Christmas Markets & Music in Vienna
Mini-cruises on the Danube with a special programme during Advent
Day 1 Fly to Vienna. Short orientation tour. Optional tour of Hofburg Palace includes the Imperial Treasury. Embark MS Beethoven for four nights.
Day 2 An optional visit to Schönbrunn Palace and its Christmas Market. Optional afternoon excursion to the Northern Vienna Woods, visiting Beethoven’s home and a traditional Austrian Heurigen tavern with ‘Schrammel’ music. Evening Mozart lecture by a member of the Vienna Philharmonic.
Day 3 A morning cruise to Bratislava. Included walking tour. A traditional Slovakian show. Evening cruise to Vienna with dinner and gypsy musicians.
Day 4 Optional morning walking tour: Old Vienna, the Peterskirche and St Stephen’s Cathedral or an optional ‘Jugendstil’ tour including the Beethoven Frieze at Sezession and the Klimt collection at Belvedere Palace. Optional
afternoon tour including the Riesenrad (Giant Wheel) and Town Hall market. Danube cruise with dinner and waltz music by a private orchestra.
Day 5 Optional drive through the southern Vienna Woods to visit Mayerling and the abbey of Heiligenkreuz, stopping for hot punch and roasted chestnuts and visiting the Christmas market in the elegant spa town of Baden. Return flight.
Extension - Budapest
Travel by train to stay for three nights in central Budapest. Welcome dinner, visits to Parliament, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, historic Buda, Matthias Church and Fisherman’s Bastion with a short Danube cruise. The 4-star traditional Hotel Astoria lies in central Pest, easy walking distance to the Danube and Christmas markets. Restaurant, coffee shop and air-conditioned rooms with private facilities, hairdryer, mini-bar and satellite TV.
