 'Munich' experience. At exactly midday, you can witness the famous carillon. Halfway up the 85m tower of the New Townhall is one of Munich biggest tourist draws, a two-tier glockenspiel (carillon) with 43 bells and 32 mechanical figures. The figures rotate around accompanied by the music of the bells. It lasts for 15 minutes.

The next exciting stop is the castle Nymphenburg. With its unique combination of architecture and garden design, Nymphenburg is one of the best examples in Europe of a synthesis of the arts. Following the birth of the heir to the throne, Max Emanuel, Elector Ferdinand Maria and his consort commissioned the architect Agostino Barelli to build Nymphenburg Palace, which was begun in 1664.

The tour comes to a relaxed finish at the Botanical Garden. Covering an area of 21.20 hectares (52.4 acres), the Munich Botanical Garden in the suburb of Nymphenburg is one of the most important botanical gardens in the world and is visited by over 350,000 visitors a year. It is home to approximately 19,600 species and subspecies.

Today you will take a privately guided art tour through one of Munich's museums. One example of a museum you might visit is Lenbachhouse. Since the 1970s the museum has been presenting the important trends and artists of the international contemporary art world and collecting contemporary art. Starting with the acquisition in 1980 of Joseph Beuys's 'Zeige deine Wunde' (Show Your Wound) (1974–1975), the museum shifted its focus towards collecting representative works and groups of works.

Another possible museum is Alte Pinakothek which focuses on the development of art from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance and the Baroque up to the end of the Rococo period. The collection comprises more than 700 artworks from the glittering epochs of German, Flemish, Netherlandish, French, Italian and Spanish painting.