Categories 3, 4, and 5 refer primarily to varying degrees of excellence in rooms .

Land Price in U.S. $, with 1 Euro = $1.50, does not include air fair

Seasons: Low (11/1 - 12/26, 1/5 - 3/15); Medium (3/15 - 5/15, 10/1 - 10/31 ); High (5/16 - 9/30, 12/27 - 1/4)

Single, triple occupancy or families and groups, please inquire

*Basic Category 3 includes lodging with breakfast 8 nights, private transfers to and from airports and train stations, 3 day transport and museum pass in Paris, 1st class rail tickets, Paris - Strasbourg, your choice in Alsace of 4 day car rental or 3 day 1st class Rail Pass, travel planning servives. Full Land Package adds guided tours, illumination cruise, admission to Versailles Palace and Gardens.

• Meet, greet and transfer with our trip advisers in Paris and in Strasbourg
• Eight hotel nights: choose 4 nights from our list in Paris and 4 nights in Alsace
• Continental breakfast daily
• 3 day transport and museum pass: Paris area
• Four days rental of intermediate car in Alsace with manual transmission***, A/C,  and unlimited miles; or 3 day 1st class Rail Pass
• Half day guided tour in Paris
• Pre-paid admission to the Palace of Versailles and Gardens
• Illumination dinner cruise in Paris
• Paris fashion show
• Half day guided  walking tour of Strasbourg including Notre Dame Cathedral; the “Petite France” district; the ethnic Alsatian Museum
• Drive along the Alsatian Wine Road and visit Riquewihr, Ribeauville, Itterswiller, Rosheim and Kayersburg
• Half day guided tour of  picturesque Colmar, including visit to the home of artist Auguste Bartholdi, creator of the Statue of Liberty and the Unterlinden Museum.
• Shop in Obernai on market day; visit Mont Ste.Odile and the Pagan Wall
• Trip pack with vouchers, itinerary, maps, and guide book.

Chauffeur and larger car for any part of the trip you prefer not to drive
Water sports, fishing, golf, tennis, horseback riding, hiking or biking
Hot air balloon ride over Alsace and/or Germany’s Black Forest
·Half day wine tasting excursion
Dinner reservations at fabulous French restaurants
Pre-paid reservations for symphony or opera in Paris
Excursion to EuroDisney near Paris
Visit the medieval château of Haut-Koenigsbourg and the Abbey of Ebersmunster
Extension to the Black Forest and the German wine regions
Comprehensive insurance coverage for trip cancellation or interruption, baggage, illness, and accident at special group rates
Round-trip air transportation from the United States

You have pre-paid reservations tonight on an illumination dinner cruise. Paris, the culmination of French culture, reveals its Gothic, Renaissance, and modern faces from the banks of the River Seine, itself a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  From the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower, and the Place de la Concorde, to the Grand and Petite Palais, the evolution of Paris unfolds before your eyes during this illumination cruise.

Return to your Paris hotel this evening. B

Depending upon how long you stay at Versailles, you have time to visit the Musee d' Orsay and/or Pont Neuf this afternoon and  the charming district of Saint Germaine this evening. B

Paris (Fashion Show, Parisian Markets, and Gourmet Shops)
Day 5
After a leisurely breakfast, attend a fashion show of some 60 silhouettes from the season’s latest haute couture apparel and accessories by leading couturiers. 

No visit to Paris would be complete without a tour of its famous markets displaying ingredients which are the basis of French cooking. This afternoon, walk down the steeply winding rue de Buci and rue de Seine, where small, domestic shops artistically display the freshest of produce just arrived during the night from the French provinces.  The lively interaction between buyer and seller is an important ingredient in the Parisian texture of culture.  

Then visit world-famous cheese shops where, collectively, more than 200 types of cheeses are displayed, and tour one of the fashionable delicatessens for which Paris in known.

Return to  your Paris hotel this evening. B  

This afternoon, take a cruise on the canal system of the cosmopolitan city of Strasbourg. Visit the famous pink granite Gothic Cathedral of Notre Dame, begun in 1176; a lacy, fragile-looking structure topped by a soaring, 466-foot-high spire and filled with radiant light from superb twelfth-to-fourteenth-century stained glass windows.  Wandering past old half-timbered houses bedecked with scarlet geraniums, explore the fairy-tale “Petite France” district, charmingly criss-crossed by narrow lanes, canals, and locks. 

A tour of the Ethnic Alsatian Museum, housed in three authentic sixteenth- and seventeenth-century houses, introduces you to local life as it was years ago.Browse through the narrow, bustling streets of the Old City, lined with ancient buildings and inviting sidewalk cafés.  Accommodations for the next four nights are at your choice of hotel from our list. B

Have a late lunch in the charming wine village of Ribeauvillé.  In the afternoon, visit the captivating old wine town of Riquewihr with its sixteenth-century ramparts, imposing thirteenth-century gate, and lovely inner courtyards.  Later, visit the Ebersmunster Abbey (the monastery of the wild boar) known for its beautiful furniture, exquisite carvings and Silbermann organ.

IOn this or any day of the tour, you may want to substitute your favorite activity: Water sports, fishing, golf, tennis, horseback riding, hiking, biking, or even a hot air balloon ride over Alsace or the German Black Forest. If you are not staying at the Hotel Arnold in the small and delightful wine village of Itterswiller, you should consider having dinner at their restaurant, which serves fabulous regional cuisine and wine.  

 B

Then drive to Colmar, a colorful, harmonious city built around a charming central maze of cobbled streets where restored half-timbered dwellings dating from the late Middle Ages to the Renaissance present brightly painted façades ornate with wooden sculptures.  Tour the home and Museum of Auguste Bartholdi, famous author and sculptor of our beloved Statue of Liberty.  At the Unterlinden Museum, view an outstanding collection of paintings from the Rhenan School and admire the spectacular, much-celebrated Issenheim altarpiece, which has long attracted visitors from around the globe.

There are a wide range of dining options in Colmar this evening and lively night entertainment. B

As you drive to or from Obernai be sure to drive through the Medieval gate at Rosheim. Also, drive to Mont Ste.Odile for magnificent vistas of the surrounding region.  After viewing the mysterious, seventh-century Celtic Wall that surrounds the summit, explore the nearby monastery, founded by Ste. Odile, whose burial place in the small chapel nearby is a popular pilgrimage site. We will be pleased to make dinner reservations for the last night of your holiday. B