Germany Holidays and Escorted Coach Tours
Germany suits the way we travel. The distances between good places are short, the city centres can be walked in an afternoon, and the roads are among the easiest in Europe to cover by coach. Our holidays concentrate on the Rhine and the cathedral cities of the west, Berlin in the east, and the lakes and mountains of the south.
Some tours cross the Channel by Eurotunnel or ferry and continue by private coach; others fly, with transfers at the other end. Either way the itinerary is fixed, the listed entrance fees are paid, and nobody has to puzzle out a tram timetable in the cold.
Frequently Asked Questions About Our Germany Tours
Both, depending on the destination. Cologne and the Rhine are reached by private coach with a Eurotunnel or ferry crossing, which suits the shorter distance from the Channel. Berlin, Lake Constance and the four-country tour use scheduled return flights with transfers at the destination, and in some cases transfers in the UK too. Each tour page states which applies; if you would rather not fly, ask us which departures are coach throughout.},{"q":"placeholder"}
Most open in the last week of November and close on or just before Christmas Eve, though individual towns vary by a few days either way. Our festive tours are timed to fall comfortably inside that window, and in the case of Lake Constance take in markets in Konstanz, Lindau and Bregenz on the same holiday. Ask us for the exact dates of the departure you are considering.
More than you might expect in the old towns, and much of it on cobbles. German city centres are pedestrianised, so guided walks in Konstanz, Lindau or Innsbruck are done on foot, and cathedral squares and market lanes can be uneven underfoot. The coach drops you close to the centre wherever it is allowed to. If you have concerns about distances, standing or steps, tell us before you book and we will be straight with you about a particular itinerary.
It depends on the tour. Rüdesheim at Christmas is priced on 25 passengers with ten single rooms available at no supplement, which is unusually generous. Most of the others carry a single supplement, and on some it is stated on the tour page. Solo travellers are a normal part of our groups rather than an exception, so do ask us what is currently available on the departure you have in mind.
On the Germany tours listed here, breakfast and evening meals are included, taken at the hotel or at a restaurant on the itinerary. Lunches are generally left free so that you can eat where you happen to be, which on a market day usually means something hot from a stall. Special diets can often be arranged with the hotels, but please tell us at the time of booking rather than on arrival.
Yes. Any of these itineraries can be run as a Private Group for a club, society, church or a group of friends, and the dates can be moved to suit you. Several of our Germany prices are already based on a group of 25 or 30 travelling, which is the size a typical gardening club or U3A branch fills comfortably. Tell us roughly how many you are and when you would like to travel, and we will put a price together.
Berlin, Cologne and the Rhine
Berlin is a city of contrasts and it takes a few days to make sense of. The Brandenburg Gate, the surviving stretches of the Wall, Museum Island and the palaces and park at Potsdam are all within easy reach of a central hotel, which is where our short break stays, at the four-star Leonardo Royal by Alexanderplatz.
Cologne is a different proposition: a Rhine city built around a Gothic cathedral whose twin spires took six centuries to finish, with the Museum Ludwig and its Picassos next door and the Roman collections a few streets away. Being close to the Belgian border, it is comfortably reached by coach from the Channel crossing.
South of Bonn the river narrows into the Rhine gorge, where the vineyards climb almost vertically and castles sit on the crags above Rüdesheim.
Christmas markets in Germany
The German markets are the reason many people first travel here in winter, and they reward more than one evening. Cologne has several; the best known stands in front of the cathedral on Roncalliplatz, under the spires, with the stalls arranged around a tall tree.
Rüdesheim, a wine town on the Rhine, keeps its market in the narrow lanes off the Drosselgasse, and Advent on the river is a quieter, softer affair than a big city market. Around Lake Constance our tour visits three countries in five days: Konstanz spreads its stalls along the harbour, Lindau sits on its island with the Mang Tower and thermal baths, and Bregenz is in Austria on the far shore. The Christmas Gardens on Mainau Island are part of the same holiday.
Travelling by coach or by air
The coach tours cross by Eurotunnel or ferry and then use a private coach throughout, with the same experienced driver for the whole holiday. That means your case is loaded once, comfort stops come at sensible intervals, and the coach is waiting at the end of an excursion rather than a bus stop.
The air holidays use scheduled return flights with transfers at the destination, and on some tours transfers in the UK as well. Flying makes sense for Berlin and for the far south, where the drive would eat two days of a short break.
Accommodation is one or two hotels, breakfast and evening meals are included on the tours listed here, and prices are quoted on a set number travelling, usually 25 or 30 depending on the itinerary.
Germany with its neighbours
Germany's southern border is the sort of place where you can cross three frontiers before lunch, and two of our holidays take advantage of it. Lake Constance is shared between Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and the ferries and the Pfänderbahn cable car above Bregenz make that obvious in a way a map never does.
Further east, our four-country tour links South Tyrol in Italy with Switzerland, Austria and Germany: the gardens at Trauttmansdorff Castle above Merano, a South Tyrolean winery, an Appenzell cheese dairy, a guided walk through Innsbruck, Ambras Castle and Swarovski Crystal Worlds.
Alpine driving of this kind involves passes and long views rather than long days, and the coach does the climbing.
